So you had to have noticed that every sports team under the sun is unhappy with their latest digs and they all want new stadiums. Even teams like the Yankees who’s stadium is an absolute icon, want something more modern and to add insult to injury, the stadium will be imploded once they move. Can I get a big round of Booooooo!! please?

Franchise owners have been on a spending jag that I just can’t even wrap my head around. They claim that ticket holders want big screen tv’s and private section bathrooms… yet I was pretty sure that fans really only want to see their team win. It never crossed my mind that I needed a big screen tv to watch the game on while I run down to get a hot dog. That was just part of the experience. When you get back, you’re supposed to ask, What did I miss?!? It’s a law or something.

All that has lead up to what I can only describe as the worst sticker shock in years for the people who fill the stadiums, weekend after weekend, in good weather and bad, faithfully buying their tickets year after year and feeling a bond with their team that cannot be explained if you’ve never lived it. Their team and the people they sit near year after year are “family” to them.

Imagine their shock when suddenly their family basically priced them out of not only their preferred seats, but right out of the stadium.

The NY Giants for instance… they are now charging $1000 - $20,000 a seat for the right to buy the ticket for it. Not the ticket itself, that’s extra of course… this is just for the ability to buy the ticket.

Uhm…. are these owners smoking crack? Maybe some of them need to be subjected to a few doping tests, because I think they are all high.

Everywhere I look, I’m hearing about companies laying off and cutting back. Just today I was reading that companies that normally throw lavish Super Bowl parties, have canceled them this year. Not scaled back mind you, outright canceled. That sounds like some pretty bad news for all these dumb team owners who forced cities to pay for these huge palaces thinking, oh it’s ok. They’ll just slam some big companies huge fees and they’ll pay it so they can comp the wireless rep a couple seats at the Jets game and then we’ll get lots and lots of tax money. Should be interesting to see how that plays out for them and if they have any recourse with the owners.

Maybe, just maybe instead of spending $100 billion on a new stadium, some of these team owners could spend some money building decent teams. It seems like every year it’s certain teams that dominate. Are you telling me that with all the high school and college football teams in america, the best Quarterbacks they can find are losers like Donovan mc nabb ? Or even better, Vince Young. These guys are horrible. How on earth did they get the big money contracts? Someone who does the recruiting needs a smack upside the head.

So this is to you Sports team owners…. Get your heads out of your asses. Football, Baseball, Basketball.. these franchises were built on regular families being able to afford to take the kids out for a day in the stands, cheering on their favorite players and paying $6 for a can of coke. NOT on making people shell out $20000 to be able to even BUY a ticket. Come on back down to earth and take a look around. There’s no solid gold toilets down here. We want to be able to go to a game and have fun… oh and to sit close enough to the field that the players don’t look like ants.

You’re forgetting who really drives your pocketbook. Us! The end user. The fan who shows up year after year even when the team you’ve assembled is nothing short of an embarrassment. Quit focusing on greed and opulence and start giving us what we want… cheap entertainment.

Have you turned the news on lately? It’s nothing but bad news. People are getting laid off, no one has any money to spend, credit lines are being pulled… It’s going to be the WORST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH NOES!!!

Am I the only one who remembers all the way back to last christmas, and the christmas before that, and the christmas before that.. It’s ALWAYS going to be the worst christmas ever. I think it’s some kind of psychological manipulation to get us out to the mall, charging up a storm.

Speaking of malls, have you been to one during this incredible economic down turn? How close to the door did you find a parking space? Yeah, that’s what I figured. Get back to me when you’re done laughing.

Year after year all we ever hear is how the people aren’t buying enough worthless crap and the whole country is going to fall apart because no one bought the leopard skin print scarf at macys. I have news for you people, nothing has changed. Are we seeing a shift in employment numbers? Yep! There are a lot of people being laid off right now and while I don’t envy them their position(mostly because I’ve been in it before) they’ll over come. If they are willing to work, they will find some kind of job. Might not be the cushy job they were used to, but you have to put food on the table, right?

Many more people are opting to stay home this holiday and just enjoy their time with the family. This means instead of spending a huge chunk of cash on a plane ticket, hotel room, rental car, etc while visiting aunt matilda.. they are going to spend money on things for decorating their home, for each other, the kids, the grandkids, whomever. So while travel will be down, consumption will be up. They’ll all buy a nice christmas dinner and have a nice new years eve dinner at home instead of going out to an expensive restaurant.

So mark my words.. when it’s all said and done.. this will be an average or at the very worst a slightly below average shopping season and then after the holiday when everything is 90% off, people will stampeed to the mall and grab everything that’s left in a feeding frenzy normally reserved for a shark tank.

Life isn’t all wine and roses, but it continues on. Sometimes there are bumps in the road and right now the road is bumpy, but everything will work out in the end…. and if you really feel you’ve lost all hope and you can’t see anything positive at all, I’ll give you the best tip you’ll ever get. Turn off your tv. When you stop allowing your head to be filled with nothing but negativity, you’ll be astounded at how much happier you are in life. Don’t let talking heads in a box control you. Get out and live!