Craigslist, Sports

Will Bill Hours for Basketball

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As Scott Van Pelt is fond of saying: “fear the turtle.”
We all know that University of Maryland basketball fans are a strange bunch. Some might call them the red-headed stepchildren of the ACC. I prefer to think of them as a litmus test for how strong Duke and UNC are in a given year. If you can beat the bag out of the Terrapins, you’ve got Sweet 16 talent. If not, it’s upset city, my friends. Maryland’s often in contention, but rarely pulls it out.
Of course, occasionally slow and steady does actually win the race. The team won a National Championship in 2002, beating the last relevant Indiana team in the finals. It’s the kind of thing Maryland fans live for, and with the team being second in the ACC this year, Terps fans are losing their minds. Even Terps fans currently in law school. One such law student fanatic is desperately trying to get tickets to tonight’s headline Maryland-Duke match-up. From Craigslist:

trade of services for md-duke ticket(s) – $1 (college park, md)
I am a Terp fanatic, but as a law student I am in the unfortunate position of not being able to afford tickets to Wednesday night’s game against duke. In exchange for tickets, I am willing to sign a contract that will guarantee a TBD number of billable hours of attorney services fully redeemable upon my passing of the Maryland bar.

The poster is a 1L at the University of Baltimore Law School, so this may just be a clever attempt to get somebody to give him some work.
An UPDATE after the jump.


The Baltimore Sun has excellent details about 1L, Burke Miller:

As thrilled as the 2007 Maryland graduate is to see his team battling for the regular-season ACC title, it is torturous for him to be on the outside looking in.
Miller said he hasn’t missed a Duke game at the Comcast Center since 2004. The University of Baltimore law student placed his ad when he saw online ticket prices soar beyond his means after Maryland’s recent dramatic wins. The Terps won at Virginia Tech in double overtime Saturday.
Miller, who spent Monday checking for replies to his ad between classes, said he got his idea after spying an ad from a Craigslist seller who was seeking money or “services” in exchange for his Maryland-Duke tickets. Miller contacted the seller, who declined to surrender tickets in return for Miller’s offer of future legal work.

I like screaming things at Duke coach Mike Krzyzegahhphoasgosky (sp?) as much as the next guy. But it seems to me that Miller’s problem is that the market for legal work is nearly non-existent. Why would you give up a present good — tickets to the Duke game — for a future service — Miller’s expertise — when there are so many deflationary pressures on the value of the services over time? Chances are, when Miller graduates he’ll be willing to work for free, and you won’t need to pay him the sticker price of a ducat.
Miller seems earnest enough. Check out his picture from the Sun:

And he remains committed to his quest:

“I’m still hopeful,” said Miller, a Frederick native. “I’d sit down with [a seller] and make a contract and look at the standard billable rate for a young attorney. I’ve got full faith that I’d be a good attorney.”

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Aww … don’t you just want to take him home and hug and slap him repeatedly until he understands that legal economy makes his skills nearly valueless right now? Why didn’t this guy think through this before he went to law school? He likes Maryland basketball? He could have been groundskeeper at the university and gotten decent tickets and developed a skill that is at least as lucrative as legal knowledge in this economy.
I don’t know that anybody is going to forgo game tickets for future legal services. It seems like Miller might need to get used to not being able to afford things; he wants to be a lawyer after all.
UPDATE: It turns out the Miller did get his tickets. And … he made quite a nice networking contact to boot. Miller told Above the Law:

Fortunately, Dr. Deborah Yow, the Athletic Director at Maryland, offered me a ticket to tonight’s game. Maryland is not taking me up on my offer for future legal services; however, I will be working at a future Univ. of Maryland athletic event to pay for the ticket.
I would say that the deal was well worth a cheesy picture with my property book.

Getting chummy with the AD? That’s even better than taunting soon-to-be-NBA-busts Duke players for four quarters.
Maryland-Duke tickets hottest in years [Baltimore Sun]
trade of services for md-duke ticket(s) – $1 [Craigslist]

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