Taking tickets from the unruly mob

Andy Baggot provides food for thought (as he undoubtedly will for weeks and months to come) by bringing to light what appears to be a boneheaded move by the Wisconsin administration -- namely, linking the behavior of the users of student tickets to the ability of the student who purchased the ticket to use or purchase tickets in the future. That's a bit convoluted; what it appears to boil down to is as follows:

• If you, a student season ticket holder, are unruly during a sporting event, you will be barred from attending future events
• If you, a student season ticket holder, sell your ticket to an individual who is unruly during a sporting event, you, along with the individual in question, will be barred from attending future events
• The above does not actually apply, since there's no real way to track who did what when, unless of course you act up in line on the way to the venue

Let me get this straight: on Thursday afternoon, Starving Joe Student finds out he has the opportunity to go home for the weekend, where he can have exclusive use of a washing machine without a coin slot, a shower that functions by forcing pressurized water at a controllable temperature through a nozzle (as opposed to a glorified drip with unpredictable thermal output and, generally, the remnant of someone else's bad night out working its way between the toes), and food that requires neither a debit card nor a tungsten carbide-reinforced stomach lining. The problem is that he has to get rid of his football voucher before the family van pulls away from his dorm in less than 18 hours. Being the enterprising and impoverished individual he is, Starving Joe sells his voucher to the first person he finds who will pay him $10 over face value.

If that person is out of control during the game, this poor student could be just plain done with Badger Athletics for the remainder of his time at UW. How asinine.

But the whole idea appears to be doomed to failure, which is for the better. Good for the three student representatives on the Athletic Board who tried to vote the measure down.