Fess up. The title got you. About a gazillion years ago, in Sociology 101, I was introduced to the intriguing concept of status deprivation. Goes like this:
A does not have X / A knows of other persons that have X / A wants to have X / A believes obtaining X is realistic. This explains a huge amount of the behavior of politicians at many levels of government.
And what is the “X” at issue here? Sports tickets, of course.
I know, I know, this is confusing triviality with importance. No.It’s.Not. Sports tickets are the coin of the realm. The Holy Grail. Witness the ongoing plight of Salvatore DiMasi. In addition to the Cognos mess, for which he has been indicted, there is the ticket reselling mess in which, according to the Globe, “a group of professional ticket brokers hired Richard Vitale [Di Masi’s main guy]to help pass the proposed bill [favoring the ticket sellers]. Vitale, the personal accountant and former treasurer for … DiMasi, reportedly told the brokers that he could ‘do things a registered lobbyist couldn’t do – behind the scenes.'” And, if you think that sports tickets didn’t also figure into the Cognos deal, you are a month behind on your payments on the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge.
In 2007 GOP congressman Bob Ney was convicted of accepting gifts including-you guessed it-free sports tickets from sleazeball Jack Abramoff. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was criticized for accepting free ringside tickets to a boxing match.
But we can go even farther, higher. Now we learn that New York Governor David A Paterson is accused of falsely testifying last year about seeking and accepting five free tickets (value $425 each) for game One of the World Series at Yankee Stadium. Not for nothing is New York known as “The Umpire State.”
It works like this. You take your comp tickets and sit ten rows behind the Celtics bench at the Garden, looking at the back of Wyc Grousbeck’s head all night. The next day, you tell your polleagues, “I was at the Celtics last night. Wyc thinks that Paul Pierce is probably done after next year.” You don’t have to say that you didn’t actually meet and speak to Wyc, and the Paul Pierce bit you got reading Julian Benbow in the Globe.
Of course, with casinos in the offing, there are whole new riffs in this game. Bring ’em on!
I don’t actually have anything to say, but I have to comment b/c I can’t let a diary this awesome go unloved.
…just hit the recommend button. Even if it is already on the recommended list or even promoted, you can still show that way that you really like it.