I am 49, a writer, inspector, and a resident of the Seattle area. It’s
green, lush, bounded by water, a great place to live and a great place
to watch sporting events. With the likes of Qwest Field, which has seen
some major Seahawk action in the past few years and the beautiful Safeco
Field, a real gem and the home of the Mariners, I just can’t lose.
Now that spring is here, the boys of summer have come home from the
desert to start the 2006 baseball season. This year I want to go to
more games. Even though I live in Seattle, I always look forward to
seeing who comes to town to play against the Mariners. You see, I love
baseball and I like to see the top performers and watch a team work like
clockwork as well.
Looking at the American League standings in the West last year, the Los
Angeles Angels were at the top. This powerhouse led by the hitting of
Figgins, Erstad, Guerrero and Anderson, has always done well and will be
a contender this season.
The Oakland
Athletics will no doubt have a few surprises up their sleeve with
Chavez, Kendall, and Kotsay to bat. When Charlie Finley was at the
helm about 40 years ago, a big surprise was a matter of 3 colors:
yellow, green, and white. Then came the unforgettable performance
of Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Bert Campaneris and company that won
them a string of World Series victories.
Soriano put in a solid performance with the Texas Rangers last year, and
after a highly publicized drama, will be with the Washington Nationals
under Frank Robinson this season. Rangers¡¯ stars Young and Blalock,
hope to pick up the slack and hit their way into contention in 2006.
Seattle wants to get an edge this year with a few new faces and Ichiro,
Beltre, Ibanez, and Sexon.
I always love it when the Boston Red Sox come to town. What a thrill it
was when they won the World Series and broke the power of a curse that
has been kept alive for way too long. The Chicago White Sox will amp
things up with a strong pitching staff and a solid-hitting team under
the leadership of Ozzie Guillen. Yes, the boys from the Bronx are back
with a vengeance.
Alex Rodriguez hit his first grand slam home run on opening night to put
them in a strong lead over the Oakland A¡¯s. With Johnny Damon on the
lineup, the New York Yankees are going to be even tougher to beat. Well,
the American League isn¡¯t the only league around! The St. Louis
Cardinals have a favorite player of mine who is one of the most
persistent hitters in the major leagues; just ask those who have pitched
against him.
Nine pitches later, David Eckstein still gets a piece of the ball and
eventually smacks one out into the outfield. Then there are the Houston
Astros, whose pitching follows the lead of the "rocket," Rodger Clemens,
who sends many a torpedo across the plate. I am from the Bay Area,
amongst a few other places and states, and the San Francisco Giants are
a special team (as well as the guys in green and yellow). Willie Mays
and Willie McCovey were big names and I can hear Russ Hodges doing the
play-by-play on the radio. The rivalry between them and the Los Angeles
Dodgers began when they played against each other when they were back in
New York at the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field. There is no other
rivalry in baseball that has been as long as that one.
Those are just some of the teams that may or may not be coming to
Seattle. Yes, I have a good chance of catching all the games on the
television in the comfort of my own home in a soft, cushy chair or
stretched out on the couch, but the real deal is to be there at the
baseball game, eating a hot dog, having mustard on a warm pretzel,
watching the action and hoping for a foul ball to come my way. In my
mind, I’m in heaven when I’m at a baseball game, especially at a
beautiful ballpark like Safeco Field. But it’s that way anywhere across
the country. Rain or shine, there’s no better place to be.
My dilemma is how to get tickets with good seats and for a good price.
I don’t want season tickets because a purchase like that isn’t in my
budget. I could choose an expensive way out and go to a broker and pay
more. There’s still no budget for that. Teams offer specials for groups
of games.
That doesn’t appeal to me at all. I want to go to some specific games
and maybe, take a vacation and go to a game at the city I’ll be
visiting, maybe Boston, New York, or even San Francisco. One site I’ve
found that sells sporting events tickets is StubHub.com. I like to
check things out before I make a decision, so I got on the web and found
the site. I chose Seattle as my city, of course, and clicked on the
sports tab and a list appeared.
Baseball tickets were at the top, with NBA and NCAA football and
basketball next, NFL tickets, and other sports tickets below that. I
could, if I wanted, make another city my "home," and voila, there would
be a whole new set of choices. Its just too easy! I’m looking forward
to possibly getting tickets for a game in San Francisco for that
vacation I mentioned about earlier. Anyway, I want to go to a
Mariners-Angels game. I found one and decided to find out how to buy
the tickets. The directions were simple and straightforward. I just
choose what I want and place an order.
StubHub will deal with the seller and confirmed the order. FedEx will
deliver the tickets or they will be able to be picked up at one of the
StubHub offices nearby. I took note of the phone number. I always end
up having a question or two. All I need to do first, is register in
order to buy or sell. If I want to get more tickets for games, all I
will need to do is log in and then make my choices. Sounds good to me!
So maybe if you’re in Seattle and you want to go to a Mariners game or
maybe in San Francisco in July at a game, I might just be there, thanks
to StubHub.
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