For those of us who rely on walk-up purchases on the day of the game, standing-room only tickets will likely rise in turn, up from last year's $14 level. Which means that the privilege of taking in the game from the upper ramps of the left field grandstand in between the beer and bathroom lines will now cost you more than an actual seat in the bleachers did just one year ago.

Ugh.

But I am not one to complain. To others in Red Sox nation, however, everything about this price increase stinks, right down to the timing of the announcement. Never blessed much in the way of PR savvy, the Red Sox stupidly sent out a press release announcing the price increase in the late afternoon on the day after Thanksgiving. Apparently their thinking was their could catch people away for the holiday weekend and maybe avoid the Saturday morning papers.

Well, they didn't. And now every country bumpkin in New England is crying poor, whining that it's become much too expensive to take a family of four to the ballpark anymore.

To those yahoos, I respectfully urge them to cry me a river because I don't care. This whole woe-is-me routine surfaces every time prices go up, and I am sick of it.

Please don't get me wrong, I don't exactly have money to burn. But compared to Boston's three other major sports franchises, the Red Sox still offer the cheapest ticket in town, not to mention the best product for your money by far.

That's why Sox fans keep coming back year after year, through thick and thin. Last season, the Red Sox had the highest-priced tickets in the majors, and still the team set a franchise record for attendance. As one Boston baseball scribe put it last Sunday, Red Sox "fans roam through the turnstiles like grazing sheep."