How do I get basketball tickets?

For the first time, the always-coveted men's basketball tickets will be tied to the "Zona Zoo." The Zoo was started this year to increase spirit for students at games and now it has evolved into the $35 Zona Zoo Sports Pass. The pass gives you admission to football, volleyball, women's basketball, softball and baseball home competitions. For men's hoops it gives you automatic entry into the lottery for tickets, free admission to the Pepsi Red/Blue game, entry into the lottery for NCAA tournament tickets and the right to enter the lottery for tickets to the lower level at home games. The regular student section is behind the baskets in the nosebleeds. There will also be Zona Zoo events during the year, and students who buy a pass will receive a T-shirt and the online newsletter. For more information or to buy the Zona Zoo Sports Pass, visit www.arizcats.com.

Who is McKale?

J. F. "Pop" McKale, the father of Arizona athletics and Athletic Director from 1914 to 1957, came to Tucson in 1911 for a job at Tucson High School. His baseball teams routinely embarrassed the UA and Tempe Normal (now ASU) teams. Arizona students convinced then University President A. H. Wilde to hire McKale as athletic director and coach of all UA sports.

Bear Down?

"Tell them ... tell the team to bear down," were the dying words of quarterback John "Button" Salmon, who was also student body president and catcher. He spoke those words to Pop McKale from his hospital bed after a car accident in 1926 following the first football game. A year later, the student body voted to make it the official slogan of UA sports, and in 1939, the State declared it to be the sole and exclusive property of the UA. In 1926 the "men's gym" was built, but it will forever be known as Bear Down Gym after Bear Down was painted on the roof two years later. After interviewing with UA administration, eventual band director Jack K. Lee was flying out of Tucson when he spotted the "Bear Down" written on Bear Down Gym from his plane and wrote almost all of what would later becomes the UA's main fight song.

Why Wildcats?

McKale's first football team, fell to powerhouse Occidental 14-0 but Bill Henry a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The Arizona men showed the fight of wildcats·" in his story about the game and the name just stuck.

What's "A" Mountain?

After a big 7-6 football win over Pomona College on Thanksgiving in 1914, students were inspired to build a giant "A" (70 feet wide and 160 feet long) on top of Sentinel Peak over looking Tucson. The "A" was finally whitewashed on March 4, 1916 giving it its distinctive white look. The rock that was dug out during construction was used to build the wall that runs through campus and makes up the Main Gate. ASU has an "A" Mountain of their own, and during the week of the annual football game, fans from each school make a bid to paint the other school's "A." After Sept. 11, the "A" was painted red, white and blue. Last November though, Sun Devils painted the white part yellow. Then the "A" was painted white again and later green for St. Patrick's Day. Shortly after that, however, it was painted black by anti-war protestors and then the city spent thousands to paint it white. Kappa Sigma fraternity tried to paint it the less controversial all white but were stopped in the process. Then, a local radio station led a group, which included four city council members to make it red, white and blue again, but right afterwards a black peace sign was painted in the middle. Eventually the city council called an emergency session to vote on it, and red, white and blue was chosen.

What should I wear to games?

Arizona's colors are Cardinal and Navy but at games, the fans mostly wear the red rather than blue. Coaches and players encourage fans to wear red for big and nationally televised games, and sometimes people sell red "F÷- ASU" shirts outside venues.