Is seat hopping at a sporting event a sin?

[JustCath]

. . . If it lands in the empty seat three rows down, would it be stealing to take it? . . .

I believe the only sin would be in momentarily availing oneself to the seats 3 row better than the ones purchased to access the foul ball. You would have to be fast enough to deny the physics of actually being in the wrong section for it not to be a sin. Would it be possible to actually retrieve the ball under this constraint of physics? If not, your possession of the ball will forever loom as damning evidence that you for some fraction of a second availed yourself to seats 3 rows better than you had paid for.

 

[AloysiusBologna]

milquetoasty, milquetoasty, milquetoasty,milquetoasty,milquetoasty, M i l q u e s t o a s t y !

Sorry, couldn’t resist…Let us realize we probably all would appreciate the best seats…but we don’t want or can’t afford to pay for them. Should we pray for perhaps a generous patron or a generous ticket holder who would just like to remember what it was like when they were in the bleachers…Would doing so be a selfish prayer? If so, then would we indeed be serving SELF and not God? Perhaps we should be selfish, but I think not.( (admittedly, sometimes only upon an more honest reflection).

I wonder…“Act as if you have faith and it will be given to you…” does that apply to getting the better seats…Perhaps it makes a difference whether it is on Sunday or a baseball game, or hockey…{more dangerous seats…less desirable?..}. Are concert tickets different? I would hope that seat hopping is one of those socially accepted practices and that no one cares…Pharisees anyone? What does your heart say may clearly be the best answer. Yes , I think our heart dictates many things…and if that does not clarify then, we will just have to consult the paymaster at one of the more historic vineyards or question someone who has been sowing seeds for a very long time. I too would like to know…or would I,… Maybe ignorance is Bliss …or at least less demanding…confused::

 

[Aeden]

No, it is the area in which I am guaranteed a seat. I purchased the right to that seat for a particular event, and thus I am entitled to it. People may be willing or able to pay more for a more expensive seat and that is fine. But the owners of the venue have received their revenue from the tickets they sold and (imo) are no longer able to be the victim of “theft”.

You are entitled to sit at the sporting event, in the area you bought a ticket for nowhere else.

Just because somebody has money, that doesn’t mean that you are entitled to break money-related promises or lie on the subject because it suits your needs better. This is a fundamentally incorrect thing.

If the venue is concerned, they have can have ushers who insure that only people with the proper ticket enter a particular area (as is done at some facilities I have attended.) If they don’t, then I presume it is of no importance to them.

This is incorrect, it is like arguing that, if a man doesn’t hire bodyguards or install security cameras, he doesn’t care if he gets robbed.

If I take a number at the fabric counter, and some of the people who have taken numbers before me leave before my entitled turn comes up, I get to go ahead and receive service then - not wait the estimated time until I would have been served. Nor do I need to allow the people who have numbers after me to go ahead of me until my designated time arrives. So just because I am entitled to be #24, doesn’t mean that I can’t be helped as person #14. I can’t take someone else’s spot without them giving it up, but once they do, then it’s of no moral consequence (imo) if I take it instead.

This is an inaccurate comparison. When you buy a ticket, you are paying for a good, namely seating in a particular area. When you take a number that orders who gets served when, that is something that the establishment puts in place to make it more organized for them, and there is no profit that they gain from it, thus there is no theft, because there is no value to what you take.

::::donning goggles, hair net, and coveralls:::: Okay, I think I’m prepared to be splatted Btw - chocolate cream pies are my favorites so throw them at me first, okay? I’m a newbie.

Aw. I was really hoping to use lemon meringue pie…back to the store.

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

milquetoasty, milquetoasty, milquetoasty,milquetoasty,milquetoasty, M i l q u e s t o a s t y !

Sorry, couldn’t resist…Let us realize we probably all would appreciate the best seats…but we don’t want or can’t afford to pay for them. Should we pray for perhaps a generous patron or a generous ticket holder who would just like to remember what it was like when they were in the bleachers…Would doing so be a selfish prayer? If so, then would we indeed be serving SELF and not God? Perhaps we should be selfish, but I think not.( (admittedly, sometimes only upon an more honest reflection).

I wonder…“Act as if you have faith and it will be given to you…” does that apply to getting the better seats…Perhaps it makes a difference whether it is on Sunday or a baseball game, or hockey…{more dangerous seats…less desirable?..}. Are concert tickets different? I would hope that seat hopping is one of those socially accepted practices and that no one cares…Pharisees anyone? What does your heart say may clearly be the best answer. Yes , I think our heart dictates many things…and if that does not clarify then, we will just have to consult the paymaster at one of the more historic vineyards or question someone who has been sowing seeds for a very long time. I too would like to know…or would I,… Maybe ignorance is Bliss …or at least less demanding…confused::

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/162/594/Leaving.gif

 

[AloysiusBologna]

Judge not lest you…
Tell you what, why not set this question aside, until we have eliminated or at least progressed against those sins we Know are sins? I would say that in addressing those sins known to be sins we might obtain the insight needed to answer this question wholly or should I say Holy ! Just a thought. I have great hope that we might obtain a “better seat in heaven” than the one some of us pay very litle for in this life.

Pharisees anyone? No, .??? :nope::nope:

Well this might be a scripturally based answer…Workers pay with their time to work in exchange for a seat, some give more time equivalent to greater payment but then the owner lets everyone in…if that is okay why not the reverse…and don’t say it’s because one is gift…that would mean that taking a better seat, if not an implied privilege, would be wrong and if you KNOW it is wrong then I guess it depends on WHY you are seat-hopping…IF the owner and TV crews want you to move down…then they can ask…and you can certainly accept…
But otherwise…just give it up…at least for lent:sad_bye::ballspin::sad_bye:

 

[CradleJourney]

You are entitled to sit at the sporting event, in the area you bought a ticket for nowhere else.

Aw. I was really hoping to use lemon meringue pie…back to the store.

So I can hop to a better seat as long as I’m in the same area?

::: whipping up some meringue, cause I aim to please :::

You believe that the empty seat has value. I believe only the right to that empty seat has value. Once I get inside, I can sit in the spot I’m guaranteed by the ticket - or stand in the concourse, or in the restroom, or in line at the concession stand. The price I paid doesn’t mandate I sit there - just that is where I’m guaranteed the ability to sit, imo.

I just cannot see how my physical presence in a different spot, could effect the right (value) of the empty seat in anyway. Sorry (Again, if someone arrived with a ticket for that seat, I would immediately vacate it.)

Well, unless a foul ball was coming our way, in which case I’d wait till it was safe to move And since I’m not a fan - yeah, I’d give them the ball too!

 

[Aeden]

Perhaps we misunderstood. I thought you meant going out of the area you bought a ticket in and going to an area where it is priced higher (which is usually done for a reason) if we’re talking about it still being in the area you bought tickets in, all bets are off, assuming that the tickets don’t specify a seat.

As you say, it also comes down to our theories of value in this area. I was looking at the potential value of the spot, while you were looking at the potential value of sitting there.

On a side note: nice debate we’re having. I’m really enjoying it.

 

[april32010]

i guess to be real man , you just take what you want

 

[jimmy]

i guess to be real man , you just take what you want

And to be a real woman, you have to be milquetoasty.

 

[april32010]

And to be a real woman, you have to be milquetoasty.

wouldn’t know,i’m a man

 

[jimmy]

wouldn’t know,i’m a man

You should choose a new screen name then, because you have a very milquetoasty name.

 

[april32010]

You should choose a new screen name then, because you have a very milquetoasty name.

its the date of my baptism and first communion

 

[jimmy]

its the date of my baptism and confirmation

Ahh, I thought it was your first name with a zip code or some random number.

 

[Robertanthony]

No, it’s not a sin. The seat is empty and clearly has not been sold. The club is not losing any $ on it. If anything, they get a benefit, since your “ballpark experience” is improved and you become more likely to return.

Also, most stadiums/ballclubs allow this since they don’t want their expensive seats empty. They want the good seats filled somehow. In Las Vegas showrooms, sometimes good seats are given to lesser payers to make the room look full. It’s referred to as “dressing the room.”

Upgrade to the better seats! Catholicism need not equal "sitting timidly and fearfully and letting life pass you by."

That is a very good point, PolarGuy. I’ve messed up my life wasting the oh so tiny potential I had doing just that. Catholicism churns out a lot of people who are milquetoasty, scrupulous, thinking being manly or assertive is a grave sin. They’ll start a thread asking, “I looked at a girl I thought was attractive and i didn’t lower my sight when she smiled at me, was that sin venial or mortal?”. Those are not foundations for a fulfilling life, you’ll either get nothing or crumbs.

 

[PolarGuy]

Thank you all – particularly those with whom I am respectfully disagreeing – for an entertaining thread.

Threads are good when the word “milquetoasty” is used frequently.

Perhaps we can soon begin a new thread, about whether it is a mortal sin to root for the NY Yankees (it is, and there is no hope of forgiveness for that).

 

[jimmy]

Thank you all – particularly those with whom I am respectfully disagreeing – for an entertaining thread.

Threads are good when the word “milquetoasty” is used frequently.

Perhaps we can soon begin a new thread, about whether it is a mortal sin to root for the NY Yankees (it is, and there is no hope of forgiveness for that).

Are you a Sox fan?

 

[PolarGuy]

NY Mets. It is a credit toward future time in Purgatory. It is a souce of great worldly suffering for me…

Sox are OK, under the theory that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

 

[CradleJourney]

As you say, it also comes down to our theories of value in this area. I was looking at the potential value of the spot, while you were looking at the potential value of sitting there.

On a side note: nice debate we’re having. I’m really enjoying it.

Thank you, I’ve greatly enjoyed it as well

A lovely change from my usual daily conversations involving the more mundane (or dare I say “milquetoasty”) aspects of everyday life.

 

[jimmy]

NY Mets. It is a credit toward future time in Purgatory. It is a souce of great worldly suffering for me…

Sox are OK, under the theory that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Hahaha, I am a Pirates fan. Hoping they are a huge credit toward purgatory. We’ve lost enough that maybe we get a get out of purgatory, go straight to heaven card.

 

[ccmcmg]

Hahaha, I am a Pirates fan. Hoping they are a huge credit toward purgatory. We’ve lost enough that maybe we get a get out of purgatory, go straight to heaven card.

How much time do you think us Royals fans get?

Christina