THE SPORTING LIFE The common man searches for Sox tickets BY IAN DONNIS

Winter is not an easy time for the baseball fan. Yet even though football offers little allure for some of us, the Super Bowl and even the heavy snowfall of January hint at the steady movement toward spring training and warmer days. A crucial part of this anticipatory season rests in acquiring some of those coveted Fenway tickets — an even hotter commodity since the post-season heroics of 2004.

For some, getting in is not an issue. As the Providence Journal reported February 3, a longtime Verizon lobbyist treated a handful of Rhode Island legislators to complimentary playoff and World Series ducats. Lest anyone think something was amiss, state Senator William A. Walaska, who chairs the Senate Committee on Financial Services, Technology, and Regulatory Issues (and received a ticket to the all-important Game Four of the playoffs against the Yankees), told the ProJo’s Katherine Gregg, "I don’t need a ticket to a game. Fortunately, I’ve done pretty well in my life and in my business. I can buy the tickets easily enough, so I hope no one believes a Red Sox ticket is going to influence a decision that is going to adversely affect a constituent of mine."

Not everyone, though, is able to mull the outlook with such equanimity (remember how some two million tickets were sold before the start of last season?). And despite stated efforts by Sox management to foil scalpers and other rascals from buying tix and boosting the price to the stratosphere, critics describe these attempts as less than effective. It was with a bit of anxiety, therefore, that we mulled the outlook for 2005. Sitting at the girlfriend’s home computer back in December, we found ourselves stuck for several hours in a virtual waiting room while trying to nab some of the pre-holiday four-packs (each including a Yankee game — nice). Thinking that the goods must have been snapped up in that span, we turned our attention elsewhere. Our better half, fortunately, had the bright idea of trying later in the day and hit the metaphorical home run.

Exhibiting the appropriate Zen-like patience during another ticket release in late January, I returned to the computer with a lengthy book to pass the time. Just when we thought ourselves out of the running, open popped the online gates of the temple, along with the chance to get tix for a few more games. With road trips planned to Fort Myers for spring training and Baltimore’s Camden Yards in July, it’s shaping up as a good year. Best of all, us common plebes can still look forward to enjoying games at Fenway without paying through the nose.