[Please read so this doesn't happen to you!]

Everything's pretty much fine now. I mean, I'll be going to a lot of games this year. I have the Ten-game plan, I got some games on the April/September sale, I got Monster Seats, I got Opening Day through that lottery, got the Futures at Fenway doubleheader, and I have a bunch of other games just through the ticket office online. Plus a Baltimore trip again this year. So it's not like I'm missing the Red Sox in 2008.

But on the day of the big sale back in February--that's when I went for summertime sets of four. So even if you think I'm silly for complaining when I've got plenty of tickets anyway, all for face value, remember, the ones in question were purchased with the intention of having other couples come to games with my girlfriend and I. So between that and just the principle of the thing, I think my complaint is justified. Here's what happened:

I had planned to buy the maximum eight tickets--two foursomes. My mom would do the same, as she and my dad would be going to one of these games, and for the other four tickets, I'd pay her back. And after we got those, I saw there were still some summer Fridays available, so Kim bought two more, so she and a friend could go to a game. Remember, for all these people, besides Kim and I, this is their only game of the year.

So that's how it went down. Nice and smooth. We were all done by noon, having good luck in the virtual waiting room. We each got our individual confirmations at each of the three distinct email addresses we provided. But the tickets never came, nor did any correspondence from the ticket office. Finally, one day, about a month later, my mom asks me, "Why did I get a refund from the Red Sox?" Shit. I looked at my credit card statement. I had a refund, too. Kim completed the triple-trouble.

I called the ticket office. Sully (I assume) asked me for my order number and all that. He told me that the order was canceled because I exceeded the limit. 18 tickets. I told him there were three separate orders. He told me that all three were in Kim's name, because that was the login name all three orders came in under, so to them, it looks like one person ordering 18 tickets, he tells me. The tickets have already been resold to other fans. (Read: to somebody who most likely sold them at face value illegally through an online ticket scalper PROMOTED by the Red Sox.)

At this point, all I could do was ask, "Okay, couldn't you have sent an email out to let me know that the order(s) are at risk of being canceled, or at the very least, an email saying they'd already been canceled? I mean, if I'd chosen "print-at-home," we all would've shown up at Fenway only to be turned away." The guy says, "Two emails did go out." Huh? He explains that they were sent out, but "you wouldn't have gotten them," because they were both sent to Kim!

Kim checked her mailbox. Nothing. But even if she had gotten them and opened them (which she or anybody still might not have, probably thinking it was just a confirmation or mailing list stuff), why wouldn't the two other people who ordered tickets gotten them?! All three of us got confirmation emails for our order intitially! Then they go and cancel them but only send an alert to one of the three names?? (Which is a lie as far as we know anyway, because, again, Kim checked and found neither of these mystery emails.)

And it's all because we were logged in to mlb.com under the same name. But so what? When it came time to give our info, we each gave it. Different names, different credit cards, different email addresses...and different confirmation letters! I am guessing what happened is after the first login, the computer just kept us logged in, not asking for a name and password each time. (Another fishy thing, though, is how the guy said all the orders came from Kim's login name--it was her computer, but she's never logged in to mlb.com. I even checked later, her computer doesn't keep her logged in, if she ever was at all. I feel like it should've been my name they were all under. The guy sounded snippy when telling me that, almost like he'd been instructed to lie while he had me on hold for so long.)

But still! I never thought for a second, Hey, we better change the login name. Even if had given me a chance to change it, I still might not have, because NOWHERE does it say that the mlb login name has anything to do with anything. On the registration screen, all the info was different for each order. Eight tickets per person. I'd say we strictly followed that order. Again, the big lie is "from our [the ticket office's] end, the three orders looked like they came from the same person." Because each of us got individual confirmation letters. By their logic, two roommates who share a computer could have each gone on line at separate times that day, unbeknownst to the other, and bought, let's say six tickets each. For sick children. Very sick. And the team would just cancel both orders.

After having to inform four excited sets of baseball fans that No, it turns out they won't be going to Fenway this summer, I wrote an old school-style letter to the top name on the ticket office list. The VP of ticketing. Told him what I told you. Asked for the chance to re-purchase. That was well over a moth ago. I, the loyal fifth-year season ticket holding, four dollar slice of crummy Fenway pizza buying lifelong fan, have received no reply.

However, recently, when ordering tickets, I noticed the Sox had a new message up there on the ordering screen. It appears once tickets are already in your cart, and is quite tiny, but you can call it the Jere Rule: "Warning – be sure to use your own login information on the registration page!" Doesn't that tell you they're admitting the system is flawed? Who knows, maybe that message has always been there. But this whole thing just sounds absurd, regardless. Three true fans try to buy tickets for themselves and their friends, none of them exceeding the limit, and all three orders are canceled, all 18 tickets gone. But if you're looking to grab eight at a time for the sole purpose of selling them to real fans, illegally, for ten times face value through an agency, go right ahead. And enjoy the pretty billboard for the agency right there at Fenway Park.

Like I said, though, since then, my mom won the Opening Day lottery, so me, my parents, and girlfriend will be there Tuesday.

I guess if you told me two weeks ago we'd be 3-4 on the crazy opening trip, I would've reluctantly signed up for it. We'll just put this Toronto series behind us and concentrate on Tuesday. I'll be there with many cameras in tow in the grandstand. Ring ceremony. Flag raising. Gold.

Balty and Tampa are tied for first, the Sox are second-to-last, and the Yanks are in last place, as Beckett makes his first start for us. The practical joke on Ellsbury continues, as he's in the eight hole today.

Oh, and if you lost your Red Sox hat this past Friday night at Yankee Stadium, contact me. Somebody found it and emailed me to get the word out.

I'll be going to Friday night's and Sunday night's Red Sox-Yankees games! How? No, I didn't spend a million dollars each from some crappy scalping agency, I simply went to redsox dot com and bought them for face value. Bleachers row 4! I see they're also selling tix in that new Coke section for home game 2 and 3. 75 bucks each. "Left field pavilion reserved."

So, if you're up, go now! Yankee games!!!! They're usually just not available online. Lottery only. Well, if you're reading this, you just won the lottery. April 11-13, on sale NOW...

[update: wow, there are some savvy mofos out there, as those games seem to be down to single tix already at 12:30. I actually got two together.]

Look, I'm down with giving a guy a rest occasionally. I know it's a long season. I know the backups need to play. And I know that with all the resting Tito did last year, we still won the World Series.

But Kevin Youkilis just like four months off. He's your first baseman. He hasn't made an error in a year and a half. Play him! There are built-in off days during the year. That's when these guys should be resting. Not during game 6 of the season. If Youk needs a rest right around now--how about Monday? We're not playing that day. We've also got Lugo leading off today with Jacoby on the bench. I don't know how much that has to do with Ellsbury hitting the fence last night.

We trail 4-2, Yanks trail 5-1. Pettitte knocked around today after one third of Tri-en Taylor did last night. (The Yanks have the three young *assumed* Cy Young winners, but rather than calling them Tri Young, I call them Tri-en Taylor, after Brien Taylor, a guy who was supposed to be the next Ron Guidry for the Yanks but never made it to the majors.

Gotta go.

Crappy game. They should have used my "never take Wake out" theory. The one offensive highlight was Drew with the "Carbo '75." A really horrible swing, followed by a perfect one, for a three run, game-tying homer. Fairweather Blue Jays fans were out in full force for Opening Day. We'll get 'em tomorrow. Yanks lost 13-4 to the DEVIL Rays.

[Direct link here]

Okay, here's what we're doin'. Red Sox at Toronto, tonight, 7:07 PM. I will be announcing. Click here to listen live. I'm "GedMan" over there, remember. Then afterwards I will take your calls. Skype me at Gedman10 or AIM me audio-wise at Two2067. I'll also be following the Joy of Sox game thread, so that's your best way to make a comment directly to me during the broadcast. Jere Troup will be in the house tonight, as will ColorWoman on occasion.

Don't know when my next broadcast will be after that. I'm not gonna do any this weekend, and I'll be at Opening Day and the less cool Seconding Day at Fenway. Maybe I'll do Thursday night, or one of the Yankee games next weekend. I'll keep you posted.

The Jays were up 2-0 early on the Yanks, but thanks to a wild pitch and an error, the Yanks win 3-2. I'm sure the empty blue seats were clapping their grimy armrests together like crazy.

I followed some of this game, and the winning hit was a single to center on which Damon didn't advance from second to third. I can only imagine what went on on that play....

You know that hawk at Fenway I'm always yapping about and taking pictures of? It attacked some Connecticut girl on a Fenway tour!

And here are some pics from the just-completed section up in left field.

That center field restaurant is going to be called the Bleacher Bar, and supposedly will open in May. I can't wait for that. You'll be able to look into the park straight through the ol' wagon gate in center field. And it'll be open year-round, so that will be a nice way to look into Fenway Park in the off-season and when the team is away.

You know how when it's cold enough, the umps will allow the pitchers to blow on their hand while on the mound? I mean, that is pretty common knowledge, right? I'd say I learned that not even from playing baseball throughout my youth, but just from watching on TV and listening on the radio. So I don't feel like I'm in some special club for knowing this.

If you didn't know, fine, you learned something new today. But you're not a paid sports radio host. This morning on one of the morning shows (not the "main" station in Boston, a different one), one of the two hosts had just learned this fact and read it to the other guy like it was one of those obscure laws about walking your alligator on Sundays. I figured he had to be joking, but if he wasn't, the other guy would surely say, Yeah, I've known that all my life. But no. The other guy had never heard of this either. So of course they start joking about it--"what, do the umpires have some kind of temperature test they do...hahahaha, that's crazy!" I was so embarrassed for these dudes. This is who they hire for these shows.

And the more I think about it--even if you rarely watch baseball, what's the most common month you'd watch it in? October. And what's one of the coldest months of the baseball season? October. I can't fathom that every single instance in which an announcer in a playoff baseball game has mentioned "pitchers are allowed to go to the mouth tonight..." has slipped past both of these hosts without them ever picking up on it. That is just a terrible job. That was wacky fact one out of five for them. I can't remember the other four, but I'm pretty sure they were all things I assumed everyone, especially "professionals," knew, but that they didn't. Actually, maybe they should just avoid "here's some stuff I don't know" lists in the first place....

There was another Masquerade Ball tonight at Yankee Stadium. Once again, the most popular costume to show up in was an empty blue stadium seat. As I told you on Sunday, the Yanks knew nobody was coming to this series (other than the opening day game), which is why I got an email from them offering 48-dollar seats for 5 bucks each. (See that offer here among their other discounts, keeping in mind Fenway doesn't even discount obstructed view seats anymore.)

It was a cold night, sure, but if you buy tickets for a night game on April 2nd, you should be happy to get 44 degrees, which was the game-time temp. Granted, it was a little windy... But, hey, when you only pay $5 for a seat, you're gonna be more likely to go home early. Which is exactly what all the people who bothered to show up did.

During the game, seeing the nearly completely empty upper deck, I jokingly said, "you know they'll still announce the attendance as like 49,000 or something." I was close. 48,500. It's that's what 48 thousand people looks like, I should start a baseball team, 'cuz I'm 9 guys myself.

Anyway, the Dunbar faithful were sound asleep, dreaming of the past, which is when the Yanks' championships take place, and the future, where every Yankee young pitcher is scheduled to be a Hall of Famer simply because the Yankees say so, the team lost 5-2 to the Blue Jays. Giambi almost tied it in the ninth, but his three-run dong attempt fell just short. The only thing better than a Yankee loss is a Yankee loss where they almost win and the fans think it is pre-destined that they'll have some mystical America-protecting rally, but they still lose. (Oh, and the way they got the tying runs on was a TYR, typical Yankee rally. Jeter with a fisted ball to the second baseman who messes up the play, then Abreu gets a broken bat bloop. Had either of these "hits" involved the hitter retreating to the dugout, they surely would've been asked to do a curtain call, as Yankee fans have reached the point of thinking of anything good as, like, the best thing you could possibly ask for. Can I once again tell you how much I love the world we live in? Oh, but the "rivalry is stagnating," that's right, I almost thought I cared and got excited about the thought of the Yanks having every bad thing I could possibly imagine happening to them. Myyyyy mistake.)

Standings look like this: Us, 3-1, the other four teams, 1-1.

So, getting back to the empty seats thing. If fans don't wanna go to the game, fine. I just wish we didn't have to hear about how Yankee fans are the best in the world, and all these attendance records (and especially that Red Sox fans are somehow "the same" as Yankee fans.) Why don't the Yanks just do this: Give all the tickets away for free. See how many people show up. Add that number to the number of empty seats remaining for the total "attendance." Tell everyone that every game was played to a full house of paying fans. That's pretty close to what they already do....

[Update: We win, 5-0. 3-1 to start the year. Very nice. Next we go to Toronto, Fri-Sat-Sun.]

[Update: Varitek gets the dong that was rightfully his last night. 5-0 us after 8.5.]

[Update: Poor Lenny. Dinardo gives up like a hundred hits in a row, and the Sox now lead 4-0 going to the bottom of the eighth.]

[Update: Seventh inning stretch. In the top of the seventh, Youk doubles, and Papi slams a dong! Of of Captain Cheese. 2-0 Red Sox. Wicked out to start the bottom of the seventh.]

First of all, YouCastr fixed their issues, so last night's broadcast by me is up here. With no game tonight, you can listen to last night's game! It's cool how you can instantly go to any spot in the game with no long loading delay. So, like, if you wanted to hear one key moment, you could go right to it. Although you'd have to some estimating, of course.

So we're halfway through this game. We've had men on in every inning, but have yet to score off Harden. The A's have also yet to score off of Wicked Lester. More updates to folow.

Coco in the lineup instead of Jacoby. It is okay to use your 3(b)rd outfielder as a starter sometimes since he would be a starter for any other team. As a bonus, you get to use your 3(a)rd outfielder late in the game as a pinch-runner who stays in the game and gives you just as good defense as the other guy. But when Jacoby does start, please, Tito, don't bat him anywhere but leadoff.

Orsillo does the clubhouse insider report with Edes/Benjamin/whoever now. Formerly Cervasio's role.

The video that pops up on redsox.com right now shows last night's controversial near-dong by Varitek from the perspective of the Oakland announcers. They didn't think it was anything other than a dong.

Remember my original Dunbar theory from when Damon went over to the Yanks?

It seems the great writer Josh of Cardboard Gods has used a similar analogy to describe his feeling when Luis Tiant became a Yankee. Only his analogy involved the robbing of material things, while was more about the robbing of innocence. So, see, I'm not crazy.

Look, you can pay some person whose sole purpose is to snatch up all the tick3ts before you can and then take advantage of you by charging you ten times face value.

Or you can go to red sox dot com right now and get the tick3ts for what they actually cost. The Tampa and Baltimore series in early June and early September have pavilion standing room available. Great view from up there, and you get a little ledge to lean on. (And don't forget, September 3rd, a Wednesday afternoon, is the day we break the consecutive sell-out streak, which no one except me seems to be talking about.)

You can also get seats--actual sit-down seats--to the first two home games after opening day against the Tigers. Go root down the big-market team and cheer for the underdog Red Sox. (Yes, the Tigers' payroll is higher than ours.)

(Okay, I just checked the comments on the last post after I wrote this and I see some of you took my advice and already got some tix. Nice job! I also noticed a new thing on there when you purchase. "Warning--make sure you use your own login info on the registration screen." That's what screwed me a few months ago. I take it they got my letter.... More on this later.)

[Update: Here's the direct link (Although their site is a little buggy right now.) So if you've got three hours burnin' a hole in your time-space continuum, check it out.]

Had fun announcing the game tonight. Didn't even have time for the birthdays. (Otto Von Bismarck turned 193...) Archived game should be here eventually. I think.

What a game! Dice is so amazing when he's on. If he can be on, let's say, at least 80 percent of the time, we will be in the World Series again. Let's hope.

And Papelbon looked like a man on a mission. It felt like October in April.

Tomorrow at 3:35 we finally finish this week-long, four game series with Oakland.

Wow, they just had a whole mess o' tickets on sale at the team site. I was sitting there looking at 8 seats together in the bleachers, row 7, for the opening Tigers series. They also had lots of standing room. While trying to figure out what to do (I already have tix to two games in that Tigers series), the clock struck 2 AM and the message "the ticket office is currently out of service" came up, making my decision for me. I suggest you check the site in the AM, though.... Never pay more than face value, people! Keep your eyes open!

[Update: 10:40 PM: I'm going on live for top 3...]

[Update: I'll give one more update here right before I go live...]

[Update: The game will be here. I'm GedMan, click on me to hear my broadcast. If you want to call in and talk to me live on the air* between innings, Skype me at "Gedman10" or AIM audio me, if that's a verb, at "Two2067." These things are free downloads and free to use, by the way. I still don't know what time I'll jump in to start announcing, but once I'm in, I'll stay til the end.

Reminder! If I should suddenly go off the air for any reason, know that I'll be working to fix the problem (most likely "turn AirPort off...turn AirPort on") and will get right back on.]

Sox at A's. 10:05 PM. I'll be announcing the game. Maybe not from the start, but probably around 11, and going til the end. I'll put the link up here later.

*Or through the wire. Or wireless wire. Or through space. Or however this works.