For starters, thanks for the replies.
When I talk about 'hashing out' what to do with the three lesser games (Coach Saban called me last night and reamed me for daring suggest I take any opponent lightly). Since my brother only lives one hour from T-Town, I'm likely to just give them to him. However, even he doubts he'll go over there for WKY AND Kent AND UTC. I have friends I stay with for free when I come to the Tide games and they're having a difficult time financially (he's been unemployed a while and they're burning through 20 years of savings or they'd be bankrupt now) so I might just give them one or two games. Also, I've noticed on here that if you're willing to let the light games go for face you sometimes have people who will come to the game who don't come to the crowded ones (e.g. LSU, the Vols, Auburn).
Plus - I'll bet I can unload the ATM seats for more than face if I opt out of that one; that will be tough to do, though, since my birthday is that week and God never made a more beautiful place than BDS on a perfect autumn afternoon. My bro and I don't talk that much on the phone but we did yesterday (I had found some seats on EBay and he was actually willing to do it last week but these were about $100 less).
Btw - here's some advice for those lurking - last year I monitored the games every single day on StubHub. There were some season tickets available (few but there were some) AFTER the Wisconsin game and folks were basically unloading them for face value once it became clear they had not sold their seats prior to the beginning of the season. There were a few sets of upper deck seats available for $500 per seat for the whole season - that's why I jumped on what I found yesterday because it was never there the last few years. They were gone within minutes last September. I paid $269 for an upper deck seat to the LSU game last year. I did talk with a scalper that evening, and he told me that if I'd show up there on game day for LSU, I could get in for $200, plus he showed me the license thing they have to have. I bought those seats the morning after we lost to Ole Miss (the calculated gamble was that that game and LSU-Auburn that day would reveal the likelihood of an unbeaten matchup, which would have sent prices soaring). Fwiw - I attended the 2012 MSU game and saw a private guy outside BDS offering his seats AT LSU the next week (the infamous McCarron to Yeldon screen) for $500 a seat in the upper deck.
So I might sell at face, might give to some needy friends - and I might even use one of those games and take my son instead while giving my bro another game to do what he wants with.
Plus - getting four weekends off is not too difficult, I just may have to donate some extra weekend time.
I'd be glad to meet some of you there - I've met happytider and Bama in Boston at BDS before, and crimsonaudio and I missed one another at the 2014 UF game. Here's to the repeat in 2016!!!
