Jeff Eisenberg Have any thoughts on the
seating issue or Liz Hurley’s private life? E-mail Eisenberg at
jeisenbe@ucla.edu. Click
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Roses are red, violets are blue, my basketball seats are in Row
602.
Sorry to break-up the Valentine’s Day love-fest, but I am
bitter.
I am bitter that I have a better chance of taking Elizabeth
Hurley on a romantic moonlit cruise aboard a private yacht, than
getting courtside seats at Pauley Pavilion to tonight’s
pivotal showdown against Arizona.
That may be a slight exaggeration, but there is no doubt that
the current approach to student seating at UCLA men’s
basketball games is nothing short of a travesty.
Under the existing system, boosters donating upward of $750 per
year to the athletic department receive nearly all of the seats
closest to the floor. Students are relegated to a block of roughly
2,500 seats in the corner of the arena.
Since most of these are situated in the cavernous upper reserve
section, entirely removed from the action, it is very difficult for
the Bruin faithful to establish any sort of consistent home court
advantage.
We, the students of UCLA, deserve better than that.
In the past, experts have dubbed Pauley the Sistine Chapel of
collegiate basketball. Unfortunately, that is an apt description
because the alumni sections are typically as raucous as a
congregation at Sunday Mass.
Earlier this season, Stanford’s Casey Jacobsen flatly
stated that he felt comfortable playing at UCLA, inciting the ire
of many of the Bruins and their supporters. In retrospect, Jacobsen
was right — and brash enough to admit it.
I doubt if the Pauley crowd has any of UCLA’s opponents
feeling flustered. When the most daunting aspects of playing in the
arena are the championship banners hanging from the rafters and a
hall of fame coach sitting in the stands, adjustments should be
made immediately.
To create a truly intimidating environment at Pauley, it is
essential that all of the students sit closer to the floor. If the
student section spanned the length of the court on one side, the
overall atmosphere of the arena would improve dramatically.
Virtually every elite team in the nation feeds off of a fervent
mass of students that are courtside for every home game. From
Duke’s “Cameron Crazies” to Michigan
State’s “Izzone,” athletes relish the intensity
of their host crowd, and tend to play with more desire and
determination in front of them.
The Bruins witnessed the effects of a hostile crowd firsthand
during their road trip to Eugene, Ore. After Oregon built an early
lead, the “Pit Crew” willed the Ducks to victory,
rallying around its team whenever UCLA built any momentum
throughout the game.
If given the chance, the UCLA student body would provide a
similar lift for the Bruins.
In spite of the current seating arrangement, Pauley was
literally deafening at times during Bruin victories over Kansas and
USC. Dozens of students camp out the night before each conference
game for priority seating passes, and the student section is often
overflowing more than an hour before tip off.
While the athletic department might initially lose some donation
money from displacing the alumni, the costs would likely be
minimal. A potent home court advantage would generate more
victories for the Bruins, increasing merchandise and ticket sales
in the future.
Alumni gifts pay for the scholarships that athletes receive from
the university. Ideally, however, they should not take precedence
over the UCLA undergraduates. By changing the seating policy, the
administration would be making a commitment to the students and the
basketball team itself.
By next Valentine’s Day, I hope courtside seating will be
a reality for the student body. By then, maybe I will be booking my
cruise reservations with Elizabeth Hurley as well.