There is nothing like getting free tickets to a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. These are not just tickets, but Boston Redsox vsTampa Bay Rays tickets. In fact, they are too the Whitney Bank Club high price seating. This is where the fat cats and the bigwigs go to watch a game. These $175 tickets include free buffet style food and free booze. There is prime rib, shrimp, lasagna, and everything you could dream of. The wait staff serves your every need, and we Tom and I had tickets.
My best taxi driver friend Tom Castros took a high-roller to the airport this morning and they businessman said he had the tickets, but his plans had changed and he wanted to just give Tom the tickets for the $25 fare. Tom took them in a heartbeat and called me on my cellphone. I said "hell ya! Lets go!" The game was set for a 4:15 start and we were both hungry. Free drink and food...I'm all over it! We would soon be surrounded by beautiful women and the rich and powerful in the Tampa Bay area. Wait till they get a hold of us.
Since we are cab drivers, we know how to get within two blocks from the stadium without ever encountering traffic. I am not exaggerating on this. Most people are on the interstate and it is gridlock. We know a parking lot that charges only $10 to park, and you are in the shadow of Tropicania field. How cool is that? We walked right up to the stadium and got someone to take are picture. We were on our way and breaking all the rules We felt like
Thelma and Louise. This was going to be awesome.
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| Tim and Tom outside Topicania Field |
We walked up to the gate with our expensive, high baller tickets and proudly gave them to the ticket people. The lady scanned my ticket with a light and said, "I'm sorry sir; something is wrong with your ticket" I could not believe that. She did point out that we needed to go to gate 6 and perhaps everything would be all right. Tom and I headed over there. We could not believe that had happened and felt we would be fine over at gate six. Wrong. Now this was something out of a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode.
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| Sir...There is a problem |
Security said that the tickets had been 'forwarded' yesterday to another party.
In short, these tickets were no good. There was nothing we could do. Its bad enough to get beat out of a fare, but to go through all this and get your hopes up so high is just cruel. David Shields was pitching and I really wanted to see how good he would be against this powerful Boston batting lineup.
It was very hot and we just wanted to get to some kind of air condition. We had no water because we were going to get that in the club suite. When we went back to the parking lot, the guy asked us why we were leaving so early. We told him that we had been ripped off and he was good enough to give us a refund of the $10 parking fee. At least something went right.
On the ride home Tom's friend called and said that he has a special who gave him tickets to Sunday's night baseball game between the RedSox and the Rays and he could not go. He wanted to know if we wanted to use the tickets. We told him yes. He then said they were not just tickets - they were to the Whitney Bank Club and they were $175 which included free food and booze. Great! I can't wait for tomorrow night.
I remember this story from 2 years ago and it still make me mad that there are scumbags like that in the world.
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