A FRONT ROW VIEW: The Madness began already

Well, the line for Monday's basketball season-ticket sale has begun, and by the time you read this there will be Penn students lined up outside the Palestra. The funny thing is, even before you could have read this column, or the advertisement announcing the ticket sale on page B4, there were fans snatching the front-row seats. Upset that some students knew when tickets would go on sale weeks ago, even though the athletic department promised to give out tickets equitably? You should be. The athletic department tried to take into account students' concerns after fiascos in previous years. And for the most part it should be congratulated, because it did. However, on the most crucial point -- the timing of the announcement about how tickets would be distributed -- the athletic department dropped the ball. There would have been no use for inside information if the Penn ticket office said four weeks ago tickets would be sold Monday, Oct. 24. But a problem does arise when the athletic department announces it four days before tickets go on sale. Students will camp out four days for basketball season tickets, but not four weeks. Not at Penn. Not at Duke. The athletic department's reasoning is security. Truth be told, that is a valid concern. University officials worried they would be responsible for the safety of those students who chose to skip four weeks of class and their fall break to camp out for tickets. The athletic department should have splurged for an unemployed McGinn security guard for the four weeks. If it charged $90 for season tickets again this year instead of cutting the price $10, the athletic department could have financed the cost of the guard?and avoided what should again be outrage over the distribution of tickets. Give the athletic department an 'A' for effort. Fail them for execution. Penn fans are a dedicated bunch, and maybe a couple would have camped out a few weeks. But no one would have been the beneficiary of information had the announcement of how tickets would be distributed been made earlier. The truth is, the McGinn guard would have had no one to watch four weeks before tickets were to go on sale, and could have taken an extended nap. Hey, at least the best tickets are only $80 this season. Adam Rubin is a Wharton senior from Bellmore, N.Y., and sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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