KU Season Tickets and Priority Points

Blurring the Lines

A recent viewing of the classic American film Fever Pitch provided a fresh reminder of the greatest downside of the select-a-seat/points system. As a season-ticket holder since roughly 1997, I have to say being a season-ticket holder in the current system feels a lot like not being a season-ticket holder. Pre-points you laid down the cash for the season package and headed out for six games at Memorial. If you liked your seats, you renewed. If not, you made a donation and tried a different area. It wasn't really that hard to find a good seat, then you just renewed. You'd get to know the folks around you and same crew would be there year after year. In the new world, you get bad seats -- no big deal, you'll be switching out. You get good seats -- too bad, enjoy them while you got em'.

Now I'm certainly not on the July Woodling/Mayer doom and destruction for KU campaign. The upside is huge revenue and I understand the dollar war that we are engaged in. Ultimately I want a team that will win. Wins are driven by cash, pure and simple and I'll play in the new system. Still, as the season gets closer, I think about the first game and locating our new seats 40 rows higher after multiplying our WEF donation by 11. By the seventh home game we'll be comfortable with the location and a new system for getting in and out. Then, I'll start thinking about the next season and where we'll be next as line blurs between being a season-ticket holder and a single-game ticket holder.

Chuck Woodling Hates KU?

Or Just Mark Mangino?

Or maybe it's Lew Perkins? Who knows, but I couldn't have been more surprised to return from a little out of town trip to find this venom-filled article in the Lawrence-Journal World. The only question is will this be a full-on LJW attack or just a one-man campaign. Be careful guys. KUsports.com is a great site, don't diminish that by trying to set the agenda. Here's a little sample of the good stuff:

"If the latest tactic doesn’t work, then they’ll probably say they need to remove the running track from the stadium as well. But that’s Kansas football. They’re always looking for the answer."

Also, Chuck loses a lot of credibility by failing to recognize "Blue Wings Rising" as the worst marketing campaign since Barbarian Queen II.

KU vs Penn State

We're On ESPN

Yippee!!

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=172&F=2485&T=667843&P=1#S=172&F=2485&T=667843

I want a re-match.

Checking Up on Ron Warner

Still Collecting Sacks

When Ron Warner spent three hours back in the fall of 1997 torturing Corby "Mouthpiece" Jones, the guy won a permanent place in the hearts of many KU fans. In fact, the entire 14.5 sack performance of that 1997 campaign actually inspired the Monte Cozzens Award that this site has recorded ever since. Perhaps his NFL career didn't go as well as planned, but all that matters is that he's still playing. Plus, it looks like the Independence, Kansas native is well-received in Canada. Here's a couple of links to get you on track with Ron in the CFL:

Career Summary
Recent Article

The End of the World As We Know It?

Quick Shot on the Big 10 Network

Another story on the Big 10 Network from Si.com's Stewart Mandel. It's starting to look like there will be no middle ground on this endeavor -- a fantastic disaster or the end of the world as we know it.

"While Delany didn't come out and say it directly, one could definitely infer that if, come Aug. 1, negotiations are still at an impasse, the conference and its members -- perhaps even the coaches themselves -- will begin urging fans to switch to DirecTV so they don't miss a second of the action."

Border War Tickets Are Moving

Arrowhead Border War Has 44,000 Tickets Sold

The game appears to be on track for a near-capacity crowd as the KC Star is reporting that 44,000 tickets have already been sold. Tickets go on sale to the public on August 1, but the current breakdown looks like this:

"about 16,000 tickets have been purchased through the Chiefs’ season-ticket base, with 22,000 more from KU, where the game is included in the season-ticket package. Missouri has sold about 6,000 tickets through an initial Tiger Scholarship Fund offering"

With what looks like a 30,000 to 14,000 early advantage, KU might be able to have a majority base at the Arrowhead event. KU season ticket holders just received a mailer for away game ticket purchases as well as additional Arrowhead seats. That should provide another boost. As word spreads about the demand and possibility for a sellout, casual fans will probably start to get motivated right at the August 1 date. With the early lead, KU fans should be scheming to reach the 50,000 number and claim Arrowhead for the 2007 edition of the Border War.

For reasons why this is all bad, check out the gridiron board thread.

New KU Football Complex Links

Taking Shape

The article and video posted yesterday gives you a pretty good feel for how the new sports complex is going to play out. The claim has always been that no parking spots would be lost once the project was completed. Finally, we can see the approach they are taking with the lots on the west.

Another thought -- could this year's higher number of early verbal commits be attributed to the start of this project?

6Sports Video
LJW Article

Tim Biere Video

In Case You Missed It

Here's a link for a video on recent TE verbal, Tim Biere:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6804753588969159081&q=tim+biere&total=40&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Enemy Report: K-State Cat Zone

A New Kansas State Blog Emerges

A quick check of the Burnt Orange Nation site this week led to the discovery of a new Kansas State blog -- K-State Cat Zone. Considering that its hosted by Blogger as opposed to SBNation, it's already impressive that the site has landed a coveted link from the almighty BON site. Early indications are that you can expect some serious action at the Cat Zone. Looks like the posts are pretty frequent.

Overall, the enemy blog scene is a little sparse, but here are the best links retained at Hawk Digest if you've got a little spying to do:

Kansas State Blogs

Kansas State Football 

K-State Cat Zone

Missouri Blogs

Behind Enemy Lines-Husker H8er's View of the World

Tiger Tracker

Yahoo Picks Up Rivals.com

Interesting Development for KU Football Fans

Earlier this week, Yahoo announced what is a minor aquisition in the big picture, but a move that could affect the internet college sports scene in a big way. Even the casual Kansas football fan knows that Rivals is where you go for recruiting information and Scout.com is the message board of choice. Will the backing of Yahoo give Rivals the infrastructure it needs to capture the KU forum audience?

Another Kansas Verbal Commit: Zach Stadther

We're Rolling Now

Wow! For college football bloggers, this is supposed to be relaxing times, but the University of Kansas football program added it's seventh verbal for the 2008 class this past week with 6-2, 275-pound defensive tackle Zach Stadther. The two-star DT is from North Little Rock, Arkansas and reportedly chose KU over Arkansas St. KU had two commitments at this time last year.

Rivals Link
LJW Link

2008 Recruiting Class

PS  STAR Player/Location/Ht/Wt/40/Signed
TE     ***  Tim Biere/Omaha, NE -- 6-4/235/4.8 -- 6/18/2007
TE     ***  Tanner Hawkinson/McPherson, KS -- 6-6/230/4.8 -- 6/16/2007
WR   ***  Daymond Patterson/Mesquite, TX -- 5-8/165/4.43 -- 6/9/2007
DT    **   Zach Stadther/North Little Rock, AK -- 6-2/275/4.9 -- 6/19/2007
WR   **   Jamaal Johnson/Houston, TX -- 6-2/180 -- 5/25/2007
ATH  **   Sean Ransburg/Harrisonville, MO -- 6-1/185/4.5 -- 4/10/2007
DT    ---  Ryan Glazer/El Cajon, CA (JUCO) -- 6-3/285/5.1 -- 6/3/2007

Rating Source: Rivals

Another Tight End For KU: Tim Biere

Three-Star Verbal Commitment

The Jayhawks added another tight end to the 2008 class as Tim Biere, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound from Westside High in Omaha, Nebraska made a verbal commitment to KU earlier this week. The Lawrence Journal-World reported that Biere chose Kansas over Kansas State, Colorado and Ohio.

2008 Recruiting Class

PS  STAR Player/Location/Ht/Wt/40/Signed
TE     ***  Tim Biere/Omaha, NE -- 6-4/235/4.8 -- 6/18/2007
TE     ***  Tanner Hawkinson/McPherson, KS -- 6-6/230/4.8 -- 6/16/2007
WR   ***  Daymond Patterson/Mesquite, TX -- 5-8/165/4.43 -- 6/9/2007
WR   **   Jamaal Johnson/Houston, TX -- 6-2/180 -- 5/25/2007
ATH  **   Sean Ransburg/Harrisonville, MO -- 6-1/185/4.5 -- 4/10/2007
DT    ---  Ryan Glazer/El Cajon, CA (JUCO) -- 6-3/285/5.1 -- 6/3/2007

Rating Source: Rivals