So I decided that I am slowly going to turn this into a Sports Blog....maybe call it the "Far East Bay Sports Nut". I'll have to work on the title.
Yesterday the Golden State Warriors were in town for their only game in Washington, DC this year. So around 5:00 pm, I still didn't have tickets because I didn't want to pay ticketmaster any fees or pay full price. I decided to go straight to the street.
I figured that with my experience bartering in Brazil and in various African markets, I should be able to get a deal.
As we were approaching the scalping zone, I told Janie, "Just pretend that we aren't here to see the game, we are just passing by." Soon a man approached us and was yelling "Tickets, who wants tickets!" I said, with a blank stare similar to the blank stare that is usually encountered on the face of a Giants fan, "Tickets for what?" From there I tried my best to keep up the act, but it was obvious to Janie that I was there to see the game. The tickets they were offering were about 11 rows from the court about in line with one of the baskets. Face value was $98 each. We got them down to $30 for each ticket when I went to my go to move - the walk away. As I started walking the man reluctantly said," Alright, $25 each. I thought that was fare for tickets to see the great Golden State.
So for future scalped ticket buyer some advice:
1. Appear disinterested
2. Never tell them how much money you have, unless you really don't have much anyways.
3. Tell them you can't afford much because your wife takes all your money.
4. Start walking away when they don't want to go any lower.
Usually they will offer one last price that they really don't like but will sell them.
Well in the end, the $50 for two tickets wasn't worth it. The Warriors didn't even show up and were down by 20 before the end of the 3rd quarter. So even though I may have got a good deal, by the end of the night I felt ripped off. I told Janie I was going to write the GM about how his team owes me $50. The lack of effort and care about the score made me feel like they didn't deserve my money. I don't think they'll give me my money back though.
In other sports news, I'm in 1st place in the Bowerbank Fantasy Football League, holding a slim total point lead over Janie, Jon, and Rob. If I win this week, I'll have the first round bye for the playoffs. I'm pretty much the modern day Cinderella story having gone from worst in 2006 to best in 2008....at least that's what I think is going to happen.
3 comments:
I pulled the same scalping tactic when I got free A's tix from work. We had 2 extra field levels, and I managed to sell them for a little more than their face value. It was pretty sweet. Never got to see whoever might have bought them from that guy though, the pair were on the opposite side of the field.
Think about it... you got the tickets for 75% off! Thats crazy good and your still complaining ha ha Good luck contacting the Gm and hey ask them if they are hiring! :) Thanks for the pointers for bargaining.....
I would like to say that my tactic worked out well and I didn't even know I was doing it.
Over the summer I decided to take Brandie and baby Izzy to the Nationals game (they played the Giants). Well we decided to get into the enormous line and just suck it up with $5 dollar tickets. Apparently, I must have played the "I am a young father with a beautiful wife and don't get out much" card pretty well. I must have looked pathetic because this random guy walked up to me and said, quote "I want you to have these, you can't beat the seats."
Here I was thinking to myself, yeah sure buddy, they're free! Not to drag out the story any longer, but Brandie, Izzy and myself enjoyed free box seats behind homeplate while eating free food.
Now, I don't know if that classifies me as a hustla or something else. I like to think the first.
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