Editor’s Note: Marc McAfee will have a weekly column, “Marc my Words,” running every Wednesday for the remainder of the semester. Stay tuned.

Newsflash: When Athletic Director Damon Evans read Tuesday’s Red & Black headline that ticket packages had “sparked fury” on campus, he didn’t wipe the sweat off his brow and sprint straight over to Michael Adams’ house screaming, “What will we do?”

For one, he couldn’t. Adams still was representing our University to the Chinese Communists.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that Evans and the rest of the multi-million dollar machine that is the University Athletic Department couldn’t care less that you’re angry.

Please don’t act surprised – this happens every year.

Students getting stiffed by three-ticket packages know they will get half their tickets from the school, then the other half from a ticket scalping lab rat.

It’s not fair, it’s not nice, but the University is happy to let it get sorted out that way.

It knows the dedicated fans will fill the seats, using their own tickets or somebody else’s.

Am I wrong?

I don’t see any attempt to combat scalping. You’re telling me Evans is on Facebook keeping a close eye on his athletes, yet never finds the 6,000+ member ticket scalping groups? Groups full of people using their own names to demand $500 for a full package?

The fact of the matter is, the University is not so out of touch with reality that it doesn’t know how unfair or illogical its system is, and how much it will anger the students.

It made the conscious decision to anger us, knowing we could do very little about it but cry for a few days after the news broke, then forget about it until next year.

We all know why.

Everybody already heard it takes at least $10,000 from a donor to get a regular package.

Why would the University give up that much money from alumni for students’ $8 per ticket?

That’s why we had 24 hours to get tickets this year: the University’s trying to give out tickets to as few students as possible.

Should we write a few angry letters? Should we say we’re going to be tomorrow’s alumni, and promise not to donate money (therefore never go to a game) after we graduate?

I don’t think that holds much water, for several reasons.

First – we won’t stay that mad forever.

Second – we don’t have the right to ask for a full set for every student.

Here’s why: to get full sets, we have to turn out for every game.

We can’t give full sets to students too drunk to show up for the games, or students who don’t stay more than an hour.

When this happens, it leaves us no ground to complain.

I saw very few games with full student sections last year.

The better idea is to write the paper with an improved plan, one so good that Adams would have to comment on it. (Whenever he gets back.)

Look at other schools that give you points for attending different sporting events.

Stop giving tickets to the Redcoat Band.

Link every package with its ID number, so they can’t be scalped.

Scan and record the number of students in the stadium by the first quarter, then release the open seats to the public after that.

C’mon, anything.

We as the students are supposed to be the backbone that allows this University to keep standing.

If we are the ones getting stiffed in favor of the alumni, what message does that send? As Evans said in Monday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “kids are going to look at the big business of college athletics and demand more from it.”

You heard him, “kids,” now lets see what you’ve got.

- Marc McAfee is a senior from Kennesaw majoring in broadcast news.