During Monday’s news conference regarding the basketball ticket fiasco, a front row girl walks up to basketball head coach Bo Ryan and puts her arms on his shoulders.

“Bo, don’t you think we should get tickets?” she pleads, as another gazes at him longingly.

Sorry girls. Everyone is going back in the lottery, and extra points will not be awarded for wearing too much makeup.

This week the 3,754 season ticket holders will be asked to decide between two options: either give 2,100 students season tickets for the year or give 1,500 students season tickets at full price and the remaining 2,250 applicants a complimentary four-game package.

The Athletic Department is obviously rooting for one of these choices. They want students to vote for the one that will not cost the department $81,600 in complimentary tickets.

This is exactly why the students should choose this option. The Athletic Department is at fault and it should cost them. A computer glitch, yes, but did they learn you should keep hard copies of important things? Apparently not.

Jamie Pollard, the main speaker at the meeting, acknowledged the unfortunate situation caused by the error and let students know numerous times how much he and other representatives from the Athletic Department did not want to be dealing with the problem or be at the Kohl Center facing the angry students. Pollard seemed to blame students for problems with the system. He stated a number of times the Ticket Office, the supposed culprit in the case, is 75 percent staffed by students. He went on to say the lottery and its point system were the students’ ideas, which they were, but he never stated the Athletic Department’s role in the system. It was all on the students.

So, since it is the students’ fault, and not the computer system’s, the students should choose the option that allows them to go to games for free, because this is never going to happen again. A computer glitch might happen again, but free tickets? Never.

This is a rather generous offer from the Athletic Department, seeing the amount of money involved. But it is about time some regular students who happen to not be athletes are blessed with some perks at this university.

No matter what choice is given, there are going to be students who are upset about the outcome. Some are going to be outright mad when they find out after waiting in line for almost two days they do not even have tickets anymore.

“I have spoken to coaches around the country and they are jealous, envious,” Ryan said after the girls disappeared. “It is an issue, yes. But it is a heck of an issue.” Ryan stood behind the crowd listening intently to students, while some of his players stopped by to witness the commotion they were causing. Ryan said his players are sympathetic to the issue and offer their complimentary tickets to students when their parents do not use them. (So maybe the front row girls will get some tickets after all?)

“I am so proud to coach at an institution where young men and women come and express their views and the administration shows concern and listens,” Ryan said, commenting that these will be the same people involved at neighborhood meetings in the future quarrelling about where to put a fence. “We just want to keep everybody happy and have as many students see us play in the Kohl Center as possible.”

Let’s just hope the Athletic Department listens when the students say they want the free tickets. And let’s hope the front row girls get tickets, because come on, they are part of Wisconsin basketball.

Joanna Salmen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and Spanish.