Josh Katzowitz – Sports Writer/Author/Editor

(11:19 a.m.): Earlier this week, I talked about the new plan for a segment of upper-deck basketball season tickets – $150 for 18 games – and how more than 15,000 football season tickets have been sold.

If you need a refresher, click here. If not, let’s continue the discussion on why UC has continued to set records selling football season tickets in an economy that isn’t exactly blasting skyward.

For one, the Bearcat Lair section in the North end zone continues to sell out every year. Senior associate athletic Mike Waddell explains why.

“We’ve built relationships and people feel like they’re getting a great value,” he said. “People had to get a buy-in. In 2007, that was an area that we definitely looked at as having a Dawg Pound-like area or like the Black Hole in Oakland. We looked at that, and to get people to sit there, we have to make it worth their while. It was $10 a game. An absolute no-brainer. That sold out really quick. The next year, it’s supply and demand. We’re sold out of it, and $10 is not the medium ticket price in the Big East, especially for wonderful seats.”

Read the rest here.

(2:09 p.m.): Went to UC on Monday to talk to Mike Waddell, associate athletic director extraordinaire, about football season tickets and how those were selling. In the process, he let slip about a new offer for basketball season tickets that Waddell says you can’t find anywhere else in the Big East.

First, the basketball season tickets news.

I’m sure you know about the Bearcat Lair football season ticket packages the UC administration has put together the past few years, which basically allows fans to grab those North end zone seats for a cheaper-than-normal price (two years ago, season tickets in that area cost $60; this year, it went for $160 (the past three years, by the way, those 1,750 Bearcat Lair seats have sold out, including the 2009 campaign)).

Well, the Bearcats are using the same brand name for 5/3 Arena. Basically, UC will put on sale a block of the seats in the upper level (non-seat backs) and price it at $150 for the 18-game schedule. To Waddell, the deal – which works out to $8.33 a seat per game – is a no-brainer.

To read the rest, click right here.

(10:17 a.m.): When Jamelle Elliott took the UC women’s basketball coaching job, she was besieged with Follow-me-on-Twitter requests. Her first reaction? What in the heck is Twitter?

While Twitter is silly, a time-waster and self-promoting – and this coming from a guy who’s on Twitter for much of the day – it also can be rather useful. For a coach like Elliott, who is searching for ways to build interest in her program, Twitter is a much-needed commodity.

“In talking to my coaching friends, they feel like it’s a good way to market yourself and get your basketball program out in the cyber world,” said Elliott, also known as @JamelleElliott. “It shows the positive things you’re doing with your program. Just getting publicity and exposure for your program. As far as the Internet is concerned, you can’t get better access. It’s probably better than any advertising or letters that you’re writing. It’s a way for more people to grasp what I’m trying to do for the program. It’s something I wanted to do right away.”

Read the rest here.

(3:36 p.m.): I figured I might leave somebody out of my “True to your School” blog post, but I figured you, my glorious readers, would point out the flaws of my argument. And I was correct.

So, thanks for everybody who e-mailed me or left me a comment on the ol’ web site. In case your mind needs refreshing, here’s the original blog post from last week. In a nutshell, the game was to pick UC’s top athlete/performer/personality in basketball, football, baseball and a wild card. I went a step further and picked a No. 2 (which, in retrospect, was probably the reason I got most of the comments).

Read the rest here.