By Steve Powell
Herald Writer
Little Anthony Tillotson, 7, reached into a hat filled with 200 numbers.
"Remember, your mom loves you," Lisa Tillotson of Smokey Point yelled out.
The boy drew No. 170.
Amazingly, it was his mom’s number.
As a result, she moved to the front of the line Friday at the Rite Aid Ticketmaster on North Broadway in Everett. She was the first to buy tickets to the Seattle Mariners Oct. 9 and Oct. 11 American League playoff games at Safeco Field.
Some in the crowd cheered and clapped as she left the store with tickets for Section 211, Row 1. Others grumbled at her luck.
Ticketmaster outlets throughout the Northwest sold out both games in 53 minutes. About 15,000 tickets were available, with the rest going to season ticket holders. At the north Everett site, only about 30 of the 200 people in line were able to buy tickets.
People tried a variety of ways to get tickets. Some stayed on cell phones to find out if friends or relatives had gotten tickets at other outlets. Others went to the same stores, but got a range of numbers for the positions in line. One guy even tried to get others at the front of the line to buy tickets for him.
Delays were caused by people buying with credit cards rather than cash, and being picky about seats rather than taking the best ones available.
Don Olson paced as he waited with his wife, Tammy, with Nos. 185 and 186.
"There’s too much stress," he said. "Don’t they know how to use a cash machine?"
One person who didn’t get tickets was Jean Bareiss of Everett — at least at first. She had No. 5, and the games were sold out just before she got to the front of the line. But she waited and had the clerk check again about 10 minutes later.
Apparently, someone’s credit card somewhere in the Northwest wasn’t approved, and three tickets became available. She snatched them up.
"You gotta do what you gotta do," said Bareiss, a self-described fanatic Mariners fan. "It was a foregone conclusion I was going to get tickets. You gotta have faith.
"Everybody has to set priorities, and mine is baseball," she said.
Carol Frohmader of Everett was the unluckiest person there. Her number was 169, so she was last in line. She said it didn’t matter. She was there for her sister, who said she’d take her to lunch anyway.
Frohmader stayed around until the end, in any case.
"I won’t know if I could have gotten tickets if I leave," she said. "I’d always wonder."
As for Ticketmaster’s process of giving out numbered wristbands, Tillotson said she approved.
"Now I really like it," she said. "It’s better than camping out like I did last year in Marysville, where there was drinking and I didn’t get nothin’. Last year, only about 12 people got through the line."
Mary Major of Everett passed the time in line reading people their horoscopes to see who would be lucky. Problem was, all of the predictions were positive.
Even though she didn’t get tickets, she likes the wristband method, except she took sponge baths instead of showers because she was afraid it would come off. She said the process gives more people a chance to get tickets, because most can’t camp out for days at a time.
"Most people can’t give up three days of their life and neglect family and work," she said.
The Olsons also liked the wristband process.
"Everybody got along and wished each other good luck," Tammy Olson said.
But her mood changed when she found out some people in the line behind her got better seats.
"That bites," she said.
Meanwhile, even though Anthony grabbed the winning ticket, his mom said he probably wouldn’t be going to the game.
"He doesn’t wanna go unless he can take his Game Boy," she said, adding that he went to two games this year, while she went to eight.
You can call Herald Writer Steve Powell at 425-339-3427
or send e-mail to powell@heraldnet.com.
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