Tents for Tickets

[o_dawgnabit]

Discussing this with a buddy yesterday. Was anyone else a student during this? This was one of Scott Striklin's biggest marketing blunders as an AD and most the fanbase has no idea what it is. But if you were a student, you are well aware of it

 

[MSUDC11]

I was present. I think it was more the SA’s idea than Stricklin’s. Rhett Hobart was the SA President that year, and he took a beating over it. He has admitted since that the whole thing was a terrible idea.

I don’t think the idea was bad, but the execution was awful.

 

[civildawg88]

I was there and I vividly remember being in line and some of Hobert’s buddies were reading tweets to him that were roasting him big time. It was pretty funny

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

That was my Jr year. When I got in line we were by Allen.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

I lived through tents for tickets. It was miserable. Had multiple blackout drunks wander through our tent. There was a fight in the neighboring tent. Ended up having to wait in line for forever even though we were there in the beginning.

Best part was the waffle house after it was all over.

 

[Son_of_34]

I do recall #TentsForDeath being one of the more popular things on twitter at that time

 

[o_dawgnabit]

I lived through tents for tickets. It was miserable. Had multiple blackout drunks wander through our tent. There was a fight in the neighboring tent. Ended up having to wait in line for forever even though we were there in the beginning.

Best part was the waffle house after it was all over.

I may have been one of those... We went straight from our fraternity bid day party to the junction. Next day was one of the worst of my college career....

 

[OnlyDawgInMinn]

Guess I had a different experience than most. I was a Sophomore. Devils lettuce and Malorts that my roommate brought down from Chicago made that day tolerable.

 

[dawgtron]

One of the more surreal moments of my college experience

The highlight of the night was watching a bicyclist absolutely EAT IT in front of McCarthy going from the sidewalk to the road because his front wheel came down on a storm drain. Poor guy.

I remember people showing up because they were afraid there wouldn't be any student tickets left. I imagine similarities to the bank run panics of the Great Depression, although completely senseless because there were more than enough to go around. Something in the human inability to estimate what 5000 or so people really look like I suppose.

 

[OnlyDawgInMinn]

The highlight of the night was watching a bicyclist absolutely EAT IT in front of McCarthy going from the sidewalk to the road because his front wheel came down on a storm drain. Poor guy.

I remember people showing up because they were afraid there wouldn't be any student tickets left. I imagine similarities to the bank run panics of the Great Depression, although completely senseless because there were more than enough to go around. Something in the human inability to estimate what 5000 or so people really look like I suppose.

We must have been close by... I remember that bicyclist comotion! Dude 17ed himself up.

 

[patdog]

What was Tents for Tickets?

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

What was Tents for Tickets?

Basically they wanted all the students to camp out in the junction to buy tickets on Saturday morning. The line was ridiculous and basically took up the whole morning. In the years before you could just go to the union, swipe your ID, and have your tickets in a couple of minutes.

 

[o_dawgnabit]

Basically they wanted all the students to camp out in the junction to buy tickets on Saturday morning. The line was ridiculous and basically took up the whole morning. In the years before you could just go to the union, swipe your ID, and have your tickets in a couple of minutes.

Not to mention the night they planned to have the camp out was the same night of fraternity bid night. And they advertised the event as "If you want tickets, you must come to this event because student tickets would sell out." So people showed up to the campout inebriated as you could imagine. And the next day, they had one of the most poorly executed plans to give students tickets. Resulting in the line being 3 hours backed up with people who were hungover from the night before.

 

[PearlRiverCoDawg]

Oh i remember very well. I waited probably 5 hours for mine, and it was hot as hell that day.

 

[PearlRiverCoDawg]

Oh i think at one point the line was backed up all the way to Burger King in front of Hilbun.

 

[af102]

I think we rolled in to the line sometime between 5-6AM because some people that were camping told us it was getting really crowded. By 8AM, some people were already hungover, some sober people drunk from being in line, and some had never stopped drinking. It was an angry group of people.

I had a buddy who worked his summer job all the way until the Friday before class started, so he was driving back to campus on Saturday. He pulled up to the junction around 3PM, walked to the ticket office, swiped his card, and left. I don't think they sold out until like Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[The Peeper]

Yep, I was in town and took my daughter by on Sat morning late to pick hers up. She walked straight up to the window, got hers and we left literally about 5 minutes after we pulled up.

 

[MedDawg]

1981 a bunch of students spent the night outside the Hump for limited football

student tickets to the 1981 Alabama away game. I spent the night in a sleeping bag, got the Bama ticket, and ended up selling it the morning of the game and watching the game on a HUGE temporary screen IN the Hump. Bond and MSU were robbed!

 

[THE Bruce Dickinson]

student tickets to the 1981 Alabama away game. I spent the night in a sleeping bag, got the Bama ticket, and ended up selling it the morning of the game and watching the game on a HUGE temporary screen IN the Hump. Bond and MSU were robbed!

Robbed in Tuscaloosa? You don't say...

 

[LiveOakDawg]

I was there for this. My friends and I got a tailgating tent, some lawn chairs, tons of food, and ice chests and went out. I remember the heat being enough to drive half of us to the volleyball match which they were really trying to hype up for attendance.

When we got back to the tent, we had a pack of drunk folks run through us. I remember when word spread that the folks who were handing out the wristbands (to allow you to get tickets) were coming down our row. We got ours, but about not long after that the people ran out. Fans in various stages of drunkenness did not take too kindly to this news and had an absolute fit. We confirmed that #TentsForTickets was failing and that we were permitted to leave and then come back the next morning.

We packed our crap up and ended up going to the Drill Field and taking advantage of their sprinkler schedule for an impromptu game of Slip-N-Slide football with my friends and the girl who I would end up marrying. That night was a failure for a lot of reasons, but that made up for it.

The next morning, we rolled into the Drill Field and waited for about an hour for the ticketing window to get on a roll. We returned to my place for a HUGE breakfast and a food coma.

#TentsForTickets was a disaster, but it's always fun to compare stories!

#HAILSTATE

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

This sounds like an awful idea. It would be like saying the only way to get a iPhone is to camp out in front of the store for a week. Sure, some people do that, but to encourage it or even require it is an awful idea.