English Learning Reading

A: Let’s go watch the tennis match Friday night. B: I already called the ticket office and the girl said it’s a sellout. A: I know it’s a sellout, but there will definitely be scalpers hanging around the stadium trying to make a quick buck. B: I don’t want to chance it. The prices will be really steep and who knows whether or not the tickets will be real. A: Don’t be such a wimp. One of us will buy the tickets and go to the gate to check the validity. The other guy will stay with the scalper and wait to see the result. If it’s a go, we’ll pay him and go watch the game. B: How much are you willing to pay? When you factor in the stadium prices for beer and food, this could wind up costing us a fortune. A: I heard that Heineken is sponsoring the event, so the beer is reasonably priced. The food isn’t too bad either. I also heard that in this particular stadium, every seat is pretty good. We can buy the cheapest ones and still enjoy the game. We won’t have to worry about being stuck in the nosebleed section. B: I’m sold. Let’s do it.

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Sellout: A sellout is simply the name for the situation when all the tickets to an event have been sold.

Scalpers: Scalpers are people who buy tickets to some event and then try to sell the tickets for a higher price than they paid. They often stand outside of the stadium trying to sell their tickets. When the event is popular and it is a sellout, the only way that people can buy tickets is from a scalper. Scalping tickets is often illegal, but it is very common practice.

Make a quick buck: This phrase simply means to make money very quickly and easily.
“He hates working at a real job and is always dreaming of ways to make a quick buck”.

Steep: In this context, steep means expensive. If you are negotiating a price with someone, you can say something like, “$100 is a bit steep, how about I give you $65”.

Wimp: A wimp is a person who is weak physically or emotionally. It can also be used to describe a person who doesn’t like to take any risks.
“Brian is such a wimp, he’s been working non-stop in the company for 2 years and is still too scared to ask his boss for some vacation time”.

If it’s a go: If something is “a go” it means that the situation will go ahead as planned. In this dialogue, the meaning of “a go” was that the tickets were real and they could go into the stadium.

Factor in: This phrase means to “consider” or “include into the calculation”.
You could tell someone, “I know the airplane tickets are free, but when you factor in the cost of the hotel, restaurants, and entertainment, the trip will still be quite expensive”.

Wind up: This means “end up”. A concerned father might warn his son, “If you don’t study hard in school, you could wind up doing a low paying job for the rest of your life”.

Stadium prices: At popular sporting events, the food and drinks are often extremely expensive. “Stadium prices” refers to these expensive prices at stadiums. Some other places like airports also charge relatively expensive prices. You could say to your friend, “Let’s grab lunch in the city before we go. I don’t want to pay airport prices”.

The food isn’t too bad either: Because of the context in the dialogue, this sentence means, “The food isn’t too expensive”. It isn’t talking about whether or not the food is good-tasting.

Nosebleed section: Some of the really huge stadiums, like the ones which hold 100 000 fans, have seating that is really high up and far away from the ground. The group of seats that are really high up, ie the worst seats in the stadium, are referred to as the “nosebleed section”. People sometimes get nosebleeds if they are at a really high altitude, so we use the term “nosebleed section” to exaggerate how high and bad those seats are.

I’m sold: In this dialogue it means that the person agrees to go to the game. He’s saying, “You’ve convinced me”.

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