SO much for New Year's resolutions. Even Chinese New Year's has passed with the running shoes still in the closet and that 25th anniversary Honolulu Marathon T-shirt running away very quickly. New Year’s resolutions
go by the boardsSo much for promises not to bash the ticket office at the University of Hawaii, especially now that windows are open most weekdays until 6 p.m. and one can actually purchase tickets to events more than a week in advance. That last concept may not have completely been understood by one worker who, when asked for a ticket for the Rainbows' last home game (March 1), handed the buyer one for the next home game this Wednesday.
There has got to be a better way, more efficient way, for ticket sales. Over 3,600 fans came through the turnstiles Saturday to help the Wahine basketball team set an arena attendance record. But many others turned away when seeing the long lines queued up some 20 minutes before tip-off. Some of these patrons ended up walking over to Rainbow Stadium to catch the baseball game.
There should be no excuses for long, slow-moving lines, not when all seats are general admission and no time-consuming seat selection is going on. There should be no excuses about being unprepared for a record number, not when the athletic department is promoting it as a "break the record" night.
Many of Saturday's patrons were first-time visitors to the arena. Many of them were impressionable youngsters - and future consumers.
Long lines are everywhere these days but the Special Events Arena is not Space Mountain. In these tough times of tight economics, the ticket office needs to become more fan-friendly if it wants repeat customers.
Athletic department officials promise the bugs are getting worked out. After all, the arena is only 29 months old. But we all know how hard it is to get rid of the really big cockroaches. Maybe I can loan them some running shoes to get rid of those bugs.
It's too bad some 2-for-1 deal couldn't be worked out for this Saturday's doubleheader at the arena. The Wahine basketball team has its final WAC home game against New Mexico at 5 p.m.; Rainbow men's volleyball is back off a much-needed break to face San Diego State at 9 p.m. JUST A THOUGHT
It would be nice to introduce the two diverse fan groups to each other - and to each other's sport - other than at the exit doors. The arena will be cleared of fans while the court is being set up for volleyball. With a little foresight, the Wahine and their fans wouldn't feel hustled out of their own home, especially on Senior Night for Tiffany Fujimoto and Kendis Leeburg.
There is a problem in that Wahine basketball seating is all general admission and men's volleyball is all reserved seating.
UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida said one of the concerns is of basketball fans being uncooperative about moving when someone with a reserved seat for volleyball comes in.
Last Saturday's crowd notwithstanding, I don't see the Wahine drawing more than 2,000 this Saturday. I can't imagine that volleyball fans would mind sitting in open seats until the basketball game is done, not when it means they can get into the arena at their leisure and not wait for the gates to reopen at 8 p.m.
What the university might lose in the way of ticket revenue would more than be made up at the concession stands. Not to mention in goodwill.
Maybe it didn't have a name before, but the trick out-of-bounds play will surely be called "Alika" on the neighborhood courts now. What a play Rainbow guard Alika Smith made at the end of the first half of Saturday's game at Colorado State. WHAT A SHOT
After bouncing his pass off the okole of a Colorado State defender, Smith recycled the ball into a basket that proved critical down the stretch. The question is, did the Ram player get an assist?
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.
