EDITORIAL- Three Sweet 16s, three ticket screw-ups

It’s that time of year again. The air gets colder, the sky begins to resemble bath water,… It’s that time of year again. The air gets colder, the sky begins to resemble bath water, and Pitt has thoroughly botched basketball season ticket sales.

Like last year, problems arose because of the ticket Web site. But this time, rather than a finicky server, the company responsible for putting the system online accidentally allowed the site to go up early and, once buzz hit Litchfield Towers, everyone with the Internet and a bit of spare time could get tickets.

Pitt has negated all of those purchases. Though the site hit the Internet on Saturday, it was back offline by Sunday. And those who did buy tickets aren’t going to be able to use them. In fact, Pitt plans to have yet another online rat race this coming weekend, adding to the confusion.

This is all too much to deal with. Technology, while useful, certainly isn’t a cure-all. All that fans have learned from these systems is that we have to expect, and plan for, the unexpected.

We should return to that old, trusty camp-out system. If we’re to sell 1,400 student season passes, then let students get in line for them. It’ll take some planning, and of course there are safety concerns. Pitt, in addition to having a large police force, is also situated at spitting distance from UPMC Presbyterian. If, in fact, anything should happen to students camped out at the Pete, they could be rolled down the hill to the emergency room — we’re kidding, of course. It’s much faster to walk.

Some argue that a camp-out would be unfair to students pressed for time or unwilling to sacrifice their beauty rest for sports. Well, school spirit is all about giving up free time, sleep and dignity for a greater cause: beating other sports teams. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that if students are unwilling to lose sleep, they don’t get tickets.

Pitt is a basketball school — the Oakland Zoo and three trips to the Sweet 16 prove it. If we’re to have a basketball program on par with universities like Duke, then we have to let students get excited about it.

Allowing people with better modems to get tickets unfairly favors students living on-campus who’re hooked into the super-fast T3 line, instead of giving people a fair shot through camping out.

It’s too late for this year. But, for next year, Pitt should get students excited and out of their dorms. If nothing else, they’ll be able to see the last of the sun before it sets for yet another long Pittsburgh winter.