Claiming seat in student section

L

Lincoln

100+ Posts
I'm in a seating group this season with three other people, about 40 yard line, 5 or 10 rows up. Pretty good seats. We ran into some trouble trying to claim our seats at the BYU game this past weekend. I'm kind of wondering what the consensus is on whether we handled this correctly...

Long story short, we were late for the game (there was a loose dog about to get run over on 24th street on the walk to the stadium that we helped take care of) and we missed the majority of the 1st quarter. We eventually got to our seats and told the people in them to move over or they left or something, no big deal. At halftime, we wanted to go over to the alumni center for a drink or two before coming back. That took a lot longer than we had intended and we ended just staying the whole third quarter to hopefully minimize the minutes we missed (There are TVs playing the game everywhere, and we were rallying so I didn't want to miss stuff on the walk back).

Upon coming back in the four quarter, the section had gotten even more crowded, understandably, and sitting down there there is never any spare space to stand anyways. So once again we had to kick some people out of our seats, only this time this girl was a lot more resistant. My girlfriend told her that these were our seats and asked her if she would move down or back to her seats or something and she said "No". Unfortunately, my girlfriend slipped out a "Listen *****, ..." by accident and I think that made this girl even more mad. (My girlfriend immediately apologized, for what it's worth. It was actually an accident, haha). After a little more resistance, the girl eventually moved, but only after claiming that she had been there the whole game (not true) and not before sarcastically stating "yeah, only real fans come in the 4th quarter...".

Needless to say that made me pretty mad, but I'm about as anti-confrontational as they come, so I didn't say anything (I even tried standing in the aisle, but the neon shirts wouldn't let me).

I've gone to the games as a student for 4 years, I know what it's like. You just kinda go to your section and stand as close as possible and hope whoever's seat your in is somewhere better or doesn't show up. And if they do show up, you just scoot down and stand as sideways as possible before actually moving. Surprisingly enough, I haven't had to deal with this yet. I am in no way attached to the seats we have, but there wasn't spare area anywhere around our actual seats, so we had to, right? I just kind of got the impression that some people around us thought we were the bad guys, though, which I didn't really understand. (You can hear the murmurs of girls talking to their friend, and the guy next to me asked me "You all good now?" or something when we were finally able to stand. He said it as if he was annoyed, but that might have been my memory exaggerating it)

Should we have done something differently??
 
You paid for the seats so you have the right to occupy them or not as you see fit. Just show your ticket to anyone in your seat and tell them "you're in my seat". If they don't move then say "please move". If that doesn't work say "Please GTFO!". The next step is to get stadium staff involved.
 
The seats are yours to use or not use as you see fit.

What I don't understand is why you bothered to leave your house to go to the game.
 
"Come early, Be loud, Stay in your seats, Leave late, Wear Burnt Orange" Hasn't failed for me in 25 years. Sounds like the game is more of a social event for you. Treat it differently and you'll never have the issues you did.
 
A new service offered by UT Athletics and official corporate sponsor AT&T allows Texas Football fans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to reach stadium service staff through a simple text message. By texting UTFAN to 51234, patrons may report a seat problem, security issue, health concern, or fan disturbances/disruptions.

I've never used the service but very interested how well it works. Has anyone else tried this?
 
If you were in any other part of the stadium, I would tell you to kick them out of your seats.

However, in the student section (especially that close to the field and the opposing bench),
yelling and screaming at/near the opposition is the priority. If you're getting a drink at the
alumni center and you just can't get off your *** to make it back to the stadium, then you lose.
Find some other seats, even if you have to go 40 rows up. The guy (who had probably been
there the whole game) was annoyed with you. If you show up in the 4th quarter, you take
whatever is left.
 
While in your world you were right, in the fan world, way out of line. It is one thing to be late, but to go to the Alumni center at halftime from the east side with intentions on getting back in time, no way, you are not a fan, give up your tickets and transfer to another school immediately.

One member of our group(10) goes to the Alumni Center with 2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter buys everyone two beers, we slam them and are back in our seats for 2nd half kick and we are on the west side. You have no chance of making it back in time for the 2nd half kick.
 
Yeah, if you think you can miss half the game in the student section, call someone a ***** and have them politely comply with you asking to move, I've got some ocean front property to sell you.

I've been graduated a few years now, but what ever happened to getting drunk enough before the game to make it last until after the game?
 
They're your seats so you certainly have the right to claim them - 1st quarter or 4th.

But you know how they roll in the student section. My daughter sits with me in my seats but against BYU I invited a nephew so she had to use her student tix. I encouraged her to sit by her buddies and not worry so much about her assigned seat. She decided to avoid any potential problems so just sat in her seat.
She would have just respectfully moved out of the seat if she had chosen to sit in another seat.

The chic you asked to move shouldn't have been rude - she knows she sits there at her own peril - but the fact that you are taking to this board to ask the question tells me you're not really surprised that this happened.
 
Technically they're your seats and you have a right to sit (stand) in them, but come on dude you said you've been going for 4 years right? You should know by now how the student section works. Get there early get close to your assigned seat and stay there. If you go to the alumni center for a drink at half time get your *** back before the second half starts and people will be much more accommodating. Chances are half the section is pretty drunk as it is which definitely doesn't help with manners in the first place.
 
I would add this caveat. There definitely needs to be a sort of 'plus or minus' to where you are sitting and where you seats are. I remember distinctly one incident at a packed game at DKR where our ticketed seats were like one row up from where we were sitting, which isn't all that abnormal since when the game starts everybody stands up on the row in front of them. So halfway through the 2nd quarter this group shows up with the actual tickets to the seats we were standing in and this b**** starts yelling and complaining, and we told her 'look, the people behind us are in our seats, and the people behind them are in their seats, and on and on.' we can't force 30 rows of people back, get here on time, claim your seat or at a minimum a seat within +or- a row or two and stay in your seat til the games over.

personally, in the student section, get there on time or at a minimum first 5 minutes of 1st quarter, or find somewhere else to sit. asking for your seat back in the 4th quarter is just plain ludicrous. any group of open seats in the 4th quarter should be assumed to be vacant and are up for grabs. end of story
 
squatters need to understand that the ticket holder has the right to claim their seats. very simple really.
 
For the most part I agree with your second paragraph. I was always on time when I was going to school. I just graduated last year (ECE '10. Got myself a good software engineering job in Houston. What starts at Texas changed me for the best... or something.
hookem.gif
) My girlfriend is graduating this fall so I was able to buy her guest past for $400.

I also just became a life member of TexasExes, so I thought we would go get a drink at halftime... (Okay, I admit, we were a little intoxicated in the first place, it sounded like a good idea to go get "refilled") It just took longer than I thought it would. We hadn't tried it before...

Also, this guy that was there that I thought was annoyed with me was NOT there when we left at halftime, just FYI. He had moved into our seats afterwards.

I'm just not going to waste my time walking 40 rows up to find an empty seat. Maybe we just shouldn't have ask and just squeezed in. If someone said something, just show them the ticket.

My bad, chick that got pissed off at us. This is my formal apology, but it's only kind of sincere. I tried to stand in the aisle, but the usher told me I couldn't!
 
Frankly, I just never really understood those who leave to go the Alumni center during the game.

Doesn't anyone just carry a flask anymore? Or am I the only one?

wink.gif
 
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