The number of undergraduate students left on campus who have experienced a Crosstown Shootout at home is little to none. As the long awaited homecoming of Xavier’s most beloved rivalry approaches, students have been presented with a new point system that will give priority to some students seeking tickets. Students will receive ticket priority based on the amount of points they have accumulated by attending Xavier sporting events.

The emergence of the new X-Pulse point system has been called by some a “natural extension of rewarding students for showing school spirit.” However, I refuse to embrace a system that places an unrealistic time demand on students and fails to address differences in student interests.

Competing for a place on top of the X-Pulse leaderboard will prove difficult for many students with already busy academic workloads. It is unreasonable to expect all students to be able to compete to stay atop this leaderboard with weekends that have three events in one day. I have a tremendous amount of school spirit, but I do not have the ability or inclination to sacrifice six hours in one weekend to stay on top of the X-Pulse leaderboard.

I, like many students, have always set aside time in my busy schedule to attend the events that interest me the most. Now, I have been incentivized to attend every possible event in order to earn a chance to attend the Crosstown Shootout. Some students have to balance work, class, homework and club involvement, but others have countless hours to spare and go to various sporting events around campus. Is it fair for students with higher workloads to miss out on an opportunity to attend the Shootout?

The new X-pulse system awards students different point values for different types of sporting events. Specifically, the Xavier men’s basketball games are worth ten points, while all other games are worth fifteen points or more. Does attending a soccer game somehow demonstrate more school spirit than attending a basketball game? I find it extremely difficult to see the sense in devaluing men’s basketball games in a system that will determine student priority for major men’s basketball events. This system has devalued the very sport that students will be competing to attend.

The point system seems to be incentivizing students to attend certain selected events rather than allowing students to attend sporting events that align with their interests. Students interested in men’s basketball will have to attend three men’s basketball games in order to match the point value awarded by the upcoming volleyball game against the University of Kentucky. That seems more than a little ridiculous. Student fans of the men’s basketball team that want to attend the season’s premier men’s basketball event will have more difficulty doing so than students who have demonstrated a great interest in volleyball and decided to go to the Crosstown Shootout on a whim.

I understand that school spirit involves supporting all Xavier sports, but attending the Crosstown Shootout involves basketball and only basketball. The rise of this new X-Pulse system will likely put an end to the longstanding tradition of students camping out for tickets. That tradition was about fans of men’s basketball demonstrating their support of men’s basketball. It only required a one day commitment for busy students and did not require students to attend games they did not enjoy. I would rather see students camp outside the Cintas Center than see them looking disinterested at a sporting event they were coerced to attend.

Attempting to manage demand for tickets to the Crosstown Shootout and Men’s Big East Tournament is understandable. Undoubtedly the demand for Crosstown Shootout tickets will be very high and there may not be enough tickets for all interested students to be able to attend. This does not justify ignoring differences in student interests and making unrealistic demands on their schedules.