Monday Quick Hits: Maize Rage Rapidly Expanding

By Sean · Monday, June 29, 2009 · 1:11 PM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

• The latest number of sold student season-tickets for next basketball season is 2,076. That is just amazing considering less than 500 tickets were sold last season. I guess it just goes to show what an effect a winning season can have, especially when that winning season came after the football team struggled so much. It also shows the effect that putting an option to buy basketball tickets on the football application had as well. I’m sure quite a few of the new season-ticket holders decided that for only $99, it was more than worth it to add basketball tickets to their list of purchases when buying them for football.

  Since most games next season (aside from the couple premium ones) are going to be first-come, first-served, getting to Crisler early will be very important. That will only add to the atmosphere, but it will also be necessary if students want to sit in the bleachers. I don’t know where they will find room for 2,000 students, but based on the current size of the bleachers, the vast majority of those 2,000 will be stuck sitting behind the band or in the upper deck. Of course, not every season-ticket holder will go to every single game, but even smaller crowds will be much larger than usual.

  If the team can sustain its success from last season and keep interest in the program up on a consistent basis, it would not surprise me if the bleachers were expanded in the near future. It’ll take consistency both from the team and in the sales department, but assuming demand remains high, the bleachers will someday begin to expand around the lower bowl. The dream would be to have them go around the entire lower bowl (similar to the Izzone’s setup), but I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself at this point.

• Two of Michigan’s 2009 hockey recruits were second-round picks at the NHL Draft on Saturday. A 2010 recruit was selected in the third round, showing off just how talented some of these incoming players are. I just hope they all make it to Ann Arbor, as professional hockey will be calling for some.
• The bleachers in Yost Arena will probably be replaced next summer, just in time for the start of the 2010-11 season. This probably won’t be too noticeable of an improvement to many, but it’s very necessary. The bleachers, at least in the student section, are in fairly rough shape. Part of the reason for that is because many times students stand on them during games, but even then, they probably shouldn’t rock back and forth when there are students on them. It’s only a matter of time until a row breaks and causes some injuries.
• There is no beef between Braylon Edwards and Rich Rodriguez anymore. Last summer Edwards went on the radio and complained about how Rodriguez gave the No. 1 jersey to a freshman defensive back. The problem was that Rodriguez wasn’t made aware of the scholarship that Edwards endowed for the No. 1 jersey, nor the tradition behind it. Once he found out about the whole concept of the No. 1 jersey, no players were assigned it and whatever problem there was with him and Edwards was squashed.
• Michigan came in fifth in the final Directors’ Cup standings.