8 a.m., first official day of class. Do you remember where you were? For some, you might have been in class, and for others, you might have been struggling to catch those last minutes of much-needed early-morning sleep. As for myself, I was standing in line at the Stadium along with hundreds of other students waiting to receive tickets for an undeniably exciting football season.

Some were disgruntled and a little peeved, while others were just lethargic. There were a handful of cheery enthusiasts, but they were the minority. In fact, I blame their giddiness on the donuts and orange juice. While the refreshments were a nice consolation, the wait was a little less than tasty. The lingering debate on football ticket distribution is here yet again, but this time, there's a feasible plan to back up the complaints. Implementing an electronic ticket distribution system as an option would be a much better alternative to waiting in line to pay and show an ID.

I know there's the age-old tradition of waiting in line with all of your buddies in anticipation of receiving some of the most prized and coveted college football season tickets in the country, but it would be a lot more efficient if this were made optional. OK, here's the plan: We keep the lottery system — it's fair and everyone gets her own unique, allocated number.

Notre Dame sets up an electronic ticket system, along the lines of IrishLink, and at your appointed time, based on year and lottery number, you go online and get your tickets. At enrollment, students can show their ID, turn in their ticket application with their social security number, and receive a number. Before the drawing, the system would have already recorded both the unique lottery number and the matching social security number for each student to ensure authentication. At your appointed time, type in your social, your lottery number and choose whatever is available for yourself as well as your group of friends. And payment, no problem, through a secured server you can pay by credit or check. If cash is your thing, then you can pay in advance, or at enrollment even. Advance payment would be noted in the system, so that when a student wanted to pick tickets at a later date, they would just need to provide their social and lottery number.

But no worries to all of you die-hard fans who still want to wait it out in front of the Stadium during the wee hours of the morning. If that's your thing, then you can do it with other like-minded individuals and carry on the torch of tradition. For others, standing in line all morning is not a testament to show how much of an Irish fan they are. Real fans cheer half-naked in sub-zero weather, eating cold brats until they can't feel their feet. But I suppose everyone has his own definition.

• It's time for online