Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.
The line for tickets at Saturday's Idaho State vs. UNLV football game at Sam Boyd Stadium was a lot like the Bengals' bench.
It wasn't very long and it didn't move very fast.
I know, because I was standing in it.
Having been assigned the Andre Agassi watch, my presence wasn't required at the game. But how can you stay away from the (sometimes) friendly confines of Sam Boyd Stadium when the Rebels are playing football?
Actually, it was a semi spur-of-the-moment decision to invite my wife that explained why I was standing in line at the south ticket booth as the Bagels - er, Bengals - and Rebels were getting ready to kick off the season.
It doesn't explain why I was still standing in line almost an hour later.
Although I have never seen a glacier move across frozen tundra, at least now I have a pretty good idea of what that looks like. It was like watching Burl Ives run the 100 meters. Or old dogs sleep. Every 15 minutes, somebody would sigh and switch position on the big comfy rug in front of the fire.
There was plenty of fire, thanks to the blistering asphalt that dominates the Sam Boyd landscape. But there was no comfy rug. There also was no way to keep abreast of what was happening inside, as the two speakers attached to the rim of the ticket office weren't working.
Every once in a while you could detect a muffled cheer and a large whooshing noise, which, as I was to discover upon finally getting it, wasn't the sound a Big Sky team makes when its offense is going nowhere, but the sound of a turbocharged toilet within earshot of the ticket window.
When I finally got in, it was just 8 minutes, 23 seconds before halftime. The Rebels were ahead 10-3, perhaps explaining why the cheers we heard were muffled. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Sanford for waiting until we were seated before turning the visitors from Idaho into mashed potatoes.
I'd also like to credit Perk Weisenberger, the UNLV associate AD who oversees game day operations, for being a stand-up guy. In the past when something has gone wrong on Maryland Parkway, those in charge have passed the buck as if it were well, a hot potato.
Weisenberger, on the other hand, accepted responsibility for a situation that wasn't entirely his fault.
"The good thing is we put a good product on the field that is going to help us attract new fans," he said. "The bad thing is we didn't provide the customer service we need to provide. We needed to get people through more quickly, and we needed more damage control."
Apparently, attracting new football fans isn't like "Love Story."
Sometimes, you do have to say you're sorry, especially when you don't anticipate a large walk-up crowd and you don't have the ticket windows fully manned to accommodate it.
There are 28 ticket windows at Sam Boyd Stadium and only a little more than half were in use Saturday.
UNLV simply wasn't prepared to handle a walk-up crowd of nearly 4,500 - about twice the usual walk-up crowd - or the 2,300 students who showed up needing tickets.
Does Saturday's walk-up crowd indicate a renewed interest in this year's UNLV team? Well, not really, not if you use attendance as a barometer. The UNLV-Idaho State game attracted 19,943 spectators. Last year's home opener against Idaho attracted 21,870.
Weisenberger is hopeful fans will take the opportunity to purchase tickets online (with the option to print them out at home and go directly to the gate) or at one of the satellite box offices around town to alleviate gridlock at the windows before the next home game. That would be wise, given the next home game is the annual rivalry renewal against UNR, which typically attracts more than 30,000 spectators.
Having all of the ticket windows open will help. But because there are only 28, fans who arrive late and/or without tickets may have no choice but to stand in line. Or see the fast-talking guy selling tickets out of a briefcase out on Russell Road.
"We should be able to get people in easier than that. We'll do a better job," Weinsenberger said. As those of us who were standing in line might point out, that shouldn't be too difficult.
Ironically, the opening-night fumble coincided with a new Rebels marketing slogan to "Make Us Your Team." That's what brought the couple standing behind me in line out to the stadium.
The sun was still up when they told me it was their first Rebels game.
The moon was out when they told me it also would be their last.
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