Greed

When I was a wee lass, my family situation was typical of a lot of American families. We generally had enough income for food, safe shelter, and non-designer clothing, plus some extra for a movie or other basic entertainment. Vacations involved stuffing my parents, grandparents, sister, and me into our blue Cutlass with a hole in the fabric covering of the back seat, then driving four hours to a resort in Michigan filled with elderly Jews and mold. We also could indulge in a baseball (i.e. - Cubs) game or even two without having to hock the family jewels, which was good since we didn't have any family jewels to hock.

Sadly, kids growing up today face ever increasing levels of corporate greed, making it nearly impossible for their hard working parents to offer them these comforts. This morning's New York Times had a cover story on how much it will cost to go to a baseball game next summer. Basically, both the Yankees and the Mets (go Mets!) are building new stadiums, much of which is financed by taxpayer funds. Instead of repaying the good citizens of New York City for their generosity, they are almost doubling the price of tickets. Right now, the cheapest tickets available for a Mets game are "value" tickets, which actually are a good value at $5 to sit in the back row in the highest tier of Shea Stadium. (They are only $5, though, on days when the Mets play teams that no one wants to see in April. On peak game days against popular teams, they are $35 for the same shitty seats. This tiered pricing was also something that my parents did not have to deal with - it cost the same amount to sit in the far corner on the third base line whether we played our arch-nemesis the St. Louis Cardinals or the San Francisco Giants.)

How the hell are parents supposed to take their kids to a baseball game if tickets are $50 and up per person to sit in the worst seats in the house? Don't working people have a right to some leisure and relaxation, too? Even if a family could afford to go to a game, is it worth it? It would be $200+ for a family of four for the shitty seats. The Mets better fucking win every game they play in their new stadium for that price.

If people don't have any heirlooms to sell, I'm not sure how the baseball team owners expect to fill their new stadiums. And honestly, I hope that they don't. I hope that they have tons of empty seats at every damn game (except the ones with $10 seats, as that strikes me as a fair price since a movie here costs $12). I hope that their greed causes them to lose money hand over fist until they remember that unlike them, most people fucking work for a living.