MSU student basketball tickets on sale
Posted by kj on Friday, September 12th, 2008
Anyone who’s (1) a reader of this blog and (2) an MSU student probably knows this already, but student basketball tickets for the upcoming basketball season are now on sale (subject to the various Izzone-related rules and regulations).
Perhaps more newsworthy: the Kansas game on Saturday, January 10, is part of the 13-game student ticket package (even though spring semester classes don’t start until Monday the 12th). So the Izzone will be there in full force to greet the Jayhawks.
Only five weeks until Midnight Madness!
Filed in news4 responses so far
4 Responses to “MSU student basketball tickets on sale”
Mike Wozon 12 Sep 2008 at 6:23 pm 1I hope you’re right. End of break games don’t tend to receive the best attendance. However, being the nature of the game, it’ll receive a lot of hype (hopefully we’ll be undefeated or 1-loss at that time adding to the hype) and students will show up. I’ll be there. You can count on it.
Benon 16 Sep 2008 at 12:56 am 2Re: Kansas student tickets. I was right, I was right, I was right, woohoo!
On a somewhat-related note, I still think the all-Izzone student section is a horrible idea. (And I say that as a 4-year Izzone member.)
kjon 16 Sep 2008 at 8:22 am 3Why do you say that, Ben? I was a non-Izzone, lower-bowl student ticket holder in 2000, so I have no particular loyalty to the Izzone. But having the full lower-bowl student section all on the same page does tend to improve the game atmosphere/home-court advantage, does it not?
Benon 16 Sep 2008 at 12:11 pm 4kj — I don’t think so. I’ll start this with the caveat that I’ve been to only one game at the Breslin since I graduated (2005); but I have watched the vast majority of our games.
When the Izzone was smaller (ie., taking up one side of the baseline and the section behind one of the hoops), it was comprised of purely the die-hards: the loudest, most boisterous, and most creative fans. Concentrating them in one area right next to the court was better partially because the noise was closer to the action and helped our players more, but primarily because everyone in the section fed off each other: all the people in the old section were more likely to cheer louder when the person next to him/her was doing so.
Now, those hardcore fans are diluted throughout the lower and upper bowls instead of being concentrated in one area. I guess you can argue that those hardcore fans can help get the more casual fans around them more into the games, but I really don’t think that’s the case. I think it mostly causes them to become quieter so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb. It also causes the cheers to become more boring and predictable — when the most knowledgeable fans (about important things like Kris Humphries’ girlfriend and Brent Darby’s mom, obviously!) are sitting far apart, it’s more likely that the only participation that really can catch on is the boilerplate GO STATE GO and M! S! U! stuff. There’s nothing horribly wrong with that, but I think people a) are less enthusiastic (and quieter!) about cheering the same thing over and over again, and b) it gets repetitive really, really quickly.
In terms of the creativity, I also think it’s bad that the Izzone seats in the lower bowl aren’t reserved anymore. (I don’t think they are, at least — this may have changed.) If you’re sitting next to the same people every game, you become more comfortable with them, and (again) more likely to feed off each other. I know there’s a tradeoff here — more people do come earlier when it’s general admission within a section, but I think increased crowd noise during the game is more important than fans being there to heckle the other team during warmups. Besides, this _is_ the Izzone — it’s not like people were showing up 10 minutes into the game.
Anyway, in terms of noise and spirit, I think it was a bad idea. I also think it’s pretty of lame to subject everyone to the mega rules and regulations of the Izzone if they just want to go watch basketball. Not everyone has the time to camp out for tickets; not everyone wants to stand and jump up and down for the whole game. Honestly, that’s fine with me — keep them separated. Instead, we mix them in with the Izzone, where their (relative) lack of outward enthusiasm can bring down the entire section.
(As an aside, I think all the rules and regulations in the Izzone are ridiculous. You *have* to wear the Izzone shirt — instead of a different white shirt which may be more creative and/or fun. Etc., etc. Too many rules take the spontaneity and fun out of the section. Also, I think it’s utterly ridiculous that tickets are taken away for missing games. What a crock. Life happens, and people have to miss games from time to time; but if they didn’t _plan_ on going, they wouldn’t have camped out, signed the waivers, bought the tickets, etc. in the first place.)
As a final note — the Izzone gets bigger and bigger with each successive year, and most people (myself included) think that it gets worse and worse with each successive year. I know that our teams as of late have been crappier than those we had when the Izzone started, which will dull the section a bit; but I think the above is a correlation, not a coincidence.