To the editor:

Most of us are so busy celebrating the fact that the Big 12 Conference did not totally explode that we are neglecting a positive action needed for the future. It is time to get on with our lives and promote our new alliance. It seems to me that a now-overdue task is naming of the new conference.

Hopefully we are now cured of our infatuation of using a numerical name. The new name should be positive and have a regional reference. Two names to start our thinking are Prairie and Midland. If a touch of puffery is wanted, how about Great Prairie or Great Midland?

Damage control will be needed for a decade or more to overcome the Kansas University basketball ticket scandal. The key to successful rehabilitation lies in transparency. Accept the fact that complimentary tickets are a part of the game. It is appropriate to give such tickets to players’ families, coaches and competitor’s coaches, certain public dignitaries, certain KU administrators, media reporters and probably some other categories. The athletic director should have the total power and responsibility for distributing complimentary tickets.

But, it is highly critical that there be a transparency and openness about what is done. It should be a matter of public record who gets the comps, including identification of the assigned seats. If those assigned seats are filled with unintended people (whether the tickets are sold or given away), action should be taken to correct that situation. It will take such honesty to heal this wound among the fans who financially support KU athletics.

Howard Duncan,

Lecompton