Are You ready for Hawai'i 2006, Part Two on Saturday?

As it has been documented since July, and should be well known by now through countless e-mails, the number of gates available to students for Saturday's home opener at Bryant-Denny Stadium has gone from six to one.

The reason, of course, is because of the new expansion in the South end zone of the stadium that is set to open next fall and raise Bryant-Denny's capacity over 100,000 fans.

Yes, it is a good thing that the stadium is expanding. Along with more seats for season ticket holders, there will also be expanded seating for the students as well as a means for encompassing all sound within the walls of Bryant-Denny to make it an even more difficult stadium to play inside.

Here is the problem, though: the student section size has not decreased from last year, but the number of gates has.

There are still going to be 15,000 students trying to get into the game through one gate, and there is no doubt this will cause a problem that has been seen before.

I take you back to my first game as a student: Alabama vs. Hawaii, September 2nd, 2006. The first game with the newly expanded North end zone and the first game in which card readers are to be used at the student gates.

This game alone was the reason as to why gates now open two and a half hours before game time. At this time, there were only two hours for students to enter.

The University had said that test runs were positive and that there should be no problems...except there were.

Readers failed, lines backed up, and before you knew it, at least 2,000 students missed a bulk of the first quarter and many more missed kick off. Lines were back to the graveyard on Bryant Drive at every gate and were moving at half the speed of snail.

Of course, the changes were made and everything went smoothly from then on out.

Now, here we are again with the University saying that everything should run smoothly Saturday, but lets take a look into what they are expecting to happen.

The University expects there to be a line when gates open two and a half hours to kickoff. They also expect you to wait in line anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.

In 150 minutes, the University expects to move roughly 14,000 students through one gate with eight card readers. Let me do this math for you.

14,000 students, divided by eight card readers equals 1,750 students per reader.

Those 1,750 students divided by 2.5 hours equals approximately 700 students per hour are expected to pass through each reader.

Seven hundred students per hour boils down to 11.6666..... per minute, meaning one student every five seconds will enter the stadium from each reader.

Anyone who has been to an Alabama football game as a student knows this is not fathomable.

So, where is the SGA in helping getting the students more gates as to where they will be able to get to see the game at a school where football is king? They are in compliance with the University.

The SGA actually had a meeting tonight at six to discuss any questions you may have about the procedure.

Didn't know about it? Well they tweeted about it, so how could you not. It's not like they didn't put an ad in the Crimson White. Oh, wait, they DID NOT put an ad in the Crimson White.

This shouldn't surprise anyone considering this is the same organization who's president promised the campus to be fully wireless in 2007 or said we would have ticket stubs for students who want them when we went to paperless tickets in 2008.

All I can say is I struggle to get Internet consistently when trying to broadcast Alabama Soccer by the Rec Center and I have no documentation that I witnessed Alabama destroy Auburn last November. Thanks, R.B. and Cason, you did oh so well.

So, Steven Oliver, I ask of you, when this system fails on Saturday, please meet with the University and get the students a second gate. It can't be that hard to do with your power.

*****************************UPDATE*******************************

After posting this blog, and my subsequent rant on Rock and Jock last night, I have been informed nicely by two SGA members that the issue has been taken up with the University and that the Athletic Department will not listen to the SGA about potential problems this system may have on Saturday. The Athletic Department fully believes in this system and will not change it unless they view it as absolutely necessary. I would like to apologize to the SGA for my comments above and thank them for their attempt to resolve the manner with the University. Hopefully there can be a better system put in place by Arkansas.