It's been a hard year to be an Izzone member.
Between stiff dress codes, tracked game entrance times to determine future membership eligibility, limited absences to retain tickets and other things, the Izzone fan, arguably MSU's most dedicated sports enthusiast, has been put through the ringer.
As the MSU men's basketball team advances to the Final Four, fans have weathered the storm to reach the Izzone leaders' goal to become the nation's largest student cheering section. Mission accomplished guys; all of those white Izzone T-shirts look really good on TV.
Just when you think Izzone fans have played nice, followed the rules and deserve to be rewarded with tickets to the big game against North Carolina on Saturday in St. Louis, the Student Alumni Foundation withholds the prize.
After an e-mail from SAF told fans they would be able to purchase tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, about 40 students spent hours camped outside the Union only to be severely disappointed by a policy. In blatant contradiction to the e-mail they received, the sale of tickets was switched to an online purchasing format.
If more than 600 students sign up to receive the $140 apiece seats, a lottery will then be instituted. Hypothetically, those students who spent hours waiting, and even received numbered wrist bands to mark their place in line, could be denied a ticket.
The change in policy left many fans confused as to why they would be told to do one thing when, in reality, they had to do something completely different. To solve the misunderstanding, students were handed flyers by Izzone co-directors that said the policy change would no longer validate their wrist bands.
No elaborate apology, no compensation for their hours of devotion to Spartans basketball.
Izzone co-Director Aaron King said the e-mail was sent because that was the method of ticket distribution that had been used the whole year. Although it was a genuine mistake - a miscommunication - it still doesn't make up for the fact that students spent hours in the cold and skipped classes for nothing.
The section has stabbed its most dedicated fans in the back.
Hopefully, fans' outcries are not falling on deaf ears. Basketball season is almost done, and it'll leave many silent months for the Izzone's leaders to ponder how they handled things this year. They've made a rift with fans that needs to be closed by policies putting the fan before the goal of making a big cheering section.
And although MSU head coach Tom Izzo has fully endorsed the policies and actions of section leaders up to this point, it would be hard to envision him wanting to play with fans' lives.
These events likely won't overshadow the excitement of the men's team making the Final Four, but they'll be remembered in the minds of the fans who were slighted.
Here's hoping that next year is a more pleasurable experience for all involved.
