As my dear wife Karen and I reached the Syracuse University quad Saturday, we saw and heard the marching band up on the steps of Hendricks Chapel.

We noted fans in line for food and drinks.

Then we looked for the tent to check in with our vaccination cards, following the instructions emailed to me during the week and also highly publicized on all the area media. Get your wristband under the tents to be allowed inside when you proceed to the gates.

We were an hour early … the line looked an hour long. Ah …

Syracuse workers all of a sudden walked the line telling folks that those with cards could go right to the gate and show them there.

Wary about a go-there-go-back, I asked if they were sure, mentioning the alerts that came all week long.

No, always been this way, they young and smug worker said matter-of-factly.

I know that communications is a tough business.

We left the line, went inside the check-point, got to the turnstile, showed our cards and licenses to the ticket-taker … who told us that we were supposed to get wristbands at the tent on the quad.

When we patiently explained we we told otherwise by folks out there, she sighed, looked at our bonafides, and scanned our tickets on my phone.

Hardly anybody in the dome, I noticed, sported an orange wristband.