In their defense, with the $1 tickets the ushers have probably been told to check tickets regularly and make sure that guys aren’t paying a buck to lower level. In past years, the guys who work at the Yard are pretty lax about it, towards me at least, but I have heard my fair share of horror stories from friends. In the situation that you described, I do think that it’s ridiculous and unnecessary.

Earlier this season I got free tickets at the very top of the stadium. My friends and I were the only ones in our section and the usher made us sit at the very top. She wouldn’t even let us move down later in the game when no one else showed up. Also I wanted to try and get autographs before one game. There were a ton of people waiting for them, but when I went down I was told by an usher that batting practice was over and I couldn’t go down (yet he wasn’t telling the other people it was time to leave). I’ve seen some good usher, but alot of them take their jobs way to seriously.

I went to a game a few weeks ago vs Oakland, the 2nd game of the double header (first of which had gotten rained out). There was nobody at the stadium. It was totally empty. We had $1 tickets but we sat behind the O’s dugout, about halfway back. There was no one else in our row or the row in front of us or behind us. At about the third inning, the usher brought down a family of four who crazily enough had tickets for the exact four seat we were sitting in. As soon as we realized we slid over the end of the row, but he kicked us out of the entire section, despite the fact that the entire section was pretty much empty. So we moved over one section and had no problems. The usher in that section came to seat some people, saw that there were people in their seats, and said, “No problem! Plenty of seats to go around.” and sat the people about three rows in front of them.

This year has actually been better than last year from my experience. I heard a rumor that there was a big usher meeting where they were told to dial it down, but I guess some of them are just so drunk with power that they won’t let go.

My favorite usher is in left field on the first level. He high fives everyone in O’s gear and cheers and such. I was at a game vs. the Yankees earlier in the year where there was a fair amount of arguing going on between fans and instead of calling security and getting people tossed the way a lot of ushers would, he took care of it himself and didn’t threaten to throw anyone out. He was quite a good peace negotiator.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about bad O’s ushers, so I’m not surprised.

but these other assholes should just be happy that someone is there

Every time I move down, I never go to the “orange” seats, ie the ones with pads and cup holders. I just don’t try. I always try the lower reserve, and it’s all about looking casual.

I completely understand how much money the Orioles lose due to fans moving down. I personally cost the team about $80 the other night in ticket sales by moving from section 308 to 47 in between games of the doubleheader. But really, after the 7th inning stetch at least, I think the scoreboard itself should read “COME ON DOWN” …