Re: UAH Dog Days of Summer 2010: All By Myself....
I think the major complaint was in the re-prioritization. I know that some people were upset. There were also quite a number of no-shows.
GFM
We noted the lack of regulars from our sections as well, and we expect a number of them to be less than pleased for various reasons. We got basically our seats back as well, but they've added a row behind ours (removed the handicapped from our section) so I get to be kicked in the head this year.
The overall process had a couple of flaws in it (some of them mentioned already):
1.) No real clarification as to whom was prioritized in what order and the actual logic for it. Telling us to trust the system doesn't go over well. Several of our thirty year veterans were pushed to the second group, while we as 2nd year (but BLC members) moved to the third when we probably should have been closer to the end. Not that I terribly object to saving my seats, but if we're going to play 'fair' that's were we're at. I'm also not terribly enamored the idea of losing my seats because someone else has priority and will bump me, but then again I feel for those who lost entire sections they've sat in for years. Unfortunately the renovations aren't very drastic in the visual sense of knowing where you've sat for years, so it's a bit harder to swallow the "it's a new seat" thing.
2.) There were five color groups, Blue, White, Red, Gray, and Black. I never even heard gray or black called, though I saw the fewest name tags with those colors. At a certain point after red was called it seemed to move to a free for all, though the by that point most of the people remaining had resigned themselves to whatever fate lay in store for their seating.
3.) Too much uncertainty about which end was our attacking end. That should have been explained to everyone and more clearly. Turns out that it didn't change, but that was after everyone was told it would. A lot of confusion there. It didn't help that the board they were using to push pins into was backward from their placement in the arena.
4.) As mentioned we had an airport like boarding call crash at each point with a lot of people not working in a line. Even with the request for a line it never really formed. A pair of small velvet ropes would have been better suited to the formation. I agree that it should have included individual priority numbers. Several folks inquired as to why we didn't have a more technological system in place to do this, or multiple line points.
5.) Staff was not adequately briefed on what was going on. I established this by being one of the earliest there and not getting clear answers to how we were doing this.
So we've submitted for (along with full payment) our three seats this year. Two for us, and one for a friend/mother-in-law/etc. who wants to join us each game. The BLC also got our annual donation. Oh, and receipts would have been nice, but that might just be the accountant in me.
Push-pins??? Push-pins!!! I didn't do no stinkin' push-pins... Hope I got the seats I turned in??? I turned in my sheet and immediately left for a tournament game I was playing in...
