” They seriously want us to wear a flimsy wristband for 12 days? Why would they require us to do something so outlandish? I now have to eat, sleep and shower in an itchy blue band that will disintegrate over the next two weeks? For any students who are unfamiliar with the blue wristbands decorating several of the dedicated students on campus, they represent a ticket to the first home Akron football game.”
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They seriously want us to wear a flimsy wristband for 12 days? Why would they require us to do something so outlandish? I now have to eat, sleep and shower in an itchy blue band that will disintegrate over the next two weeks?

For any students who are unfamiliar with the blue wristbands decorating several of the dedicated students on campus, they represent a ticket to the first home Akron football game.

At the heart of the issue is that the university didn’t give students any option.

It would have been great if they had handed out the wristbands before they were permanently affixed to student appendages.

Rather, they gave students one option: wear this wristband from the time you put it on until the start of the football game on the 12th.

The wristbands themselves are annoying, but even more so is the notion that the university can force the students to do something arbitrary and obnoxious.

The wristbands could be an effective marketing technique.

A few people with wristbands will generate more interest with their friends.

What the university doesn’t realize is that they are creating a disproportionate amount of negative buzz with this strategy. Even worse, students are prone to be annoyed by the wristband and rip it off.

After a given time, very few students will continue to wear wristbands and those who do will share more negativity about the annoyance and deteriorating condition of wristband.

A few easy solutions exist for this problem.

The most obvious would be to allow students to affix the band at any time they wanted.

This would eliminate negative attitudes toward the band, but still succeed in promoting the game.

In order to generate the most buzz about the game, administrators should concentrate on creating an item that students voluntarily wish to display.

The Livestrong style bracelets would make a perfect substitute for several reasons. First, they can be removed at any time which is a great function for a number of people. Second, they are more comfortable than a cheap plastic strip with one size fits some holes. Third, students would consider them more stylish than the current plastic strap, and therefore would be more willing to wear them.

The downfall of this type of ticket is that it can be removed and traded at any time. One can assume this phenomenon is what the administration was trying to avoid with the handcuff style.

The question is what’s wrong with that? According to the distributors, a valid Zip Card will need to be presented with the band at the time of the game.

In that case why not hand out the bands but not affix them to the actual student? If the Zip Card is required as well, there is no way non students can gain entrance.

Furthermore, there is no system of accountability currently in place.

If a student wanted to receive multiple wristbands, all they would have to do is rip off their current band and go grab another one. Needless to say 10 wristbands for one student is not out of the ordinary. In fact, I wonder if students will have a contest to see who can rack up the most bands. A vision of multi-banded students arms blue to the elbow with wristbands, walking up to the ticket booth comes to mind.

As the first game draws close, the excitement on campus builds.

Why dampen that excitement with a silly policy like this? A small change in the policy or type of wristbands would ease much of the tension on campus.

Let people forget about the wristband they are wearing and concentrate on the upcoming games.

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