The NFL Oakland Raiders / Denver Broncos Game's Sold Out. So Why Aren't All The Choice Seats Filled?

I'm watching the first quarter of the Raiders / Broncos game, having elected to stay in and get work done after spending all day at Cal for the Cal - USC game yesterday.

I've gotten into the habit of looking at the stands to see how many people are actually filling the seats at NFL games. Why? I have a theory that a large percentage of tickets are purchased and then resold by ticket brokers. My theory is that this process starts with the firm that has "exclusive" first-sale rights at Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers Games -- TicketMaster.

From observation, it seems some of these tickets are purchased by other brokers, who bid up the price higher. The highest priced tickets? The ones between the 40-yard lines on the first level. The bigger the game, the more likely these tickets are to be resold. Note "re-sold" -- they were already purchased once by a broker, so they remain to be bought by someone else, but at a high price, or to be re-sold yet again.

I think this happened for the Broncos game, so the end result is -- because of the Raiders poor record this year, a set of choice tickets are not resold. But the game's sold out. I also noticed this pattern at the 49ers / Colts game earlier this year.

What's the answer? Well, break up the in-stadium monopoly held by TicketMaster, at least in the Bay Area. The ticket offices of the NFL should place them on an online tickets exchange, like Stubhub, thus lowering the price. The NFL team ticket offices can then set the ticket prices at below face value, and better control the level of prices of tickets from the start. Yes, tickets will still be purchased and resold, but at a lower price rate, increasing the chance that a person with a lower income can afford to get them.

Attorney: Ex-Carolina Panthers cheerleader wasn't having sex

NBCSports.com news services
Updated: 1:23 p.m. ET Nov. 9, 2005
TAMPA, Fla. - An ex-Carolina Panthers cheerleader charged with giving police a false name during her arrest at a bar has denied accounts that she was having sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.

Renee Thomas, 20, also accused of hitting a bar patron, is charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years. The second cheerleader, Angela Keathley, 26, is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The cheerleaders have been approached by Penthouse with an offer to pose nude for the adult magazine, MSNBC-TV reported Tuesday.

...See the original story with a click here.

Cal Bears QB Joe Ayoob Rumored to Have Received Death Threat

Joe Ayoob, quarterback of the football team at the University of California at Berkeley, reportedly received a death threat. I received this unfortunate information from a Cal Alumni Donor who was sitting next to me at the Cal v. USC football game yesterday.

She -- who I will not identify to protect her -- reports that she is acquainted with the parents of the young man who replaced Cal's record-setting passer Aaron Rodgers, who was the 25th selection of the Green Bay Packers in the 2005 NFL Draft, and that the information came directly from them.

It's no secret that Ayoob has been a disappointing player for the Cal Bears. He was 9 of 19 against USC and eventually removed from play; the woeful statistics were more a product of Ayoob's poor throws and a terrible passing game plan than the Trojans defense. Cal lost 35 to 10.

Still, all of this does not warrant any kind of threat. The FBI should investigate this immediately, if this isn't already happening. I feel that the source of this death threat may be someone with gambling interests. The spread of gambling activity has been aided by the growth of the use of the Internet, and sports programs like those shown on ESPN. For example, the ESPN College Game Day and College Game Day Radio annoucers routinely discuss whether a team will "cover the spread" or what the "over / under" might be.

Indeed, "Bodog.com" a new gambling website was openly promoting itself at the Cal / USC game (in a fine example of ambush marketing), even to the point of hiring 30 scantly-clad young women to handout cup holders, hats, and cards with special offers for those who join the siite. The effort was managed by a sports marketing company called "Level One." How do I know this? Because I talked to some of the women, one of which introduced me to their "manager" who said he worked for Level One.

I'm not associating Bodog with the threat action at all. But it is demonstrative of the rapid mainstream spread of online gambling.

There's a lot of money being spent on what a simple young college player does or may do. I'm not sure the tide can be stemed given the Internet, but I do think some kind of specific action should be taken to protect college athletes, and before someone actually makes good on one of these threats against the life of someone who's barely old enough to drink.

Yeah. Yeah. The LA Lakers are 3 and 3 Now...

The LA Lakers are 3 and 3, having lost to the 76ers. So much for Phil Jackson, I guess. But it's early.

The Progress of My Friend Jody May As She Gets Ready for The Atlanta Bodybuilding Contest

I have to share this with you all, as my friend Jody May gets ready for her participation in the "Nationals" in Atlanta later this year. She's a terrifically lovely woman with a kind heart (an interview of her can be seen with a click on the title of this post). I wish the best for her. More on that later, but here's what she looks like, now:

My friends ask me why I like this kind of look, and I can't explain it except to say that it's been with me since I was old enough to realize I was attracted to this kind of woman. (Which was when I was nine years old and had the "hots" for a girl named Debbie who lived in the same townhouse we did in Chicago.) I also have always had an affinity for the way Robert Crumb -- "R. Crumb" -- draws women in his comics and cartoons. They have muscle and shape -- not skinny mini at all. (Oh, geez, nothing against the "thin" practiced by some of my women friends. You look terrific! Besides, it's not just the outside, it's the inside.)

But Jody's my friend and that's because she's just a good person. For me, it doesn't matter how great the woman looks, if she's not warm of heart, her outer beauty is diminished.

All of that aside, Jody -- in my view as a friend -- is at a major juncture in her life. I think bodybuiilding -- given its nature -- should be considered a stepping stone to something else. In Jody's case, I think she can be a terrific spokesperson for products and services. NO -- not one of those models than stands next to a car. I'm thinking more along the lines of commercials and ads. I think she's got a healthy and tight look that -- in a body-concious America -- can really sell. She can apply this to the medical industry to start, as that's her occupational home.

Beyond that, I think she can make a hellofa politician. She should run for some kind of office in Odessa to start.

My personal concern is that she listen to advice and get help from people who really are in her corner. I guess a large part of me sees her as kind of -- well, so "well-meaning" and trusting, that she can open herself to the wrong people. In that way, she's a lot like me! (LOL) I think that's why I kind of worry about her, and I shouldn't do that. But it's the way I am.

I'd like to see her develop a huge national network of successful friends -- women and men, but mostly women because it's good to have a connection with other successful women -- who really share their contacts wiithout some inner desire to "take" from Jody. There are a lot of people out there. I have such a small group of people I know, like my buddy Beth Schnitzer (an awesome person who will also make a great elected official). It takes time and determination and focus -- on building these relationships.

Baseball's Rafael Palmeiro won't face perjury charges

Washington (AP) -- The House won't seek perjury charges against baseball home run slugger Rafael Palmeiro for telling a committee in March that "I have never used steroids, period,'' but testing positive for a banned substance just six weeks later, congressional leaders said Thursday.

....I personally think President Bush worked behind the scenes to save Rafey's neck from any further embarassment.

Sacramento Kings Diss Detroit -- and Pistons. Why? Where Did That Come From?

The Sacramento Kings took time to reportedly make and show a video that displayed run-down buildings supposedly located in Detroit at it's home opener against the Detroit Pistons.

Makes you wonder why they elected to do that. Detroit is this year's host of the Super Bowl. Could the city actually sue The Kings for defamation of character? You bet. The question is will they?