UAAP- Itchy Hands, Itchy Scalp-ers.

(photo courtesy of coffeeandblue.blogspot.com)

The UAAP Finals is here! You know what else is in our midst? Scalpers!

Scalpers are an enterprising bunch of folks. Tickets normally priced at 300 pesos, can go for up to 3000, 4000, or even more during the UAAP finals, more so during an Ateneo-De LaSalle University or FEU tiff. Students, friends, sports fans, you know what I'm talking about. These loathsome leeches are those who, instead of helping encourage support for the various UAAP teams through selling tickets at reasonable prices, these "businessmen" prey on the fanaticism of Filipinos with basketball and suck their bank accounts dry for all they're worth.

Yes, I've purchased UAAP (and PBA) tickets from scalpers before, partly because of fandom, and partly, because I normally don't have time to line up at ticket booths for hours upon hours on end, hoping to get passes (one's got to earn money to be able to pay for the tickets he buys). In a way, I wish i hadn't ever patronized these people, because the greater the demand, the higher the supply, and the higher the demand, the more these people would be encouraged to hike up prices implausibly.

Some of my happiest memories as a sports fan, and as a person, have come at sporting events. I've watched with my significant other, my dad, my mom, and other friends- and the craziness of 2-3 hours of escapism, somehow, prove to be worth the price of admission. On the other hand, one cannot discount the fact that it is grossly unfair that we are beholden by people who take advantage of the purity of admiration, and the joy behind being "part" of history unfolding. These charlatans tend to smear what should be, and in essence, is, a event worth remembering as pleasing.

In a few hours, I'll be joining throngs upon throngs of people in Araneta Coliseum in Cubao to watch the Blue Eagles and the Tamaraws go at it. How did I nab my tickets, you ask? Well, I didn't line up, but I didn't go through a scalper either. Maybe I'm just lucky. Maybe today, I try not to think of the decent money I spent, and just hope and pray that my team walks off that big ol' hill- with arms raised high.

MC