One Way Ticket to Hell (And Back), And Other Quips

by Migs

The UAAP is one of if not the country's premiere collegiate sports league. At the forefront of all UAAP sports, admittedly, is basketball, and, for the most part, UAAP hoops' most heated rivalry has been, for decades now, the neverending battle between Ateneo De Manila University and De La Salle University.

Within the war for basketball supremacy, another battle is waged.

The neverending tussle for tickets.

Ticketing for Ateneo-La Salle games tends to get ugly pretty quickly. On the school level, scalpers tend to line up and buy tickets in bulk through contacts from inside the universities' administration/athletics offices. Obviously, this something less than equitable as it deprives alumni, faculty, staff, and current students the chance to watch their varsity teams live for prices that don't hurt the pocket.

P1,300 for an Upper B ticket for an ADMU-DLSU round 2 game? Talk about ridiculous.

Then there are special, "friends and alumni", who usually get ringside seats to any and every game, regardless of the stakes. I personally have no problem with notable faculty members or prominent VIPs getting the creme-de-la-creme seatswise, however, it does become distressing when these people buy tickets in bulk and don't give those with money, but absent of social clout, a crack at prime coliseum real estate. There should be a limit to how many passes a corporation or an affluent individual can buy, just to keep things fair. It's current "free for all" status just encourages scalpers to go out and sucker people into nabbing ADMU-DLSU ringside sides for as high as, get this- 3 to 4 thousand pesos.

Amazing.

Even ringside seats for some big time musical acts , both local and foreign, don't go that high.

Danny Francisco, Jet Nieto, Chot Reyes, La Tenorio, Steve Watson, Vince Hizon, Ogie Narvasa, Francis Arnaiz, Jayvee Gayoso, Enrico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, JC Intal, Alex Araneta, Francisco Rabat, Richie Ticzon, Manuel Estrella, Larry Fonacier, Padim Israel, Jojo Lastimosa, Ed Ocampo, Sef Canlas, Gabby Cui, Ricky Palou, Chito Narvasa, etc.

Ramoncito Campos, Dindo Pumaren, Gabby Liwag, Mark Cardona, Joseph Yeo, Maui Roca, Ren Ren Ritualo, Don Allado, Willy Wilson, Dickie Bachmann, Kurt Bachmann, Noli Locsin, Cholo Villanueva, Mark Telan, Addy Papa Jr. II, Manolet Araneta, TY Tang, Carlo Sharma, Manny Ramos, Allen Patrimonio, etc.

Ateneo and La Salle- two schools with tremendously rich basketball histories.

Every game is history in the making when these two top tier schools take the floor.

Too bad most times we have to give up an arm and a leg to actually breathe in the fragrant scent of history, in this case, up close.

If, after all the lobbying and lining up for tickets, we still find the strength and will to witness the hardcourt drama at all.

Yes, I have been duped by unscrupulous ticket resellers before.

So sue me, or better yet, sue them.

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