Fan behavior needs improvement

It seems like just yesterday that I was watching Texas knock off Southern California in the Rose Bowl, and now a new season starts tomorrow. The first weekend provides extra excitement as fans of all 119 Division 1-A schools have a theoretical shot at playing in Glendale, Ariz. for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship game on January 8, 2006.

Tech opens its 114th season of play on Saturday against No. 2 Notre Dame. The game will be televised to a national audience on ABC; the Jackets are not unfamiliar with playing on such a grand stage.

The Jackets opened in a prime time game last year as Tech upset Auburn 23-14 at Jordan Hare to end the Tigers 15-game unbeaten streak. Later in the year, they defeated the No. 3 ranked Miami Hurricanes 14-10 in the Orange Bowl.

Unfortunately, several Tech students have decided that they would rather make a buck off of the game instead of attending themselves. The decision to scalp tickets is a violation of state law as well as potentially being a violation of the Georgia Tech Honor Code.

The tickets that were given out by the Athletic Association ticket office were in exchange for vouchers. Part of the $65 mandatory Athletic Fee that students pay goes towards getting into sporting events at no additional charge. Over the course of a football season alone, that is less than $10 a ticket.

That athletic fee allows students to attend all varsity home sporting events without paying for admission. In the fall, Tech students have the opportunity to attend 18 volleyball matches, 10 men's basketball and eight women's basketball games for that same $65. With a total of 45 home games between the five sports, face value of the vouchers drops to less than $1.50.

These students blatantly ripped off fellow students who wanted to go to the game in order to make a buck. These same students should feel fortunate that they are able to get access to so many events at such a small monetary cost. Just like for the Auburn game in 2003, I have full faith that the proper authorities will hold the individuals responsible for keeping several diehard Tech fans out of the game accountable for their actions.

I hope the students and fans lucky enough to get into the game will act with class no matter the outcome on the scoreboard. I would love to see every fan supporting the players, the coaching staff and the Institute all night Saturday.

The glorification of the Tech student body throwing fish and other debris at Notre Dame players in the 1978 game by a few local and national media outlets make me concerned about the possibility of a repeat incident. Tech and Notre Dame have played four times since that afternoon without incident.

However, if something does happen, I can only hope that the security on hand will be adequate to identify and remove all of the individuals caught from the stadium.

The national audience has brought the game to primetime, and the ESPN Game Day crew will be in attendance. This will extend the pre-game festivities as Tech is asking students and fans to be at Yellow Jacket Park at 8:30 a.m. for Game Day. With the show lasting until noon, there will be plenty of time for students and fans to consume plenty of alcohol throughout the day.

I hope that everyone who is tailgating will be aware of their limits as well as the need to stay hydrated while out in the hot Georgia sun. Spending the night in an Atlanta hospital because of dehydration or alcohol poisoning will put a damper on all the excitement surrounding this weekend for the victim and friends or family of the individual who might be in attendance.

A new tradition that I have come to despise has been the idea that fans jingling their keys is a cool way to taunt an opponent after the fans think their team has won the game. I hated the chant when I first saw it, and I hated it even more after the Thursday night game against Virginia Tech in 2004.

Tech was up 20-12 with about seven minutes left in the game. At that point, the fans who were surrounding me in the south end zone decided to pull their keys out to taunt the Hokies. Virginia Tech proceeded to score three touchdowns in the final six minutes to beat Tech 34-20.

My last pet peeve comes from a chant heard any time an upset is about to happen in any sport. Most fans have participated in the "overrated" chant at one point or another. To me this is one of the worst things you can do at a game. If anything you should be chanting "underrated," as the team who won should have been rated higher than they actually were. Not only is this chant degrading to the opponent, but it also lessens the accomplishments of your team.

I can only hope that if Reggie Ball is taking a few kneel downs in the final seconds of the game that Tech fans will act with class and not degrade our guests.