While watching a recent Red Sox/Oakland A’s telecast on NESN, commentator Dave O’Brien and analyst Kevin Youkilis started discussing ticket prices for the upcoming opening game of the NBA finals featuring the Boston Celtics vs. the Golden State Warriors. In their conversation it was mentioned that some tickets were selling for upwards of $60,000 on the open market!
It brought back a long ago memory of an experience I had in April of 1966 when I was working my first job out of high school in the basement mailroom of Blue Cross Blue Shield in Boston. It was a long ago memory that, in today’s economic climate of greed and avarice, would be near impossible to replicate.
A gentleman from the accounting office on the fourth floor of our building entered the mailroom and announced he had a ticket for that night’s seventh game of the NBA finals between the Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers at the old Boston Garden. He couldn’t, or did not want to attend, and he was selling it at face value. The price of the ticket was $4! I immediately shouted I’ll buy it and took all the money I had in my pocket ($7) out and started to calculate how to afford the entire experience.
It was 25 cents for the subway to the game, $1.50 for supper (two hot dogs, a coke and bag of peanuts) and 50 cents for the subway and bus back to my hometown of Quincy. That left me with 75 cents to get to work the next day (payday). I handed the man the money, took the ticket and put it in my wallet and could not believe my stroke of luck. I was going to the seventh game of the NBA finals!
Not only that, but it was to be the Celtics’ legendary coach Red Auerbach’s last game at the helm of a team that was trying to win their eighth NBA championship in a row. The Celtics had a team that featured future Hall of Famers Bill Russell, Sam & K.C. Jones and John Havlicek. On the Lakers were greats such as Elgin Baylor and Jerry West. The game did not disappoint.
With a little over a minute left and the Celtics ahead 93-85, Sam Jones let loose with a two handed set shot from 35 feet that not only beat the 24 second shot by one second but also went in off the backboard to go ahead by 10 (there was no 3 point shot at that time). The Lakers ended the game with a heart stopping rally that fell just short and lost 95-93. Auerbach went out a winner, the Celtics had won their eighth straight and I went home a happy camper realizing I had just attended a historical moment in Boston Sports History. However…
Upon further review and thought on my part I also realized how inflation and greed now permeate every facet of society. Going to a game today for a young man costs upwards of a weeks salary if you’re lucky. Gas prices are through the roof. Real estate, for most, is unattainable and health insurance not easily accessible. How ironic I find it that the company I worked for out of high school, Blue Cross Blue Shield, a forerunner of Anthem Blue Cross, in 1966, was a non-profit organization! Can You Believe It?
— Special to the Telegram
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