To the editor:

As an out-of-town subscriber, I have been very impressed by your paper’s usual evenhanded and fair reporting of news and events. However, in recent weeks, I have been disappointed with the Journal-World’s coverage of the basketball seating plan. Overall, it has seemed to paint the athletic department as an evil group whose goal is to throw loyal fans out of their courtside seats. As with many other situations, I believe that there is more than one side to the story.

My wife, Alyce, and I have purchased four basketball and four football tickets since the early 1970s. We have contributed to the Williams Fund since 1979 and have been life members of the Chancellor’s Club since 1989. Both Alyce and I graduated from KU, as did my four brothers and sisters and both of our daughters. While I never coached golf or moved the sticks at football games, both Alyce and I served for a total of six years on the Kansas City KU Alumni Board.

All of this earned us choice basketball tickets — on the top row of the fieldhouse! Not near the top, but on the very top row. With my two artificial knees, the steps up to Row 25 have become increasingly difficult for me to climb.

Now the much-maligned point system is giving us a chance to improve our seat location. We certainly won’t be at courtside, but at least we won’t have so many steps to climb. For this, we have been labeled by one of your columnists as “callous yupnicks.” I’m not sure just what that is, but I doubt that it is a compliment!

Jim Mason,

Leawood