They came last week.
Direct from FedEx and left on the floor in front of my office (Thanks, reception, that's much more convenient than a desk or mailbox). A thick envelope with 86 tickets inside. Each set of 5 had a different player for each ticket - Danny Granger (All-star), Troy Murphy and TJ Ford (decent, but unspectacular), and finally Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert (hopeful, but mediocre, 2nd year players). Emblazoned with a font and style that looked like a throwback to the early 90s - a better time...a Miller time - my Pacers season tickets had arrived.
Admittedly, this isn't my first go around with the Pacers. When I first moved to Indianapolis, I called up the ticket office almost immediately, assuming that I was probably too late to get a half season. Of course I was wrong - for about $30/seat I picked up a pair of tickets in the first row of the balcony for 21 games. The purpose was to take people from my new office to games as a way to get to know them...only I grossly overestimated the popularity of the Pacers, as Indianapolis, much like the rest of the country, seems indifferent to them these days.
They gave these seats away several games last year. It was still lonely.
So why re-up for this year? A love of half-empty arenas? The desire to watch T.J. Ford dribble down the shot clock before taking a fade-away 20 foot jumper? Because the Fieldhouse has the closest Quaker Steak this side of Columbus? No, no, and at $15 for a small bucket of wings, absolutely not.
After seeing the scores of downtrodden scalpers outside Conseco last year, I decided that I could scalp tickets and pick and choose my games for a fraction of the cost, and that's what I would do this year. For me to re-up my tickets, the Pacers would have to do 3 things:
1. Drop prices considerably.
2. Give me tons of extra tickets, upgraded seats, cool giveaways, and free booze.
3. Have Rasho Nesterovic personally call me every morning to read me the Pacers team pledge so I could start my day.
Rasho Nesterovic: Poet, Nobleman, Lover.
Well, 2 out of 3 aren't bad. For $100 less than last year's 1/2 season, I could get a full season this year, plus a parking pass and other benefits just for moving 2 rows back. In 2008, the team gave away lower section tickets for the last 13 home games, allowing me to either upgrade my seats or attend games outside my plan. In fact, just for showing up to the games that I already had tickets for (!), the Pacers treated me to courtside seats for a game against the Spurs and a free dinner in their Legends club for another game. In fact, for a piddling 1/2 season ticket holder in the balcony, they treated me extremely well.
So I was sold. For $1200 I bought back in and re-upped to a full season. For a 36-46 team that lost two of its best guards, has their 2nd best player injured indefinitely, and drafted a scrappy white guy from the ACC, who - when healthy - will duplicate the role of the other scrappy white guy from the ACC that they already have.
Shuuuuh...
Hurrrrrrrrrh?
At least the Pacers were good at home last year. This year, I'll be chronicling all my interactions with the team - a birds eye view of what it's like to be a season ticket holder for a struggling team in a mid-major market with one superstar and a collection of role players. I'll post for every home game - along with an index of my excitement, promotions, upgrades, and my love of the PaceMates.
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