My Take on Today's Ticket News

In case you're not on the e-mail list...and haven't wanted to, or had the chance to read other Purdue outlets, Burke and the athletic department have decided to add a mandatory donation to all of the good seats in Ross-Ade Stadium.

Burke noted on GBI that he's heard loud and clear that he's been too cheap...and now says it's time to pony up so Purdue can compete.

I'm glad that he got the message...but it took nearly losing Matt Painter after underpaying he and his staff, and paying bargain basement salaries for the entire football staff before he understood...but I kinda think he still doesn't quite get it; nor does the athletic department.

I can only speak from my own perspective- Not only am I cheap by nature, but also my money is tight.  Having two young kids and running not one, but two businesses which are struggling, affects all of my opinions and financial decisions.

I sat in section 119 from 2000 until 2008.  My son (LBD) was two, when my wife and I, along with much of our family, decided to stop buying season football tickets.  The next year, I spent my money on basketball tickets and a few football tickets for me and my family.  That's continued until recently, when I've had multiple people offer me tickets to various games; which my family and I have appreciated a ton.

So an additional fee per seat in between the 30 yard lines really doesn't affect a person like me directly...but I still don't like the thinking...and think the timing is poor.

The Boiler fans that I know best have had a similar change in their spending during the last few years.  I think almost everyone has been affected by the economy and has been forced to re-assess how they spend their entertainment dollar.  For me and those closest to me, spending a ton of money for a day in which I left the stadium disgruntled was a waste...a waste of time and money.  But I kept going at a more-regular rate than many of those around me. In fact, I've actually found out that it's been difficult to give tickets away...let alone ask someone to buy some with me.

I think I'd be classified as dead-center middle class American, financially.  I feel blessed to live in the neighborhood that I do and to do what I do for a living...but money is perpetually tighter for me than I'd like it to be.  When Painter's contract was re-negotiated, I responded by giving money to the JPC and buying two 1/3 season tickets (while splitting them with two friends).  The cost of Painter's salary was worthwhile because we knew what we were getting and felt and still feel that he belongs at Purdue...and the staff around him needs to be the guys he wants/needs courtside.

Painter had just come off of one of the most-consistent five year stretches in the history of Purdue basketball...those teams averaged 25 wins/season and were generally near the top of the conference.  Painter earned the raise.

As much as I like Darrell Hazell as a hire along with his assistant coaches, this situation is not the same.  Purdue's season ticket woes will be solved by winning...plain and simple.  When Tiller won with regularity, beat good teams and was competing game-in, game-out, Purdue fans responded by buying tickets and showing up on campus.  When Purdue's football team was getting hammered by the upper third of the conference (except aOSU, for some reason) and wetting itself versus good non-con opponents, Purdue fans reacted in kind as well.

Purdue fans, for better or worse, are pragmatic and logical...and I'd bet that many right now are thinking, "I'm rooting for these guys to succeed, hoping for it...but want to see proof."

I'll speak personally again for a moment.

In 2000, I had just moved back from the East coast.  Right away, it was priority for me to get season tickets...so my brother and I each bought them and had one rotating seat for a guest.  The next year, the rotating seat went away as we got a block of four seats.  The year after that, we had a block of six seats and the year after that, our family had eight seats together.  In 2008, I stopped getting season tickets as did my brother and his wife...in 2010, none of my family had full-season tickets.

Sure, coming back for two or three games a season isn't a killer financially for two tickets...but it stings for three or four; And doing that while dragging small kids and a wife as Purdue gets beaten up isn't much of a fun day...and isn't a gratifying way for me to spend the money.  So LBD and I get to a few games generally, my wife and daughter will go to one additionally and one of my pals is kind enough to get me tickets to a few more. I thank God I get to go to these games without having to calculate if I wasted too much on a Saturday.

But if I was spending $375, $500 or more per ticket for a season, I'd probably be pausing right now...even if a third of the cost was tax deductible.

I know I'm going to catch hell for this post...I've read the message boards and twitter, and many Purdue fans are piling on other Purdue fans for having a similar opinion, but I am what I am.  If you want to call me a fair weather fan because I don't think it makes a ton of sense to ask the biggest, most consistent supporters of the program to foot the bill for Burke's wasted four year experiment with Hope, fine.  If you want to compare Purdue's newly-installed fee with other schools like aOSU, UM, Nebraska, PSU and Wisconsin, OK...I still don't think the comparison makes much sense.

Burke, who is a smart guy by the way (no, I'm not being sarcastic), thinks this is the right way to go...I hope he's right. If he's wrong, he'll fade into retirement and let his successor pick up the pieces of losing long-time season ticket holders or deal with the drop in revenue of many downgrading their seats. If he's right and people are OK with this fee AND Hazell wins quickly, he'll look like a genius and Purdue historians will judge him very well.

The thing I don't get about the math is this: A big chunk of the ever-rising BTN TV revenue has obviously been going to renovations to Mackey and Painter's overall staff raise.  But, Burke assured fans that there was a war chest that had been raised to help pay for Hope's exit and Hazell's entry...it sure doesn't feel like that war chest was anything more than scraping the last few dollars out of the Athletic Department's savings...and hoping that this additional fee will be broadly accepted.  Sure, Purdue's revenue stream from football has been shrinking yearly; we've been talking about this for two years.  But, the university at large takes one of, if not the highest percentage, of TV revenues from the athletic department in the conference...and still expects the athletic department to compete-  So perhaps the blame for this decision lands squarely on the Board of Trustees for distributing a disproportionate amount of athletic revenue out of the that department.

Everyone's feeling the pinch in this economy...and if you don't believe in trickle down economics, talk for a few minutes to someone who owns or manages a restaurant near Ross-Ade; I did quite a bit this fall. Purdue's awful showings versus Michigan and Wisconsin led to an empty Ross-Ade stadium and little traffic to commerce around the stadium in subsequent games.  A demoralized fanbase bought fewer Ricardo Allen jerseys and fewer Duane Purvis burgers before and after the games...so if Hazell's rebuilding process isn't quick and promising, the athletic department's gamble could affect every business near the stadium adversely...yet again.

I think Hazell's the right guy for the job...and unlike J, I think he'll win after a season or so of changing the low-accountability and lower expectation culture within the program right now (J expects big things this fall, for the record).

As I often say here, I hope I'm wrong- I hope Burke's decision turns out to be very good...I hope J's prediction of 8 wins in 2013 is right on, or even a little low...and I hope me, my friends and family are all but forced to get a big block of season tickets once again in the very near future because the product on the field is undeniably-good.

Tournament Action at Mackey ... Wait, What?

It's true. After today's mugging by Xavier, the men face Lamar on Tuesday and then disappear for a couple of weeks. While they're gone, coach Dave Shondell and the women's volleyball team will be hosting regional action at Mackey on the 7th and 8th – literally. This weekend, 2011 Big Ten Player of the Year Ariel Turner led the Boilers to a sweep of Colorado State and a five-set win over host Florida State, meaning that Purdue will be playing on their sort-of-home court next weekend. (Like most non-revenue sports, the women's volleyball tournament is played at campus sites in the first two rounds; the top 16 teams are seeded and host first- and second-round matches.)

Purdue will be facing 8th-seeded Minnesota in one match while top-seeded Penn State faces 16th-seed Kentucky in the other; the Wildcats held off Ohio State to prevent an all-Big Ten regional. (Unlike men's basketball, there's no effort to keep conference teams from meeting prior to regional finals.) The Boilers and Gophers met just once this season – women's volleyball plays 20 conference matches, with each team playing nine schools twice and two schools once – with Minnesota prevailing in Minneapolis in four sets. Penn State beat Purdue in both meetings, a sweep at Penn State and a four-set win in Holloway Gymnasium Mackey Arena. Purdue and Kentucky did not meet this season. (Non-conference play is a little different in volleyball: rather than one-off matches, teams tend to play four-team round-robin events to reduce travel costs. Purdue did not play any SEC teams this season.)

Turner demonstrating moment of force

In addition to being the conference Player of the Year, Turner was also a first-team All-American in 2011, as well as a second-team Academic All-American. (Ariel's major is mechanical engineering ... no small feat to manage those grades and also be an outstanding varsity athlete.) An all-around player, the senior outside hitter leads the Boilers in kills (nearly 500 in regular-season play; sophomore Kiki Jones is next with 214) and is second in digs and aces behind redshirt junior Carly Cramer.

Drews turning a ball into a laser,

with her off hand, no less

The other regular starters are middle blocker Jones, redshirt junior setter Rachel Davis (averaging more than 9 assists per set), and senior middle blocker Anna Drewry. Cramer, the libero (defensive position: can sub in for anyone without reporting, cannot attack, can only serve at one spot in the rotation), missed only two matches this season, but one of them was the result of picking up a concussion during the home match against Nebraska (more on that below). Additional players who also cracked the starting lineup in double figures are redshirt senior Amanda Miller and junior Hilliary Fox, both defensive specialists, and 6' 4" freshman outside hitter Annie Drews

Those unfamiliar with volleyball or the team will nonetheless recognize characteristics of this team: solid road performances (wins over tournament teams Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, plus the second-round win over Florida State), close matches against solid teams (the two four-set losses mentioned above), and puzzling losses (to conference bottom-dwellers Indiana and Iowa).

The latter loss was particularly odd: the Hawkeyes were just 2-18 in Big Ten play, but one of those wins was a 3-0 sweep of Purdue on October 6. Cramer went down in the middle of the previous day's match against Nebraska (who's advanced to the regionals as well; they'll be playing in Omaha) and was unable to play against Iowa. From the way the Boilers played, you'd have thought they were the last-place team ... as important as Turner is to the team, Cramer is equally important, and it was pretty clear that Saturday. Much as the men's basketball team looked after Hummel's first injury, the volleyball team looked without Cramer: poor play, lack of communication, general listlessness.

Hopefully the Boilers will avoid a similar fate this coming weekend. Their best chance at a Final Four appearance ended two years ago in a similar fashion: after the 16th-seeded Boilers swept top seed Florida, in the first set of their match against 9th-seed and host Texas, senior setter Jaclyn Hart went down with an injury and did not return. Purdue won the set, but did not win another, and lost 3 sets to 1 in their only Elite Eight appearance.

Either way, Shondell has the team primed for another run next year. The only other senior is defensive specialist Courtney Gosewisch; with fourteen returning players, Purdue should be ready to contend again in 2013. The Big Ten may be the toughest conference in volleyball – five of the last six titles were won by Penn State and Nebraska, and Illinois was last year's runner-up; seven Big Ten teams made the tournament, six made the regionals, knocking off seeded hosts Louisville, UCLA, and Florida State in the process – but the Boilers should be able to hold their own again. In the meantime, check out this year's squad Friday and Saturday in Mackey Arena (not nearly as loud as Holloway for volleyball, unfortunately). Upper-level all-session tickets are just $12 ... a definite bonus to following a non-revenue sport is that it's much, much cheaper than men's basketball or football.

More attractive than Brad (no

relation), to most of us, anyway

No, seriously, check them out. I never went to see them play when I was a student ... and watching those athletic women in tight uniforms now, I realize that I was an idiot. (Hey, at least the liberos would have been about my height ...) They're good, they're well-coached, and they'll provide a weekend of entertainment before Painter's men return to face Ball State on the 18th. And who knows? You might even see another Purdue team make a Final Four.