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In a piece entitled “Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t” our very own Vince Marotta wrote this about Cardinals’ fans selling their tickets to this Sunday’s game,
Does anybody really want to sit in a stadium for three hours and be harassed by Cowboy fans who are arguably the most annoying in the league? If you could avoid that fate and get paid for it, well, that seems like a no-brainer to me.
I usually agree with Vince’s perspective, but this time Mr. Marotta is off base.
If you are a Cardinals’ fan and have already spent hundreds, even thousands of dollars to be a season ticket holder, why in the world would you sell your seats, especially to Cowboys’ fans?
I’ve been a Cardinals’ fan since 1988, have attended numerous Cowboys-Cardinals games at Sun Devil Stadium, have been the subject of ridicule for most of the mid-1990s as the Cowboys hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy and I celebrated mediocrity. Was it bad? Sure, but it came as part of being a Cardinals’ fan.
This year has the chance to be different. The Cowboys are a good football team, and it’s starting to look like the Cardinals are too. This could be the year, with the help of a rowdy home crowd, that the Cardinals beat the Cowboys and quiet the blue and silver faithful in Arizona.
That, right there should be the reason to keep tickets out of the hands of the fans from the Lone Star State, or wherever the bandwagon stopped to pick them up.
This isn’t a case of telling someone how to spend their money. The money has already been spent by season ticket holders who want to be fans of the Arizona Cardinals. If money is a big concern, as it is for many of us right now, then sell your tickets to Cardinals’ fans. I’m all for you getting money if you are hurting for it, just not at the cost of home-field advantage of your beloved team. If you are willing to sell your tickets to fans of the Cards’ biggest rival, do everyone a favor and stop calling yourself a serious Cardinals fan.
Sunday is what fans live for. It is a chance to turn the tables and harass the Cowboys’ fans that have tormented you for years. As a Cardinals’ fan, that satisfaction is worth more than any money you’d get for tickets. That’s the beauty of the NFL. Any given Sunday things can change.
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4 Responses to “You’re just damned if you do”
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Greg–you’re out of your mind! First, I highly doubt that there’s many fans at all that are that financially strapped that they’re selling their tickets to feed their families. NFL season tickets are a luxury, not a necessity.
Secondly, in a city like Phoenix, which doesn’t have a rabid fan base for the Cardinals, many season ticket holders buy them as an investment, just as many corporations buy them as employee and client perks. You’re telling those people that they can’t sell their tickets to the highest bidder? Cardinal fans won’t pay top dollar for a seat to the game, the vast majority of rabid Cardinal fans already have season tickets. It’s the Cowboys’ fans who are driving up the prices.
If you can’t beat them on the field, you may as well hit ‘em in the pockets.
Sure some people buy them as an investment but if that’s the case don’t bother claiming you are a Cardinals fan or wearing your
Matt LeinartAnquan Boldin jerseys to the one or two games you can’t sell the tickets to.I’m OK with people selling tickets to most games and even OK with them selling their tickets to other Cardinals fans but to sell your tickets to fans of your teams biggest rival is inexcusable. You won’t see Redskins fans selling tickets to fans of the ‘Boys. You won’t see Packers fans letting Bears fans infiltrate Lambeau Field. Heck, I’m willing to bet Seattle fans wouldn’t sell to Cards fans.
Home field advantage is worthless if there is no home team fans in attendance. If you want to invest your money do it in something that can turn a profit. The
stock marketASUcollectible coins.The Cowboys don’t even play in the Cardinals division, how can they be their biggest rival. A rivalry has to work two ways. Fans of each team have to have a healthy dislike for the other team. Cardinal fans hate the Cowboys, but do Dallas fans hate the Cardinals? No. They make fun of them.
And you can’t compare Phoenix to other NFL markets as far as who would and who wouldn’t sell tickets to opposing fans. It’s apples and oranges. I’m not making excuses, but Phoenix is still the 3rd youngest NFL market (only Jacksonville and Carolina are newer). New market plus 20 years of bad football doesn’t exactly equal a rabid fan base.
The best home-field advantage is having players that can play. The Cardinals have that this year. It should be a good game.
The Cowboys were in the Cardinals division for many years. By your definition the Cardinals have absolutely no rivals and you can’t tell me there aren’t Cowboys fans that hate the Cardinals for bouncing them in the playoffs.
Yes, Phoenix has only been a NFL city for 20 years but there needs to be baby steps towards respectability. The first step would be to go out to a game and support your team against an NFC rival who used to be a division rival.
The Cardinals seem to have players that can play now and deserve to have fans who can go out and support them.