Thursday, April 28, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

STEP UPDATE - 4/22

According to Christopher, here are the numbers as of 4pm on 4/21.  Is that the last day of downgrading?

If so, I hope they have a looooong waiting list for seats, because there is still about 11% of the total stadium capacity available (12,277 seats.)  The majority, 83%, are in the $400 plus levels.

For the non-marquee games, you are going to see a lot of empty seats in what used to be the senior and junior sections (esp. the upper level).  Of course, they hardly ever filled completely for those games anyway, but at least the students had paid for those seats.  Now you will have single game empty seats that no one is paying for.  Strike that.  Those who are paying higher premiums for seats are now paying for those empty seats.  Isn't greed a grand thing?  Thank you Penn State for STEPping all over the fans.  I do believe those higher fees will offset the unsold tickets and then some, so you needn't worry about paying the bills.



SECTIONDonationSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableDelta
3/28/20114/1/20114/9/20114/19/20114/21/2011
WB$400341368276251251-90
WC$40015639262525-131
WD600-2000246109575050-196
WE600-20001414111111-3
WF600-200024994503838-211
WG$40013434181816-118
WH$400313402340310310-3
WJ$10043141696-37
NA$1004683472921-25
NB$1006686773733-33
NC$1004392994839-4
ND$1005561695937-18
NE$100751131308653-22
NF$100941081216531-63
NG$1004110612284443
NH$100541071248934-20
NJ$1005510917813244-11
NK$10045712079034-11
NL$100488083?45-3
EJ$10012760312518-109
EH$400552608559519519-33
EG$400235132845450-185
EF600-200024896646060-188
EE600-200032000-3
ED600-20001044705555509501-543
EC$4001099772490428411-688
EB$40072148172174174102
WBU$1002828000-28
WCU$40041345746945445340
WDU$600691655633627629-62
WEU$600353296284289289-64
WFU$600617625599593593-24
WGU$400343365333327327-16
WHU$1006138221-60
WJU$10028101352723-5
NAU100-400182066725032
NBU$100295761594516
NCU100-400447913713712177
NDU100-40026711181059266
NEU100-400549013310910753
NFU100-400345086705622
NGU100-400223879636341
NHU100-400153284767055
NJU100-4002371162144126103
NKU$10033111-2
NLU100-400201111-19
EJU$100781892297733-45
EHU$100961101353-93
EGU$4007509749951003995245
EFU$60081986384184184122
EEU$60069471470570970915
EDU$60014861466145414541454-32
ECU$4001458149715591553155395
EBU$10082553-5
SAU$10019222634201
SBU$100316313013213099
SCU$100265211710511185
SDU$10040769710310363
SEU$1003228292523-9
SFU$1001612171814-2
SGU$10011173022176
SHU$100154383918166
SJU$100265081797751
SKU$100226111611410482
SLU$100285210810810476
TOTAL1397513981139241283412277-169811%
1001645254633502537201837316.44%
40058665796532151165084-78241.41%
600+64645639525351815175-128942.15%

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

STEP UPDATE

Thanks to Christopher, we have some new numbers.  As people are now picking that have given up their seats already, we are actually seeing the total number of seats available drop.

Still alot of 400-600$ seats in what used to be the old student section, especially the upper level.  Not surprising those aren't going fast since the folks picking now wanted to downgrade.  Will they go late, or be left for single game tickets?



SECTIONDonationSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableDelta
3/28/20113/29/20114/1/20114/9/20114/19/2011
WB$400341366368276251-90
WC$40015698392625-131
WD600-20002461791095750-196
WE600-20001414141111-3
WF600-2000249180945038-211
WG$400134104341818-116
WH$400313337402340310-3
WJ$100433914169-34
NA$1004648834729-17
NB$1006674867737-29
NC$10043599299485
ND$10055556169594
NE$10075851131308611
NF$100949410812165-29
NG$10041711061228443
NH$10054741071248935
NJ$100556910917813277
NK$1004551712079045
NL$10048488083??
EJ$100127126603125-102
EH$400552580608559519-33
EG$4002352091328454-181
EF600-2000248176966460-188
EE600-200032200-3
ED600-20001044929705555509-535
EC$4001099999772490428-671
EB$40072103148172174102
0
WBU$10028342800-28
WCU$40041344345746945441
WDU$600691691655633627-64
WEU$600353324296284289-64
WFU$600617623625599593-24
WGU$400343349365333327-16
WHU$10061543822-59
WJU$10028761013527-1
NAU100-400181620667254
NBU$100293957615930
NCU100-40044517913713793
NDU100-40026417111810579
NEU100-40054609013310955
NFU100-400344650867036
NGU100-400221638796341
NHU100-400151732847661
NJU100-400233371162144121
NKU$10033311-2
NLU100-400205111-19
EJU$100789618922977-1
EHU$10096116110135-91
EGU$4007508629749951003253
EFU$60081985186384184122
EEU$60069471271470570915
EDU$60014861478146614541454-32
ECU$4001458145614971559155395
EBU$10086255-3
SAU$100192122263415
SBU$100313363130132101
SCU$10026265211710579
SDU$1004056769710363
SEU$1003228282925-7
SFU$10016161217182
SGU$100111117302211
SHU$100152543839176
SJU$100262650817953
SKU$10022306111611492
SLU$10028285210810880
TOTAL1397513967139811392412834-114112%
1001645190225463350253789218%
40058665906579653215116-75037%
600+64646159563952535181-128337%

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Getting Their Feet Wet

The 2011 Blue-White Scrimmage has come and gone, like a rain shower in April. Blue won 10-0, although it was more a matter of being the least bad team. The weather turned out to be just as good as the quality of football played, or vice versa depending on how you look at it. I look at it with my head tilted to one side and one eyebrow raised.

Did that just happen or was it a bad dream?

I was not among the roughly 7,500 fans that physically attended the game. My days of braving cold wet weather to watch a scrimmage are long gone. My devotion to this annual spring ritual has disappeared.

I couldn’t even watch it live on TV. Of course, they had the spring game in Ann Arbor on if I were so inclined to torture myself. I was not. I did try to tune in to the radio, but that proved to be another study in frustration. I listened for about 20 minutes and managed to hear about two plays worth of actual game time. The rest was idle chatter and commercials. It was dreadful and the radio industry ought to be ashamed of itself for the product they broadcast.

I found out later that they called the rest of the game on account of rain. Truth be told, I think it was sheer boredom. Come on—everyone there was already wet. The fans that did show up deserved better than that. The players wouldn’t melt. The only silver lining I could see is that at least it minimized the chance of injury on the slick field. And we certainly don’t need any more of that.

A fellow blogger, Carolyn Todd, apologized to her readers for her lack of blogging recently. At least she has a decent excuse. She’s busy working. I, on the other hand, save for a post or two about the STEP program, have pretty much dogged the psu blog world of late. I ignored the kids getting in trouble with the law. I eschewed the rumors surrounding Jerry Sandusky. I even have been remiss updating the recruiting picture which includes some great commits if they stand come next February. I did allow myself to poke fun at Tressel, but let’s face it, that was fun.

It’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog. I started a new blog about non-football things on WordPress, called Living the Eye Life. But my passion for Penn State football has reached an all time low. Friends have asked me what I think about the upcoming season. To be honest, I think it is going to be a disaster. That means probably four or five losses. Maybe more.

What is there to look forward to? The defense? Probably, but it remains to be seen how the front line will perform. The linebacking crew should be good, which will help that issue. But on the offensive side of the ball, I see nothing but gloom and doom, and I drink the Kool Aid pretty heavily. I may even be in a diabetic coma because of drinking too much. Maybe that’s why I’m so lethargic about blogging.

We will be patching a new O-line together. Who the hell knows who our starting QB will be? Who even knows how many of them will still be with the team come August? I simply don’t see any player emerging as a clear choice, and whoever is chosen will create friction among those left behind. Will we have a running game? We have talent, but can they block as well? If we can’t pass, teams will simply stack the box against us.

This recent scrimmage did nothing to improve my angst. Bolden opens with an interception on the very first play. Newsome fumbled on the next series. McGloin fumbled it right back two plays later.

Granted, the weather was less than ideal, but no one stepped up to give us hope. In roughly three quarters of play (12 minute quarters) both sides had 135 yards of passing. Ten points on the board. Pitt played their spring game on the same day—roughly the same weather—and put up 61 points. They have no defense, we have no offense, and never the two shall meet.

Thirty-six of those yards came on one throw by McGloin. Paul Jones threw only ONE pass. Bolden threw five and the only completion was his game opening INT. Overall, the QBs went 10 – 26 – 1.

Thank goodness we had a running game . . . that gained a whopping 77 yards on 31 carries. The field goal, I believe, was kicked when the drive stalled at about the three yard line. Will we ever bring Zordich into the game on the goal line—and not give the ball to him? Even defensive coordinators from other teams know that play. It simply affirmed that the scoring impotency in the red zone has not gone away.

So does that mean there is no hope? There’s always hope. Hope floats. And that’s a damned good thing in a deluge. We have talent. I really do think our defense will be better than last year, and likely keep us in most games. But barring a 2005-ish surprise turn around, I do not see having the kind of offense that will make a run at the Big Ten Title likely, let alone a shot in the national picture. This summer I will make an official prediction (after I’ve forgotten about this game) but the schedule simply looks too daunting. Alabama, Iowa and Nebraska at home. Finishing with Ohio State and Wisconsin on the road. The team last year couldn’t beat these guys. I’m not overly optimistic that this year’s version will be any more successful, though Iowa and Wisconsin will likely have some rebuilding to do. But we have more than rebuilding to do. We have to find a freaking way to score some points.

But maybe the rain will wash away all the problems and give us a fresh, clean start. Maybe a return to simple uniforms will bring a return to tradition; a time when Penn State football was about basic fundamentals, about hard-nosed, smart football, about letting the opponent make the mistakes, and about winning.

Maybe.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

STEP Updates

It is with great regret that I inform my readers that I can no longer provide updates on the STEP situation.  Since the UPGRADE phase has passed, I am no longer able to log in and see the Virtual Venue.  If anyone else has that ability and wants to send me the data, I can put it in the table like I did before.  Otherwise, we'll have to sit in the dark together on this one.

Hey!  Who's hand was that!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

STEP Central 4/9 Update

Small shifts are the trend as we wind down the "upgrade" phase of STEP.  A few more $100 seats are available, and 400$ vs $600 seats are even.  Sections EE and WBU are now closed unless some seats would open later as a result of downgrades.  I am particularly curious to see how this all works out.

To be honest, I'm not sure why they split this process into two phases.  I imagine there are a number of folks who had grandfathered in to 50-yard line seats and do not want to now pay $600 a seat per year to keep them.  If they decided to retain at all (assuming they weren't thoroughly disgusted and already released those tickets, choosing not to renew) then those "prime" seats are now going to open up in the next phase--but the upgraders have already chosen, and perhaps would have wanted those seats had they known they would become available.  I'm not sure why there simply wasn't a process from start to finish--choose up or down--based on your points.  You could risk taking seats later if you chose to see if some of those prime seats would become available.

Who am I kidding?  The only FAIR way to have done this would have been to reseat everyone based on point totals.  That didn't happen.  So no matter how they did it, there would be some inequity.

NOW THAT I HAVE WRITTEN THIS, I went back to the PSU website to check the details.  I was under the wrong impression . . . I thought anyone could retain their seats so long as they had made the donation to qualify for that seat this year.  But those who chose to downgrade had to forfeit their seats as per the STEP FAQs page:
If you declare that you are interested in moving to a zone that requires a lower Seat Equity donation, you must first RELEASE your current ticket, then you may participate in the seat selection process. However, there can be no guaranteed offered as availability will be unknown ahead of time. Therefore, there is some risk with this choice.
So that explains why there are almost 14,000 seats available.  I wasn't aware that some people had to give up their seats.  Again, it doesn't seem fair that people who are looking to upgrade can shop around but still keep their seats if they choose, but people looking to downgrade can't.  It is also clear that some of the people upgrading these past few weeks have at least made lateral moves since there have been some $100 seats taken.  On the other hand, doing it this way did open up those potential higher value seats for folks that wanted to upgrade.

In the next phase of things, we should start to see the total number of available seats drop, as these folks have already given up their seats.  Of course, some may be disappointed in what is left and simply choose no seats.  I'm really curious to see how many seats are left and how the University tries to sell those.

My head hurts now.



SECTIONDonationSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableDelta
3/28/20113/29/20114/1/20114/9/2011
WB$400341366368276-65
WC$400156983926-130
WD600-200024617910957-189
WE600-200014141411-3
WF600-20002491809450-199
WG$4001341043418-116
WH$40031333740234027
WJ$10043391416-27
NA$100464883471
NB$1006674867711
NC$1004359929956
ND$1005555616914
NE$100758511313055
NF$100949410812127
NG$100417110612281
NH$100547410712470
NJ$1005569109178123
NK$100455171207162
NL$1004848808335
EJ$1001271266031-96
EH$4005525806085597
EG$40023520913284-151
EF600-20002481769664-184
EE600-20003220-3
ED600-20001044929705555-489
EC$4001099999772490-609
EB$40072103148172100
WBU$1002834280-28
WCU$40041344345746956
WDU$600691691655633-58
WEU$600353324296284-69
WFU$600617623625599-18
WGU$400343349365333-10
WHU$1006154382-59
WJU$1002876101357
NAU100-4001816206648
NBU$1002939576132
NCU100-40044517913793
NDU100-40026417111892
NEU100-40054609013379
NFU100-4003446508652
NGU100-4002216387957
NHU100-4001517328469
NJU100-400233371162139
NKU$1003331-2
NLU100-40020511-19
EJU$1007896189229151
EHU$1009611611013-83
EGU$400750862974995245
EFU$60081985186384122
EEU$60069471271470511
EDU$6001486147814661454-32
ECU$4001458145614971559101
EBU$1008625-3
SAU$100192122267
SBU$10031336313099
SCU$10026265211791
SDU$1004056769757
SEU$10032282829-3
SFU$100161612171
SGU$1001111173019
SHU$1001525438368
SJU$1002626508155
SKU$10022306111694
SLU$10028285210880
TOTAL13975139671398113924-5113%
1001645190225463350170524%
4005866590657965321-54538%
600+6464615956395253-121138%

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

STEP Central Mid-week Update

Thought I'd check in to see how things were going.  There continues to be an upgrade shift, with more $100 level seats available (mainly in the upper decks).

I just checked, and the upgrade period ends 4/7/11 (at least that was the original date--I don't know if it was moved back due to the early technical difficulties.)  So with only a day or two left, there is still a large percentage of $400-2000 level seats (77% of all available.)

A negative delta means there are fewer seats available now than when the process started.  The total number of seats available has changed by only 40.



SECTIONDonationSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableDelta
3/28/20113/29/20114/1/20114/6/2011
WB$400341366368310-31
WC$400156983926-130
WD600-200024617910971-175
WE600-200014141413-1
WF600-20002491809452-197
WG$4001341043418-116
WH$40031333740235037
WJ$10043391421-22
NA$100464883559
NB$1006674869428
NC$1004359929754
ND$1005555617116
NE$100758511313358
NF$100949410812632
NG$1004171106161120
NH$100547410711965
NJ$1005569109162107
NK$10045517114095
NL$1004848808133
EJ$1001271266031-96
EH$40055258060856816
EG$400235209132102-133
EF600-20002481769678-170
EE600-200032241
ED600-20001044929705601-443
EC$4001099999772570-529
EB$40072103148176104
WBU$1002834282-26
WCU$40041344345745744
WDU$600691691655633-58
WEU$600353324296290-63
WFU$600617623625609-8
WGU$4003433493653430
WHU$1006154386-55
WJU$10028761017446
NAU100-4001816204022
NBU$1002939575728
NCU100-40044517913389
NDU100-40026417110175
NEU100-40054609010147
NFU100-4003446507844
NGU100-4002216385533
NHU100-4001517326247
NJU100-40023337112299
NKU$1003331-2
NLU100-40020511-19
EJU$1007896189225147
EHU$1009611611069-27
EGU$400750862974981231
EFU$60081985186384526
EEU$60069471271471319
EDU$6001486147814661454-32
ECU$400145814561497151557
EBU$100862179
SAU$100192122201
SBU$1003133639564
SCU$1002626529569
SDU$10040567610161
SEU$10032282829-3
SFU$10016161214-2
SGU$100111117198
SHU$1001525436045
SJU$1002626508660
SKU$10022306111290
SLU$1002828529062
TOTAL13975139671398113935-4013%
1001645190225463156151123%
4005866590657965416-45039%
600+6464615956395363-110138%

Monday, April 4, 2011

Tressel Tribulations


I love the 'what happens in Columbus stays in Columbus' line . . .


And that's just going to give me nightmares.  As if he wasn't creepy enough already.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fools STEP Update

Here are how things are going in the STEP selection process.  There is an overall INCREASE in available seats of 6.  I guess someone couldn't get what they wanted, or someone not participating changed their mind.  It still appears that there is a small shift from lower priced seats to higher priced seats.  But in the NLC email I got today, it said that ticket holders requesting a DOWNGRADE will be receiving info in about a week, so apparently none of the people selecting at this time were planning on downgrading anyway.

Still a lot of tickets left.

And if this is your first time looking at these numbers, these are the available seats listed on the virtual venue by section as of 5PM 4/1/11.  The % of total seats available is based on the listed Beaver Stadium capacity.  The other percentages are the fraction of those donation level seats left of the available remaining tickets, not the total stadium capacity.  So of all available seats, only 18% are at the $100 level.  But this is up from 12% initially.



SECTIONDonationSeats AvailableSeats AvailableSeats AvailableDelta
3/28/20113/29/20114/1/2011
WB$40034136636827
WC$4001569839-117
WD600-2000246179109-137
WE600-20001414140
WF600-200024918094-155
WG$40013410434-100
WH$40031333740289
WJ$100433914-29
NA$10046488337
NB$10066748620
NC$10043599249
ND$1005555616
NE$100758511338
NF$100949410814
NG$100417110665
NH$100547410753
NJ$100556910954
NK$10045517126
NL$10048488032
EJ$10012712660-67
EH$40055258060856
EG$400235209132-103
EF600-200024817696-152
EE600-2000322-1
ED600-20001044929705-339
EC$4001099999772-327
EB$4007210314876
WBU$1002834280
WCU$40041344345744
WDU$600691691655-36
WEU$600353324296-57
WFU$6006176236258
WGU$40034334936522
WHU$100615438-23
WJU$100287610173
NAU100-4001816202
NBU$10029395728
NCU100-40044517935
NDU100-40026417145
NEU100-40054609036
NFU100-40034465016
NGU100-40022163816
NHU100-40015173217
NJU100-40023337148
NKU$1003330
NLU100-4002051-19
EJU$1007896189111
EHU$1009611611014
EGU$400750862974224
EFU$60081985186344
EEU$60069471271420
EDU$600148614781466-20
ECU$40014581456149739
EBU$100862-6
SAU$1001921223
SBU$10031336332
SCU$10026265226
SDU$10040567636
SEU$100322828-4
SFU$100161612-4
SGU$1001111176
SHU$10015254328
SJU$10026265024
SKU$10022306139
SLU$10028285224
TOTAL139751396713981613%
10016451902254690118%
400586659065796-7041%
600+646461595639-82540%