Listening to the Sox now. Bottom of the ninth. We're up 7-6. Papelbon pitched earlier and wore #24 (AP Photo). And now it's over. Pauley gets the win. Lester didn't do so hot. We also won last night, with Tek and Youk hitting back-to-back dongs. But I missed that one, as I was at the Celts game. Tomorrow, I'll announce the Red Sox-Twins at 1 PM on YouCastr. Check back here for the link.

Last night was fun, but they didn't show Gino on the scoreboard. Towards the end of the game, there was a "We want Gino" chant. I wonder if they lost the right to that footage or something. Maybe that dick, Clark, made them stop, as it was American Bandstand footage. But at one point in the pre-game entertainment, the announcer said something about "the girl in the Gino shirt." So it's not like they're ignoring the Gino phenomenon. But who knows, maybe they don't want to do it every night.

So here are just a few pics from last night, as I was kind of disappointed with what I shot.

I finally got the Garnett powder picture. Note the announcers backing away as KG purposely puts a cloud of powder in their face.

Scalabrine on the bike during the game.

It was mascot heaven last night. Even the UConn Huskie was there. No Wally, though.

Looks like this sale was for basically any standing room Monster tix you wanted. Unless you wanted a Yanks, Cards, or Opening Day game. So I picked three games, got two seats for one, and singles for the other two.

I was trying to think of what I was doing last Leap Day--2004. I was living in Danbury. The night before, I started this blog. Then I skipped a day before continuing it. I must have been up to something that day. Back then, there were no pictures, no video, no audio, no links, just a standard template and some blabbing about Yankee announcers and how I couldn't get NESN on TV in Fairfield County*. In fact, it was called "A Red Sox Fan in Yankee Territory," until the automatically-placed Google ads started advertising all this Yankee merch right on my site. A little while later, I'd changed the name, and all those ads were gone. If I had waited 18 minutes to post that first post, this blog would've been a Leap Baby, and I'd be celebrating my "first" birthday right now. Instead, it's a less-exciting fourth. If you'll all re-elect me, I'm psyched for four more years. Thanks again for all your support, especially those who have read all 2,700 posts. Let the second term begin!


*four years later, you still can't

[Update: So I dicked around in the TM waiting area for a while, and after an hour or so, I figured a weekday Sox game would give me a chance to get something. Ended up with an April Thursday Sox game. I actually went on (cringe) a Yankee message board to see if anyone had any TM secrets, but it was a bunch of yahoos acting like they'd never bought tickets online before. But one person, desperately trying for that last regular season game, gave up and went to a broker, and got "Quantity: 1 Section: TIER 21 Row: B- SECOND ROW!!! paid $308 with all the fees, but Ill be there for the game.." 300 bucks for a single, just to see that last game--that's a Yankee fan who's sure they're not going to the playoffs this year, ha! And now I head for the much easier to deal with Red Sox VWR. (Yes, Ticket-bater is that bad.)]

A Daily News article recently claimed that Yankee Stadium's premium games have sold out. Way off. Not only was there still a chance to get into the lottery for them when the article came out (that lottery has since ended), but there still are premium games available at 10 AM today in their big sale in which all the games are up for grabs.

So if you want to see the Sox in The Bronx this year, or get tickets to the last ever (we hope--since that would mean they'd have missed the playoffs) game at the Toilet, go to the Yankees' site, or directly to Ticketmasturbater at 10:00 today. Granted, "premium games" will be limited, but the team did say there would be some left for this sale.

If you want, you can try the classic, pre-internet days, "call the Ticketmaster outlet in Seattle at 9:58" method. That way you get through right away and can get what you want. Don't know if that works still. But if you're gonna try it, start researching other cities' TM numbers and make sure they're operational. Other than that, you can do the multiple windows thing, but TM cuts you off after like 25. They kick you right out, and tell you to try again in a few minutes. It's like Super Mario Brothers in World 3-1, I think, where you can jump on that Koopa on the staircase over and over and keep getting extra lives, but at a certain point your proverbial wax wings melt, and you die. So try it now and calculate when the bell tolls, and then go one window shy of that, and begin the waiting game. And when you get sick of that, you can break out Hungry, Hungry Hippos. It's more fun. (But don't put liquid soap in the base and use live ants instead of marbles like I did when I was little. Okay, not that little.)

Good luck! (I've been to Yankee Stadium enough in my life, so I'm not too excited about these, but I'll give it a shot for the hell of it. I'd say it's "practice" for later today when I go for Monster Seats, but as you know, that method greatly differs from the TM way.)

[9:55: Had a black bean burrito. And a water. Porter Square. Pretty good stuff. Turns out the final score was 15-0. Both games were seven inning trysts, and we were the home team in both, so in 12 offensive innings, we scored 39 runs. TJ, BC and NU.]

[6:45: Rish on the play-by-play to start the third. I wonder if that'll be the norm this year. In my day, it was Coleman for 1-4, Castig for 5-7, then Coleman for 8-9. Anyway, uh, Rish? You don't have to tell us what number pitch it is per at bat. He says, "first pitch from Hansen," which is fine, but then it's "second pitch, strike two." Wow, he doesn't sound nervous, but he's messing up. "First man on for the Huskies--or rather, two outs and a man gets on." Stuff like that. Eh, maybe it's just first-game jitters. We've still got a month til Opening Day--and he'll only be doing a few games the whole year.]

[6:30: "Me, Myself, and I" by De La Soul played coming back from commercial. That's a new one for them, I think. Good choice.]

Wow, wasn't I just sitting in this very room, listening to this little radio, hearing Joe Castiglione wrap up the 2007 season?

Right now, Castiglione is calling the first inning of the first radio game of 2008. We're playing Northeastern, so Joe is having fun talking about the kids. The leadoff man was in his class at NU, and the second guy, a CT dude, went to Reb's high school and is from the town my sister lives in now. Earlier today, the other half of the Red Sox edged Boston College, 24-0.

John Rish is tonight's sidekick for Joe. Hearing him throw it over to Joe sounds normal, as he's been doing just that with the pre-, in-, and post-game reports. But judging from one inning, his role is gonna be "if I've got a joke I'll throw it in, if not I'll just let you do the work" guy. Actually, even his non-jokes sound like jokes just because of the way he talks.

Castig just admitted that during last post-season, he walked past the Cy Young statue at NU every week on the way to his Wednesday afternoon class and he kept doing it superstitiously until the Sox won. He says he'll do it this post-season, or in late September if it's a tight pennant race.

Ooh, the rare and extremely underrated "here we go, Red Sox, here we go" chant heard in Florida. Nice job! And there's Castig's first "the Newton native" of 2008. Just a personal fave of mine--I've got no connection to Newton. Okay, I'm not gonna live-blog this whole thing. But, really, I'm almost in disbelief that I am listening to a Red Sox game right now. The first TV game is tomorrow night--but I've got Celts tickets. Sunday is the next NESN Sox game. I might "announce" it over on YouCastr. I'll let you know. 1-0 Sox after one....

"DC," our man in DC, was at the Red Sox visit to Bushneyland, aka the White House, with his kids yesterday. He was kind enough to share pics and stories. This first huge group of shots are his, and then the close-ups at the end are his friend Anna's. (The Papi shot above is also hers.) Click each picture to enlarge.

Lots of folks showed up. Check out this line.

The set-up on the White House South Lawn. Note the Washington Monument in the background.

Metal detectors.

The "stage."

DC and the boys in front of the White House. On the lawn. How cool is that? I've seen the White House from the street, but I've never been that close. Of course, I was promised that a "White House field trip" would happen in fifth grade, but when I got to fifth grade, I guess they stopped that tradition. Oh well. It's more important that the Red Sox go. Hopefully they'll be shaking hands with a Democrat next year.

The band.

I'll turn it over to DC:

Before the event began, a few different people -- including John Henry -- were taking photos of US (the crowd) from behind the White House balcony window. I tried to capture that, but it's hard to see through the window. We were in the second row behind the three reserved rows. In the first row, we recognized Senators Kerry, Leahy, Kennedy, and Dodd. Right behind them was Jerry Remy, who took his seat with a big flourish. My oldest two boys each got his autograph. When one called out "Mr. Remy!" someone else hollered "He's President Remy to you!"

And there's the RemDawg.

Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy.

John Kerry.

Remy again. And I think that's Jack Welch at right.

As the players arrive, the camera-arms go up. I love this shot. Could've been an accident, but he ended up capturing the great reaction to Red Sox fans suddenly seeing Red Sox.

And there they are.

The big crowd in the the capital.

The Red Sox with the prez. And Cheney. As they get ready for Bush to speak.

The president speaks. It was comedy gold--only he was trying to be funny this time.

Cheney doing the chicken dance?

Papi with the trophy, Tek with the jersey.

Jason presents Bush with the team-signed jersey.

Papi shows the crowd the trophy once more, as Youk oddly waves from off to the side.

Beckett takin' it all in.

John Henry, one of the last to stick around.

More Sox on the way back into "the House."

The guys in front of the Monument.

More from DC:

when the Sox went from the White House to Walter Reed in four big buses, Papi pulled on a helmet and a leather coat and rode in the side car of a police escort motorcycle.

Another Papi shot from the sidecar. Hilarious!

More from DC:

We were disappointed to have zero opportunity to obtain autographs from players. They filed in directly from the balcony to the stage ... stood behind the President and Vice President, had some interaction with them ... and then filed back up the steps to the balcony and into the White House. NO way to get near them. But Becket stood up there with his arms spread -- as you see in one photo -- for like a full minute as everyone else was filing back into the White House post-ceremony. He was kind of soaking it all in, pumping up the audience, and just loving it. And then Youk gave us that wooden salute you see from the balcony. Suddenly, Ortiz sprang back out from the White House onto the balcony with the trophy to get one last big cheer out of the crowd.

Finally, I just mentioned a few times how all the players, etc. filed out with no contact opportunity. Well, John Henry stayed behind, chatted a bit, and gave both of my oldest his autograph, as well.

Now here are some more from Anna:

Dice and Schill cracking up.

Papi with trophy. Kevin Cash, for whatever reason, was front and center. He's like, "12 games in '07, baby! World champs! Cash Money in the (White) House!"

Clockwise from left: Beckett, Manny DC, Kyle Snyder, Pedroia, Mike Timlin.

Clay, Lopez, Jacoby, MDC, Schill, Doug, Wake, Beckett, Tito, Larry, Youk.

Same dudes from two shots up.

Lester at top left.

Papelbon at left, with Cora just behind Bush, and Kielty's hair at right.

I'm guessing this is from when the president thanked Pap for wearing pants. And check out Pap's purple-highlighted outfit--purple tie, purple shirt, etc. Purplebon?

A clear shot of Little Manny at top right.

Dubya with team behind.

A clearer shot of Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Beckett thing again.

The Youk thing again.

I always think of that Jerky Boys routine when I think of a "sidecar." Starting now, though, I may think of Papi in this little thing. Apparently, after the White House visit, when the team headed over to Walter Reed hospital, Papi just hopped in this thing.

How often is Papi's head this low to the ground?

Great job on the pics, DC and Anna. It looked like fun....

In the last few days, I've gotten rejection letters from the Mets, Yankees, and Phillies, ticket-lottery-wise. Today, though, within minutes of the Phils' e-mail, I get one called "Green Monster Second Chance Drawing." The one last thing I wanted this season, which I considered to be such a luxury, a mega-bonus that I totally didn't expect, was a game on the Monster. And now I'm in for that, too. The weird thing is, they don't even tell you that there is a second-chance drawing, let alone that your entry is in it. This is how I got Monster Seats one other time. Totally gold. Of course, I'll probably once again go for the 30-dollar standing room over the hundred-and-something-dollar seats.... Good luck--you may be getting a surprise yourself any minute. What would stink would be if they wrote you to tell you that your entry was indeed put into an unannounced second-chance drawing and you STILL lost....

Update: Upon further reading of the e-mail, it says tix will be limited to standing room only anyway. Per-fect.

[Update, 3:30 PM: Here's the Extra Bases report on the (p)residential meeting. Love the pants line by W. But the shot he took at Manny--come on.... Did you read what Coco Crisp said beforehand about meeting his first president? "The closest I got was to Gerald Ford Street in Palm Springs." (photo of the Papi and the hijo courtesy AP--man, Georgie's really short....)]




I updated this post. For a few of the teams, I'd written "no premium games," but they updated that for '08. So basically the finding of my report is that just about every team in baseball charges more to see us.

Reader D.C. in D.C. is going to the Red Sox' White House visit today. RSN members were chosen to have the opportunity to go. He may supply some pics. So watch for that. The team should be shaking W's cold, blood-stained hand in about ten minutes.

A guy on that sports station that's not EEI was saying how people like me, who talk about Andy Pettitte's not fessing up until he was caught, are "self-righteous." He asked, "who ever fesses up before they're caught," and brought up the classic "cheating on your wife" comparison. (You know, as if no listeners have husbands, but that's a "whole nother" issue.)

I never said "Andy should've fessed up before he was caught like everyone else does." I am a member of this society and I know all about the cheating that goes on it, and how many people would go so far as to take a lie all the way to their deathbed. But that doesn't make it right. Some people act like the worse crime is getting caught than doing the deed. People hear about someone cheating on their spouse and doing something stupid that gives them away, and they say, "how could you be so stupid?!" Instead of "how could you cheat on your spouse?!" So, right there, we've got a faction of people for whom cheating is a given--the "right" thing to do is avoid getting caught.

Andy Pettitte is a very religious man. I'm not saying religious people should be held to higher standards. Nor am I saying that I think religious people are more law-abiding or moral or in any way better than anybody else. But we're talking about a guy who speaks out on behalf of his god on why you should do good. And while he was doing that, here's what else he was doing:

1. Cheating at his profession by taking human growth hormone to try to get a competitive edge (whether he chooses to admit that last part or not.) "But everybody was doing it!" Would Jesus jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if everybody else did? No, and not just because he'd hit the water like it were solid earth. Actually--can Jesus control when he walks on water? I mean, if someone was drowning, could he dive down, or is the surface always hard to him? Moving on...

2. Not admitting the first cheating episode, before going and cheating again in the same way.

3. Keeping the secret to himself. Lying to god and Jesus every night in his prayers.

4. Upon hearing about a huge investigation into the exact kind of cheating he did in his sport, continuing to not admit what he'd done.

5. Upon being caught for cheating once, finally admitting it. But just the one time. The other half, he'll continue to lie about.

6. Upon being asked to testify before government officials, admitting to the second time he cheated.

So I'm still trying to figure out what makes him a classy, stand-up guy. If he now gets caught cheating on his taxes, and then admits it, does that count as another case of cheating and lying, or is he still classy for admitting it after being caught, since it's a different form of cheating? Do you get that one mulligan for each form of cheating? What makes a "stand-up" guy? If another player is a prick to fans, wears baggy clothes and a crooked hat, runs his mouth, and is an atheist, but never cheats, is he better or worse than Andy Pettitte?


[Hey, why does my girlfriend keep asking me why I "hate Andy Pettitte so much"?]

Oh, and the front page of the NESN site has the complete, 20-minute cockpit video of Wakefield. In addition to "holy schnikes," he also says, "oh my laundry."

I'm not letting you people stop me anymore...I'm going to clown college! Meaning I'm just gonna bombard you with clips from the original Office.







And here are two from Extras. The tall dude in the second clip is Stephen Merchant, who is Gervais' partner, and who, terribly, I've never mentioned here when I'm lost in my Gervais kiss-up hazes.

Here's the video from that whole "Wakefield flies with Blue Angels" thing.

That 1510 station was talking about how Bill lee got elected into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. One host starting going off on Lee, blaming him for the '78 collapse. He told about how the Gerbil wouldn't pitch lee out of spite--and he blamed Lee for it! I just hate the fact that he probably brainwashed a couple thousand young fans. He was acting like Bill Lee was "just tryin' to be different" as opposed to "trying to win," which, if you know Bill Lee, is his main concern on the baseball field. You're talking about a great pitcher--and his manager not pitching him because he didn't want to. And blaming the pitcher instead of the manager.

I think what gets lost in all the other awesome stuff Bill Lee does is how amazing a pitcher he was. He was also the guy to count on to come up big against the Yanks. Provided you put him out there.

Even if you're not a fan of Lee's off-field opinions, if you look at the stats, you realize that him being recognized by the Red Sox for what he did for them on the mound, a good quarter-of-a-century late, is quite justified.

I'd never heard of anyone who was on the Zimmer side of that argument before today. I take it the host-guy was a Republican.

Remember when Bruce Hurst was all, "eh, I don't want a full-time gig or anything," and I was all, "dude, admit it, you want in," and he was all, "nah, I really don't have that kind of time," and I was all, "but...but..."? Well, now he's got a full-time job with the Space Coaster.* "B. Ruth Curse"** be damned.

Remember when I was all, "we should have Coco and Jacoby battle it out (scroll way down) in spring training since they're both good," and everyone else was all, "I've just assumed Jacoby has taken over, who's this Hot Cocoa guy you speak of?" and I was all, "dude, you know I love Jacoby, but we've still got a big contract guy who's awesome on defense on the team, they're not just gonna forget about him, why not have the best backup outfielder in the league no matter who the 'starter' is," and everyone else was all, "it's still November, why are you even concerned with this stuff"? Okay, maybe it didn't go down quite like that, but the point is, everyone seemed so shocked when it came out a few days ago that the team thought of center field as Coco's to lose. Jacoby will be around for a long time. He'll be starting in '09 and beyond. But if Coco can start hitting, why not go with him a lot this year, and know you've got an incredible player in Jacoby who can fill in for him and/or Manny at any time, and/or pinch-hit and -run? (And just step right in should Coco start to shit the bed at the plate again.)

The dreaded day has finally arrived. The one where one of my high school-era friends sends out a mass e-mail to the rest of us, asking if we like The Office. And me cringing and holding out the slightest bit of hope that maybe he actually meant the original version of the show. And then me finding out that that wasn't the case at all, and then reading all the replies where everyone agrees on the awesomeness of The Office, without making any mention to the fact that there ever was an original, British version. Again, to you American Office fans, no offense, and I like Carrell and that other dude, and even though I don't watch it regularly, I know that it has to be, at the very least, way better than all the shit you normally see on TV. But still, it just pains me*** to have people talk about it as if it was an original show. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a link to the original, created by and starring Ricky Gervais, who is currently doing the HBO show Extras, which is equally funny. And then the next time you're hangin' out with your friends, talkin' about myspace and wearing sarco-ironic shirts that look old but that anyone can buy at Urban Outfitters, or whatever it is you do, and chattin' about your favorite show, "The Office," please be the one in your group to hook the others on the original Office, or at least the one who asks every time it's mentioned, "oh, you mean the American Office?" until they get the picture. Just like you would if you moved to England and they re-made Seinfeld and it was all the rage, and everybody just called it "Seinfeld" without specifying it wasn't the original version. Hey, Gervais is getting paid every time somebody buys a "new Office" DVD anyway--I just wish he'd get more credit for it.

When I got the e-mail, I thought about saying to that friend who sent it, "Hey, remember when we used to get mad at all the people who'd call Larry "Bud" Melman by his "new" name, Calvert DeForest (which, ironically, was his real name), when Letterman switched networks? Think of the American Office as "Calvin DeForest."" But I think it would've been lost on him. Like when I tried to explain the "Boston Sports Guy" vs. "Sports Guy" thing. Oh, well.

*If you clicked the first link you know what this means. Get on board!

**anagram for "Bruce Hurst."

***not that much, just in the context of, like, sit-com watching or whatever

Bill Lee finally makes Red Sox Hall of Fame!

Also to be inducted in 2008 are two of my favorites--Mike Greenwell (again, Gedman was more of a cult-hero to us in the 80s, Greenwell was my actual favorite--well, after a certain later-traitor...) and Mo Vaughn, whose father worked with my dad from when Mo was in short pants. (Hopefully Mo's plaque won't show any strippers or steroids.)

There will also be a new "memorable moment" inducted: Teddy Ballgame's homer in his last at bat. Memorable Moments, you ask? Do they have their own plaques, you ask? And if so, did you happen to take a shot of those on your Fenway Tour yesterday, Jere, you ask? Well, yes, yes they do, and yes I did:




*photo of an unsuspecting Bill Lee eating dinner also taken by me

Click each pic to huge-ify.
My lifelong dream (are you keeping track of them?) was to see Fenway Park covered in snow. In person. This winter, we'd matched the snowfall total of last year before Boxing Day. But I never got to Fenway to do the tour. And then January was pretty dry. The last few weeks it snowed seemingly every day, but it never left much on the ground. But the other day we had a nice, fluffy snowfall, and the weekend followed right behind. So Kim and I paid the 12 bucks to go to Fenway Park in February.

I'd been on the tour once before, in November 2003. So I know what the deal is, but, again, I was just there for the snow, and to see this year's improvements in progress. These shots are from up in the press area. We got a not-too-cold, cloudless day.

Here's a close-up of the new seats along the third base line.

And the new seats on the first base line. All these are going up where those "party boxes" they put in for the '99 All-Star Game were. (They promptly took them to the dump after the crane brought them down. Everyone always makes fun of the ownership for trying to sell all these pieces of Fenway-- Where was the praise for not cutting those things up into 10,000 parts and selling them for 100 dollars per square foot? Anyway, I'm totally fine with the owners recognizing that some of us like to collect weird stuff.... Of course, I wouldn't mind if they just gave the stuff to us.)

Looking out at the right field grandstand.

49 days!

One of the many shots you'll see of snowy seats. I love this stuff. Look how you can see the snow build-up on the seats in the down position.

It looks like they plowed the warning track. And the triangle gets the burgundy-twinged pile.

As you know, the Coke bottles came down a few weeks back. I don't know what's replacing them, but nothing's there yet.

The white field. The infield's covered anyway, but I started to think maybe the entire field was covered anyway. With a white tarp. Meaning the field would look like this even without snow. So, let's just pretend the field was completely uncovered, and then snow fell on it and turned it white. Except for the warning track. The bleachers are definitely covered with a white tarp, as they're re-doing all those seats. I can't wait to see my new bleacher seat in '08. (Oh, I also found out that they won't ever be re-doing the grandstand seats, partially because they'd have to follow the fire codes--they're currently grandfathered, so they don't have to follow them--and would lose 3,000 seats by making each seats eight inches wider.)

The new seating area jutting out in front of the Cask sign, and this horrible sign of a headless Sox player.

Workers were welding away as the tour guide talked about curses and championships to smatterings of laughter and applause.

Intermission! This picture is in the Yawkey Way Store, which is where you go to buy your tour tickets. If you're exiting the main doors, it's just to the right of the doors, facing you. I wonder who this kid is with Doug Griffin. He must be related to the owners of the store or something. I figure the pic is from spring training '77, but that's neither here nor there.

Okay, back to the action. From this high, you get the odd effect of cars driving on top of the bleachers. Look to the bottom right of the Ford sign. That car's going over the Mass Pike on [Unnamed] Road. Seriously, what is that road called? It's basically a really long on and off ramp for Storrow Drive. Or maybe the Charlesgate twins, East and West, own the air-naming rights.

The current seats, and the new seats moving in next store. (Note that some seats have been torn out, and there's a roof-deck style table and chairs visible.)

Due to construction, most of the tour was in the upper regions behind home plate. Now we're going down to the next level, and you can see the original pole that Fisk hit up on the wall.

Looking out from the EMC level (or whatever, I can never keep track of the level names) at the field. That orange cone is on home plate.

The Red Sox' Silver Sluggers.

The seats behind home plate.

The right field fence looks odd to me. The panels are different colors and look like they're just leaning up on the real fence, there are arrows on there, it just looks odd. At this point we're sitting in the grandstand between home and first, the last stop on the tour.

Snow on the seats around Canvas Alley.

The blank scoreboard. But the real reason I took this was that the Fenway Hawk was flying around. I've done the zooming for you below:

There it is. I also got it sitting on top of the a light tower. That hawk just rules that area.

Snow in the aisle.

Snowy seats, many covered by boards, right behind the plate.

Low angle shot of the snowy field.

On the way out. This is underneath the grandstand at home plate. This is what you see when you enter Gate D.

On Yawkey Way. The championship flags are hibernating.

In the meantime, the 2007 AL and World Champs flags are up over near the Beer Works.

When the tour started, the guide asked how many people had never been to Fenway Park before. I figured, February, probably lots of locals, surely everyone's been a bunch of times. But no. Almost every single person raised their hand. Out of maybe 50 people. I waited for the next question, "Has anyone been here a million times?", but it never came. So, the team should get the message: "We just can't either afford tickets or figure out how to get cheap seats, so the only way we'll come here is for 12 bucks without a game even going on. And no eight dollar beers to buy." Granted, as I have proven, it's doable to get cheap tickets, and lots of them. But people with kids wouldn't have time to do what it takes to get tickets even if they knew what that entailed. So instead of teaming up with the internet scalpers, maybe baseball teams should try to put an end to them, which will free up so many more tickets to the common fan.