Tickets at Nationwide Arena are available exclusively through Ticketmaster. That should make it super easy to find tickets, and maybe even translate into reduced service charges for Nationwide events. It doesn’t.

For one, locating seats and figuring out what they’ll cost takes an elaborate hokey-pokey of clicking through calendars and lists. Is the game you’re interested in linked on the Jackets’ home page? I hope you didn’t expect that shiny red “Tickets” button to take you straight to a purchasing page for that game. No, it’s going to drop you on a screen listing all the games, with a separate link for each package deal. If you found a game next month on the Jackets’ site, you’ll have to find it again on Ticketmaster.com before you can search for tickets. If you want to compare prices for a package versus a block of individual seats, you’re going to click roughly 900 times.

And don’t forget! Ticketmaster’s website is so mind-bogglingly handy, they’re going to tack on a convenience charge – but only after you’ve completed the Seat Search Kabuki. Were you buying package seats because of their reasonable advertised price? Sorry, sucker!

When last I complained about the stupid fees Ticketmaster adds to the price of every ticket, it was $4 per ticket to order online. The “convenience” charge has since gone up 50% …in less than a year. Great way to keep people attending events during an economic slump! Charging nearly $200 for $150 worth of tickets is a perfect strategy for getting butts in seats.

The Jackets remain desperate for ticket sales, churning out new package deals – the “Ticket and Meal Deal,” “Guys Night Out,” various promotions around Christmas and New Year’s Eve – while the team stumbles and the organization tries to shake down the taxpayers. Would it make a huge difference if the cheapest tickets weren’t loaded up with a 24% convenience charge? Probably not… but it’d make me less annoyed, and it seems fair to guess I’m not the only one.

Let’s have a look at some running back numbers, with the preface that (if I haven’t mentioned it before) Brandon Saine grew up in my native land, Miami County, Ohio. These stats are from ESPN.com, as of 10/20/2009:

Who does Tressel start, unless he’s injured? Herron, who has 140 fewer yards on 4 fewer carries. Herron is the “power back,” as far as Tressel is concerned, despite being shorter and lighter than Saine. He scores touchdowns – because Saine doesn’t get the ball anywhere near the endzone. What is it about Tressel and underclassmen? If he’s a sucker for the next big thing, his offensive play calling sure doesn’t reflect that!

One more specific complaint about the Purdue game, and I’m going to try real hard not to complain about Ohio State’s bungling offensive coaches any more. This is the only mention of Brandon Saine in the play-by-play for the third quarter of the Purdue game -

Terrelle Pryor rush for a loss of 6 yards, fumbled, recovered by OhSt Brandon Saine at the OhSt 32.

Yes, in case you didn’t notice on Saturday, Saine – after breaking off a 20 yard run in the first and getting 40 yards on a terrible pitch most RBs would have dropped – touched the ball once in the entire third quarter. And it took falling on another botched shovel pass to do so. Saine took a single hand-off in the fourth, in the final drive when the game was already over.

There should be no question about Ohio State’s problems on offense: it’s not for lack of talent at receiver, or running back, or even at QB. It’s just that Tressel is apparently clueless as to how the guys should be utilized.

Then this whole Rams deal came up, and there was a firestorm over Limbaugh wanting to make an investment – not over some insensitive quote, silly ad campaign, or political fight. ‘Real news network’ CNN jumped on the story, essentially daring the NFL to associate itself with Rush and risk being painted as racists by association. Their money quote to prove what a creep Rush is? Made up, so far as anyone can tell. Woops.

And that is why so many people hate Rush Limbaugh. If you don’t listen to talk radio, chances are you’ve never heard a positive word about him. CNN says he’s a racist, drags out Whiners For Hire Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and describes any argument he’s involved in as ‘controversial’ in a way that insinuates everyone on Rush’s side is also likely a member of the KKK. From Powerline:

It’s no coincidence that Democratic Party outlets like CNN had to dredge up fake quotes to make their case. Nothing Rush actually said would do the trick, even though he’s been on the radio three hours a day, five days a week, for more than twenty years. That really tells you all you need to know.

Pryor is good, but has not looked much improved over last season. Tonight’s interception was gift-wrapped for the linebacker, and Herron saved us from a fumbled shovel pass that Pryor tried to force on his way to the ground. His big gains on the ground – that 18-yard rush in particular – only served as a reminder that Pryor’s best skill is underutilized. And that’s fine, until we’re playing a team whose players have just as much skill and whose coaches take advantage of every facet.

Finally – Brandon Saine. WTF. Is Tressel trying to prove some kind of point, running Herron up the middle more times in a quarter than Saine gets to touch the ball all night? The defense did a heck of a job holding USC under 20. We have a good kicker; a big, fast QB; a variety of sharp receivers; two solid running backs; a great tight end. Somebody in a sweater vest is not getting it done, which I guess is something the coaches at Texas, USC, and basically every SEC school have known for awhile now.

It doesn’t hurt that Joel McHale’s new series Community starts next Thursday night, and Dollhouse will be back the week after. You’ve watched the additional episode of Dollhouse from the Season 1 DVDs, right? And, have you heard that some of Joss Whedon’s favorite ladies and roughly half the cast of Battlestar Galactica are joining the show in season 2?

Don't let her fool you - that's a yawn, not a roar

I’ll be rooting for Michigan today because Notre Dame is annoying and the Big Ten needs to get its act together. I’d like to hear the phrase “a resurgent Big Ten Conference” peppered in sometimes among all the (entirely valid) comments about the Big Ten being a joke.

I really hope the Bucks can… er, buck this trend of flailing helplessly against ranked out-of-conference opponents. USC is going to be tough – but then, when aren’t they? If you’re going to the game by any route that crosses under 315 within 5 miles of campus, you might want to leave home around, oh, 4:00.

Go Bucks!

I am currently in several pools, and am near the bottom in every single one of them. Try as I may, I never seem to do very good with these things. I am typically somewhere in the upper middle of the pool standings, but this year I am doomed to finish at or near last place in every single pool that I am in…very sad considering I follow college basketball fairly well throughout the entire season. Oh well, there’s always next year!

It was unfortunate to see Ohio State bow out in the first round, but a big congrats to the Bucks and Thad Matta for another successful season. It amazes me to watch Thad Matta turn a mediocre team into a 20+ win team – a testament to his great coaching ability. Granted, this year there was a decent amount of talent on the team, and they possibly could have done better, but a great job nonetheless. Hopefully we have some key players return and our great incoming freshman class lives up to its hype. Here’s to another NCAA tourny appearance next year!

On another sports specific note, the Jackets are continuing their excellent play. They are keeping a step ahead of the 7th and 8th seeded western conference foes, and with 10 games left, hopefully will win at least half of them and get into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history! I think Columbus is ready to support a playoff hockey squad, I keep seeing more and more Blue Jackets gear all around Columbus, and hope to see much more! I don’t know how difficult it will be to get tickets, but I would love to be able to make it to a playoff game.

Tickets are also available at the FOX Sports Ohio Blue Line location at The Mall at Tuttle Crossing and ticket outlets within Chiller Dublin, Chiller Easton and Chiller North.

I thought this was odd, but I live so close to Tuttle it seemed worth a shot to avoid all the service charges. Of course, this was the one event they did not have tickets for… no big deal. Then the girl told me they “only” charge a $2 service fee for tickets purchased at the Blue Line store. Only $2! That’s great! Ticketmaster is in the business of selling tickets, which in almost all cases are only available through Ticketmaster, and even if you go buy them in person they tack on $2 per ticket in addition to whatever Ticketmaster charges are included in the price.

Checking online, the description of the tickets reads: ADULT SINGLE GAME WITH SERVICE CHARGE, which seems to pretty clearly indicate that all the fees are included in the price. Yet after you select seats, they add a $4 “convenience” fee. I guess it’s convenient having no choice but to purchase from Ticketmaster! I don’t know what Ticketmaster’s motto is, but it should be Ticketmaster: We totally blow.

On the commendation side of things, Netflix is awesome. After a two week trial that I used mostly to test the streaming service over the XBOX, I realized I’d never need to rent another movie if I got the $8.99 monthly subscription. We’ve made good use of the instant watching feature, which is great despite a catalog that is far smaller than the physical one. I’m only using the DVD queue to catch new releases or the occasional classic that I can’t watch from the 360, so 1 at a time is fine. And today, the really impressive thing hit my inbox:

PCU was not available from your local shipping center. Fortunately, it was available from a shipping center in another part of the country. It’s on its way and should arrive within 3 to 5 days.

You’ll notice we also recently sent the next available DVD from your Queue to enjoy while PCU makes its way to you.

The movie first on my list wasn’t available at the Columbus location, so when they shipped it from someplace else they emailed me an apology – and sent the next movie in the queue at the same time! Much as I’ve gotten used to credit cards and utilities going out of their way to squeeze maximum fees out of minimum service, Netflix continues to impress! If you haven’t tried them out, I strongly recommend the free trial, especially if you have a 360 and good internet service.

[Update: On top of the $4 added to each "With service charge" ticket, they add a $3 order processing fee? Keep on suckin', Ticketmaster.]

I think it is official, Columbus has the oft wished for Jackets fever.  It is a rare (one time occurrence thus far) disease whose symptoms include excitement, loyalty, paying money to watch hockey and possibly throwing a little Canada into one’s daily life (drinking a Labatt Blue, the occasional use of the term ‘eh,’ etc…).  The fans are finally getting some enjoyment out of some meaningful March hockey.  The Columbus Blue Jackets desperately need to make the playoffs this year.  Their fans have been very very patient, and have continued to attend games, even though their team has been fairly awful, and is the only team to have never made the NHL playoffs.  This year promises to be a year in which our playoff dreams become a reality.  I could think of nothing better for the city of Columbus than playoff hockey against our rivals from that state up North – the Detroit Red Wings.  Take advantage of Columbus’ already extreme hatred of all things Meeeeechigan, and use it to turn all of the casual hockey fans into die hard CBJ fans.  Now we just need everything to fall into place to make sure we get seeded correctly for such a matchup.

If you haven’t seen a game yet this year, you most definitely should.  The guys are playing with an intensity that has never been seen before from the Blue Jackets.  They have an increasing desire to make the post season, and it shows each and every game.  If you didn’t catch either of the past two games – an 8-2 victory over the Red Wings, and a 2-0 win over the Bruins – you missed out on some of the best and most entertaining hockey Columbus has ever seen.  Every game is broadcast on Fox Sports Ohio (FSNO), which is also available in high definition.  Games typically begin at 7:00 PM or later, especially on weekdays.  There are just about 15 games left in the regular season, and every point the squad can get is needed to stay in playoff contention.  Check them out, and catch the fever!

For the first three months of the season, some dude from the ticket office was calling me twice a week trying to talk me into a bundle of tickets… bet they’re not so desperate for sales any more! It’s great to have a young team putting things together so very, very well, and I hope it translates into more widespread, long-term support for our team. (Side rant: lower bowl tickets for less than the price of two dinners and three movies would also mean more dedicated fans. Call me crazy, but selling out the bottom deck of Nationwide at ~$40 for the non-box, non-club tickets seems like it’d be better than leaving half the $56 seats empty! Maybe it’s a moot point now that the guys are taking names and kicking the corresponding asses.)

This brief entry is meant entirely to shame Coffing into writing a regular feature about the Blue Jackets.

Stifling run defense, but over 400 yards passing allowed. Beanie continues to rock everyone’s world, until he’s hurt again. Dumb offside, holding, and roughing the passer penalties lengthened Texas drives and crippled our own. And late in the 4th when the offense really got firing, it was just in time to blow through a drive that should have managed the clock. I was afraid the D couldn’t buckle down for one last Texas possession. Crappy time to be right.

It’s disappointing, especially, for the seniors who have worked so hard to improve themselves and be a winning team.  For those who stayed in Columbus when they could have been millionaires by now, thanks again, and God bless…

I still don’t know – and don’t much care – what Ray Small has been doing besides skipping classes that pissed off Coach Tressel. He had a great kick return today, but after the way Ray’s dad has behaved in interviews I was kind of happy it didn’t go for a touchdown. I was also happy to see Todd Boeckman make a couple great plays. I’ve never been any kind of Boeckman promoter but Coffing’s always said he is a good guy. I was at the Troy game where Boeckman came in for a play, threw a bad pass, and was immediately booed… super lame on the crowd’s part.

At the same time, I could do without the announcers and analysts nit-picking Pryor. The people who say he’s inaccurate seem to forget how the same complaints were levied on Troy Smith in his early games. It’s clear Tressel wanted him to play as much as possible this season so he’s even better the next couple years, which makes sense although it’s a raw deal for Boeckman. Do I wish Pryor hadn’t lost that fumble against Penn State? Sure. But he’s a spectacular athlete and as I’ve mentioned before, beyond a point the ESPN guys are talking for the sake of talking. That said, I’ll resist complaining too much about how rarely Brandon Saine gets the ball, and when he does it’s for clock-wasters up the middle at the end of the game.

Let’s see how the rest of today’s match-ups pan out. It’s hard to root for Penn State after they beat the Bucks and then choked, so I’ll definitely be pulling for the Spartans and another outright OSU Big Ten title. I’m planning to cheer for Texas Tech in the evening game – the whole pirate thing is overdone, but Crabtree, Harrell, and the rest make for entertaining football.

Watching the second half of the Penn State – Illinois game reminded me of being in high school at the end of the Cooper years. The Big Ten was tough and Ohio State won more than they lost, and that was all the more thought I put into it. To be honest, I like football season better that way. I cannot and wouldn’t much care to memorize facts and statistics; ESPN has a sharp slope of diminishing returns for me. I don’t need to hear seven different analysts all say the same things over and over, ad infinitum.

I’m glad, too, that I’ve gotten used to Musberger being “the guy” announcing most of the games I watch. He’s no Keith Jackson – whose voice I’ll always associate with my favorite time of year – but the man’s a good announcer. Especially with Kirk Herbstreit, who all of my female friends (and several of the guys) openly admit to being in love with, next to him in the booth.

….Since when have the Penn State fans chanted the bass line to “Seven Nation Army” when the team is doing well? That is really annoying.

Bad news today on the HD DVD front.  Toshiba has officially called it quits, making the evil Sony Blu-ray the only format available for high definition DVD media.  It is good for the consumer in the long run I suppose, but I just can’t ever picture myself purchasing a DVD player over $200.  Hopefully the prices will reduce soon – not that I have plans to buy a player – but it would be nice for everyone to be able to experience HD movies at a reasonable price.

College football teams are beginning spring practices , which is good news for fans.  Having been involved in these practices before, I can say that it is not good news for certain people involved with the team.  Spring practices make for some long days, but I suppose that is the nature of the sport – practice, film, team meal, meetings, practice and repeat.  The Buckeyes are ranked #3 in the most recent preseason poll at ESPN.com.  We’ll see how spring practice goes, but I am hopeful for what looks to be another successful season.

Enough rambling for now, I should get back to cartooning.

Late last week, Warner Bros. announced they would discontinue their HD-DVD offerings this spring. Great news for Sony, whose crappy overpriced game console makes for a great, affordable Blu-Ray player. Bad news for… well, Intel, for one, but also for anybody annoyed with Sony’s storied history of seeing how many ways you can put “expensive” and “proprietary” in the same sentence.

And then the Buckeyes got smoked in the national championship game. Again. As it turns out, the analysts saying the Big Ten’s down and the SEC is up are still right. At least Brandon Saine got to see the ball sometime other than the last 2:00 of the 4th quarter, and Chris Wells threw about the most brutal stiff-arm in history.

Finally, I got a friendly email this morning from Chase cardmember services. “Your payment is due” is lender-ese for “Your payment was due three weeks ago, but this automated email doesn’t go out until you’ve incurred a late fee and some finance charges.” Thanks, guys. Sorry I’ve been trying to starve your children by always paying my statement in full.

Thanks for sticking around, Cap’n Attitude.