FlaSoxxJim

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 10:38 PM) From Reifert: Tickets to potential LCS games at U.S. Cellular Field went on sale today at noon. Demand was intense. Close to 40,000 tickets were sold to the general public in 48 minutes via on-line and TicketMaster phone lines. At peak time, 137,000 people were in line on their computers to purchase tickets. That type of demand is through the roof, but it also means many Sox fans ended up disappointed and without tickets to one of the four possible games. There were no problem with the system, just incredible demand for tickets. But the numbers don't seem to jibe with the poor success rates of those of us here, who are all by and large way more tech saavy than the average fan. We can assume "peak time" is the first 15-20 minutes today when a few of us got lucky and te rest of us got reemed. Even if we round that peak demand up to 160K, if we divide that by the 40K tickets sold tthere should be more happy people around here than there are. I agree with those who say the Sox org doesn't have much to do with the situation, and I think even if they had the powere to sell some tickets at the ticket windows it woudl be a token amount of tickets because MLB has a contract with Ticketmaster to distribute the bulk of available tix to the public. In my time working at the record store I learned something else about Ticketmaster. Since a site that wasn't supposed to sell tickets to an event still could access them, an industrous employee could go into the scalping business by pulling tickets rapidly as soon as the event opened in the system. The manager of the store in Champaign where I worked made quite a bit of money by doing unauthorized pulls for big Chicago areas shows, even as us piddling employees were telling customers we couldn't sell that event. That, fellow ham-n-eggers, is where a large amount of those broker tickets come from.

QUOTE(ChiSox9 @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 10:24 PM) Just looking at their website: #1 they are located in Austin TX... i was under the impression that people outside of a 50 mile radius of the event can not order tickets? That is incorrect. Online through the centralized Ticketmaster website anybody could puchase tix regardless of where they were located. Individual Ticketmaster outlets outside of the 50-mile radius were not supposed to be able to pull tickets. But reading the threads today, there are indications that was not always the case. I worked at a record store years ago with a Ticketmaster terminal, and if things haven't changed I know what happened. All the terminals CAN access all events, but the local retailers are supposed to know which events they are prohibited from selling. If a clerk doesn't know he's not supposed to pull tix to a given event then you can get tix from an outlet that was not supposed to sell them.

QUOTE(spataro51 @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 09:36 PM) i tried to get tickets and the wait time was crazy, then the server frooze and i was out of luck. when i finally got through it said it was all sold out. so what i did was call ticketmaster at approx. 1:45 and i talked to a ticketmaster rep. and he searched for tickets for game 1 for me and i explained what happened. somehow he ended up getting me 4 tickets in sec 153 row 18 for game 1. i almost sh*t in my pants when he told me that he was able to get them. he also apologized for the tech. problems that occured. SO i now have 4 great seats for game 1!!!! i can;t wait, lets win friday! Well played. Bastard. . .

QUOTE(rangercal @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 09:20 PM) No, their was something f***ed up with the browser this time around. No way It jumps from 4 minute wait to 15 minute wait to 1 minute wait back to nothing. It was as if people(brokers) were cutting me in line. I don't think anybody is cutting ito the cue there. The wait time is a constantly refreshed estimate based on where you are in the pipeling but ALSO based on how rapidly the orders are being processed and pushed through the pipeline. Each time there was a hiccup and the cue stopped moving that would be reflected in the wait time estimate going up instead of down. Unbelievably frustrating though. Most frustrating for me today though was thay I got in the first time within a minute of the gateway opening up, but I couldn't read the %$@*$# visual confirmation word due to a apparent incompatibility with the safari browser, so by the time I quit safari and got back on with another browser (maybe 3 minutes in) I was toast. :angry:

QUOTE(SnB @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 09:17 PM) there was alot bigger demand for this series. think about it, ANYONE could just go online, get lucky and sell them and make a huge profit. But anything like this is mostly based on luck. Brokers are getting their hands on more than 4 tickets a transaction. Ask yourself how that happens. The dollar amounts posted above go a long way toward answering that question. You might think that there doesn't seem to be enough of a taste for MLB, compared to the profit the brokers are taking in but that is incorrect. On top of MLB taking a huge chunk of the tix out of the common man's bucket off the top, the fact that the brokers can snag probably 75% of the remainder ensures that "anybody" that wants to get to a championship game can – assuming they are flush enough to pay 10x face for the tix. That way all the rich and well-to-do get to the games regardless of whether they have a corporate connection, an in through MLB, or just coughed up the bucks to a scalper. And us ham-'n-eggers are the ones who get dropped in the grease. And none of the above is intended to in any way begrudge the season ticket holders who absolutely deserve the cut of postseason tix reserved for them. My beef is entirely with the cushy arrangement MLB, Ticketmaster, and th scalpers have come up with.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 08:28 PM) (You spelled that wrong) That's what happens when your authority on the Spanish language is Speedy Gonzales.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 08:51 PM) Personally, I think it's BS, because why would he tell that to Abbas, a Muslim? I mean if he were talking to Falwell, or Robertson, fine, I could see that. But what gain would there be to say something like that to a Muslim? Of course, this is probably all out of context too. Something to the effect of, I prayed about it, and that was the conclusion that God led me to... and now, it's this. I think you are being naive, Kap. This is unsettling to be sure, but hardly revelatory by any stretch. Bush is seen as Messianic by the religious right (which makes his apparent betrayal of their trust in nominating Meiers that much harder for them to swallow). And he very much believes – or at least hopes to convince others – that he is literally a mouthpiece of God. There was an epic length NYT Magazine article by Ron Suskind back before the election going into all of this: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine...5070&oref=login (Subscription required but well worth the time to read.) A belief that Bush has God actually whispering in his ear goes a long way toward explaining the convoction he has in his "gut feelings" and "instincts," regardless of what empiracal evidence or a room full of advisors tell him. It took Kerry to point out to the American audiencein the first debate that you can be certain about something and still be wrong, but Bush thinks it doesn't apply to him because there's a higherpower calling the shots. Here's the lead in to the Suskind piece, to hopefully interest you enough to read the rest:

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 08:44 PM) But I ain't got no speakers ain't got no headphones ain't got no records to play Why stay in college? Why go to night school? It'll all be different this time.

I think Gacy was, actually.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 04:57 PM) Fox News says its 19 briefcase bombs. Nobody else has said that. Kinda creepy. Sounds like the urban legends that have too many specific details in them, doesn't it? What are the chances this story would have broke within minutes before or after (depending on the outlet) the latest PlameGate bombshell? The threat of a new global radical caliphate didn't cause much of a distraction today, so maybe some unverified information about some, no, I mean a few, no. . . exactly 19 suitcase bombs on the NY subway will.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 04:59 PM) You think Rove will be a caged bird who sings? Based on his past I would say yes, but the stakes are too high here. He's going to fall on his sword most likely, as will Scooter. Can't go as high as the POTUS and Veep or they would be traitors to the administration. (Not like being found to be traitors to the country wouldn't already be enough.)

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 04:55 PM) So I'm sure that will stand. But I thought they weren't selling SRO . . .

I wonder how many "several thousand" individual tix a game really is. Sounds like less than 10K per game the way they phrase it.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 04:43 PM) foxnews.com LOOK AT THE MONKEY!! LOOK AT THE FUNNY MONKEY!!! Ah, the old Chewbacca Defense in action.

QUOTE(ChiSoxyGirl @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 04:41 PM) How could I refuse a day of Noam? How're you doin' baby?

Is it too much to hope for a White Sox advance to the ALCS and an indictment of Darth Rove all in the same week? Quick, W, have a big news conference and warn everybody about the threat of militant Islamists to create a diversion! No, wait. He already tried that today didn't he?

I love one of them referring to Olerud as "OlderDude" And I hurt myself laughing after reading this guy's seeming disbelief at the announcers suggesting Tong G pulled a Buckner: And then these graphics after Gooch went yard: Good times.

I got three passports. Couple of visas. Don't even know my real name.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 03:27 PM) What about Spanish Fly? Ariba! Ariba!!

Damn, Steff was right. Kittle does manage to whore his benches in every single press piece that mentions him.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 03:03 PM) Actually, if we want to understand the mutations that created it...yeah it is just what we need. What are you, some kind of mad scientist or something?

QUOTE(ChiSoxyGirl @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 02:34 PM) Uh-oh, someone hasn't read the 6th book yet. . . Right you are. I take it Cho is no mo [but no spoilers please] Damn, now I have to take the first part of next week off of work to read the book don't I?

Taylor is looking to get some attention by taking swipes at Rowling's characters. Anyway, Harry has the hots for an Asian Hogwart's girl in the stories, right? Cho is her name I think.

QUOTE(mreye @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 01:03 PM) I'm telling you, she's sneaky hot! Again, I think you're thinking of Guy Lombardo.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 6, 2005 -> 01:57 PM) I can't argue with you there... So when are you returning to the craphole by the Lake again, so we can tip a few? A few what? Cows??