Time to empty out the columnist notebook with notes, quotes and anecdotes.
It's Mother's Day, which is appropriate, since this is the mother of all notes columns.
On to the topics du jour . . .
• • •
The Golden State Warriors and ticket-seller website StubHub are involved in a lawsuit that every fan should follow.
It seems the Warriors sent notice to season-ticket holders that anyone who re-sells their tickets anywhere but through the Warriors' officially endorsed websites – which included co-defendant Ticketmaster – will be denied future tickets, which had a chilling effect on StubHub's ability to serve as a marketplace for tickets. The website, where the Stanhope family bought tickets to a few Warriors games this year, said its volume of Warriors tickets was down 80 percent.
Well, if you buy tickets to sporting events or concerts, you benefit from competition. Even if you don't buy tickets from StubHub, the fact that some are sold there helps keep prices down at other resale sites (particularly those run by teams, which are in effect getting two "service fees" for selling the same tickets twice).
What the Warriors are doing is the equivalent of Toyota having the only car dealership in the entire Bay Area and requiring anyone who buys a Toyota to resell their car through a Toyota dealership or be denied the right to buy a second car.
Seems like an obvious outcome, but who knows?
• • •
"Mad Men," which has its season finale next week, is one of the greatest shows in TV history. But can the online fans quit treating the show like it contains the mysteries of the universe?
It's a TV show. And so is "Game of Thrones," "The Walking Dead" and "Hello, Larry."
Yes, I threw in "Hello, Larry" to see how many McLean Stevenson fans were reading.
My guess on the "Mad Men" finale? Don Draper wakes up to find Suzanne Pleshette laying next to him in his Chicago apartment. (Another old reference.)
• • •
By the way, I don't consider TV show creators geniuses. I subscribe to the Joe Theismann Theory. It was Theismann who once said "football coaches aren't geniuses. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
• • •
True confession: When I was in elementary school, I thought that Mount Rushmore was a natural phenomenon. That's right, I presumed that the wind had somehow worn down the rock in South Dakota until it looked like four of our greatest presidents.
Of course, that also fed into my belief that God somehow loved America. He made the wind carve out mountains to look like our presidents, after all!
• • •
Am I the only person watching "American Idol" who sees the show flashing "XIV" (for its 14th season) who thinks it's showing Norteño gang graffiti?
I am?
• • •
If you want to have old-school cool, try this: Don't call the Giants ballpark "AT&T Park."
Those of us who have been around for a while call it "American Telephone and Telegraph Park."
I understand they're working on getting a telegraph office there.
Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment