So, I rode my lil bike down after work, parked, and decided to make a "round" of the field, to see if I could sus out some tickets. First stop was the ticket window - no single seats left at that time, but maybe check back later. Ok.
Next was some more walking, around to the "busy" side of the outer park (where most folks come from the parking lots or bars). I began by asking a guy (scalper) across the street if he had any tickets. He said he had his ticket left and held it up for me. Said it was a good seat and I saw it was a face value of $13 - that's a price I like. I said I'd pay that and he held back a laugh. He wouldn't tell me how much he wanted and told me to go ask some other "sellers" how much there tickets were. Ok.
Digression - there are at least a dozen scalpers standing on the Target Field AND the other side of the street here with signs about "Tickets to Sell?", which means they want to buy your extras so they can scalp them to people like me - note, I now know MN allows the scalping of tickets, but it is not allowed for a scalper to be on Target Field grounds to do so. I also saw more than one scalper on the Target Field side asking every group of fans coming across with each "Walk" signal if they had tickets to sell (or needed tickets). I also walked by at least a dozen cops and traffic control people outside the game before the start. They were everywhere. Ok?
After wading through this mess for some time, and being turned off b ya throng of scalpers looking to make a killing off normal baseball fans, I decided to check back at the ticket window one more time. Would it have killed me to pay $60-70 to a scalper, yes (well, maybe not death). But the only ticket the Twins had for me was priced at $59. I paid it. And I have to say, it was a great seat (Sec 115, Row 21, Seat 13). In fact, it was really nice! (see below).
Once inside I calmed down a bit, took some pics and decided to spend some more money for food. I dropped just under $20 for a sandwich, soda, beer, and chips. I was alright with it. The team puts out a good product, the new field is beautiful, the fans were knowledgeable, the game was entertaining, and even though they lost, I was feeling the price was worth it. Ok!
However, the game got even more expensive when I came back out to get my bike and ride home. Can you guess what happened? No? Ok, I'll tell you. I came out to the bike rack only to find both my front and rear wheels had been stolen. Have you had the chance to remove a front or rear wheel from a bike lately? I suspect most people have not. If you have a quick-release wheel, it's actually not too bad. Thing of it is, these are, nay, were not quick-release wheels. That's right, Nancy, the thief needed at least two kinds of wrenches to remove them. They also needed some time standing at my bike to do this. Where did the cops go, ok?
So, I walked my bike's frame and ancillary parts to a cab and spent $7 more to get home (at around 11PM). I then filled out a police report online the next day and wrote the Twins an email. Ok...
I actually got a reply - a man from their Guest Services department wrote me back. He expressed his regret for my experiences (I wrote about the scalpers & theft) and basically said they could not do more to prevent either. The scalpers (he called them "ticket brokers", very smooth... only the fans go broke) are a sneaky bunch and the cops are busy during the games inside the park watching over 40,000 fans. Ok.
Am I being to harsh here? Maybe, I took it all very personally. Do I need to lock my entire bike even with bolt-on wheels? Clearly yes. Did I have a reasonable expectation of safety and security at a public event? I thought I did. Is it fair to let "brokers" sell? Probably. Is there a better way to handle both issues? I think so. Would I go to another game? Sure. Will I lock a bike? Yes! (it was such an easy way to get the game).
2 comments:
what a fun night you had!
but what a bummer about your tires, people are just awful! :(
I had a friend who lost their front wheel, handlerbars and fork. Who watches the bikes?
Post a Comment