Shane Bacon Arizona Daily Wildcat

As the summer air cools and the fall leaf (yes, that is singular) of the Arizona desert hits the desolate rocky earth, there is one sure thing we have to look forward to: watching the Wildcat football team in plain view.

Arizona Stadium has one of the best student sections in the nation and it almost seems Sun Devilish not to fill it up every Saturday night.

The seating is FAN-tastic!

You have the ability to watch touchdown after touchdown being scored (sure, right now it's usually opponents dancing in the end zone, but work with me here) without having to rubberneck around the alumni's gray heads.

Ask students from schools like Notre Dame, Michigan and UCLA. All three teams play in world-class stadiums, with capacity nearing six figures each.

Notre Dame - capacity 80,232 - gives its students seats between the 50-yard line and the back of the end zone. It sounds good on paper, but in reality, only seniors get to sit near the center of the field. Priority for seat location is given to upperclassmen. Freshmen can only get seats behind the goalpost.

The students at UCLA are shoved into two sections of the 90,000-seat Rose Bowl between one end zone and the 30-yard line. Sure, half of these seats are far enough from the field to give students a great two-dimensional view of the field, but at least they're right next to the Jumbotron.

You get a more realistic view playing Madden 1975 on Atari.

And as for Michigan: The Wolverine's student section gets broken up into different parts (I wonder where I've seen that).

The only problem UA students face is failure to show up.

The Zona Zoo might be full of navy and crimson when we face powerhouse NAU, but come October - after a couple of Ls - the section will be less full than a Spice Girls reunion.

It might seem meaningless to some to show up to support your Division I football program, but failure to appear could result in being exiled to the upper deck.

Look at our basketball program.

In the mid '80s, before a certain white-haired god was able to turn around UA basketball fortunes, Arizona had a student section at ground level.

Seats next to the court - those we would do anything to rip away from the alumni - were in our grasp less than 20 years ago, but the student body gave them up, not knowing where the program would be just a short time later.

Lute Olson not only built a contender, but turned Arizona basketball into the hottest ticket in town, and most of the West.

Just look at us today – stuck behind the basket or hanging from the rafters right alongside Steve Kerr's jersey, just hoping that the Hassan Adams dunk we missed will make it on SportsCenter so we can catch another glimpse.

What does all this have to do with you?

Well, as I cross my fingers with one hand and type with the other, I can only hope that Mr. Stoops will produce half the success that Olson has.

If that is the case, look for our football program to return to where it once was thought to be heading, back in the days of Tedy Bruschi and the "Desert Swarm" defense.

Kids, don't forget that in 1994, Arizona was ranked No. 1 by Sports Illustrated.

In football!

In 1999, the Wildcats were in SI's top-five again.

In football!

It only takes a small turn of events to turn a program on the decline into a program with potential.

ASUA and the UA athletics department have reported that both student tickets - the Zona Zoo pass - and general season tickets are well above recent averages.

If we don't start using the sections like we should, the alumni might get another chance to steal our beloved Zoo.

Be excited we stink! Get pumped that we're bad! Go to the stadium just to see which student will run out on the field next.

Attend the games just to take advantage of good football, even if it's bad.

Shake your keys during kickoffs.

Wear Arizona gear like you should.

Impress coach Mike Stoops and show him that Norman, Okla., isn't that great a place anyway.

Heck, if things continue on the path we all hope they will, maybe our next complaint will be about why there's no student section at the Fiesta Bowl.