1) Reds tickets and dynamic pricing.  Yes, I wish all baseball tickets costs $6.00 or less.  I also wish we could mix the modern amenities of Great American Ballpark with the simplicity of Riverfront Stadium, so I could go to the ticket window and simply order four green seats.  I also wish that the ballpark still had that awesome element of danger and excitement that game with sneaking past the 89 year-old guy in charge of making sure that no one without a designated ticket found their way into the blue seats.

But none of that is reality. 

Pro sports teams are changing the way they charge people to attend their games, and while that often means you and I get gouged, I think there's something advantageous to dynamic ticket pricing.

The Reds announced that they're joining the ranks of MLB teams (now 21) that use dynamic ticket pricing yesterday, and while it may be confusing, and may mean we've gotta pay more for the premiere games, it beats the alternative.  Remember, this franchise has some huge contracts to pay off and the payroll will eclipse $100 million this season.  We demanded that the Reds invest more in their established stars, and we always want the payroll to go up. Those things come with a cost.  Yes, the Reds should get more out of their local TV deal in a few years, but there's a prevailing sentiment that by the time the Fox Sports Ohio deal is up, that the high costs for TV rights will have down from where they've been these last few years.  The Reds could have, and I feared were going to, unilaterally raise ticket prices for every seat, every game.

Instead, they've taken so steps to help fill the ballpark a little bit more, while enacting something that responds to the demands for individual games.  Understanding where the Reds are economically, and what the market for certain games are, I'll take it.

We're somehow married to a very antiquated idea, that ticket prices for sports teams should be established well before the season, and that they should remain the same regardless of opponent, date, or other variables that surround the game. We remember the days of getting the pocket schedule and seeing the prices for each section for the entire year and we want those days back. But how many business sell product this way? Prices fluctuate for nearly everything.  Think hotel room prices in high-demand vacation destinations stay the same?  Ever book an airline ticket close to departure time?  Ever buy a car?  Seasonal clothes?  All sorts of things affect the prices, and if you're a smart consumer, you can get the best deal.

I know not everyone plans out which games they're going to go to.  For the most part, I don't.  But I don't have kids at home, and I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows (and demands) me to pay close attention to baseball games.  Many people have to, however, and if you do some homework, I think it's pretty easy to predict which games will cost more, and which ones will be cheaper. The August 2nd game against the Cardinals, for example, is on a Friday, somewhat later in the season, and Cincinnati and St. Louis figure to be the two teams atop the NL Central.  It's a Friday game with fireworks afterward.  Chances are, you might want to buy tickets for that game now. And if you end up not being able to go, chances are you'll make a profit on the secondary market because demand and cost for the game will be high.  At the same time, if you're looking at the schedule trying to find cheaper games for your family, the game against the Pirates on Tuesday, June 18th with no giveaway and an opponent that no one cares about (even in their own city) might worth looking at, but not yet buying tickets to.  You may want to wait until that game approaches, thinking that the prices will go down.

Pitching matchups will be a factor - Aroldis Chapman v. Clayton Kershaw for example, should, and probably will cost more than Mike Leake v. whomever the fifth starter for the Colorado Rockies is.  Weather will be a variable.  If you don't mind bad weather, you might get quite a bargain as the prices drop. 

From a business standpoint, it makes sense.  The high demand games will still sell well, and now maybe those lower-demand games that might normally draw 15,000 fans will have more seats in them.  It also encourages season ticket sales - the price package holders pay will always be the lowest price for a ticket.  And while you'll have people who've paid different prices for similar seats for individual games, is there anyone who will really turn to the person next to them and ask what they paid for their tickets?  And if so, do you do this on airplanes as well?

There's going to be some confusion, and the Reds need to continue to explain how this works, often throughout the course of the season. (They have a website dedicated to this and you can hear my interview with Phil Castellini here) It's not perfect - perfect would have meant $4 Moon Deck tickets and 25-cent beer - but given the times we're in, given the demands the Reds are facing, and given how nearly every other business works, it makes sense, and if the Reds hold up their en of the bargain on the field, it will mean more people at GABP this summer.

Who isn't a fan of that?

2) UC, the metrics, and our eyes. Do we really think that when Mick Cronin meets with his team today, that he'll come bolting into the locker room, holding Joe Lunardi's latest bracket projections, screaming "HEY BOYS, NO NEED TO WORRY.  LUNARDI HAS US AN A NINE!  PRACTICE IS CANCELED! ALL WEEK!"

No.

Do we think that he's spending this week reminding his players that this year's crop of bubble teams is less impressive than this year's lit of Best Picture nominees? Probably not.  Instead of working on the offense, or finding five guys that he can put on the floor at once, do you think that Mick Cronin is pouring over RPI numbers, strength-of-schedule metrics, or his team's 28-game resume?  Likely no.

Many Bearcat fans are taking solace in the fact that UC would probably still be in the tournament if the field were selected today, or that the bubble is soft, or what the team did weeks ago.  All that is fine, except that there's still more basketball to be played, and this team is hardly peaking at Selection Sunday approaches. 

What matters isn't how good or bad the teams that are on the bubbles are, it's how good or bad UC plays these next two and a half weeks.

What matters isn't what Joe Lunardi or Jerry Palm says, but what Mick Cronin and Cashmere Wright do.

What matters isn't what UC has already done or not done, it's what they do now.

And getting to the tounament, while still the sign of a successful season, wasn't what most of us thought this season's ultimate goal was.

The numbers tell you that this team is okay.  Your eyeballs don't.  I'm guessing Mick Cronin and his staff will coach this week based on what they've seen from their team and not what a computer tells us about it.

3)  The first ever #XavierTweetup is tonight.  If you'll be in our section, please be nice to me.  Also, the Fox Sports Ohio Girls will be there.  Please be nice to them....

4) Joey Votto hit a home run yesterday.  All now seems right with the world. 

5)  The kid wasn't injured, so we can laugh at this....

There's More....

-Iowa State/Kansas was one of the most entertaining games I've watched this season, on a night that included some good tilts - both college and pro. Kansas came back and won a game that the Cyclones gave away. (KU has help from the men in stripes.) Iowa State fans were not happy.

-Jim Boeheim does what he can to solidify the belief that he's a first class d-bag.

-Manti Te'o runs a slow 40.  If you like Manti Te'o, you'll ignore the slow 40 time.  If you don't, it will be the first thing you point to when making the argument that he's not worthy of being being picked in the first round.  You could've done that just by pointing to the BCS title game tape.

-A lot more to get to on the blog today, including today's radio show.  Here's the early leader for sports mugshot of the year....