For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
      So it stands to reason, does it not, that when one Metroplex pro sports franchise goes up in the standings and down in ticket prices, another Metroplex pro sports franchise should go DOWN in the standings and. ... UP in ticket prices?
     By now you know about Mark Cuban's promise to drop some Mavs prices for next year. It's a generous gesture, and in terms of PR, a bonanza for the Mavs owner.
     One team's bonanza is another team's boondoggle.
     Now, I love me some Norm Hitzges. Uncle Norm, as I call him, is like. ... well, an Uncle to me. And I wish the Rangers nothing but all-too-rare glory. But I'm having a challenge trying to wrap my weak brain around Norm's "Rangers Ticket Price Increase Not That Bad'' column.
     Uncle Norm is right in one sense: As long as babies starve, wars rage and Yoko Oko is giving speeches at Winter Olympics, inflated baseball tickets cannot, relatively speaking, be labeled "bad.''
     Where I take issue with Uncle Norm, though, is the argument that the increases aren't so bad because the Rangers have puffed up prices so rarely over recent years. See, I have no problem paying top dollar for top product. But historically, the Rangers are not allowed to enter any conversation where the word "top product'' is used.
     I, like Norm, have great respect for my friend Jeff Cogen, the Rangers exec. He has the difficult task of making the local baseball team attractive in some way. Now, Jeff does have a track record: A decade ago, when the Dallas Stars were new to town and Cogen was in charge of marketing that team, he heard me on the radio questioning whether the hockey team would find a way to reach out to its new audience. He also heard me say that if the Stars could just get people in the building that first time, the sport would earn repeat customers.

     Next thing you know, the forward-thinking Cogen is on the phone and on the air. He and I worked together to offer $5.70 Stars tickets. (I worked at 570 KLIF. Get it?)

     So this rant is nothing against Jeff. Heck, it's not even a knock on where the Rangers might be going. Which, I hope, is somewhere north of mediocre.
     But there is NO consumer-friendly way to spin price increases for Texas Rangers baseball. None. (Check back on this if they sign Roger Clemens.)
     God bless Norm for trying, and even for noting that the Rangers' ticket-bloat announcement was unfortunate in its timing because it comes on the heels of Mark Cuban announcing that next year Mavs tickets will go DOWN in price.
     Top team, lower prices. Bottom team, higher prices. Wha....?
     But you see, Uncle Norm, the timing isn't "unfortunate.'' It simply represents more Rangers struggles. Out of 52 weeks, why would the Rangers pick THAT week -- the week when the Mavs tickets are known to be going down -- to announce that baseball prices are going up? 
     Sometimes, fate has bedeviled the Rangers.
     But sometimes, they bedevil themselves.

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