On Monday afternoon， when my niece got out of school， I surprised her with the tickets. She was ecstatic. Not only was she going to her first Patriots game， but she also got to stay up late on a school night. And although I was not looking forward to the game itself， I was very happy that I could provide such joy for my niece. We're not the richest family in the world， and often times we've had to go without. This run of luck was working in our favor， and I was pleased with myself.

Posted Dec 8 2010

The rest of the night was uneventful. I dropped my niece off at her house and I went home. I did shoot off a letter to Craigslist and to the New England Patriots， and received emails back warning against buying tickets from 3rd parties because of scamming. I did end up getting to bring my niece the following year， and it was enjoyable. Lesson learned. Never again will I buy tickets from Craigslist， no matter how nice the elderly gentleman seems.

As expected， parking was horrendous. The drive into Foxboro was a complete nightmare. Still to this day I avoid Route 1 like its the plague. So we finally get up to the gates， and I'm preparing to give the ticket taker my tickets. Right now， everything is going great. My niece is happy， I'm happy with providing her with a good night - everything is right with the world. And then， it happened. The tickets go to get scanned…nothing. For 30 seconds or so， not long， he tried to scan the ticket and it was not happening. He handed the ticket back to me， said they were no good and asked me to move along.

What a lame article. These Yahoo Contributor Network articles are really getting on my nerve. If you're not a football fan， why are you writing an article on the NFL? Your opinion is worthless. My favorites part is that the title is "NFL ticket scam: Why Im never going to a football game ever again" and the author admits going to another game the next year. What a loser.

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Truth is， I had been to a game before. The winter of 2001， The Cleveland Browns took on The New England Patriots at Foxboro Stadium. My friend had brought me， more out of pity than out of company. I had just broken up with my girlfriend and my friend was trying to lift my spirits. And although I do not remember anything specific about the game， I do remember it was freezing cold and the fans were rowdy. Sometimes I swore that it would've been less rowdy in a jailhouse riot than it was that day in Foxboro. Seven years later， in October of 2008， I decided I would grant my niece's request and bring her to her first football game.

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Posted Dec 9 2010car game

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Sounds kinda naive， you got what you deserved. The Ticketbastard kid was right， although he should've been more customer-service oriented (i.e.， polite).

Craigslist， for the most part， is an extremely valuable resource that I have used many times. Its a great site that can be used for networking， selling used goods or finding out about local events. And though I was aware of the terrors behind Craigslist， I never experienced it myself. So that night I scrolled through the website， searching for Pats tickets. And I did find a number of offers. After sending out several emails， I got a reply from an elderly gentleman who lived on the North Shore. He said he was looking to get rid of the tickets at below the actual ticket price. He said the tickets were located in the upper level corner in row 5， and the tickets were $89 a piece， but he was willing to sell them for $60. I thought NFL ticket scam: Why I_car gamethe man sounded genuine and the price， with the game being a day away， was absolutely too good too be true. And of course， that ended up being very true.

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I met the man at South Station on Sunday in Boston and we exchanged money for tickets. We briefly chatted about how the Patriots were looking for the season. I didn't know anything about the Patriots so I just kind of nodded， laughed， smiled and waited for him to stop talking. After 5 minutes or so， not long， I was headed back home to surprise my niece with Patriots tickets.

NFL ticket scam: Why I_car game，I'm not a big football fan. I'll hop on the bandwagon when the local sports teams make it to their respective championships， but that's more out of pride for my community than it is for my adoration for the the team itself. So when my 10 year old niece asked me to take her to a New England Patriots game， I had my reservations.

Posted Dec 10 2010

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Pats games sell out months in advance， and to actually believe some dude is going to sell them for less than face? That's naive.

I buy gift cards off craigslist once in a while (since people sell them for below their actual value). I ALWAYS tell them to meet me at the store to verify the amount. As soon as I exchange the money for the verified card， I immediately go to the store register and "buy" a new gift card with the gift card I just bought. I have heard many stories where once you buy a gift card from craigslist， some sellers will have someone waiting with the card number and will buy something online and basically wipe all value from the card. Obviously， buying a new card means getting a new card number and making the old card value $0.

Firstly， I do not understand why the title of the article is "NFL Ticket Scam". This had nothing to do with the NFL as an organization. The writer of this piece was scammed big time by a scalper. Most people with reasonable street smarts should know that buying something online from Craigs runs the risk of it being bogus. It is no different than buying it from the scalper outside the stadium. If you take the risk and get conned you cannot then moan about it.

I was crushed. My niece was crushed. If ever in my life there were a time when I felt so embarrassed I could cry， this was it. I didn't know what to do. Was there someone I could complain to? Probably not. Should I call the police? I don't think they could do anything at this point. My only option was to walk away， amid the crowd of legit ticket holders. My niece was pretty upset and she started crying. I felt terrible. We walked back to the car， and if there were ever a soundtrack to my life， the death march would be playing at that time. I was lost. I just wanted to curl up under my comforter and go to sleep.

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I suggest next time you do something similar next time. Tell him to meet you at the stadium (despite how much traffic sucks). Ask the box office people to verify if the ticket is legit and then buy it from the seller.

Secondly， he admits he is a bandwagon fan. LAME! Support your team win or lose. It's pride that's on the line. Don't jump on board only when your boys have a good season.

Next time you buy tickets try getting them from the official site instead of Craigslist abcd.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com/NFL/default.aspx

Taking a 10 yo child to an evening NFL game when you knew from past experience that Foxboro can be "more rowdy than a jailhouse..."? The two of you getting turned away at the entrance may have been a big blessing in disguise， there Pollyanna.

So， on October 18th， being a man of my word， or so I'd like to think， I went to the mall and walked into the local Ticketmaster outlet. I asked the man behind the counter for 2 tickets to the October 20th Patriots game against the Denver Broncos. The guy， a skinny little kid who looked like he wasn't one day out of his junior year in high school， looked at me behind his thick rimmed glasses and let out a very audible sigh. With almost a certain hint of disdain， he told me the tickets were sold out and that in the future I should buy my tickets more than 2 days before the game. Now， in my head， I had jumped the counter and strangled this pencil necked geek. However， in reality， I thanked him for his time and walked out. Not wanting to disappoint my niece， I decided to go home and check out if there were any tickets available online. And so， enter the ever controversial website， Craigslist.

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