Tickets to this game are worth more than money

NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA The Greek Speaks

How much is your ticket worth to you? How much? Maybe $100 or $150 or $200 in cold cash - money you could use on important things like books, bread or beer? Think about it. What would it have taken for you to stay home alone today, with bedlam bombarding the Big House just blocks away?

For some, apparently, it didn't take much. If every person has a price, you'd still think it would've taken a lot for any University student to part with a ticket to today's game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State. Sadly, that's not the way it was.

You saw the signs plastered all over Angell Hall and the Union, outnumbering MSA election flyers in some places. "TWO TIX FOR SALE! GOOD SEATS!" Just a phone call, from the highest bidder, and the transaction was complete: a college student's soul traded away for a quick payday.

Anyone who sold their ticket to this game - for no reason other than making a personal profit - should withdraw from school. Now. Go home. Think of all the money you'd save by not paying tuition. Then, think of all the money you've wasted by paying tuition so long as you have, because you obviously haven't learned anything here.

Today's game will be the biggest this school has experienced in decades. The storied Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, which has been reduced to one team spoiling the other's season for too long, finally is back to what it once was. Two equal teams will be playing for pride, a trip to Pasadena and a chance to win the national championship.

But, in the end, today will be about much more than a game, though it is the game that fuels the magic. It was simple choice, really: Become one with 106,000 people laughing and cheering in splendid unison, or become one with yourself and $100 while sitting in the shallow stillness of your sofa.

For those who made the right choice, today will be what we came to Michigan for - or at least what we should have come here for. Michigan football isn't about touchdowns or even Big Ten championships. It's about the three hours we spend together each Saturday as one campus, in one place, fighting for the same thing, wearing the same colors, singing the same song. It's about being The Victors, together, at least for awhile.

During the week, everything is anti-this and anti-that. We fight about affirmative action, abortion, discrimination, gay rights, Native American rights and freedom. We scream and yell about who should win what election and what is going wrong with our world. And we should.

But on Saturdays, all that goes away. For three hours, it doesn't matter where you come from or where you're going. If you are dressed in blue, you belong. Conflict dissolves into a simple cheer: "GO BLUE!" And it feels good.

Football is as much a part of college as late-night pizzas and road trips and keg parties. Football is what you will remember in the years to come, when you and your friends sit around talking about painting your faces for the Notre Dame or Ohio State game instead of studying. Football is a memory-making machine.

We obviously felt that way in September, when we denounced the Athletic Department for providing some students with split-season ticket packages. The regents likely were to approve yesterday the expansion of Michigan Stadium by 5,000 seats to make sure that doesn't happen again. But now, a few of us don't seem to care.

Leaders and best? At this moment - as a collective student body - we aren't, and we don't deserve to go to the University or root for this football team. The only way to change that is to make sure that those who are attending today's game make up for those who aren't.

The administration is providing pom-pons to wave, and everyone is bringing a voice box. USE THEM BOTH. CONSTANTLY. Make this Quiet House the Loud House again. YELL. SCREAM. SHAKE YOUR KEYS. Make sure Michigan spirit is heard. SHOUT. CHEER. DO IT, PLEASE.

Make memories.

Now is not the time to act like the establishment we so often rebel against, putting finances before friends. Now is the time to be the idealistic youths we say we are, reveling in the one thing youth gives us: spirit. No matter what happens on the field today, what each student does will decide whether Michigan is the school of The Victors - or just another school.

What was your decision?

How much is your ticket worth to you? How much? If you were in a rush to enter the calculating real world, you took the money. But if you're still a college kid, and you still find value in pride and joy, you didn't.

You already knew your ticket was priceless. Now cheer, loudly, and tell everyone about it.

- Nicholas J. Cotsonika can be reached via e-mail at cotsonika@umich.edu

11-21-97