Illustration by Cody Angell

Thousands of young people were pressed up against each other. Those at the front ÷ who at one time had a prime position ÷ were now smashed up against the wall. Sweat poured down the faces of those trapped, for better or worse, at the front. At the fringes of the "mob," people shoved the mass, hoping to move further in for a better location. Women were screaming. It only took a split second for one to get sucked under into the abyss of shoes and legs. Pushing continued until the police finally managed to take control of the mob. When the crowd had left, 11 people were dead, eight hospitalized, and dozens walked away with minor injuries.

Of course, this is not a description of the UA basketball ticket mob that occurred early on October 28, 2002, outside the McKale ticket office. Rather, it is an account of a deadly stampede that took place in Cincinnati on December 3, 1979, in attempt to get good seats at a The Who concert.

The Who concert tragedy and the basketball ticket fiascos are sadly similar. The reason for the mob in both incidents: thousands of people attempting to acquire some valued commodity with a lack of planning and enforcement.

Jessica Lee opinions editor

But the severity of the McKale basketball ticket mob should not be dismissed as only "an ill-planned incident" that left many students ticketless. To many students who witnessed the event, the situation was nothing less than grave.

Deaths at The Who concert were due to an out-of-control stampede, a rush to get to the front of the line so when the doors opened, the best seats could be obtained. The situation of the UA ticket sales had students shoving to get to the front of the line where the sales windows would open and distribute ticket vouchers.

A narrowly escaped tragedy, all for tickets

According to the Oct. 29 Wildcat, in the early morning immense crowd, a student yelled, "Someone's under there. Move back!"

Ryan Davis, a mathematics senior, recounted, "I originally had a good spot, but this girl got sick and I carried her out. When everyone rushed the front, she got crushed against the wall and she fainted, so I had to carry her out with a friend."

Many were "crowd-surfed" away from the window to the back of the mob. Shannon Doss, a communication sophomore, thought she broke a rib.

The McKale basketball ticket mob would have been the story of the day, if not the semester. But only hours later, the Nursing School shootings happened. While the day left the campus with three professors and one student dead, UA could have seen worse.

The ticket sales were so revoltingly poorly planned, under-prepared, and understaffed that the UA athletics department could have been accused of gross negligence if a student had died.

Athletics Director Jim Livengood told the Wildcat he was surprised by the events, and he was unsure how to best avoid a similar future incident. Although the mob was downplayed by the severity of the situation across East Speedway Boulevard, it is preposterous to let Livengood off the hook so easily. He should have faced severe criticism from students, parents, the security guards and other athletics department staff present that morning.

Rather, according to the Wildcat, he shifted fault from himself to ASUA. "A lottery system was in place two years ago, and it was changed before last year based on the requests of what the student body representatives wanted for the students." While it is favorable that the athletics department administration would work so closely with elected students, the burden of overall safety must be placed on the shoulders of the Livengood.

Although such an incident had never occurred in such severity before on campus, such mobs have happened due to similar circumstances, such as The Who concert stampede.

Arizona basketball topped the pre-season ranks by many sports publications. The number of good student tickets was extremely limited. McKale Ticket Office did not offer a favorable location that can easily support a well-formed line of over 2,000 students. And limited security staff and police officers were inexcusable.

ASUA hopes to end days of riotous ticket-getting

While the mob is old news, lessons must be learned. ASUA should be commended for working hard to prepare a new solution to how to best distribute tickets that are in high demand.

The new Zona Zoo Sports Pass program is a necessary step in the right direction in preventing another mob-like situation to break out. After the mob folly, the athletics department should accept the idea with open arms. Scott MacKenzie, the assistant athletics director noted in yesterday's Wildcat, "We wanted to get into a situation where we're rewarding the students who support the Wildcats all year long."

And surely not to mention getting out of a situation where students could have fallen victim to a horrible ticket distribution system.

The ASUA Hartz administration must be applauded for not putting basketball ticket sales reform onto the backburner. Although there will be some disgruntled students who will now have to pay to see softball games, the proposal seems fair and appropriate. Hopefully, ASUA senator and Zona Zoo chairman Peter Wand will apply for the position of and be selected as spirit director, the program head.

While it can be agreed that "the success of the Zona Zoo Sports Pass is going to come from student involvement and student initiative," according to MacKenzie, it will always be the responsibility of the athletics director to make sure students are not again placed in harm's way when attempting to purchase basketball tickets.

It is the result of hard work within ASUA and the unfortunate loss in media coverage and followup due to the Nursing School shootings, that UA Athletics Director Jim Livengood will be sitting comfortably in his plush office chair while the unlimited Zona Zoo Sports Passes go on sale today.

Jessica Lee is an environmental science senior and opinions editor.