No, I Don't Have Tickets!!!

October is a magical time in New England. The smell of the first wood fires, pumpkins, cornstalks, fresh apple crisp, and the ultimate thrill….the possibility of the Red Sox being in the post season. There is nothing like a Red Soxtober. Unless…you don’t have tickets.

The people I work with and socialize with usually consider me to be the biggest Red Sox fan they know. I’m completely positive and passionate about my team and they know that my first game at Fenway was October 1st 1967 when they won the pennant. Then I went to every opening day from 1968 for thirteen years. I was there for games two, six and seven for the World Series in 1975, because I got up and stood in line at Fenway as soon as the “T” opened at 5:00 AM. My sister gave me tickets in 1986 for the playoff with the Angels and to game 5 of the World Series with the Mets. That’s the game where the sing song chant of “Darrell” first surfaced and is now used substituting any new target that fits, such as “Roger” during the 1999 Pedro vs. Roger 2003 play off game. I was at that game too. Then you have the 2003 playoff game when Trot hit the walk off homer…I was there. Oh, remember the Pedro game when he threw down Don Zimmer? Yup, I was there. I even have a ticket for the sixth game of the 2003 World Series, which of course, I never got to use.

Then came 2004 and the “lottery” system for purchasing playoff tickets. I have entered every lottery and nope…I still haven’t won one of them. I don’t buy scalper tickets and I do consider ticket agencies to be scalper tickets. Oh, let me correct that last statement. In 1975 I had tickets for game two and seven but not six. I was petrified that I wouldn’t see the Sox play again and during the three day rain delay I tried to find a ticket to game six. While eating at Betty’s Rolls Royce in Haymarket Square, the waiter mentioned he had an extra ticket. I paid $20 for a single bleacher ticket. I got so much grief from people who thought I was totally crazy for buying a single bleacher ticket for $20. Well I still have the ticket stub, as I have all my ticket stubs, and I will never regret paying $20 for that ticket, which is still touted as one of the best games ever.

So what’s my point here? Well every day someone sees me and asks if I have tickets to the post season games and it just irks me. I guess I should be happy my Sox are so popular, but I’m not. I hate explaining to people that yes I applied for the lottery drawing but once again, I was rejected. Somehow people believed I must have some connection if I went to all those other games. They just don’t realize that in the past if you really tried you could end up with a ticket. That isn’t the case any longer, as just like the name implies, it is a lottery. Most people know the chances of winning a lottery.

So, no, I won’t be going to the post season at Fenway, but then again I won’t be paying $7 a beer and $60 for parking. I will however be enjoying every minute sitting in my leather chair in front of my 54 inch HDTV. I am thankful that I get a chance to watch the team I love, the 2007 Red Sox, play in the World Series. Go Sox!!!