Bittersweet pill

[RevSmoke]

For years my grandfather had season tickets at Lambeau, after grandma died he got remarried. Those tickets left the family and went to step-grandma's family.

All was not lost, for my father and I went to games for years on his season tickets, but then I moved out of the area in 1985. For a long time, he went to games with others, as my mother and brother are both wheelchair bound. In January of 2000 I moved closer to Green Bay, only 45 minutes away. Since that time, he's taken each of my sons to a game every year. He and I go to a game every year. I get a few of the other tickets and take friends.

Well, this past Christmas dad told me that I am now the Season ticket holder for the Green Package seats of ---> Section 135 - Row 25 - seats 15 & 16.

Well, the bill arrived and I need to pay for the 7 tickets for those two seats. Ouch! There goes the cigar budget for most of the year!

But, I think the 2011 Season will be a good one at Lambeau.

While I am excited about being the season ticket holder, I don't think much will change in regard to attendance at games. I still expect dad will pay me for the tickets to take the boys to the games (at least I am hoping he wil, for the boys love going to games with himl).

Anyway, I am really stoked, but...

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[BloodSpite]

Some traditions are costly. But the time with family, I think anyway, is always worth the cost.

Even if it is something as simple or magnificent as a game of football.

[kaisersozei]

That all sounds like a great story to me!

Congratulations on the new "inheritance"/gift, even if it is one you are having to pay for!

[longknocker]

Enjoy, Todd!

[GreekGodX]

I think you will definitely appreciate it when you can hand the season tickets down to your kids

[CoreyD]

I'll pay for my 1 seat Todd hehe gotta be a warm day though

[Coach Deg]

Enjoy Todd!!! Every year I get my Rays season ticket bill, I question why I have them. Then we get there with the kids and it all seems priceless!

[TBone]

Congrats Todd, it's not the game that matters it's the time out with the family...what a great gift..

[kelmac07]

Congrats Todd.

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by BloodSpite

Some traditions are costly. But the time with family, I think anyway, is always worth the cost.

Even if it is something as simple or magnificent as a game of football.

Originally Posted by GreekGodX

I think you will definitely appreciate it when you can hand the season tickets down to your kids

Originally Posted by TBone

Congrats Todd, it's not the game that matters it's the time out with the family...what a great gift..

Yeah, all this is true. But we have a blast watching the games from the comfort of our own living room.
The advantages of that?
Seat: comfy (free seating) -vs- aluminum bench ($70 per seat)
Seat cont'd: plenty of room & good view -vs- cramped, and the butthead in front of my son won't sit down, while the guy behind is spilling his beer on me and my boy.
Weather: climate controlled -vs- nice/hot/cold/freezing/rain/snow/etc.
Food: minimal cost & warm -vs- $5.00 hot dogs & other junk
Beer: decent beer (micro brews) -vs- $6.50 for beer I won't drink
Company: the whole family and as many friends as fit in the living room -vs- only one son/wife/friend
View: best camera angle -vs- hoping to see it at all as idiots cannot stay seated, especially if a play turns exciting and then you have to look through a body, or stand up yourself (why did I buy a "seat" if I'm going to be standing the whole game? - see above for the seat I could be sitting on if I were at home)

I've been attending games at Lambeau off and on for over 40 years, it is a great place to go watch a game, there is no other venue like it - and yes, I have been a quite a few other stadiums, from LA to Hartford, CT. But given the above, explain to me again why I should drop $70 a ticket and watch games there versus watching games at home?

No I am not seriously thinking of giving up the tickets, but when you look at it all in the terms above, you do ask yourself why you'd want to be someplace other than home? I mean seriously, consider what the benefit of going to the game is -vs- staying at home. And when that bill comes for all the tickets at one time, and you're trying to figure out where the money is going to come from to pay it, you do pause and consider. Buying a ticket, one game at a time is a whole lot easier to swallow.

It might be more exciting to go to a game at Lambeau if you went once every few years, rather than most of the games every season. I know that when I came back into the area after being away for 6 years and only having gone to one game in that time, I was stoked to be heading to a game at Lambeau the first couple times. Some of that has worn off. I do think that we lose the excitement of the things that are common to us. Prime rib gets boring if you have it every night. I think that's what happens with marriages when people tell me, "Pastor, our marriage is on the rocks, the 'fire' is gone." We become comfortable and and spark isn't there anymore.

Anyway, just some musings.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[md4958]

Todd, why not sell the tickets to the games you dont want to go to? You still retain the "tradition" but its a bit easier on the wallet. Im assuming you could probably even get a premium for some of the games.

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by md4958

Todd, why not sell the tickets to the games you dont want to go to? You still retain the "tradition" but its a bit easier on the wallet. Im assuming you could probably even get a premium for some of the games.

I do sell a few tickets. *I* cannot sell at a "premium," something inside won't let me do that. Also, have to be very careful who I sell too. If someone gets kicked out from our seats, we lose them - and the seat license fee that was paid years ago (about $3,000), which we'd get back if we ever let the tickets go.

I am not trying to complain about the cost, I guess the last was supposed to be just comic musings about why I pay the cost.

If you consider, whether it is Lambeau field or Fenway Park, aren't the seats better at home? the beer better (and cheaper)? no wait for the bathroom?

.... and the list could go on and on.

How about looking at it this way, and yes, I did bring this up once in a newsletter article. It was amazing how many people commented on that article.

Amazing how small a one dollar bill looks at the ball park, and how overly large a $20 bill is at church when the plate is passed.
Amazing how many people will people will complain that the Sunday service was 2 minutes over an hour, but brag about how cool it was to be at the game that went 15 innings.
Amazing how 2 inches of snow will have people call the church office to see if church is cancelled, but will complain when 20 inches of snow made them cancel the football game.
Amazing how 8:00am is too early for church to start, yet those same people have no problem leaving home on a Sunday morning before 7:00am to get the good tailgating spots at Lambeau for a 12:00 game time.

I was not trying to complain, nor talk about it as if it were a problem, just rambling.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

How about looking at it this way, and yes, I did bring this up once in a newsletter article. It was amazing how many people commented on that article.

Amazing how small a one dollar bill looks at the ball park, and how overly large a $20 bill is at church when the plate is passed.
Amazing how many people will people will complain that the Sunday service was 2 minutes over an hour, but brag about how cool it was to be at the game that went 15 innings.
Amazing how 2 inches of snow will have people call the church office to see if church is cancelled, but will complain when 20 inches of snow made them cancel the football game.
Amazing how 8:00am is too early for church to start, yet those same people have no problem leaving home on a Sunday morning before 7:00am to get the good tailgating spots at Lambeau for a 12:00 game time.

I was not trying to complain, nor talk about it as if it were a problem, just rambling.

Peace of the Lord be with you.[/quote]


This is so very true REV!!!!

[md4958]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

I do sell a few tickets. *I* cannot sell at a "premium," something inside won't let me do that. Also, have to be very careful who I sell too. If someone gets kicked out from our seats, we lose them - and the seat license fee that was paid years ago (about $3,000), which we'd get back if we ever let the tickets go.

I am not trying to complain about the cost, I guess the last was supposed to be just comic musings about why I pay the cost.

If you consider, whether it is Lambeau field or Fenway Park, aren't the seats better at home? the beer better (and cheaper)? no wait for the bathroom?

.... and the list could go on and on.

How about looking at it this way, and yes, I did bring this up once in a newsletter article. It was amazing how many people commented on that article.

Amazing how small a one dollar bill looks at the ball park, and how overly large a $20 bill is at church when the plate is passed.
Amazing how many people will people will complain that the Sunday service was 2 minutes over an hour, but brag about how cool it was to be at the game that went 15 innings.
Amazing how 2 inches of snow will have people call the church office to see if church is cancelled, but will complain when 20 inches of snow made them cancel the football game.
Amazing how 8:00am is too early for church to start, yet those same people have no problem leaving home on a Sunday morning before 7:00am to get the good tailgating spots at Lambeau for a 12:00 game time.

I was not trying to complain, nor talk about it as if it were a problem, just rambling.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

Those last few lines really are the truth arent they?

I didnt see your post as complaining Todd. I was just offering a suggestion about helping you defer the cost. I understand that youre the type of person that feels bad about marking up a game ticket, but if you look at it as "Im helping ensure I can pass these tickets to my children" then perhaps it will help the guilt.

I agree that watching a game from the comfort of your living room is nice. However, there is something special about watching a game in the those stands. I imagine sitting in the same seats your grandfather sat in much make it that much more special.

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by md4958

Those last few lines really are the truth arent they?

I didnt see your post as complaining Todd. I was just offering a suggestion about helping you defer the cost. I understand that youre the type of person that feels bad about marking up a game ticket, but if you look at it as "Im helping ensure I can pass these tickets to my children" then perhaps it will help the guilt.

I agree that watching a game from the comfort of your living room is nice. However, there is something special about watching a game in the those stands. I imagine sitting in the same seats your grandfather sat in much make it that much more special.

Oooops, hope I didn't give the impression that these were grandpas seats? Those seats went to step-grandchildren. The tickets we have are the tickets my dad got after grandpa had gotten his.

Don't worry, the tickets won't get sold, at least not if I can help it. Gotta grouse about something, right? I figure grousing about the price of tickets is a pretty small thing.

As for selling tickets for more... As I sell to people I trust (for the reason stated earlier), usually good friends, that makes marking up tickets even harder.

It hasn't gotten to be a hardship, but parting with money is never easy. When I paid the bill, I then had to go to two different cigar sites and empy "dream carts" that are not going to happen now or any time in the next few months. Probably not a bad thing anyway.

As for the truisms in those few lines, it is too true. How about some others.

Amazing how the guys can get together every day for a week after the big game, and talk for hours about it, going over individual plays and players in great detail - but won't remember much of anything about the sermon, even over lunch on Sunday afternoon.
Amazing how the guys get together at the local hang-out over coffee every morning, and in the course of the conversation talk about Fred's latest operation, but none of them will say, "Hey, maybe we ought to have a prayer for Fred's healing," much less say the prayer.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[md4958]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

Oooops, hope I didn't give the impression that these were grandpas seats?

I meant for your children

God bless you my friend.

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by md4958

I meant for your children

God bless you my friend.

OK, gotcha - sorry I wasn't tracking.

PAX