Tickets in Detroit still available - 5-29-08

Some tickets are actually still available for Game 1 in Joe Louis Arena:

That ducat is all yours for more than an average car payment for most folks.

We're not going to give Detroit grief over having trouble filling Joe Louis Arena. The economy is bad for everyone, but it's awful in Michigan. At some point you need to put being a fan behind life in general. Stuff like paying your mortgage or just buying diapers for your kid outweighs watching Dan Cleary muck and grind in the corners.

At last year's "state of the union" address by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, we asked him in light of the economy (which was declining at that point, but not in a full-out freefall quite yet), why are team's raising ticket pricing? He gave us some standard, "We're cheaper than the NFL and NBA" answer.

That's like saying a stab wound isn't as bad as a gunshot wound.

It's simply appalling that the NHL expects someone, ideally from Southeast Michigan, to pay that much for a ticket.