Texsox

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 12:32 PM) If TM did not have exclusive contracts with so many venues, could I turn a profit by running a ticket selling operation with service charges 50% less than TM? I honestly do not know. Do venues charge TM a fee? What kind of an infrastructure do you need to handle the volume? You have to ask yourself why they have such a strong market share. Why are venues entering into exclusive contracts? The analogy of the jeans is we really do not know the margin. We see it with concert tickets. If the acts just charged $60 and you didn't see the fee, would there be the same outrage?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) http://www.facebook.com/groups/edit.php?su...gid=54482227273 The membership doubled after you posted the link here

Didn't quite see a bump. I was hoping for a good ol fashioned President Ford bump

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) Didn't guys like Mantle and Mays hit more than a few of those back in their era? Juicers Damn, I don't know, ask FlaSoxxJim, he was there . . .

QUOTE (WCSox @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 11:52 AM) Frank also got quite a bit larger over the years. And not the Sosa-like muscle "larger" - more like general bulk and what appears to be a little fat. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but steroids tend to not make people look "pudgy." As for HGH, well, that's a little more complicated. I wish that we could go back to the old days when players looked like toothpicks and 30 HRs in a season was near the league-lead. I liked the game just as much back then, without the added home run entertainment. The truth IMHO is if there was a no steroid league, and a cheat all the want league, the cheat all you want league, with 500 foot homeruns and 110 mph fast balls will outdraw the clean league. The casual fan wants to see rooftop shots.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 12:44 PM) Sure. And what they don't tell you is that all of those jobs those corporate tax cuts save have an additional full multiplier effect, most likely of a maximum nature because of the higher spending rates of lower level employees at these type of places. You already used the stoping the spiral story, this is the most effective way to do that... keeping people employed. That makes so much sense. So then would it also make sense that payroll dollars that are spent on the lower level employees is more beneficial than payroll dollars spent on executives. And further, dollars saved at the executive level at banks, if not spent on lower level employees, could they be used as loan capital? I'm starting to like the executive cap more and more.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) But...if you don't like the price those jeans are being offered for, you have many other options. You can try a different brand. You can try a different store. You can go to a discount store. You can wait for a sale. You can decide on wearing a different pair of pants. You can move to a warmer climate. You can go purchase a larger SUV and pump out additional CO2 for the next 20-30 years. You have essentially none of those options in dealing with ticketmaster. right, but I'm not certain how much is fair. If those jeans, with choice, are marked up more, than maybe TM is charging a fair price

Just wondering, how many here have taken a film studies class and what did you think? Also, which department was it taught in?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 11:12 AM) i just cant stand all their damn "convenience" & facility" charges.. bought flight of the conchords tix last week, price listed was $38.50, but with all the fees and what not came out to 52.50 each. Thats over 36% mark-up from fees!! The worst thing is that ticketmaster is the only option if you want to buy those tix... That does seem like a lot, but I wonder when I buy a new pair of jeans, what the store marks them up?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 11:22 AM) Tax cuts are a very ineffective method of economic stimulus compared to government spending. As long as everyone is happy

I haven't read this thread in a week or so, have I missed anything?

The allegations in this thread are the saddest legacy of the "doping era" in baseball. The broad paintbrush that is being used to describe any player who hit a lot of home runs and got bigger, is powerful. I applaud the players that avoided that shortcut to success and hope the juicers are all found out and their legacies made accurate. I understand the desire to ponder who may, and who may not have juiced. For me, I find the conversation a bit sickening. Some of my favorite players have been implicated or even worse. If it did extend to Thomas, I'd have a hard time watching baseball for a while.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 05:17 PM) Debt also really made things worse for Japan. We are going down the same path, except possibly worse. But the economy can't function without the government spending more than they take in.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 5, 2009 -> 04:03 PM) Can I Vote Tex, but for smoking buddy? BTW, if y'all think I'm the designated driver, you are out of luck. When I'm drinking, we're all drinking. We'll call cabs at the start of the night.

It is amazing that pics had not come out sooner. That would be the one piece of evidence I would struggle with in declaring him a big time stoner. Not saying he isn't, but the fact that somehow it stayed out of the papers this long is amazing. He's got some really loyal friends, or they were too stoned to realize how much that pic would have been worth to the tabloids.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) So when Microsoft was a monopoly and forced to break up, there were no other choices? Interesting comparison. What percentage of tickets in the US does Ticketmaster control? While they are number one by a nice margin, they do not control anywhere near even half the market. Microsoft on the other hand, was using their vast majority of operating system install base >90% to leverage their Office Suite and other products and eliminating competitors. http://www.ticketnews.com/node/5009 http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/04/markets/thebuzz/index.htm So depending on which category you are trying to make a monopoly case, all tickets than the combined sales of Ticketmaster and Live Nation would only be 30%, far short of a monopoly. Even with concerts, the combined share would be 80%, again, not quite a clear monopoly, and I doubt, since concerts are one subset of tickets sales, probably not enough to prove a monopoly. They are also a nice employer down here.

Are all lobbyists the same? Is there room for experts to offer advice and counsel to elected officials? Or are all paid experts painted with the same brush? SS makes great points about the President being able to select the very best people he can find. Let's say that Soxtalk Inc. developed a cool new device that needed government approval. Who here knows exactly how to get it approved? What agencies? Where do you file the paperwork? Hell, we use attorneys all the time in court, it makes sense that the average Joe or Jane would need help working through this process as well. We use experts to file our taxes, we use experts to verify our OSHA compliance, etc. etc. So it would seem that our government would be more efficient without newbies walking into offices trying to get this kind of stuff done. On the other hand, we have the sleezy, slimeball, lobbyists that we all would like see gone. I'm not certain how to regulate for one without dumping the other.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 05:04 PM) you won't be around here long You are correct. We do give everyone a chance to learn the ropes and what we accept and what we edit.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 7, 2009 -> 07:48 PM) Robin Williams is very good at serious roles, if people can get past who he is. Not just One Hour Photo, but also the remake of Insomnia from a few years ago, and a smaller role in Dead Again. Also, weird movie, but that one where Williams dies and is guided into afterlife by Cuba Gooding Jr (can't recall the name of it). I recently called Robin Williams the most underrated actor of my generation. He still cracks me up with over the top performances which ruin any serious consideration as a dramatic actor. And jumping on the western theme late, would y'all consider Lone Star a modern day western? It has become one of my favorite films after moving to the border.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 28, 2009 -> 03:53 PM) You want to cut some government waste? Here is a target rich environment - the Postal Service. The mail has basically no competition, and should be run at cost. Plain and simple. And yet, this agency actually spends all kinds of money on advertising. Seriously - they spend 9 figures a year on advertising. That is 100% waste, right there. And this year, the USPS may need to cut back service because they are so deep in the hole. The provision of necessary government services should charge what they cost - not more, not less. Its really damn simple. If they can't make their expectations, then raise the prices. If fewer people use it... GOOD. That is less money going to a government agency, and probably some of it goes to other areas of the private sector. Really, no competition? UPS, Fed Ex, Airborne, email, fax, etc. There is no competition for the .42 letter, no one wants that business. But the other stuff is bank and allows the USPS to keep delivering letters for that price. And the USPS relies on volume. Why are their no competitors? Because shipping an envelope from Hopeville, Maine to Beartown, Oregon is damn expensive without a whole plane load of stuff moving from hub to hub. And the stuff flat out arrives. Not so in many other countries.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) I think that the argument should be based on Cigarettes and Alcohol cause death, etc. Anything that is less harmful than those 2, which has more benefit than those 2, should be legal. Then the argument could be on marijuana being illegal, cigarettes and alcohol should be illegal as well. Same logic.You want to use one to jude the other, than you would have to accept either situation.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) try getting a non-ticketmaster event going in the United center? Not gonna happen. The United Center has choices. That was my point. The monopoly would really only come into play if the venues had no other choices. In the end it is the venues that decide how to sell their tickets.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) I wonder how Ticketmaster gets around being classified as a monopoly, especially considering this stunt where they are redirecting customers to their subsidiary scalping sites. They clearly have their fingers wrapped pretty tightly around the market They get around it by not being a monopoly. Think about all the venues there are, the venues have a choice in how and where they sell tickets. Many have their own box office.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 7, 2009 -> 06:02 PM) How about the fictional character "Texsox"? s***, I've tried to kill him a few times. He's probably 50% reality at this point.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2009 -> 02:44 PM) I prefer no restrictions. The President should be able to pick whomever he wants to work for him. Why should the most powerful man in the world have to have second rate employees because of who they used to work for? That makes no sense to me. I assume you mean no restriction beyond requiring congressional approve for some positions. I agree he should be able to pick his people, and the voters should know who he is picking and why. Later, in theory, we could use that information to decide our next vote. Which is why I like the gate with exceptions.