The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry is one of the best in sports. Right?
So why then are so many fans trying to unload the tickets they own for the May 13-15 series at Yankee Stadium between the two teams? In fact, if figures from the ticket service StubHub are to be believed (and I have serious doubts about them), then nearly 20 percent of the ticket-holding fans would rather do something else that weekend.
StubHub, which is owned by eBay, lists on its Web site that it has 8,410 tickets available for the Friday, May 13, night game (starting at just $40); 7,352 for Saturday’s night game (starting at $50) and a whopping 11,326 tickets are up for grabs for Sunday, when the first pitch will be at 8 p.m.
All I can say is, huh!
Could it be possible that so many fans bought these tickets and now have buyer’s remorse? Maybe Yankees tickets have become a new currency now that people’s respect for the dollar has waned and gold is too pricey.
Or could StubHub simply be exaggerating its numbers to hook buyers?
StubHub couldn’t be reached for comment despite much effort and the Yankees will only make the cryptic comment that the secondary market for tickets — meaning StubHub, scalpers and your Aunt Rose who happens to have season tickets — is robust.
But since the new stadium only holds 51,800 fans, the number of people trying to opt out of the Sunday, May 15, game — again, assuming the validity of StubHub’s numbers — would be well over one in every five people.
There could be, of course, other possibilities.
Maybe fans with tickets are putting them up for sale simply to see how much they would fetch. And perhaps season-ticket holders might not want to go to all three games and, in this economy, don’t want to just give away the unwanted seats as might have been traditional in the past.
Or maybe folks just need the dough and Yanks/Sox tickets are the most liquid asset they have.
And, of course, there’s one other possible reason: the Red Sucks aren’t playing very well this year. So maybe fans have decided that a Sunday night viewing of “Celebrity Apprentice,” or even scrubbing the bathroom tile, would be more fun.
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Here are some fun facts that aren’t very much fun.
When Gallup recently surveyed Americans, 29 percent of the respondents thought the US economy was in a depression.
A depression!
Twenty-six percent thought it was only a recession. Another 16 percent said the economy was slowing. And, despite the optimistic statistics continually released by Washington, only 27 percent believed the economy was expanding. So, a large majority of people — 55 percent — think this country is either in a depression or a recession.
Have Americans lost their grip on reality? Or is Washington missing something?
Well, as long-time readers of my column already know, the answer is: Washington really doesn’t get it.
Take, for instance, last week’s release of the nation’s first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figure by the Commerce Department. The GDP represents the nation’s output of goods and services — in other words, it represents the economy.
The government said the GDP in the first quarter grew at an “annualized” rate of 1.8 percent. That means you have to divide the 1.8 percent annualized rate by four quarters to see how much the economy really grew in the first three months of the year.
The answer? A puny 0.45 percent.
Apologists had excuses for the economy’s poor showing: bad weather, high gasoline prices, Americans being in a bad mood, the lack of jobs. There’s always some temporary problem that Washington and pundits think will soon go away.
The problem is, the economy wasn’t just slow in the first quarter. The last three months of 2010 were worse if you know how to read the figures.
Here’s what you have to understand for any of this to make sense. The GDP numbers reported by the Commerce Department are derived after inflation is deducted from overall output. So, that 1.8 percent annualized first quarter growth was what was left after inflation of 1.9 percent was removed. (Yes, inflation is probably worse than 1.9 percent but that’s for another column.)
The much better 3.1 percent an nualized growth in the last quarter of 2010 was, at best, a fluke and, at worst, a hoax.
The Commerce De partment was only able to come up with the 3.1 percent growth be cause it claimed there was virtually no inflation in the last three months of 2010. If inflation back then had been reported at 1.9 percent (just like the first quarter) economic growth would have dropped from an annualized 3.1 percent to just 1.2 percent.
After six months of miserable economic growth, preceded by a two-year recession, it’s no wonder Americans are not feeling great about the future.
