This guest column appeared in the Maine Campus today, I thought it
might be of interest to some people.
 
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Hearing the voice
 
Penny Morton
Special to the Maine Campus
 
On Saturday night, I attended my first hockey game of the season,
expecting to have a good time heckling the other team, cheering on the
Black Bears and generally being obnoxious with my friends.
??Imagine my surprise when I found out that the aforementioned
activities are not only frowned upon but openly challenged by event
staff, fans and security.
??Upon arriving at the game, we were given tickets that placed us down
near the ice with fans composed mostly of families and away from most
students. This didn't bother me because we apparently didn't arrive in
time to get balcony seats, which was our own fault.
??What did strike me as a problem, however, was the fact that our idea
of a good time was not the same as the fans around us. Our yelling and
cheering was met with stares and complaints.
??A man sitting below us with his son became upset at the language that
one of my friends was using and voiced his complaint. At this time, I
was still unconcerned and believed that the man was right. We were
sitting with families and should have been respectful.
??We decided to steer our loud friend toward the balcony seats where we
thought being obnoxious was allowed.
??The crowd had thinned and there was plenty of room for us there among
all the Maine-iacs, but of course we had to slip past the militant
ushers checking tickets, like God himself gave them the jobs.
??We found ourselves behind some older fans, which surprised me because
I thought it was a student section. I was informed by another student
that some season-ticket holders didn't want to give up their seats, so
there really is no official student section.
??Fine with me, I thought. If they want to be up here with loud kids,
bully for them.
??What really pissed me off, though, was when the non student fans in
front of us began to get agitated at our antics. I don't go to a hockey
game to have someone shower me with dirty looks because I'm screaming.
It's a hockey game, people, not a round of golf.
??Then a man sitting in front of us took away my friend's water bottle
and refused to give it back unless we sat down. Excuse me? Who the hell
sits down at a college hockey game? We continued to stand, yell the
remainder of the game, to the man's distaste, I'm sure.
??Eventually my friend was kicked out of the Alfond for being too
obnoxious. (I wasn't aware that you could be too obnoxious at a hockey
game, but apparently you can.)
??We left the game a few minutes early to collect him from outside,
where we found him still screaming praise for the team, a die-hard fan
even in exile.
??Now, I understand that there is a certain level of rudeness even
hockey fans shouldn't achieve and that sneaking into a section where
you don't have tickets is wrong.
??I can already hear the nose-picking tattlers from grade school who
have grown into whining adults, so you guys just spare me.
??I can see the point of local fans who don't want to give up their
season tickets to allow the students their own section. They've had the
seats since who knows when, and why should they be nice about giving
them up?
??The way I see it, the university is bending over to the wrong people.
Why should these season-ticket holders get to pick where they want to
sit? I think it's great that people besides students attend the games,
but I think that they should come second to the students.
??This university supposedly exists for the students. But just where do
we lie in the list of priorities? We should have a hockey team because
we have students who love to play hockey, and students who love to
watch. Instead, we have college sports so the university can make a
buck.
??There's a problem when the outside patrons are fighting with the
students because seats are not segregated. There should be a designated
section for the students where they can be as rowdy as they please.
??In my mind, we need three sections: the luxury boxes where the
university can make cash off local rich people, the students in the
balcony and the sections behind the goalies and everyone else on the
sides.
??So, instead of making waves with the local yokels and giving the
students a section, which we should have had from day one, the powers
that be ignore the situation, and the locals keep the seats.
??I'm sure these fans pay a lot for their seats, but I imagine it can't
be nearly as much as the $8,000 I shell out a year, and as far as I'm
concerned, $8,000 should buy me one of the best seats in the house.