PROVIDENCE -- Amid the solemn grandeur of U.S. District Court, a judge made final a most painful separation: a fan and his season tickets.
Judge Mary Lisi yesterday dismissed fan John Reis's breach-of-contract claim against the New England Patriots, which revoked his season tickets in May after he put three up for sale on an Internet auction.
Afterward, the 18-year season-ticket holder accused the Super Bowl champs of forgetting where they came from. "Think this would have happened when they were 2 and 14? You know what I'm saying?"
He recalled cheering through the "Tampa Bay ice storm" and the "New York Jets monsoon," his rear on an aluminum bench. This season, the Pats are in the new Gillette Stadium.
"Now that they've got nice warm seats, with cup holders," he said, "I lose my seats."
The Patriots say they have a policy against reselling tickets to third parties. Reis says he didn't believe he was doing anything wrong by posting one game's worth on eBay; proof, he says, is that he and his wife, Lisa, put their names and address on the site when they were auctioning off tickets to the Oct. 13 Green Bay Packers' game. They planned to skip the game to celebrate their 13th anniversary.
Lisi said the Patriots had the legal right to seize tickets. The devil was in the fine print on the ticket. On the back of each it states: revocable. "That's what the fan buys," she said.
Reis, who is 47, works as a crime prevention specialist for Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse. To work, he drives a blue Mitsibushi with a Patriots' Elvis logo, a helmet on the hood, and a logo on the driver's door, "white lightning for offense, blue thunder for defense -- made special."
His predicament has been served up at tailgate parties.
Karen Cardoza, a season-ticket holder from Cumberland, said it was debated by her regular crew. This group has some rules: steak tips and homemade "Brew 7," named for linebacker Ted Bruschi's seven seasons. The third commandment: tickets are like babies; never trust them with a stranger. "I would never risk my seats," she said. "They mean too much to me."
But fan Robert Noury is with Reis in thinking that success might have gone to the Patriots' helmets. Noury, who is spending much of his retirement following football -- "I met Doug Flutie, he was shorter than me" -- has held season tickets since 1973. He sat near Reis."They had lean years over there. All at once, everyone loves them, it's a whole different situation."
"As a fan, you're just a tool," he said. "You haven't got a leg to stand on."
Noury isn't ruling out sabotage. There are, the Patriots confirmed, 50,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets. Could someone on that long waiting list be turning in those who are selling on eBay? "Someone could have found out John did this . . . well, one thing I found about football, is that their fans are fanatics."
He hesitated to say too much. "Don't get Bob Kraft upset with me," he said of the team's owner. "I have good seats."
The Patriots have always had a policy against reselling tickets, Stacey James, a spokesman for the Patriots, said yesterday. The team can also revoke tickets for misbehavior. "The hope and goal is to create a fan-friendly environment in the stadium."
In May, Reis had already paid about $3,000 for his three season tickets: Section 110, Row 34, 50-yard line. He had ordered name plates for two of the seats: one for him, one for his son, Justin, 11.
He first offered the Green Bay tickets to his brother-in-law, who suggested instead that the couple put them on eBay. When the bidding ended, the high was $851, more than three times the $99 face value for each ticket. Before Reis closed a sale, a letter arrived from Mark Briggs, Patriots' security chief. It said the club was revoking his season tickets. He could go to the end of the line of 50,000 people. Reis offered to go on probation, donate a few tickets to charity, anything.
He arranged a meeting with Briggs, the security officer, but when Reis walked in with his lawyer, Briggs canceled the meeting, Reis said, and grabbed his badge, ripping his shirt. He has filed a second claim in federal court against Briggs; Lisi didn't dismiss it yesterday.
But Reis was not comforted. "There's a difference between justice and the law. By the letter of the law, they got me. But this is not justice."
A few weeks ago, Reis took his son to a Patriots game. He bought the tickets on eBay. But keeping the spirit has been tough. One day this week, he nearly ripped off the decorative helmet from his car hood. "I was going to throw it away. I thought, 'They're killing me.' "
But that night, at home, his wife presented him with an autographed, framed picture of Adam Vinatieri's 45-yard field goal in last season's snowy playoff game against Oakland. Reis was smiling yesterday as he held his hands out in an imaginary frame.
