Wizards Games: Cheaper Than Caribbean Vacations, Maybe

This item probably demands actual journalistic research, but I just don't have the time right now. Which ought to be my slogan, along with John Feinstein's "a little too clever for real people" mantra.

Anyhow, former Bog poetry winner Ouij sent me a distressed e-mail this morning. Seems he wanted to buy some of those $10 Wiz-Kings tickets in the upper upper level for himself and his baby bro, and he was hit with a $999 price tag. Plus a $37.90 convenience charge. Meaning a two-person upper-level $10-ticket date would clock in at $2,073, not including sodas. Ouij blogs:

I love my baby bro, but I don't think I can swing that kind of money for a birthday outing. At that price, the seats had better be made of solid gold melted down from Ron Artest's personal bling collection.

Now, while the Phone Booth (aka Gilbert's Arena) is a fine venue for basketball, I'm a bit staggered by the price. Is it that the Wizards' stellar play is driving up demand and thus the price? Are DC prices starting to spiral out of control like Berlin in the dying days of Weimar? Has Chairman Bernake totally miscalculated and sent the economy into stagflation?

I had no answers, but, not knowing anything about Ouij except that he writes a mean sonnet, I figured I'd try to buy some of them $10 tickets myself to verify his claims. Darned if they still didn't cost $999. Honestly, at that price, you might as well just go sit on the floor, where two seats plus two convenience charges will run ya just $1,797.50, meaning everyone gets like 45 more sodas. Which is one thing the Weimar never offered.