Rising Cost of Tickets Leaves Fans in Tiers

Would you pay more to see the Angels play the New York Yankees than, say, the Detroit Tigers? Is it worth $5 or $10 more to see the Kings play the Colorado Avalanche, as opposed to the Atlanta Thrashers?

So-called “variable ticket pricing,” teams raising ticket prices on weekends or for games against traditional rivals, hasn’t hit Southern California yet. But it’s a hot trend in baseball and hockey.

The New York Mets announced this week that their ticket prices will vary, according to the opponent, day or month, joining the Yankees, Indians, Braves, Rockies, Giants and Devil Rays in going to tiered prices. The NHL’s Senators, Canucks, Penguins and Lightning already have adopted the system.

“Fans understand now that if they want to see the Yankees in the middle of June, when the weather’s great, they’ll probably have to pay more for it,” Rockies’ spokesman Jay Alves said.

The best seat to see the Mets play the Giants will cost $53. To see the Brewers, the same seat will cost $38.

Trivia time: Elton Brand recently tied a Clipper record with his third 20-point, 20-rebound game. Who are the three other Clippers with three 20-20 games?

Oh, those crazy kids: Swimmers and divers at Dartmouth College, told their program would be cut to save money, put their team up for sale on EBay.

The starting price was $212,000, the amount school officials said would be saved if swimming and diving were eliminated from the athletic budget.

Obvious issues about selling human beings aside, it’s not likely to work. Not that anyone really expected it to.

“We do need money, but it’s mainly for publicity,” sophomore swimmer Alex Bochicchio said. “It came about as a joke.”

Scared straight: Linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who plans to give up his final year of eligibility at Hawaii to make himself eligible for the NFL draft, said he had turned his life around since he spent four months in prison during his senior year at Vista (Calif.) High for felony assault convictions.

Tinoisamoa said he gets inspiration from San Diego Charger linebacker Junior Seau, who lived in the same Samoan community in Oceanside.

“He keeps me pushing, knowing he came from the same place I did,” Tinoisamoa said. “He’s doing the same thing I could do. That pushes me every day.”

Tiger balm: Tiger Woods’ mother, Kultida, kept a tradition going by giving her son a new Tiger head cover for next season.

It’s customized, because she stitches the words “Love From Mom” in her native Thai onto the cover.

Trivia answer: Swen Nater, Michael Cage and Benoit Benjamin.

And finally: Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra told the Boston Herald he has no problem working for a general manager who’s younger than he is. The Red Sox last week hired 28-year-old Theo Epstein as their GM, and at 29, Garciaparra is about six months older than his boss.

In fact, Garciaparra joked, going young might be the way to finally end the team’s misery.

“The older guys haven’t worked out since 1918,” he said, “so maybe we’re trying the younger guys.”