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Stuff + nonsense. Updated daily. So far. Pretty much. Overwrought by Scott Knaster.
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Friday, October 03, 2003
Zoom!
These guys flew right overhead as we were standing on the BART platform Wednesday. It was like getting a pitchfork to the eardrums.
Somebody's keeping score
If you want to know what I'm usually doing at a baseball game, check this out.
Double-header, guest entry
The baseball gods laid it out for us: both the Giants and A's had home playoff games on Wednesday. Hmmm, could I go to both games? Hey -- the starting times are 6 hours apart! This can be done! And so, I asked urban adventurer Mark "the Red" Harlan to join me, and...well, I'll let Mark tell the story (with a few of my own comments):when scott "special k" knaster mentioned he was interested in seeing 2 major league ballgames in the same day, i immediately thought "i wonder if you could do 'em both for $25?" when he followed it with the fact that it wasn't even possible to do this (in one geography, that is) until just a couple of years ago, i became intrigued. scott was playing to my ego ... the reason he was talking to me in the first place was because i have a reputation for getting good deals on tickets, but scott was worried because the giants were sold out ... it took him 2 full sentences before he asked if i was interested in joining him. of course. of course i'm interested in joing him, because i feel exactly like anyone my age without kids feels ... life is nothing more than a set of disjoint adventures, and the the time in between? nothing more than planning, resting, studying, or earning time for those adventures.[Scott:]Mark and I have somewhat different perspectives on this. I'm a big Giants fan, and a baseball fan. I MUST get in to the Giants and see the whole game. I'm not an A's fan, and I won't spend a lot for tickets there. Plus, I need to see Mark's legendary ticket-acquisition skills in action.the a's won't be a problem. for some reason the world, the bay area and the san jose mercury news in particular, either hate or ignore the a's. face value there will probably get you seats on the owners' lap. the tickets might be a problem for the giants, though, because these are the playoffs and the game is sold out. of course the world series was sold out and that didn't keep me from getting a *free* ticket. (something that particularly bugs bryan "stearno" stearns, although i don't know why; naturally i bring it up at every possible opportunity.) *** special k shows up promptly at 10:00. of course i'm not ready, but I get there in a matter of minutes ... he drops the key piece of information which is craigslist is showing more sellers than buyers ... this looks good for the kutrate koncert klub (kkk), a spiritual organization of the mind made up of mark "solid" goldstein (weirdly, a shirttail cousin of special k's -- not too surprising since they're both jewish and from denver, but still spooky) and myself.[Scott:]Officially, Mark G. and I are 4th cousins, on my mother's side.the idea is to park at millbrae (using my caltrain parking pass that i normally abusively use for free long term parking when i fly out of town [i'm also not eligible to own the pass, but that's another story]), take caltrain to pacbell park, bart to oakland, and then bart back to millbrae. we get to the s.f. train station around noon, an hour before game time, and i hit a scalper immediately. "what is the face value of your ticket and how much do you want?" he shows me a $31 ticket. "40." great. this is the high end of the spectrum. buying from a train station scalper is like paying sticker price for a car. only the stupid, the rich, and those not spending their own money are so foolhardy. so i definitely WILL be getting in ... it's just a question of when and for how much. i set a mental price of $20 or half price, whichever is cheaper. no "standing room only" tickets and i'd prefer seats to bleachers because i like the back support. special k and his i've-grown-into-a-monster son already have tickets. i only need 1. this will be a snap.[Scott:]I managed to acquire 2 decent tickets at face value when I was at the game the day before.we get to the ballpark, i get some cash, search a little for paper to make a sign and get to work. the sign is very important because it: 1. keeps you from having to walk around everywhere and lets people come to you. 2. indicates immediately if you're a buyer or a seller. 3. subconsciously establishes that you are NOT a scalper, because scalpers never use signs. (the kkk almost never deals with scalpers and vice versa.) 4. gives people a level of assurance. when you walk around saying "i need 1 ticket," or holding a finger up, it makes people uncomfortable ... "does he want a ticket or is he going to rob me?" that's always in the backs of people's minds. it's worse after dark, but it's always the case. but wording is important here. it's still 45 minutes to game time and most people will be expecting face value or more for their tickets. some will get it from dopes that aren't thinking things through, or those that are simply not willing to ask their fellow man to share the financial burden of the ticket; but most will not. you need something small, succinct. need 1 cheap perfect.[Scott:]Later, in Oakland, a scalper will summon Mark by hollering "Hey, Mr. Cheap!".i chat to special k while i hold my sign up, rotating it slowly once, and it takes about 90 seconds to get a response. "i've got a reserved. $40." "what's the face value?" "$40." "I'll give you 20." he looks incredulous. i've seen this exact look 1000 times in my life. in the early days of the kkk it used to bother me -- now i just think it's funny. he shakes his head and walks away. another seconds later. "i have bleachers." "what's the face value?" "$25." "i'll give you 10." he just walks away.[Scott:]During this whole process, while we're standing in Willie Mays Plaza, the few cops walking around pretty much ignore this illegal ticket market.another immediately. "i've got one for $40. that's what i paid." "i'll give you 20." "20?! dude, you insult me!" can't have angry citizens here ... he could cause a ruckus for other customers, and there's always an outside chance he'll still sell. most people would disengage at this point, but that couldn't be more wrong. i start up, "i have $23 on me," which is true, but i also have $280 in the *other* pocket, "i need money to get home. i'm out of work right now," which is not exactly right, i'm working, i'm just not getting paid AND i'm paying others, "i guarantee that you made more money this week than i did." i'm staring at the spider web he has tatooted on his hand as i say this. he looks a bit like ceasar rosas from los lobos, only even more pockmarked in the face, as hard as that is to imagine. he stops and considers. i can tell this was exactly the right thing to say. he shakes his head, but is muttering in a conspiratory way now, "no dude, i lost a lot of money this week." but it's said in the you're-forgiven tone of voice. it wouldn't surprise me if he came back. i look at scott and he's looking a little embarrassed. like the way the *other* person looks at a restaurant when one person of the couple launches on a waitress. no time to calm him. the next possibility is immediate: a thin, older white guy. he looks at my sign before speaking. "do you just want a ticket to get in the stadium, or do you want a good seat?" "i'm just trying to get in." he hands me a ticket, "i'll sell you this one for $15." it's got a face value of $31. i look at it and hand it to special k, "does this look right to you?" before he can even answer, the guy just nods, "yeah, it's good. i'll walk in with you if you want." i've bought, probably 100 tickets this way in my life. i know in the very pit of my soul he's right. this is where solid g and i differ. solid would counter offer here, but this is well within my tolerance AND i'll get in before the game starts ... not always a certainty with the kkk. "sure." the deal's done. from sign complete to ticket in hand it was about 3 minutes, tops. i turn to scott, "let's go in," and look up to see him quasi-stunned. he considers then speaks, "my third eye has just opened. i've been going to sporting events my whole life ... and now ... now i feel like a whole new world has been opened up to me." right.[Scott:]Yup. Most of my experience is going with Barbara and our kids, and we need more certainty that we're going to get in. Watching Mark was like entering a parallel dimension.the seat itself is amazing. it's section 336, row 11, seat 12. it is, literally, half way up the topmost section, immediately in front of the 3rd base foul pole, and on the very end of the section. if i look to my left, i see a 4 story direct drop. i love it. if there's an earthquake, i am THE very first to die. to my left is mccovey cove, almost straight left is the scoreboard (still readable) and below and behind me is coca cola slide, in front of that, the mini kid baseball diamond where they occasionally whack whiffle balls out of the tiny park. it's a foggy day, with patches of sun. almost cold, but not too windy. in other words, a great day for half priced baseball. at this very moment, the giants are down 9 to 5 at the bottom of the 8th. my double header day, in the baseball sense, is almost half over. and i couldn't be happier. giants lose and it makes no difference ...[Scott:]There's that difference of philosophy I mentioned... ;-)we make our way to the bart station, stopping by a chinese deli as part of the journey. the bart train is crowded to the point of uncomfortable and once we get to the station it's a steady stream. we get to the oakland stadium 75 minutes before gametime. the traditional oakland scalpers are working the bridge in their overly aggressive style ... we set up a sign and start working it. and nothing. and nothing. and nothing. we're still about an hour from the game but it's become clear that, weirdly, tickets are going to be harder to get here ... even though they still have some for sale. solid g shows up and we decide to try for single tickets instead of a block of three. we score a $20 ticket for 10 almost immediately and then go cold. the game starts, jets scream overhead and we still don't have our quota. one inning passes, then another ... i finally cajole g and k into buying the $15 mount davis seats and going in ...[Scott:]These are the football seats 500 feet from home plate that are only opened when the rest of the park is sold out. And as a bonus, you can't see the deep half of the outfield from there.we play musical seats for an inning and a half, trying to better our nosebleed seats and finally settle in a row above the cheapie press seats. we get a full eagle eye view from above home plate, and by watching the tv monitors in the press seats we're able to see both the live broadcast and instant replays of the game. i eat pretzels, special k eats his diet cowpie cookies and solid peels red grapes. it's now top of the 8th, the home team is losing 3 to 4 and the world is very very good.[Scott:]The A's tied things up in the last of the 9th, and as the contest wore on toward midnight, we wondered what would happen if the game was still going on past BART's midnight closing time. We had a brief discussion and unanimously agreed that we we NOT going to leave the game early. That's just wrong. As it happened, the game ended at 11:47, so the urban crisis didn't happen. We got back to Millbrae at 1:00 AM after an awesome day featuring 21 innings and 8 hours of baseball. Seeing that no more games were scheduled at that time, we headed home.
Fish fry part 2
...in which the Fish fry the Giants, 9-5. In a grotesque bullpen/defense implosion, the Marlins evened the series at 1-1. The interesting and maddening thing about these best-of-5 series is that they can turn with every game. The Giants are in some trouble now, but if they win today, the Marlins are on the brink of elimination.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Fish fry part 1
The Giants squeaked past the Marlins yesterday 2-0 in an amazing pitchers' duel that had only 6 base hits, and only two of those hit to the outfield. You can read all about it here. Other stuff:
- I wonder if Marlins manager Jack "I'll walk him every time" McKeon realizes how much Barry Bonds is in his head. Worrying about him affected Josh Beckett's pitching to Rich Aurilia in the fateful 4th inning.
- Another absolutely gorgeous day at Pacific Bell Park. The fans were too riveted and nervous to get into big chants and cheers.
- Aside from three terrible misplays (two by the Giants), the defense was impressive. Naturally, the game turned on the Marlins' one error.
- Barry Bonds, frustrated at being walked and aching to contribute, was picked off in the 8th inning when the Derrek Lee bobbled Chad Fox's low throw, allowing Bonds to get to 2nd base. Of course, Bonds then scored, so misplays led to both of the games' runs.
- Felipe Alou is priming the second-guessers by pitching Sidney Ponson today instead of Kirk Rueter. Alou has usually been right about those things this year.
- The Giants are advertising the hell out of their "I See Orange People" t-shirts, but they're sold out. BOO! I did score a very cool post-season media guide, which includes recaps of every 2003 Giants game and box scores of all Giants post-season games ever.
- Whole teams introduced on the foul lines, flyby, fireworks, bunting, Huey Lewis and the News singing the anthem: I love the playoffs.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Fish fry today
The Giants start the National League Division Series today at home. Thanks to CJ, I have a ticket! Most of the "experts" are picking the Giants to win. Ahhh, whadda they know. Oft-forgotten factor: the current Marlins owner used to own the Expos, and he lamely fired Giants manager Felipe Alou a couple of years ago. Felipe didn't like that, although he downplays it now.
Drive-by eating
Ah, the drive-thru fast food experience. You sit in your car and yell at a billboard, then get nasty food thrown at you by someone who usually doesn't even look at you. Here is an industry magazine report that ranks the joints.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Springsteen exorcises Bambino?
It takes one Boss to triumph another. Ceej, could this be the year?
The Man Who Saved Baseball
Giants fans, don't miss this interview with head honcho Peter Magowan, one of the coolest owners ever and the reason there are no Tampa Bay Giants.
There we go again
If this poll (which gives results that are very different from other polls) is right, California is about to void an election and install a glib, inexperienced mega-rich guy as governor who usually doesn't even bother to vote, to replace our boring, experienced kinda rich guy. We'll either get 3 years of reducing state problems to movie sound bites, or else recall after recall. Hmm, I wonder what other states I could run away to.
Google News
I use Google News all the time and it's great. But why, when I search for a story that's been picked up by a bunch of different sites, do I get page after page listing all 47 million copies of the exact same story? Google, please fix. Thank you. That is all.
Antici-pation
We went the the last Giants game of the regular season yesterday, and it was a great tune-up as the G's whacked the hell out of the Dodgies, 12-3. After early fog, it turned out to be another perfect day at Pacific Bell Park, where the wind stops when you enter, the Cha-Cha Bowls are delicious, and all the children are above average. The Giants ended up conceding the best record to Atlanta so that they wouldn't have to fly cross-country and back on the eve of their playoff opener. I hope that turns out to be a good decision. I'm cautiously (no woofing here) excited about the Giants chances this year. This time, they're entering the playoffs with a great team, high expectations, and the pang of unfinished business from last year. That's a formula that worked great for the A's in 1989.
