I spent too much on sports this year

I didn't use that money to buy sports paraphernalia or tickets either. I used it to play football pools. I really don't mind because it's only a few bucks but my 2 Super Bowl pools ended up costing me $25.00 total. That's not a bad amount but I forgot that I had played until both people sent out mass emails letting everyone know that the money was due today. I wound up paying both people on Wednesday but I had forgotten to put that money in my budget. Luckily I had extra money this paycheck so it didn't mess up my savings or anything else.

But I certainly won't complain if I win.

Spending that extra money

If I have extra money from food or utilities, it goes into my slush fund. Once the slush fund reaches a certain amount, I use the money for something that I want but wouldn't ordinarily buy. Something like Miami Heat tickets or Yankees tickets. Tickets to the games are so expensive that I can't afford to go. But when I do decide to go, I want good seats for all of the money that I'm paying. So I go online to a premium ticket broker and get excellent seats. I figure if I'm going to dish out the money, I may as well have a good seat.

I can get tickets to sports events, Vegas shows or even to the theater. I buy almost everything online. You get a much better selection than going to a regular ticket office. Who really wants to pay all of that money and sit in peanut heaven? I sure don't and if you want good seats, get online and get them now.

Overpaying for things

Would you overpay for baseball tickets if you really wanted to go to that game? That's my dilemma right now. The game I really want to go to is sold out. The only reason it's sold out is because it's a really popular team but most of the people aren't going to the game, they have their tickets on Stub Hub and Ebay.

Tickets that usually go for $10-15 are now $35-50 and more. Forget about a decent seat (usually $27 or $35), you can't get those for less than $100 per ticket. I really want to go to this game but I can't justify paying that much money. After all, I can watch the game on tv.

Can I recreate my fantasy sports success?

In the past I've won the office NCAA Basketball pool twice. I was also pretty good with out fantasy football league. This time I'm trying my hand at fantasy baseball this year.

I was surfing the net trying to get schedules and injury reports when I came across a site where I could play fantasy baseball. Since I'm a baseball fan, playing this should be right up my alley. The league does have a $39.95 charge but if you use promo code BMC200, you get $10 off of the price. Not bad considering you have the opportunity to win money.

One of the problems that I usually come across is that I tend to pick all of my favorite players instead of employing a good strategy. With this software I can pick players head to head or sort players by position.


That feature would help me select a more balanced team than if I went with my usual methods of picking players. It would do me no good to have a mediocre player just because I like him more than a great player that would help me. After all I'm in this to win, not just play the game.

I can also stay up to date on injuries and player stats. Since I can access my account from anywhere, I can trade a player or bench them if need be.

The Pepsi game is almost over

I'm kinda sad about it. I've only won 3 prizes. A hat and 2 footballs. The footballs are NFL regulation footballs with a retail value of $79.99 each. I gave 1 of them to my coworker Susie because she gave me a lot of the caps that I used to play the game. I'm sure at least one of her caps was a winner.

Even though I won 3 prizes, I'm still disappointed with the game. I'm a football fan so I would have preferred to have a autographed picture or mini-helmet. I wish they would have let you add your caps up and get prizes based on points values. That can be bad because people can get a lot of caps quick and get all of the good prizes.

Oh well, I just have to take what I can get.

Football pools

I miss football pools. Yes I know we shouldn’t have done them at work but we did and it was fun. No it doesn’t enhance the game in any way. But for gamblers, it’s a blast. We used to play 2 bucks a block and fill the whole pool. But my favorite was the 5 buck pool where we only filled 20 or so blocks so the money could roll over from week to week. We had the pot up to over a grand once. Needless to say we were extremely jealous of the winner.

I wish we had those at my job now.

Barry Bonds hit 2 hr's today

Why is this related to personal finance? Because he's only 2 from tying Hank Aaron and 3 from passing him. Whoever is lucky enough to catch that ball is gonna get paid. There was a reward of $1 million on the ball, but the company was worried about fans getting hurt and retracted their offer.

The fan that gets that ball will still get a lot of money. They will also have to fight for that ball. It could get bad, I just hope nobody gets hurt because people are gonna lose their minds trying to get 756.

Tickets to sporting events are expensive

I want to go to a baseball game and a football game this year. The tickets are so expensive. Steelers tickets start at $60 per ticket. That's not too bad, but when you consider parking, food, maybe a souvenir or two and it's well over $100 per person. I know I don't have to eat at the game, but it's a part of the whole game time experience for me.

Pirates tickets are cheap. I can get a ticket for less than $15 but the seats where I really want to sit are $27. I want to sit along the first or third baseline. For a baseball game if I can't sit exactly where I want, I probably won't go. Yes, I am a brat like that.

Would you rent out your house?

I don't think I could. I am way too neurotic for that. The U.S. Open golf tournament is coming to Pittsburgh starting on Monday. Local people are renting out their homes for a ton of money. I mean thousands of dollars for the week. While the money sounds nice, I don't know if I could do it.

I might go to Cleveland for a game

Cleveland is not exactly a travel destination for most people. But for baseball fans it's a great place to visit. One of my coworkers wants to drive to Cleveland to catch a game. We're planning on making a day of it. We're trying to go to a day game. That way we can leave in the morning, catch the game and hang out for a while before we come back home.

I am definitely not a driver. I like to call myself the designated passenger. One of my responsibilities is to get the directions. I plan on using a site called publicroutes.com. It's a free site and they will direct us exactly where we need to go. I'll also keep the site handy in case we need a map of Boston MA. Hey, who knows, we might make it to a Red Sox game as well. Of course, we probably won't get tickets to the Yankees series in August, but maybe we'll see the White Sox or Tigers.

I did miss the start of the game

And that post is on the wrong blog. When I was saving it, I wondered why the categories looked weird. I write a ton of sports posts on my other blog so they take up a lot of the categories. I try not to write too many on this blog so I have no sports related categories. So to get this back on track of finance I will say I'm trying to find a baseball game to go to this year. My neighbor offered to take me to a game but it didn't work out so maybe we'll try again. Except this time, I'll buy my own ticket.

I won't miss tonight's game

I will not miss the beginning of the Yankees vs. RedSox game tonight. I missed the start of the game on Monday and I missed A-Rod hitting a homer. Of course, yesterday's game was nothing to write home about.

I was just thinking, I have 3 teams that I root for. For whatever reason, the majority of times their wins and losses seem to sync up. I know it's just me paying more attention to the scores on certain days. But whatever.

The brackets are out and other random thoughts

The brackets are out and I see Pitt is third seeded in the West region. They play on Thursday. I love Pitt, but they choke down the stretch. I don't see them making it past the Sweet 16. Of course, they'll do slightly better this year and I'll get all types of crank comments. But I'll take it. Being the betting woman that I am, I'll stand by my comments.

I submitted my other site Insane Random Ramblings to Pghbloggers.org. I like the site because they bring local traffic to your website. You get to see some interesting local sites. I hope my site is approved soon, because I'm trying to build page rank on that site and I need the traffic.

It's March Madness and I'm not in an office pool

For the first time in 5 years. I won my NCAA pool the last two years. But my new job is pretty lame and nobody does basketball or football pools. I really miss that. I personally think it adds another element to the games. I mean there are certain teams that I would watch anyway. But if there's money riding on it, I'm definitely gonna check out some of those games I would have otherwise missed.

New York Here I Come

I'm planning a late spring/early summer trip to New York. The main purpose is for a baseball game. I know that tickets are hard to get. But I have friends that live there so they're going to get them for me. Since the team I want to see never comes here, I have to go there. I don't mind they're worth it.

I have other things planned during my trip. First, I'm going to a spa, then do some shopping. I also plan on seeing a New York Chiropractor. I work on a computer and I hunch over. Since my insurance will cover it, I can see a doctor. Besides, one of the doctors specializes in sports medicine and athletes get hurt, so.... Hey, I gotta meet them anyway I can.

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