A few days later, I heard from Ray (a self-described ?true blue Panthers fan?). After a few pleasant e-mails, I offered my ticket to the home opener. Within seconds, Ray became a Facebook friend and flooded my page with Panthers videos. This seemed hilarious. He must be a great guy.
Then, I checked his profile.
Unlike most Facebook pages, there were no pictures of Ray. There were no personal statuses. There were no photo albums. Instead, there were just hundreds of re-posted amber alerts. In fact, the only original content was Ray?s response to an inquiry about a dog featured in one of the posts (?is that your dog??).
His response?
?No. I?m not allowed to own dogs?.
Seconds later, I deleted Ray from Facebook, ate the tickets, and deliberated calling all Bosley?s/PetCo locations in the Dade County area.
Over the next two months, I received about a dozen ticket inquiries from interested parties, all of whom eventually reneged for various reasons (church, dental work, dog, dental work for dog, ?this just seems weird?). In three months, I was able to give away four tickets, three of which were actually used.
To draw a comparison, I used to post ads on Craigslist during UBC exam week. I?d post a friend?s phone number with a description like ?free Canuck playoff tickets?don?t want them to go to waste?text or call if interested?if the ad is still up ? they haven?t been given away?, then wait for his phone to explode mid-exam.
Clearly, hockey tickets in Florida don?t quite have that appeal.
