The Barometer Online

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: News

Media Credit: David LaChasse Countless tents have been stakeed outside Gill Coliseum since Sunday night as students wait for Civil War tickets that went on sale Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.

Tents began to leak, towels became soaked and Pita Pit wouldn't deliver.

With a flood warning until 4 a.m., rain poured down on the tents of students camped out in front of Gill Coliseum Monday night.

Inside the Wilson Hall tent, someone leaned over to a laptop to turn up the volume on a movie being shown - the rain was getting too loud.

"Miranda! We're over here!" shouted one member of the group, hitting the tent walls to signal a friend toward the tent. Visitors brought hot chocolate and encouragement for the long night - rather, nights - ahead.

Although Civil War tickets were not handed out until Wednesday at 7 a.m., some die-hard fans started standing in line not on Tuesday night, or even Monday night, but Sunday night for front-row tickets.

As of 11:45 p.m. Monday, 14 tents had been pitched in front of Gill Coliseum. By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the line had wrapped around the side of the building.

"I came right at 6 (p.m. Sunday)," said Tom Cutsforth, a junior in business and the first person in line.

Unfortunately, Cutsforth's group from Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Gamma Delta couldn't set up camp yet because the basketball game was still going on. But by 9 p.m. they were back to set up their tent, being quickly followed by two other groups­, one from Wilson Hall and another representing the co-ops. By this time it was only 11 p.m. Sunday.

The groups soon discovered they were not allowed to set up tents until 6 p.m. Tuesday. But after authorities met Monday morning, rules were changed, and "Tent City" was born.

Two years ago, students camped out for the Civil War game, but that event paled in comparison to the ticket competition that has taken place this year.

"Two years ago, we came out here the night before at 11 p.m., and we were right at the base of the stairs," said Nick Kirkwood, MBA graduate student and member of the Wilson Hall campsite.

"This year, we came three days early because we it was more intense to get tickets," he said.

"There's been a group of guys from our house every time," said Cutsforth, who has camped out for tickets for every home game since Fall 2005.

"We just wanted front row tickets every single game," said Mark Holman, a sophomore in business and member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon camp.

While this group has experience with waiting in line for tickets, the rain has thrown everyone a few challenges.

"Don't camp out in the rain," recommended Amanda Murphy, a sophomore in interior design and part of the Wilson Hall group.

"It gets really hot in a tent. When you think it's going to be cold, it's gross and muggy," she said. "There's just so many bodies, it just gets really humid really fast. And everything is wet, so it just gets really sticky."

"Towels are a must, as well as entertainment," she said, "because you're going to be there for a while."

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