Baltimore Orioles ticket "scam" ~ All tickets need to be scanned

I'm going to go ahead and call it the way I see it. There was a scam happening at Saturday's Yankees v Orioles game.

I had an empty seat next to me, and there was a couple sitting next to the empty seat. Some time during the initial innings, two men came over and one of the guys had 4 tickets in his hand.

Ironically, the tickets the men were carrying were for the group of four seats that the three of us were sitting in.

Obviously the man's tickets shouldn't have even "scanned" at the entrance since other tickets with the same barcode were already used by myself and the other couple.

It wasn't a rainy day, like Friday, when one of the ticket takers ripped the tickets (i.e. like at a movie theater) when you entered. I guess his machine was damaged with the rain and no longer worked...

At any rate, the ushers and manager did the right thing by honoring the StubHub sales and assigning the other gentlemen new seats.

If you ask me, something wasn't "right", since the other two men shouldn't have been allowed in, much less benefited with upgraded tickets behind home plate.

Who knows what really happened and if those guys are even the season ticket holders that they claimed to be...

Regardless, I'm just thankful that my situation was handled properly by Baltimore Orioles' personnel!

Incidentally, I called StubHub today to the them know about the irregularity. They're going to investigate.

If anyone has any apprehension conducting transactions with StubHub, they should relax. I've had nothing but positive experiences with the company!

Moral of the story: Always deal with ticket sellers and resellers that you trust.


THE WIRK

Yankees rout the Orioles, 13-3, since there is no MLB mercy rule

The Orioles could've used as much offense as they could get, but Nick Markakis could only sit and watch. He didn't play, since he had been injured after CC Sabathia's pitch the previous day. He sat in the dugout as his team got routed, and I could see that his wrist was wrapped.

I sat 5 rows from the New York Yankees dugout and watched the Yankees take on the Orioles and take the lead in the AL East.  I'm not going to go into the play by play, but let's just say that it always seemed as though the Orioles pitchers were loading the bases and/or the Yankees were scoring. 

The Yankees won the game with a score of 13-3.  Yes, the Yankees scored 13 runs. 

The father-son conversations sums it up nicely.
Son:  Dad, what's the score?
Dad: I think it's 2-0.  Maybe 3-0.
Me: I think it's 4-0.  Wait,  I see it.  It's 5-0.

Yes, it sounded like an auction, and it more or less felt like one. 

The Orioles started to rally in the 4th, but they could never score more than 3 runs.

You want to know who scored?  Everyone scored.  Ok, not everyone scored, but it sure as hell felt as though, every time you looked there was a Yankee crossing home plate.

Another fun moment in the game was when someone started yelling, "overrated" when Derek Jeter was at bat.  Yeah.  If you are an Orioles fan, you should probably tell that guy to be quiet, since Jeter ended up hitting a homerun.

If you're a Yankees fan, today was a BEAUTIFUL day.  If you're an Orioles fan, at least today's game is over and only counts as one loss.

Maybe MLB needs a mercy rule...  I know the Atlanta Braves came back from a 0-9 deficit against the Washington Nationals, but...

After crushing the Orioles today, the Yankees are back on top of the AL East.

THE WIRK

Yankees v Orioles ~ Saturday's bogus double play ends the game

My friend, Teri, is a huge New York Yankees fan, and she'd never been to Oriole Park at Camden Yards (i.e. until this weekend).  With the race to first place in the AL East coming down to the wire, I talked her into going with me to Saturday's Yankees v Orioles game.  She didn't need much convincing, once I planted the idea and before you knew it, we had a couple of tickets to the game!

Saturday night was a great ball game.  Covered from the rain in section 49, we watched the Yankees and the Orioles battle. 

We watched CC Sabathia serve up meatballs and Orioles hit homeruns.  We also saw CC hit Nick Markakis with a pitch.  It's going to be a while before Orioles fans see Markakis at bat.  Reports that I read say that, Markakis is out for six weeks.

It was a great game, but the ending was very unfortunate. 

As the Yankees were rallying from a 3-5 deficit in the 9th inning, I saw the supposed "double play" that ended the inning and the game.  It didn't take a genius to see that Mark Teixeira was safe.  Umpire Jerry Meals made a bad call, and I agree with Teixeira.  My guess is that Meals either wanted to go home or just got ahead of himself.  Either way, it was what it was, and the game was over. 

If I was Teixeira, you wouldn't have been able to pull me off the base.  How frustrating...  That's baseball, and that's life. 

The Baltimore Orioles won the game 5-4, and as a result both teams are tied for the lead in the AL East.

THE WIRK

Made in America Festival, Day 2 ~ Santigold, Jill Scott, Eve, Run DMC, Drake, Pearl Jam, and Jay-Z

Day 2 of the Made in America Festival "guest-starred" rain.  I waited out the rain by heading to brunch with friends, but decided to head over the Made in America Festival in time to see some of Santigold.  To be honest, I didn't see enough of her set to draw any conclusions. 

After Santigold, it was Jill Scott's turn.  I'll admit right now that there is only one song by Jill Scott that I "know" (i.e. the song where she wants to go on a long walk).  Regardless my favorite part of Jill Scott's set was when Eve (i.e. E-V-E) came out and they performed one of Eve's songs on stage.

 After Eve and Jill Scott left the stage, I noticed Eliza Dushku and Rick Fox checking out the show from one of the monuments. 

Rick Fox still look great!

Run DMC was out next and they were phenomenal!  I flashed back to my younger days and jammed with them to "It's Tricky".  It was great and the crowd was excited.  Just when you thought the crowd couldn't get any more excited, I spotted Jay-Z and Beyonce coming over with Ron Howard and the camera crews.  For those of you that didn't know, the Made in America Festival was being taped and there will be some sort of footage/movie/documentary produced (i.e. at least that's my understanding).

As soon as I saw Jay-Z, I moved over to take some more pics, and EVERYONE seemed to follow.  At any rate, it was wild to see him and Beyonce get down to Run DMC's performance.  Jaden Smith (i.e. Will Smith's son) was there too.  When someone in the crowd, yelled "Karate Kid", Jay-Z literally laughed out loud.

After Run DMC, Drake came out to do his thing.  I'll admit right now, that I'm not a Drake fan.  I don't understand all the hype around him, but it could be that I'm not as young as his biggest fans.  I don't think he's a great performer, and I don't think he's good looking.  Oh well.  To each, his/her own, because it did look like other people enjoyed his set...

After Drake, it was time for the main event: Pearl Jam.  I'd never seen Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam when I was in college, and I hadn't listened to them in years.  I was amazed at how many of the songs I remembered the words to and how many of their hits they performed.  They were on the stage for two hours and performed through the rain.  I'm THRILLED that I finally saw Pearl Jam perform live and that they were AMAZING on stage.

As an extra treat, Jay-Z came out on stage and performed with Pearl Jam, when he sang "99 Problems".

Day 2 was the perfect finale to a fantastic festival!  I really hope that Jay-Z, his sponsors, and the city of Philadelphia make the Made in America Festival an annual Labor Day event.

THE WIRK

Made in America Festival, Day 1 ~ MMG, D'Angelo, Passion Pit, and Jay-Z

I was in the US for Labor Day and that meant that I could attend Jay-Z's Made in America Festival in Philadelphia.  The MIA Festival was a 2-day festival (i.e. Saturday and Sunday) and with Labor Day off, you know I was planning on making the drive up/over to Philly to check out the festival.  I bought a 2-day VIP pass, which gave me a free T-shirt, a souvenir ticket, a bottle of water, a special VIP tent, and a special VIP viewing area.  For someone like me, this was THE PERFECT way to go.  The VIP viewing area had its own bathrooms, but the tent had better bathroom facilities and it offered a buffet for $20.  There were also bars for your convenience.  ****  The Platinum VIP tent had open bar, but for someone like me who attends these festivals by myself at times, I don't usually drink.

There were two stages and a tent where DJs spun (i.e. I think).  I stayed in the VIP viewing area for 99% of the day, and only listened to the other stage and watched the screen, when I was interested.  Luckily for me, I could see the screen from my makeshift perch.  The way the barricades were set up, there was a line of seats in the VIP area, so about 20 of us were able to sit, without having to do so on the ground. 

Day 1 of the festival was a long one, but it was worth it to see Jay-Z perform, especially with special guest star Kanye West.  I'm a huge Kanye West fan, and having Kanye come out on stage was a dream come true for this fan.

My day started out with Rick Ross and MMG.  For those of you that don't know, MMG, stands for Maybach Music Group. 

After MMG, I saw D'Angelo again.  ****  I'd seen D'Angelo the week prior when he was in concert with Mary J. Blige.  D'Angelo's performance was shorter than the performance the week prior, but it was about the same with regard to tone and style.  The guy to my left said it perfectly, when he said, D'Angelo sounded like a mix of Prince and James Brown.

After D'Angelo, Passion Pit was on the main stage, and they definitely warmed the crowd up for Jay-Z.  Inflatable beach balls bounced around the general admission section (i.e. directly in front of the stage) and the energy of the crowd went up.

Each act, earlier in the day, was on for about an hour, but Jay-Z had 90 minutes.  If you want to see Jay-Z rock a show, by himself, for more than 90 minutes I suggest that you see him in concert.  This was a festival and with guests like Common and Kanye, etc. Jay-Z definitely shared his time on stage.

All in all, I had a great time on day 1 and couldn't wait for Pearl Jam on Day 2.

Oh, and for those of you that are curious, OF COURSE Kanye and Jay-Z ended the show "in Paris".

THE WIRK

Look out Hollywood ~ Extra work on the TV show "Do No Harm"

Keep an eye on the upcoming NBC show, "Do No Harm".  You just might see me in an episode.  I recently worked on the show as an extra, and I may have landed some camera time. 

If you're unfamiliar with the show, here's a link to the show's website. 

That's right ladies and gentleman, the count is now at 2 (i.e. for the number of TV shows I've worked on).

I don't want to go into any details about the scene I participated in, but I will let you know that Heery Casting handles the extra work for the show, which films in Philadelphia.

If you're heading to Philadelphia and looking to do some work as an extra, do a Google search and find out the details.  It never hurts to try!  Who knows.  You might get to work with Steven Pasquale, Alana De La Garza, and/or Phylicia Rashad.


THE WIRK