Hi there,

Stumbled upon your site a few months ago and was greatly relieved to see that we little folks could actually do more than crawl through customer "service" hell with little satisfaction. Here is my regrettable story:

I recently moved my family to San Diego and decided to attend a Padres game. When I called I was told about a new promotion called a "loaded" ticket deal. You spend $40 per ticket and each ticket comes with $20 in concessions (of course you have to spend it all on the same game day). Sounds too good to be true, right? Well it is.

After jumping on those tickets, I was also talked into prepaid parking. They neglected to mention that it was nearly ten blocks away ( in a bad area of town and not worth the $10 plus service charge at all). After a nice long wait in line at the window I was informed that the front gate could issue my proof of prepaid parking but not my "loaded" ticket. No one could explain why, I was simply directed to wait at the turnstile and swipe my credit card but of course this did not work either. We were rerouted right back to the same ticket window where I received my proof of parking, to wait even more and watch the same group of people scratch their heads and make phone calls in an attempt to figure out the issue.

Finally finding our seats in the second inning, my wife asked me to head to the concession stand and get some food because we were now tiered, hungry, and in unpleasant moods from the long delays. Since my goal of being in our seats before the first pitch was utterly destroyed I figured I could make things a little better with some beers and decent ballpark food. After waiting in line for the entire third, fourth and fifth innings (not the three up and three down kind either) the gentleman at the register handed me our food and drinks and informed me that our tickets were not loaded at all! I fork over $40 more dollars and upon returning to my wife and daughter we decided to go to guest services to make a complaint and then leave.

Of course I had to leave three messages with different departments before receiving a call back. Then we played phone tag for over a month (six or more calls)to be told that they could not offer me any money back. They would only offer us some more tickets but no apology, explanation or money back on the concessions.

So if you live in or near San Diego and like baseball, don't forget the LA Dodgers, Oakland A's and LA Angels are just a stones throw with cheaper prices!

Sincerely,
Jonathan [redacted]

We understand why you are in a foul mood, Jonathan. We usually watch baseball on television while lounging in our underwear and now we remember why. It's dehumanizing to be treated like human cattle while at the mercy of incompetent employees. Considering the error with your tickets, we can't understand why Petco Park won't step up to the plate and reimburse your food money.

Reader Kevin wrote in to let us know that he had been monitoring the MLB.TV support forums after his Premium feeds and Mosaic, the six games at once thing, weren't working. The basic MLB.TV package, which provides video feeds at 400k, is $80 for the year, and the Premium package, with 800k and 1.2Mb feeds and Mosaic, costs $110 for the year. "Michelle," a customer service rep from MLB, was around to do damage control, and after one poster asked for a partial refund because the service was so bad, Michelle wrote:

I understand your concern and as I have said before we are working our hardest to make sure that everything works quickly and accurately. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to issue partial refunds and there is no partial refunds that are offered. Your paying for a service that comes with extras you are not paying for the extras themselves. IE the mosaic is a bonus to having the Premium package with us and the ability to watch in 800k or 1.2M is also a bonus. However you can watch in 800k and the picture quality is just as good as the 1.2M. I am very sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused people. Some people are able to watch in the 1.2M while others are not that is due to computer issues with the subscriber not with us.

This is wrong. First, a video feed at 1.2Mb is not the same as one at 800k. This shouldn't even need explanation beyond simply stating that, generally, 1200 > 800. But Kevin sent us some screenshots that he was able to take while MLB.TV was up. Here's the 800k feed:
And here's the 1200k feed; the difference is notable in the score display at the top:
Regarding the "bonus" features that cost more money but weren't actually a part of the package, a couple users asked for clarification, and Michelle sent the following response:

premium service difference
you are paying for the ability to watch in 800k or 1.2 you are NOT paying for the 1.2 itself. If you look at the differences the differences are MLB.TV=400k
MLB.Premium=800k OR 1.2m

The "differences" that Michelle references is the "Compare Products" page, where potential customers can see whether the Premium package is worth the extra money. Here's the relevant portion:
To me, the check marks indicate that those features are, you know, included in the package. The table is especially helpful because it leaves blank space in the basic package description to show that the differences between the two are the higher bandwidth feeds and Mosaic. We advised Kevin to try getting in touch with someone else at MLB; their email support (customerservice@website.mlb.com) has actually helped us before, and one would hope that they're better informed than Michelle.

(Photo: Flying Photog)

"I received an order of three Seagate hard drives today, either someone in the Seagate factory has too much time on their hands, or Seagate has a “Mavericks Suck” model drive now."

Well, well, well. I guess we know where Avery Johnson is working these days.

(Thanks, Dan!)

RELATED: Round 3: Ticketmaster vs Wachovia

It turns out that the Cincinnati Reds, a once-proud baseball team that used to win games but is now managed by Dusty Baker, have realized that a series against the defending-champion Red Sox could be a big draw. But instead of just calling this a "premium series" and boosting the price, the Reds also forced Patrick to buy tickets in four-packs, that is, for every Red Sox/Reds ticket Patrick wanted, he also had to purchase tickets to three other, non-Red Sox games. Patrick wanted to buy eight tickets for each game of the three-game series, for a total of 24 tickets. The Reds wanted him to buy 96 tickets. When he called to complain, the rep told him that since he was a Red Sox fan from Boston, he should be used to paying high prices. The rep also advised him to buy tickets to other big series, such as the Cubs or Indians, and scalp them. That's right, the rep advised him to buy tickets, then scalp them. With the cost of all the extra tickets, Patrick's family and friends were only able to buy tickets to two games, and will have to tune into ESPN for the third game, where they will be able to listen to Joe Morgan ramble about 1975 while cursing the Reds' existence.

Patrick's emails are below.

Dear Consumerist—

I moved to Cincinnati over 5 years ago from Boston, and have been waiting for the years since to see my hometown team play in Cincinnati. So, to my surprise, the scheduling gods smiled upon me and scheduled the Sox to play the Red 3 games over a weekend in June (13-15). So now for months I have been waiting for information on when the tickets go on sale and any limitations that may be in place for ticket purchases (I have about 10 people flying in that weekend to attend the games). So I called the ticket office today and was told by a CSR that the Red Sox series is a premium game (one of only 2 the whole year which means the tickets are about twice as expensive, but that's ok) and that they are only being sold as a part of a package with 3 other Reds Games! Basically, if my family and friends want to see the 3 games that the Sox will play in Cincinnati, they will have to purchase 9 additional tickets to 9 additional games when they wont be in town (which amounts to almost $200. The CSR then told me that this is the only series that this "rule" is being applied to (I've since called back twice and now have been told the same thing by 2 additional CSRs.) This is complete BS, they are taking advantage of fans from one team and forcing them to either 1) not attend the games 2) buy marked up tickets from scalpers or 3)pay an additional 200 dollars to buy tickets to games they cant attend! I have e-mailed as many members of the Reds organization as I could find e-mails for (you can't find information for an EECB for baseball teams) and have overnighted a letter to the person whom I was told is in charge of ticket sales. I thought I would bring the matter to your attention in hopes that others can realize this ridiculous situation.

I received a phone call from a member of the Reds yesterday evening, who pretty much told me that what the CSRs had told me was correct and I would have to purchase a pack of tickets for each of the single Red Sox games I wanted to see. He then went on to tell me that since I am a Red Sox fan originally from Boston, I should be used to paying these prices for baseball games! He proceeded to tell me that I get packs that include other "big games" such as the Indians or Cubs that I could resell or scalp and most likely get my money back for, but most likely would get stuck with 1 Red Sox Game/1 Good Game/2 games that will suck. I am still furious and now will have to shell out close to 200 dollars to see 3 Reds games (compared to the 80 dollars I was anticipating my family/friends to spend considering the Reds are one of the cheapest ballparks in the Majors). Not even Bronson himself could play me a song on his guitar to make me happy at this point in time. The Sox haven't been to Cincy since the 75 series, and this is how they are treating their visiting fans!

Here is what happened when the tickets went on sale. They were sold online and you had to click on a special icon to get to a special virtual waiting room for Red Sox tickets. Once in there, they were sold as 4 packs, so you go to pick 1 of the games the Sox were playing the Reds (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and pick your seat (remember the seats for the Sox game were about 3 times more expensive than a regular Reds game since it is a premium ticket). Once you pick your section for the Sox game, you are then forced to purchase 3 more tickets to games on the same day to any other Reds games. So, since I purchased 8 tickets (for friends and family that are flying out to Cincinnati) to all 3 games, in essence I had to purchase 72 tickets, when I only want to use 24 of them. And of course, when I tried to purchase tickets to other "bigger" Reds games on weekends (Cubs, Mets, Indians, etc.) I was told that they didn't have tickets to those games available (whether they were already sold out in the sections I wanted or it was sketchy, I don't know). So now I am stuck with games to see the Washington Nationals, Houston Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates among other awesome NL teams. So much for the CSR's advice of just scalping them or selling them online, I dont think there will be much demand for the games I got.

One final note to the story, turns out that when my brother purchased the tickets (I unfortunately had to work that Saturday they went on sale) most of the people could not afford to do all 3 games with the extra ticket prices, so we only purchased 8 tickets to the Friday and Saturday game. Meaning we had to purchase a total of 64 tickets (16 tickets to 2 Red Sox games, 48 tickets to random Reds games). Now I'm even more pissed than before! Way to rip off paying customers so they cant even attend all 3 games!

I saw your post on Sports Authority and I was intrigued... I am a former Sports Authority manager, and I wanted to share some secrets with you.

9) The store has a comment line run by some third party company (an 800 number.) But if you want to get to someone in the company, call (303) 200-5050 and ask the switchboard for INTERNAL customer service. They may want to transfer you to the 800 number, but tell them you want to talk to the corporate customer service. Usually when a problem gets reported to the corporate office instead of the comment line, it will get resolved quickly - usually within an hour. The corporate office figures everything out, and will talk to the store and issue a resolution.

8) So you're having trouble with your store manager and want to escalate your problem to the district manager. They may not want to give you the DM's number, but all district managers have their offices in a store in their district. Ask the manager which store the DM has his/her office in, and call that store.

7) They ask for phone numbers at POS. The under-trained cashiers say it's to figure out where to build stores or how to allocate inventory. WRONG. It's to add you to our mailing list/robo-call list.

6) Still have money on that gift card you got? As long as it's under $10, you can "Tender Exchange" it.

5) The brands mentioned as exclusions on the coupon almost always have a 50-100% markup. In fact, Under Armour is essentially over-priced brand name clothing. A $24.99 pair of shorts costs $12.00.

4) There is no reason to exclude the brands that are excluded, except for maybe manufacturer agreements. I know that Under Armour wouldn't let Sports Authority advertise a discount on their product because they wanted their product to have the same price across the board.

3) The coupons are always a sham. There is always a series of exclusions (the brands people want, such as Under Armour, high-end Nike product, high-end ski and snowboard equipment, etc).Complain to a manager, and they'll usually take the discount.

2) The Sports Authority website is not run by Sports Authority. It is instead run my GSI Commerce. The same company also runs the website for Dick's Sporting Goods. Because of this, returns are not accepted at Sports Authority locations, and the inventory on the Sports Authority website will always differ.

1) The fine text (Any illegal posting of this promotional code will result in immediate disaffiliation. This promotional offer may be modified or terminated at any time without notice.) was posted because what happened in the past was that the employee discount code was posted on Fat Wallet, so they did this so they can cancel coupon codes if they get used too much. How much is too much, is what I'm not certain about.

Now for EECB info:

Phone: (303) 200-5050 - Main Switchboard

CEO: John Doug Morton - dmorton@thesportsauthority.com
CFO: Greg Waters - gwaters@thesportsauthority.com
Operations/Customer Service VP: Tom McVey tmcvey@thesportsauthority.com or Cleo Frye cfrye@sportsauthority.com
Customer Service Supervisor: Noela Jordon njordan@thesportsauthority.com

(Photo: Getty)

Offer valid only while supplies last and not applicable to canceled orders due to out-of-stock merchandise. Discount applied when TSAWIN is entered as the promo code at checkout. Order must be confirmed by 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time on February 24, 2008 to receive discount. Discount does not apply to taxes, shipping and handling charges, gift wrapping or similar charges. Discount not applicable with returned merchandise; total discount will be deducted from the value of any returned item to which the discount applied. Discount excludes the following: Atec,
Bauer,
Bladez,
Bowflex,
Butterfly,
Callaway,
Carhart,
Casio,
CCM,
Cobra,
Coleman Boats,
Columbia,
Crocs,
DeMarini,
Easton,
Escape,
Etyomic Research,
Fly Flot,
Footjoy,
Front Porch Classics,
Future Beach,
Garmin,
Goaliath,
Goalrilla,
Goalsetter,
Ground Control,
Hi-Tec,
Heelys,
Jugs,
K2,
Kettler,
K-Swiss,
Leatherman,
Leisure Life,
Louisville,
Louisville Slugger,
Magellan,
Magnum,
Miken Sports,
Minolta,
Mission,
Mizuno,
Mongoose,
Motorola,
Muzono Golf,
Nike,
Nike Golf,
Oakley,
Penn,
Pelican,
Pro Feet,
Rawlings,
Razors,
Roces,
Rollerblade,
Salomon,
Shimano,
SKB,
Spira,
Spring Step,
Taylor Made,
The North Face,
Tippmann,
Titleist,
Trend Sports,
Under Armour,
World Industries,
and Worth brands,
Treadmills,
Bikes/Ellipticals,
Home Gyms,
select table games,
trampolines & accessories,
and electronics/optics.
Cannot be combined with any other promotional offer nor is this offer valid on previous purchases. Entire order must be shipped to a single address and customer is responsible for all shipping costs for returned merchandise. Any illegal posting of this promotional code will result in immediate disaffiliation. This promotional offer may be modified or terminated at any time without notice.

Related: After reading this post a former Sports Authority manager wrote in with 9 confessions, including "the coupons are always a sham."

We appreciated two spots for Doritos and Fed Ex that featured oversized animals overcoming expectations. Doritos' slapstick ad played off the old truth that mice love cheese with a scene that we would love to see played out at Disney.
Fed Ex did a commendable job using pigeons, but even though it was clever, it only reminded us of their own bird brained failures.
Coke's spot with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and James Carville was the most honest ad of the night thanks to its crisp, refreshing message: members of the government are shameless whores who gladly sell out to the highest bidder. It's true. Everyone likes to rail against the incestuous ethics-free cesspool that is Washington politics, and here it is, proudly on display for the Super Bowl. This is the saddest political ad since Bob Dole endorsed Viagra.
Most disappointing spot of the night goes to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. These are the people who gave us our brain on drugs. Our tax dollars should churn out high-powered visuals, not low-budget documentary-knock-offs. We could barely hear the skeezy drug dealer mutter the key line: kids steal drugs from their parents.Do people ever get ideas from ONDCP commercials? We didn't realize kids could get high and save money just by raiding their parents' medicine cabinet. Thanks for the tip, federal government!

What did you think of the ads? Tell us in the comments.

Watch All the Super Bowl Spots [Ad Age]

The Super Bowl is the advertiser's carpet-bombing run. 140 million Americans—almost half the country—tune into the game at some point. Advertisers expect a massive crowd, and we don't disappoint. Viewership has remained stable since the Reagan era:But the cost of the average 30-second slot has skyrocketed to over $2.7 million, almost $90,000 per second.Last year advertisers paid $2.5 million per slot, and we wouldn't be surprised to see prices rise to over $3 million next year, vastly outpacing inflation. Advertisers willingly drain their bank accounts because they are able to squeeze value from their investment, which is why Fox sold all but ten ad slots by October.

Advertisers are increasingly using their Super Bowl advertisements to drive integrated ad campaigns that send traffic to their websites or other venues. The goal isn't to micro-target existing demographics, but to use kitschy gimmicks focusing on brands or products to reel in a broader swath of people.

The prize is what Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen calls "monday morning chatterbacking," a phrase that makes us want to slit our wrists with a Hello Kitty butter knife. Still, traffic to advertiser's websites does rise by 50% the day after the game. This year, Fox is trying to drum up added synergy with fellow News Corp property MySpace. Advertisers who buy Super Bowl slots have the option of buying complementing ads—quizzes, trivia, junk like that—on MySpace, which Fox will promote during the game.

Super Bowl ads try to pass themselves off as entertainment. YouTube will highlight cutesy ads, and people will treat them as fresh content. Over a third of us watch the game just for the ads, and may even keep an eye open for one or two in particular. That's fine. Just remember that you are watching advertising. The goal is not to entertain, but to get you to spend.

Super Bowl 2008 [Ad Age]
(Photo: monstershaq2000)

• Buy direct from the venue, which can guarantee the ticket you purchase online will be valid to attend the event.
• If you buy tickets through an online auction, choose a seller with a long, continuous history of satisfied customers. Scammers can hijack old accounts, so make sure they have recently bought or sold other items.
• When buying from an individual through an online exchange don't be lured away from the Web site by the seller. Even if you met the seller on the exchange Web site, the company may not guarantee any lost money if a transaction occurs outside their domain.
• Never pay with a cashier's check or wire money to a seller. Instead, use a credit card or PayPal, which offer some protection and potential reimbursement.
• Scrutinize photos of the tickets closely for any inaccuracies or alterations, and cross-check the seat assignment with the map on the venue's Web site.

Beware of phony football tickets [All Consuming]
BBB Advises College Football Fans: Be Smart When Buying Bowl Tickets Online [BBB]
(Photo: veganstraightedge)

About six months ago I moved into my apartment in Chicago to learn that the only service available was with DirecTV. Not only that, but we were forced to use MDU communications, a DirecTV reseller. With no options for television, I reluctantly purchased my own HD receiver off eBay (The HR-20) to avoid entering into a contract with them for two years. When I received my unit, I called MDU to sign up and the CSR at MDU told me that since I had my own receiver, I could sign directly up with DirecTV. Awesome I thought, I can cut out the middle man. The CSR at MDU even transferred me to DirecTV account set up line himself.

This being The Consumerist, so you know now is just about the point where the story takes a turn for the worse...

I went through the process of trying to get a signal, but was having issues so they dispatched a tech two days later, which required me to use one of my vacation days. The tech showed up and notified me that I would have to sign up through MDU because I needed some special equipment which they did not provide. Great, I'm getting MDU and DTV to point fingers at each other. At this point, I'm signed up for service yet still don't have any TV. The next day I called MDU to get service set up and a tech dispatched FOUR DAYS later (burning another vacation day). The tech shows up and informs me that I needed some sort of signal splitter, he sets me up and I have service within the hour. This is not where the troubles stop...

Because MDU told me to sign up with DirecTV, I now have an account open with DirecTV and an account with MDU. I didn't find this out until the first billing cycle. On top of that, I am charged for installation since technically I didn't initially sign up with MDU first. So now I have MDU Access Fee + DirecTV + Setup fee's. I spent the better part of nearly two weeks discussing, fighting, eventually yelling, to screaming at these people that their install process was why all of this happened in the first place. They agree to waive the setup fee.

A few days later, I go to check to make sure with DirecTV that I am not in a 2 year contract with them since I bought my own receiver. Low and behold, I'm apparently locked in for two years. I call customer service and they say no problem, fax us in your receipt and we'll take it off. I fax in my information, the Paypal receipt, along with all the eBay printouts/documentation and am told that since I "got such a cheap price on the unit, they cannot waive the contract". Wait what? I buy my own receiver from someone completely unaffiliated with DirecTV and you still wont waive my contract? Arent the 2 year contracts used to offer a "rebate" for buying a receiver from DTV?

I also opted in for the HD service, since I am a big Cubs fan and wanted to watch them in HD. It turns out however, that DTV cant get a WGN-HD (the main Cubs channel) signal in this building. I call tech support, they schedule another tech to come out, I burn another vacation day to learn they cant do anything about it. Fine, by this point I'm sick of them all and I can deal with one channel not being in HD even though its the main channel I got HD service for. I'm sick of the headaches.

The final straw came today.

Last night I tried to watch TNT-HD only to see it cut in and out constantly with no audio and that famous grainy "bad signal" picture you get. It was storming pretty hard down here so I didn't think anything of it, figured it was due to that. But today I turn it on and get a message stating that the "channel is not purchased". I've had this problem before (go figure) where the permissions on your receiver go a little crazy. All you have to do is call DTV and have them "re authorize" your unit and you're fixed in a few minutes. Today was a different story. I call tech support to complain and they know it's an issue. The reason?

Apparently on weekends, DirecTV has capacity problems with their system due to all of the "NFL Network" games so they've been having to cut service (channels) to everyone. Thats right, they're DE-AUTHORIZING people's access to certain channels so they have enough room on their system to provide everyone with their precious NFL Network.

Shame on you, DirecTV for advertising all your new, snazzy HD channels and then having to take them away from people because you dont have enough resources. What did they give me? Oh a free month of Showtime. Whoopty doo, Showtime sucks.

I cant even get the new HD channels they launched (and I pay for) because MDU wont upgrade the satellite on our roof.

....and I cant even switch to Comcast.......

(Photo: cmorran123)

A Massachusetts judge ordered StubHub to release the names last year, a ruling that was affirmed last week by the state Appeals Court.

Diane, a season ticket holder who asked not to be identified for fear of being targeted by the Patriots, said she sold some of her seats on StubHub to help defray the cost of purchasing them.

"It's my ticket, and I should be able to do whatever I want with it," she said.

The Patriots view their tickets as revocable licenses that they control. The team currently prohibits resales anywhere but on the team's website, which is run by Ticketmaster and requires fans to sell their tickets at face value.

Mike, another season ticket holder who attempted to sell tickets on StubHub and requested anonymity, said he didn't appreciate the Patriots going to court to obtain private information about him.

But other sports fans applauded the Patriots for trying to prevent season ticket holders from making enormous profits on their tickets.

"Whatever happened to buying tickets for the games you want to go to, rather than buying them so that you can resell them and essentially price the average blue collar fan out of going to a game," said Sean Duke-Crocker of Brookline.

Patriots season ticket holders fear being put on hot seat [Boston Globe]
(Photo: Paul Keleher)

(Photo: laffy4k)

3. Trades aren't just for the teams.
It was always a lot easier for me to find you a good seat if you weren't going to reduce the total number of seats available. Also, with today's computerized ticketing systems, it's a cinch for ticket reps to trade in one set of tickets for another. Further, many teams have programs now where you can go inside the stadium and upgrade your seat. So when you get to that "must-see" game and all that's left is in the upper deck behind a concrete barrier, take the seats and then negotiate - especially when you get closer to game time (or even after the start of the game...I've had great seat open up in like the third inning). Something better will usually open up.

4. Buy odd numbers of tickets.
Everyone wants two, four, or six tickets. This means that bunches of odd number tix remain in good spots when all the even numbers are sold old in that area. So if you fork over the extra bucks for three tickets, you can usually move to a much better location. True, it's going to cost you some more money, but if you're willing to get gauged by today's ticket prices anyway, isn't it worth a little more for a better view.

5. Go alone, sit near the dugout.
Piggybacking on the last tip: single seats are the bane of a team's existence - no one wants them. Though any smart sales office will do it's best not to leave any singles, it happens. This means individual seats can remain available for a long time and be in really go locations. When I sold tickets, we would have singles seats right behind the dugout available during our biggest games even when everything else was sold out to the public.

6. Season ticket holders get big preference on everything.
If you need extra tickets to a game, find a season ticket holder to call for you. Usually, not only do season ticket holders have a special phone number to call to buy their individual tickets, but teams reserve seats especially for them. Remember, it doesn't matter who's using the tickets, it only matters who calls for the tickets.

7. I'll trade you my tickets for just about anything.
Yeah, it might be a bit unethical, but I never made very much money (I didn't even get commissions) selling tickets. I got four tix to every game, sans really really big games where I got two. I could find friends to take them about once a week, but the other five or six days, I would trade them for everything from discounts at the Men's Warehouse to free food. So what's the tip: befriend ticket agents.

8. Be nice, and make a friend.
Just like in any customer service business, be nice and it will be reciprocated. You might also make a friend. If you find a ticket agent and learn his or her name and deal with that person for all your ticket needs, you'd be surprised how helpful that ticket agent can be and what you can get. Everything from free tickets to extra door giveaways may come your way. Plus, I always liked when some customer would call and ask for me specifically - it made me feel good, it made me look good to my boss.

9. Send gifts.
Yes, you're all going to post that this is self serving, but if you're a season ticket holder, you want your name to be known in my office when it comes time to upgrade people's seats. If I get a thank you at the end of each season, whom do you think I'm going to call first when we have closer season ticket seats available.

10. If all else fails, ask for a manager.
Some seats are available only to managers. As with any business, if you have a good reason why you deserve a ticket to a sold out event or why you needs an upgrade, a manager's the person to talk to if all else fails. Make sure though that if the manager helps you that you write something nice to his or her boss. Sports is a tough business, and if someone hooks you up, the 10 minutes it takes to help them out goes a long way.

Bonus tip: Rules are made to be broken.
We'd have people come in with unused tickets from months ago or rainout tickets that were way past their exchange date (even from previous years). Despite what you'd be told if you called up the general ticket line, we could help you if we wanted. Be nice and you might get free tix to an upcoming game in exchange for your worthless pieces of paper. Don't complain when they're two seating levels down though - we are doing you a favor.

PREVIOUSLY: Senators Have Tough Words For DirecTV's "Extra Innings" Deal
DirecTV Close To "Extra Innings" Deal With MLB
FCC Investigating Proposed DirecTV "Extra Innings" Monopoly
MLB Extra Innings Going to DirecTV?

I am a librarian at the University of Dallas. We have not received our issue of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition even though we have an active subscription. The serials discussion list I am on has been abuzz on this topic. It turns out no libraries have received their issues. The publisher has decided not to send it to any institutions. Librarians who call in to complain are being offered an subscription extension of two issues. That will not satisfy patrons who are looking for the swimsuit edition. They'll just have to go buy it on the newsstand (surely that's not the publisher's intent!)

It should be up to the institution to decide whether or not they choose to make the issue available to patrons. The publisher should send the issues we've paid for. If we throw them in the trash, that's our prerogative.

Anyway, this is shady behavior by Time, the publisher of Sports Illustrated. Boo. If libraries want to provide the swimsuit issue then that's their business.—MEGHANN MARCO

Message Board Full Of Pissed Off Librarians

Sports Illustrated Withholds Swimsuit Issue from Libraries, Schools [Library Journal]

Thankfully, regular prices on flat-panel TVs have already dropped significantly.

Retailers punt Super Bowl TV discounts [CNN]

PREVIOUSLY: Paypal Freezes Deadspin Fund For Slain Soldier