Tickets worth weight in gold

Those who have them want a lot from those people who crave them.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- So excited is John Armitage to see the Texas-Ohio State game that he hopped a flight from Paris.
Not Paris, Texas. The one in France.
"Oh, and of course I wanted to see my family," the 42-year-old software designer added, not too convincingly.
Armitage isn't the only person going to extremes to see what promises to be one of the top showdowns this year in college football. Saturday night's game is the first meeting between the second-ranked Longhorns and No. 4 Ohio State.
Tickets are at a premium with sellers on eBay asking up to $1,500 for a ticket with a face value of $58.
There were 67 ticket ads in Thursday's editions of The Columbus Dispatch ranging from "Father/son need two Texas tickets" and "Dedicated group of OSU fans and alumni need tickets" to "Two OSU-Texas tickets, $2,500."
Counterfeit alert
The demand has Richelle Simonson, Ohio State's ticket director, worried about counterfeit tickets.
"Folks go on eBay or through a newspaper ad and they may have paid $3,000 for two tickets, then all of a sudden they get to the game and they find out those tickets are no good," she said.
"They're mad they got taken and they want the university to solve their problem. But we can't. We don't have a drawer somewhere filled with extra tickets."
Ohio State uses a scanner system that prevents anyone from getting in without a valid ticket.
Even Simonson, a veteran of big games and hot tickets, is astounded by the numbers.
"It's unbelievable what people will pay to go to an Ohio State football game," she said.
Glory days
Steve Snapp, Ohio State's sports information director, said he got a call from a former classmate.
"The guy said, 'You probably don't remember me, but we went to first grade together,' " Snapp said. "Then he said, 'Can you help me find a ticket?' I told him, 'You're right, I don't remember you. And I can't help you get a ticket either.' "
At a typical Ohio State home game, around 600 people are issued media credentials.
Snapp said his office has distributed more than 1,000 credentials for the Texas game. In addition, representatives from the Orange, Rose, Florida Citrus and Holiday bowls will be in attendance.
"We have absolutely no seats left in the press box," Snapp said. "As a matter of fact, we've handed out three or four that don't have seats, so they'll most likely have to watch the game on a monitor in the lunch room."
A photographer from Tokyo who is an Ohio State fan is coming in for the game, Snapp said.
Rick VanBrimmer, in charge of Ohio State's licensing department, said the game will likely bring out one-day entrepreneurs.
"The last huge game we had like this was Notre Dame in '95," VanBrimmer said.
"That brought out a lot of what I call 'parking-lot opportunists.' They say, 'I'm going out there today, I'll print up a few dozen T-shirts and sell them and make some quick money."
However, it's illegal to use school logos, nicknames or other recognized trademarks.
Family ties
As for Armitage, he'll attend the game with his 89-year-old father, who has a special place in Ohio State history.
It was Richard Armitage, an Ohio State professor and chairman of the athletic council, who told the legendary Woody Hayes he was fired after Hayes slugged a Clemson player late in the 1978 Gator Bowl.
The father and son will attend the game at Ohio Stadium just as they have since John Armitage attended his first game when he was 8.
"I would love to hang my Ohio State flag on our street in Paris, but there's a law against that," he said. "I don't follow any other sports. This is my vice."