Run Patriots, Run!

Happy Patriots’ Day to everybody out there!

Happy What?! What the hell is that?

Patriots’ Day, (according to our friends over at Wikipedia): “...is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and state of Maine (once part of Massachusetts), and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin.”

I’m not really clear as to why it’s celebrated in Wisconsin, but I’m all for holidays that don’t make a lot of sense (see Big Wind Day in New Hampshire).

The real highlight of the day is not the colonial reenactments but rather two Boston-based sporting events, the running of the Boston Marathon and the 11am game of the Boston Red Sowx (yes I know...but it’s phonetic).

The marathon is of course the bigger of the two events where most of the runners are you fast SOBs that I constantly assail because you're just too darn fast. This was the 113th running and it is still the only “major” marathon not run during a weekend. The full story can be found over at the Boston Globe, but it looked like a great race (especially on the women’s side with the closest finish in history and even the Americans got in on the act finishing 3rd in both races (hey we don’t suck as much as I thought). But on a serious note, congratulations to all the runners and I hope you all had a great race! The way I see it by the time I’m 80 or so I can qualify...see you in a little less then 50 years.

The other event was the Red Sox (see I can spell) game today. The game is the only one of the year on the entire Major League Baseball schedule to start before noon (the only game scheduled prior to the season; there are some makeup dates that need to start early). And it’s evidently very exciting as you can exit Fenway Park, walk a short distance and see some of the marathon finishers (the winners finish somewhere in the 2nd inning).

And finally, while this has nothing to do with Patriots’ day, tomorrow I want to alert you to two other New England-based traditions:
1) 50 cent Ice Coffee Day at Dunkin’ Donuts
2) Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s

So Run, Celebrate, and Enjoy!

Thanks Indiana and Shut Up Patriot Fan

Thanks that is for bringing (or rather electing) Dan Burton (R) congressman. Rep Burton, during the congressional hearings for the ‘roid-rage Rocket actually had one of the two best comments of the day, “What happens if your lies are proven untrue?” Uh, Congressman, that’s why it’s called a lie.

And a special runner up comment goes to Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) who saw fit to inquire "what uniform you will wear to the Hall of Fame?"

As Dana Milbanks of the Washington Post properly concluded, “The world might look very different today if Congress had spent as much energy probing Iraq for weapons of mass destruction as it did yesterday examining Roger Clemens's derrière.”

If we didn’t think Congress made way too much money doing way too little work, this is the proof. Oh and thanks to the GOP for lying down and being Clemens doormat. When exactly did the memo go out that said, “Hey guys, lets be nice to Clemens, Bush Sr. says he’s ‘a good guy’”?

Also from a few days ago this article on Patriot Fan who still can’t accept that his team couldn’t get the job done. They want the NFL to replay the last 1:41 of the SuperBowl because they don’t understand that when the refs call for a measurement that clock stops. You can find the NFL rulebook here. Please print it out and save it for future idiotic arguments.

I'm Pulling for the Patriots? Am I F-in Crazy?

Actually, no. No I'm not. I am pulling for the Pats in their battle against ticket scalping. Here's the quick rundown. The Patriots sued Stubhub (and parent company e-bay) in order to secure the names of the approximately13,000 buyers and sellers of Patriot season and individual game tickets on the site. Yesterday's ruling in favor of the Pats was on an appeal from the lower court who also sided with the team. For full details here's the ESPN.com article.

What I'm most happy about here is not that the big, bad NFL team is trying to get a stranglehold on their ticket sales, but rather that they are cracking down on ticket scalping and allowing fans to buy tickets at reasonable prices. In the worst case example, a 50 yd line seat for the Pats/Jets game in December is posted on StubHub for $1,300. Oh by the way, the face value: $125. So not only is this "fan" trying to unload a ticket they aren't going to use, they're trying to cover the cost of their entire season ticket package! Oh and one more aside, if that fan really "couldn't" attend the game and wanted to sell the ticket so they didn't have to eat it, they could go to Ticketmaster who has a partnership with the club and buy the ticket for face value (and the $30 or so in fees that are legal under Massachusetts law). So would you pay $150 or $1300 for the same tickets? Humm...

I think all sports fans should pay close attention to this story as this could set the precedent for other franchises to go after these jackals (you know how I feel about ticket scalpers) who do nothing more then buy the season ticket plans and resell the tickets for huge profit. Oh and Stubhub of course gets their cut (the percentage of which is not clearly labeled on their site....another indication to buyers that you are getting ripped off).

A Money.CNN.com report earlier this month praised Stubhub and the sites like it for creating a "truly transparent secondary market for tickets." Really? Which part is transparent? That fans are getting ripped off or that scalpers are buying season tickets which real fans have been waiting for (the list for Green Bay Packers season tickets is still 20 years deep) and then selling them piecemeal for huge profits?

I think all sporting teams should take this route. It's not that I don't support a secondary market for tickets, because if you've read the earlier posts about trying to get Springsteen tickets (which arrived yesterday!!!) you'll know I certainly do, but you also know (from those posts) that I detest ticket scalpers who aren't just looking to make their money back on tickets they can't use but to actually turn a profit. And for that matter, where are the DC Police during Wizard and Caps games? How is it that scalpers can sell tickets right in the front of the building? Next time you "have" to buy from a scalper, negotiate and talk them down and above all...ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS see the ticket before buying it!!