I am writing in response to S. Ann Jones' letter "Ozone deserves Izzone-type respect," (SN 1/30). I agree fans in the upper deck deserve to be recognized. I also agree lower bowl tickets are high-priced. I spent two years in the upper bowl before I was able to camp outside the weekend of the "Cold War" last year to earn my Izzone seats.

I believe the respect Izzone members are given comes directly from our commitment and energy put into every game. We spend all 40 minutes of the game on our feet, cheering and keeping our team on the right track.

I have noticed a good majority of people in the Breslin Center do not participate in the cheers (lower bowl and upper bowl). At the very least, everyone in the stadium should stand and sing the fight song. On this year's Izzone road trip to Minnesota, we noticed their entire stadium sings the fight song. It is a very impressive cheer when everyone takes part.

The 1999-2000 season University of Connecticut game and the 2000-2001 season North Carolina and Florida games are the only three I remember in which the entire stadium got involved. For all three of those, I was sitting in the second-to-last row in the upper deck and we stood the entire game and cheered. Everyone was cheering and the team obviously was energized by it, as they won each game in a decisive fashion.

I will have tickets for one more year and if there are two things I would like to see from men's basketball: another NCAA championship and every person in the Breslin Center on their feet cheering the team to victory. Please help these come true as they almost go hand-in-hand.

Paul R. Kalinka
computer science senior