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Pepsi Yankee ticket giveaway in Times Square explodes into mayhem; Goose Gossage whis


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A Pepsi-sponsored Yankee ticket giveaway turned into a fizzy mess Thursday when organizers suddenly threw fans - some of whom had been waiting since dawn - some curveballs.

 

Instead of the 250 pairs of promised tickets for today's historic opening game at the new Yankee Stadium, the Pepsi people showed up with just 100 sets - most for a game in June.

 

Instead of letting fans meet Goose Gossage, they had him step out of a limo and wave. Then handlers whisked the legendary Yankee relief pitcher away.

 

Instead of holding the event where they said they would - at 44th and Broadway - organizers suddenly moved it to 47th and Broadway, forcing fans who had staked out spots to make a mad dash across Times Square.

 

"They kept telling us to go from one location to another," said Kevin Keegan, 38, of Putnam Valley, N.Y., who waited for hours and ended up with no tickets. "Everyone was running through the streets. It was like a mob scene."

 

It got so chaotic at one point - with angry fans pushing and shoving, yelling "Pepsi sucks!," and pouring their Pepsis into the street - extra cops were called in to calm things down.

 

"They had a mob situation," said Mai Jiang, 31, of Manhattan. "It was horrible. Nobody wants to drink Pepsi anymore."

 

Jiang said she managed to snag a pair of Yankee tickets, but for a June game against the Texas Rangers.

"I could care less about June 2nd," she said. "I thought they were for today. They were misinforming the public."

 

"I took the day off from work today to come down and get the tickets and go to the game (today)," added Darrell Edmonson, 49, of the Bronx, who also got June tickets. "I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to the ceremony. It was totally hectic."

 

Miguel Collazo, 29, of Park Slope, and his 13-year-old son, Chris, would have been happy to come away with tickets to any game instead of their "consolation prizes" - a Derek Jeter bobble head doll, Pepsi and Gatorade posters, and some Aquafina T-shirts.

 

"It was too crowded, too packed," the angry dad said. "They were just trying to get the crowd together."

 

Pepsi sponsored the event to tap the hoopla around the new stadium - and to showcase their Pepsi Max drink.

 

Nicole Bradley, a Pepsi spokeswoman, said a dozen pairs of tickets were for today's game but blamed the overall ticket shortage on an "internal miscommunication."

 

"It had nothing to do with the Yankees," she said.

Bradley also said Gossage "didn't have a chance to hand out the tickets because it got so crowded."

 

"As you know, New Yorkers and Yankee fans are very passionate and luckily we were able to give out a lot of tickets and make a lot of people happy," she said. "We wish that we could have given out tickets to everyone, but unfortunately we only had a limited amount."

 

By Sarah Armaghan and Corky Siemaszko

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

April 16th 2009

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that what happen when you try to give away free stuff to Yankees fans...

 

No, that's what happens when you don't properly plan an event and tell people you are going to give them one thing, and then give them something else.

 

If people took off from work to go to this, they lost money they could have made. If they came away empty handed because of wrong information, they have every right to be upset...

 

...just not to sue.

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Guest Charles

After this catastrophe, I'm not sure people will be too thrilled seeing Pepsi advertisements for the Yankees in the subway, ads along the lines of "GO YANKS!" and such. I've seen them at 86 St/Lex Av already.

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