Ticket Scalping: What Goes Around Comes Around

So here's the deal: I suddenly realized that out of BYU's three remaining home basketball games, I will be in Denver at Chez-Terry for the New Mexico game and the regular season finale and Senior Night against Wyoming (...pausing here to fight-back a tear or two...goodbye Jimmer, thank you, Jackson. Best BYU guard tandem EVER - with apologies to Ainge & Runia)

No complaints here - I can't WAIT to see the Terrys. At this stage of my life, choosing an out-of-town family visit over a BYU game is a no-brainer for me. (...pausing for a second until family members recover from shocked fainting spell)

That leaves Wednesday night's rematch with Colorado State - a team close to the McQuain family hearts.

Last month, the morning after BYU crushed Utah (...see also: Pukes, U-Tards, Little Red Sisters, SNOT) in SLC, I rolled down the hill from my Y-mountain palace - code for 'ghetto apartment with stunning view' - to the Marriott Center Ticket Office and bought seats for the next four home games: TCU, San Diego State, UNLV and Utah. I didn't have the foresight (...translation: budgetary constraints) to buy CSU tickets that day.

Fast forward to this week.

The CSU game is sold-out. As of LAST week. This creates a dilemma, as I finally convinced Caitlin and Anthony they HAD to see the Jimmer Show before it closes. Their schedules were amenable for this game. I checked all my 'usual suspects' for tickets. Not happening.

This left...the scalpers.

I have been grumbling to myself for two days now until the karma fairy smacked me right between the eyes - I used to BE a scalper.

Yes...let's hearken back to those golden days when the McQuain family - the branch I am responsible for - lived in Boise. West Goldenrod Avenue. Just a stone's throw from the corner of Five Mile Road and U-Stick - Albertson's - a TicketMaster outlet.

I quickly figured-out that: #1 - scalping in Idaho was NOT illegal and #2 - I could hire/con my daughters and their friends - and later, young strangers - to stand in-line for several hours, which later became overnight, to buy tickets for me.

This is how it worked.

I would arm my 'employees' with enough cash to buy their full allotment of tickets - it was 10 per person back then if memory serves. If it was a concert we wanted to see, I would cherry-pick the very BEST seats for the family. Then came the pay-off for each of the strangers - the next two best tickets for each of them. However many tickets that left me with - often as many as 20 or 30, seriously - I sold through classified ads in the Idaho Statesman (...a newspaper near and dear to the hearts of our family - can we have all of that missed sleep back? Please?)

Business was VERY brisk - and successful - back then. I'm talking Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, the Eagles, the Doobie Brothers, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, Chicago, Three Dog Night. I always made a profit - sometimes double or even triple face-value depending on how primo the seats were and who the artist was.

Those days finally caught-up to me today. But I am not complaining - too much. Caiti, Anthony and I are ticketed and booked for one of the last performances of JimmerMania.

It's all GOOD.