Michael J. Fox Talks To CBS' Katie Couric

I saw this and was both moved and discomforted at the same time. I pray that Michael J. Fox gets over this terrible problem if it's possible to do so. I thought Katie Couric did a fine job with this.

NFL 2006 - Year Of The Ticket Broker

The National Football League has proudly issued press releases annoucing the number of weeks where each team has sold out its home game, including some organizations that have been habitually non-sellout examples, like the Oakland Raiders.

In the case of the Raiders, this is the second year since their return that they've had more sellout games than non-sellout games, and they've had the worst record in the NFL until last Sunday. Why so many sellouts? It's not because people want to see the NFL's supposedly worst team, it's the secondary ticket market.

The rise of online ticket sales has changed the landscape of sellouts in the NFL. When this season started, RazorGator, an online ticket brokerage, came through and purchased the majority of Eagles seats, leaving none for public sale. Well, that's not quite fair, they were available publically, just through RazorGator. Some of the best seats went for over a grand. And the Eagles weren't the only NFL team bitten by the secondary ticket market.

While RazorGator's a brokerage, with StubHub.com, an online ticket market, everyone can be a ticket broker, charging whatever price, high or low. For example, one can get tickets to Sunday's Raiders / Steelers game for just $28. Yes, it's a nose-bleed seat, but it's below face value. But the simple fact that I can get such a ticket for cheap is a new development. It means that ticket prices are actually coming down.

Why?

Well, my theory on this is two fold-- at least for StubHub users -- that sellers are not all professional scalpers and really want to get rid of tickets, but for those who are pros, they may have an inventory they just want to dump. The result in either case is cheap tickets.

In fact, the tickets on Stubhub.com are generally lower than those sold on Craiglist, and safer, too. People using Craiglist have to meet the seller in person -- unless your lucky enough to find a post that links to a Stubhub-related website -- and risk being robbed by the seller or buyer. A problem that has worsened this year.

Still, one can get tickets to any NFL game. But when you go to a sold out game, and see sets of seats empty, you can both thank and blame the ticket broker who could not sell out his or her inventory. But their purchase of the tickets guarantees the rest of us will see NFL games on TV.

Hardball's Chris Matthews: Republican Ad On Harold Ford Is Racist

If you've not seen the recent political ad where some blond woman says "Harold Ford, call me," you've missed seeing a totally racist ad ran by Republicans at a time when the party is supposedly concerned about bring more Blacks into its tent.

Ha.

It's not funny. In my view, such an approach is animalistic, moronic, and down right idotic. Why would anyone African American join the Republican Party now? Leave it to Hardball's Chris Matthews to tell it like it is, and expose this as racist.

Here's the Hardball video:

New York Jets West Side Stadium Video Documentary - www.antdogs.com

This is a video documentary of the politics behind the proposed and now defunct New York Jets West Side Stadium. It was produced by Anthony Thornton of www.antdogs.com, a 22-year old Fim major at City College, New York.

This video's a great example of how a proposed stadium can stir passions positively, or in this case, negatively. It features the Rev. Al Sharpton, and several New Yorkers and elected officials.

Dallas Cowboys On The Decline

Seems that the Dallas Cowbows are heading for a downslide. The drubbing by the Giants Monday night was only the tip of the Iceberg. Coach Bill Parcells has many holes to fill and little time to do it in the always tough NFC East. The Cowboys run defense is weak at best. T.O. is a Quality WR when he can shut his mouth long enough to catch a few passes. But the Big Question is....Will Parcells stay after this year if the 'boyz post a less then .500 record? or will he pack it in to avoid more Heart trouble. QB Tony Romo is only a stopgap measure. I believe Dallas will have to deal in the Next draft for a Pick high enough to draft a quality QB, unless they drop several games the rest of the season and play themselvs into the Brady Quinn Sweepsteaks.

Fieldposition - New Series Of Podcasts

Fieldposition.com and the Fieldposition Podcast have introduced a new series called Conversations.

Conversations are Mini Podcast interviews conducted by Fieldposition.com's Field reporter Bill Chachkes. SBS own Zennie Abraham will be a frequent contributor, discussing the Business of the NFL, as well as Metro Philly's asst. sports editor Adam Levitan, who will discuss Fantasy Football. The First "conversation" is already posted at Fieldposition.com/podcast.

SF 49ERS Proposed Stadium: Is HNTB Cutting Corners To Save Money?

The San Francisco 49ers have played their games at two stadiums, Kezar Stadium in the center of San Francisco, and now Candlestick Park, which is now called "Monster Park."

While Monster Park at Candlestick Point has been the scene for some of the greatest plays in NFL history, it's seen better days. It has less than the standard number of luxury boxes, has a weird shape that causes the hard wind off the point to play havock with the kicking game, and has a large number of seats with views obstructed by beams holding up the second deck. It's time for a new stadium.

In fact, long past the time for one.

The first time a new stadium was considered for Candlestick Point, it was 1982. That proposal was a renovation, the costs of which kept going up and up and the economy faling into recession, until the need for the stadium was no longer important at the time.

The second attempt -- another renovation -- was taken over by then-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who wanted a new stadium. That proposal barely passed the vote called Proposition D and E, but it did, the problem was that the Niners owners didn't have the right financing in place.



This 2006 proposal is the third attempt.

What's different with this one is simple in my view: the stadium model gives the look of a cheap facility -- the photo at the top of this post is the new proposal. Take a good look at it. Ok, the model itself is cheap, without the detailed seat representation I'm used to seeing, but there's more. For example, in all of the designs of seen for a stadium in the swirling winds of Candlestick Point, there's always been some kind of wind break or design that causes the wind not to swirl.

Take a look at the photo on the left -- it's the stadium part of the stadium mall proposed by Eddie DeBartolo and Carmen Policy. The extreme right side and near top of the photo shows the kind of hangover roof I'm referring to. And another view of this design is to the right. It looks like a complete stadium, without cutting corners.



Not this new design.

The new 49ers Stadium Proposal is open air at the top, with no shielding or protection of the crowd from the elements. In this, it looks like a high school stadium. The sideline seat structure does not hug the field, as do other designs. In fact, the last stadium proposal -- see the photos -- did have a seat structure that hugs the sidelines. The new proposal seems to have the stadium made in straight sections, rather than a smooth structure that hugs the field.

Yikes! .

Whatever's going on, it looks like project architects NHTB is cutting corners, or at least being told to do so. That's a mistake. As it looks now the stadium costs about $700 million and I predict that cost will increase to $1 billion.

That's terrible.

The 49ers staff and Mayor Gavin Newsome should check into this. As I told both the Mayor and a person working on the "San Francisco Olympic Bid" since the stadium's a part of the bid, any cost overuns may impact San Franciso's Olympic Bid.