ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: SPORTS MAILBAG
To Paul Torgersen, president of Virginia Tech:
Please just answer me this: Why, after at least four years of a consistent ticket policy has the athletic ticket office changed the way it distributes tickets for home basketball games? Do not tell me the policy always has been to randomly distribute tickets, as they have been distributed for most of the season; that simply is not true.
Up until this year and before the regular season was under way, the tickets had been distributed starting in the center of the coliseum and in the front row and worked up and out from there. Now, it seems once the Hokies have the team and the recognition they deserve, the students who were patient, faithful and devoted to them are being rewarded with second-rate seats in the corners and rafters.
Is it the Hokies' success that made the ticket office change its policy? Do they really think it is fair to have random distribution to a basketball game? In a 50,000-seat stadium, random seating is fair because no seat has much of an advantage over another. In a coliseum where the front seats have such a great advantage over other seats, why are the people who want to be there and be part of the game not given priority?
We are the fans who come out to every game, whether it is against the No.1 team or an exhibition. We clap and cheer and shout, not because Ace Custis has a dunk, but because we are there and we care.
How many times have players on the bench had to stand up late in the game and flap their arms to get the crowd to its feet? The team wants the crowd to be into the game. They want us to be loud. How do you expect us - the core fans - to spur the rest of the spectators into action if you spread us haphazardly all over the coliseum?
Countless other schools that respect their fans seat them in places where they know it will have an impact during a game. Duke, Xavier, George Washington, South Florida ... all these schools care about the fans. Why doesn't Tech?
The students pay thousands of dollars in tuition and then more for athletic fees. As paying customers of this school we deserve to be treated with more respect.
ANDY BERLETT
Blacksburg
More coverage of wrestling
I am writing to express my disappointment in the total lack of coverage for the Blue Ridge District championship in wrestling.
There were six area schools involved in this event, so it would seem to me that there would be enough local interest to warrant at least one small story.
I understand that football and basketball draw much larger crowds, thus deserving more coverage. And that is how it should be. However, you are doing a great disservice to the young men and the coaches involved in this exciting sport by essentially ignoring it.
I am a daily reader of your paper and an avid sports fan. For the most part, your coverage is very well-balanced. Perhaps in the future there will be room to include wrestling.
BONNIE GIARLA
Salem
It takes more than luck
As a fan of all the Chevrolet drivers in NASCAR's Winston Cup series, I wasn't surprised by Bob Zeller's opinions on Dale Earnhardt and the Daytona 500, since [Zeller] has shown his bias over the past several years.
I can agree on one thing: What Ken Schrader did (or better, didn't do) affected the outcome of the race. Since Schrader is a Chevy driver, and receives GM factory support through his team owner as Earnhardt does, a second-place finish or a win should have been more important than being ``tired of Earnhardt's success.''
As for what Zeller thinks of Mark Martin being ``jaded at Earnhardt's uncanny good luck at winning championships,'' I'm sure Martin, and every other driver, knows it took more than ``luck'' to win seven Winston Cup titles.
Is ``luck'' all it takes, or does that only apply when a driver's in a Chevy?
JEFF MEADOWS
Pembroke
Overcoming adversity
To Joyce Simmons (Roanoke), who commented on the article ``The High Price of Success.'' Shame on you! Just because a child is illegitimate should a parent not ``proudly display'' that child?
Apparently this young lady (Radford University's Patti Fisher) has had some adversity in her life, but has managed to pursue her education (which should help her in life to pursue a career to support herself and her child), and at the same time pursue her love for a sport.
Would you rather have this young lady and her child living on welfare and not trying to better herself through education so that she can lead a productive life? And what about the child? Are you going to shun that child because he/she is illegitimate? God loves us all, legitimate or not. Shame on you!
L. ANN OVERSTREET
Camp Springs, Md.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB