I have something to get off of my chest. I really don't like to begin the week whining.
Stop.
I didn't say I don't ever like to whine. I said I don't want to start the week whining.
But that is all irrelevant. I am whining.
Saturday we went to the Arkansas vs. Alabama game.
The King and I are both alumni of the University of Arkansas. We don't make every game, but we try to go to a few each season.
Let me give you a little background on this game.
(And prepare yourselves. This might be long. I know...Shocking.)
My dad asked if we would go to this particular game with him, his wife and her son. He offered to buy the tickets so that we could all sit together.
He bought his tickets online at StubHub. He bought tickets for the Club Seating area, which is indoor seating. It is like one jumbo suite for hundreds of fans.
When he came to pick us up on Saturday, he pulled out the tickets and noticed that they were different than what he thought he ordered.
We blamed his age.
We headed to the campus, where we parked 32 miles from the stadium. We hiked up the hill.
When we go to the stadium, we looked to see what gate we were to enter. It was the elevator gate. Which seemed a little fancy, but I was going with it.
I was a bit perplexed when the coach's wife got on the elevator with us.
But what do I know?
So we followed the signs to our seats and ended up outside a really nice suite.
And were met at the door by a really grouchy lady.
She said, "Did you buy your tickets online?
When we said yes, she directed us away from the door.
To the police.
Apparently, the tickets that dad had purchased were stolen.
Not by dad, of course. By the jerk that sold them on StubHub.
The jerk(s) stole 500 tickets to the chancellor's box and sold them on the internet. Not all of the stolen tickets were for this game, obviously. They were for games throughout the season.
Dad had to fill out a police report. Then a pre-pubescent usher was called to escort us to "our seats".
We had a police escort through the suite area. Like we might go crazy and take somebody's suite as our own.
After all, we are dangerous and evil internet ticket purchasers.
I even saw an old friend sitting outside a suite and tried to stop and say hi, but was quickly reprimanded by the escort. (Hi, Cara!! We'll talk soon!)
Once we were safely out of the suite area, the escort asked if we were ok with stairs.
In hindsight, that should have been a red flag. Let it be a warning to you.
We were then given yellow tags that said, "UPPER STUDENT SECTION".
That should have been another red flag.
We walked up 10 flights of stairs.
And that is no exaggeration. I may or may not have been exaggerating about the 32 mile hike, but I am speaking the truth about the 10 flights. I had to stop and rest after 8.
I even missed the jet flyover, which is SO my favorite part, while I was on flight 6.
As we came out of the darkness, let me show you our view...
...and we hadn't even climbed to our seats yet.
It is probably a good thing that we missed the jets. They might have knocked us over.
(Speaking of missing things...let's add THE KICKOFF to that list.)
Did I mention that we were in the student section overflow?
On wooden bleachers.
Which would only hold one of my cheeks.
I had to sit sideways.
We had to relocate once because the students' language was so foul.
(I'd like to take this opportunity to say how happy I am that I am no longer in college.)
We could not even see one end zone.
Which didn't matter too much, since the Hogs were never in it.
The fact that it was the worst game in the history of college football only added to the joy of the day.
We did call StubHub as soon as the game was over. They were very professional and assured dad that he would receive a complete refund.
However. I am totally hacked at the U of A.
First of all, my dad paid a lot of money for the tickets. They were legitimate tickets. There is a disclosure on the athletic department's website that says "Not Responsible For Lost or Stolen Tickets".
Which, to me, means whomever ends up with the tickets gets to sit in the seat.
If it had been any other seat in the stadium, we would have been allowed to sit. Because they belonged to the chancellor, we were booted like thugs.
If my tickets had been stolen, I am pretty sure I would have been out of luck.
I don't know the chancellor. I don't know if he knew how we were being treated or not.
But I do know that we were in no way at fault. We legally bought tickets that belonged to the U of A and were somehow stolen.
And we were hauled off to the cheapest seats in the stadium.
I don't mean that I would have wanted to sit in the chancellor's suite...but I would think that seats comparable to what dad had paid for would have been appropriate.
There were 2 other young men that were in the same situation. They told us that this was the first time they had been to a Razorback game. They purchased great tickets--which were not cheap--to come to the game.
And they ended up on the wooden bleachers.
Props to StubHub for handling the situation professionally.
Boo to the U of A for handling the situation very poorly.
They showed a lack of respect and lack of concern for their alumni and fans.
The King is writing a letter to the chancellor.
We took a picture of our group in the cheap seats to send with his letter.
Note our happy faces.
And how many rows are above us.
Oh...that's right. THERE WERE NO ROWS ABOVE US.
I should also point out that because we were planning on the indoor seating, we had no sunblock.
The back of The Princess' neck was fried.
The King's head was, in his words, "cooked like a chicken".
And did I mention we had to sit on 3 inches of wood?
My bum will never be the same.
I will be back tomorrow, full of peace and pleasantries.
