ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DRAG Hours at computers don't pay off as pay dirt eludes co-workers.(News)

Byline: Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News

It's just before noon on Tuesday at Spire Financial, a mortgage firm at 15th and Platte streets in Denver.

Four young brokers - Nick Brown, Brian Fennell, Ben Parker and Chris Hudnall - are logged onto the Colorado Rockies web site at six computers. They had spent three hours Monday without success, but they're ready to try again. Here's what happens on the second go-round:

11:54 a.m.: "Hey! You can get in now," Brown calls out when he makes it to the first web page.

11:55 a.m.: Brown's phone rings. It's another sales rep. "I'm just trying to get tickets," Brown says. "Who can I send you off to?" He quickly transfers the caller to a co-worker.

11:58 a.m.: Brown gets a message that his Internet browser isn't working. He shuts down other programs.

11:59 a.m.: "How many tickets do we have so far?" asks broker Matt Bliss, who decided not to try again after Monday's luckless outing. "We're up to zero," Brown responds, lowering his chin and groaning.

12:03 p.m.: Fennell paces around the room sipping a water bottle. Like the other computers, his screen shows the two-minute countdown to the purchasing page at 1 second, and nothing else is happening. "I think it's a big joke. It's ridiculous."

12:04 p.m.: Parker gets a text message from friend Heather, a nurse at St. Anthony Central in Denver. "Any luck with tix?" - the note says. No, he responds.

12:08 p.m.: Brown sits at his computer, chewing lightly on his left pinky. He highlights the sentence on the screen that says "Do not refresh this page or you will be dropped to the end of the line." "I wonder if the tickets are out already," Brown says.12:12 p.m.: Broker Matt Bliss walks in the door with a chicken panini sandwich. Fennell jumps up and tells Bliss "We got tickets!" He's joking.

"You guys are (jerks)," Bliss says.

12:16 p.m.: Brown switches on a radio under his desk. "I'm just trying to see if anybody is getting in."

12:18 p.m.: Parker gets another text message from Heather at the hospital. "There r 3 people here trying to get tix," the message says.

12:26 p.m.: Brown gets a call from a co-worker who's out of the office. "Hey, can I use your Internet to try and get Rockies tickets?" Brown asks him. "Thanks."

He runs downstairs to log onto that computer.

12:27 p.m.: Fennell gets a call from co-worker Mike Freeman in their Phoenix office. "Freeman got four tickets," Fennell calls out. "Of course he calls to brag."

"That jerk!" Brown retorts.

12:35 p.m.: Brown bangs his palms against the desk and groans. "What a waste of my life."

12:40 p.m.: Brown opens 15 screens to the Rockies Web site. "One more for good measure," he says as he opens a 16th.

12:57 p.m.: Staffer Tami Cox jumps out of her seat. "My sister got tickets!" she calls out. Cox's younger sister Janice Armstrong bought four $250 tickets from her computer at her physical therapy office in Lakewood.

1:10 p.m.: Phoenix staffer Freeman says he's still trying to complete the ticket purchase.

3:12 p.m.: Freeman is still trying. He had chosen club seats in section 242 and in 246 during a second attempt. He even enters his credit card number. But then he gets bumped out.

3:15 p.m.: Freeman gets a message on the Rockies Web site that the tickets are sold out.

"I'm absolutely disappointed," he says. "I hate the Red Sox."

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Chris Hudnall, left, and Brian Fennell, mortgage brokers at Spire Financial, tell a co-worker to press a certain key after his computer froze while trying to buy World Series tickets online Tuesday. JUDY DEHAAS / THE ROCKY