Bad sports, good sports: Losing team selling unused tickets from perfect game
As much as I love sports, I understand very clearly that professional sports are big business. It feels like I read as many stories about contracts, unions, and endorsements as I do about actual athletic accomplishments. This is more of an observation than it is a complaint, of course. I would not have the incredible access I have to a huge array of sports and sports information right from my couch if there wasn’t an amazing amount of money involved. Sometimes, though, one of these stories seems to take things just a little over the line, as far as the importance of money in sports. Last week, I mentioned Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay’s perfect game against the Florida Marlins. As incredible as it was, there were very few people in the stands to watch it live, as the Marlins get very little support from the Miami area, even when they are playing the two-time defending National League champs. With all of these leftover tickets from a historic game, the Marlins decided they still had a money-making opportunity. They are now selling these unused tickets to collectors and anyone else who wants them. The really amazing part: they are charging full price.
I am not a collector, so it is very possible that my perspective on this is off. I just can not imagine paying full price for a ticket to a game that I did not attend. There are many thousands of these available, so it is not even like you will have something rare. Worse yet, these tickets are not even the normal, over-sized tickets with the team pictures on them that you usually get when you buy tickets to a game. Instead, they are generic Ticketmaster tickets, with nothing but the event name, date, and time on them. Seriously. Quite a bargain. Maybe you should also get a free bowl of soup (thanks, Rodney).
There are lots of people out there with lots of money, I guess. Lots of money but little sense. I wish I had a bridge to sell.
Bad sports, continued:
2) Early last week, Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt was ejected from a game in the third inning by home plate umpire Bill Hohn for berating himself, essentially. Oswalt was frustrated with his own inability to throw strikes, and exclaimed to himself after a bad pitch. The exclamation was not directed to anyone but himself, and he was not even looking at Hohn when he made it. In true, arrogant-Major-League-Ump style, though, Hohn removed his mask and yelled at Oswalt. Oswalt responded that he wasn’t talking to Hohn. The umpire then decided that was enough to eject Oswalt. What a joke. Surprisingly, the league actually stated that the umpire would be reprimanded for the incident.
3) I hope this is not an indication of how the World Cup is going to go in South Africa this week. Fans, attempting to get into an exhibition match between North Korea and Nigeria, stampeded as the gates were opened before the match, injuring 15 people.
Bonus: in case you missed it, I wrote about what I felt was the biggest Bad Sports story of the week on Thursday, as it felt like something that deserved more immediate commentary. Check it out.
Good sports:
1) Proving that he is peerless when it comes to clay court tennis, Rafael Nadal won his fifth French Open title Sunday with a win over 5th seed Robin Soberling. Nadal has lost one match in his career at the French Open.
2) Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez won his 11th game of the still-young season on Sunday. Jimenez has had a truly amazing season, with an E.R.A. that is still under 1.00, and that includes a 33-inning scoreless streak that ended Sunday.
3) Although it is not your traditional Good Sports story, I wanted to use this space to honor John Wooden, the former UCLA basketball coach who died on Friday at 99 years of age. Wooden won ten championships at UCLA, including seven in a row in the late sixties and early seventies. He was a great coach and a great man.
Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday
Latest posts by Alan Spoll (Posts)
- Pereira comments on “Philly Special” a total waste of time - February 14, 2018
- BSGS News Brief: Tom Brady beats the NFL - September 3, 2015
- BSGS News Brief: Geno Smith gets his jaw broken by a punch - August 16, 2015
- BSGS News Brief – Oh, Vanderbilt. Really? - August 6, 2015
- BSGS News Brief – Sheldon Richardson hits the Bad Sports wire in a big way - July 31, 2015
Print This Post
Hey Al–
I heard the story but had no idea it wasn’t real game tickets. What bullshit. And who the hell would want one anyway? It’s not like you could lie and say you were there.