What is a half worth?

I wound up missing Councilman Reid’s final performance, regrettably. It’s a long story involving glass, RAM, and Versace. Either way, I nearly came close to witnessing another train wreck yesterday night, the Brooklyn Nets.

When the Nets played in New Jersey, no wanted wanted tickets. They were in such low demand that close seats on the secondary market were available for as little as $50, even less. I appreciated this cheap alternative to the Manhattan-priced New York Knickerbockers, another bad team over the past decade.

These tickets for the Nets final game in NJ were a great deal, and I won a free commemorative poster.

To give you an idea of how low Nets demand was back in 2012, someone gave my sister and I tickets while on line to get in. Good ones. Lower level. We compared the donated stubs to our own, realized that freebies were better, and told a couple of friends to make their way to Newark for our seats.

In 2012, the Nets made their long awaited move to Brooklyn. With a new market, so went those cheap tickets.

The Cavaliers also improved, making seeing my favorite team almost not worth the trouble. The worst ticket against the NBA’s best-selling Cavs went for $78 tonight on Stubhub, the biggest and most convenient secondary market vendor. That’s too much to spend for binocular-land, especially in the age of HD television.

A friend suggested that I look for tickets online right before tip off to save money. I tried last night, but with Lebron James and company in town, no luck. Sellers’ asking prices didn’t move as game time approached.

Then at halftime the incredible happened. Prices plummetted. Eighty dollar seats went for $11. Eleven! I’d pay that much to see the City Council in executive session, let alone for the greatest athletes on earth. A few lower level seats were selling for $40, down from well over $100. Against most opponents, good seats would likely dip further.

The only sacrifice is the first half, and to be honest, it’s not that much of one. If you happen to find yourself within a half hour of a sports venue, waiting until the intermission lets you find out if the contest is good or not, and that the best players are healthy and in the game.

All the big stars suited up last night, but of course I didn’t make it – glass, RAM, and Versace. After a close two quarters, the Cavs smashed the Nets 110-88 with a dazzling second half, their best of the young season. But the game will likely be remembered for what happened before it began.

Players Lebron James, Kyrie Irving, Deron Williams, Kevin Garnett, Alan Anderson, and Jarrett Jack all wore “I can’t breathe” T-shirts in protest against police violence and in solidarity with the family of Eric Garner, who was killed this summer by an NYPD officer in nearby Staten Island. Before and during the early parts of the game, demonstrators held a die-in outside of the arena. In this case, an on-time arrival would have been worth it.