Hot dogs, screaming fans, cheerleaders and an edge-of-your-seat finish - Sacramento Kings v Utah Jazz had all the makings of a perfect basketball game.
I'm not a huge basketball fan and I don't follow NBA at all, but I wanted to see the best of the best. These teams might not exactly be that, but it's as close as I'm going to get for a good while. The arena is not remotely close to town and there is NO public transport that runs out there at game time, but luckily Aimee, my Couchsurfing host, had a friend going to the game so I scored a ride there and back.
Shane, Aimee's friend, said the games used to sell out all the time, but about seven years ago the Kings started playing pretty poorly and the fans lost faith. Even though they are doing better, it's nothing impressive and the fans have yet to get fully back on board. It wasn't helping that the team was considering moving, a decision that was officially put on the backburner this week when the Mayor announced a new arena will be built for the Kings, closer to the city.
I found my seat at the end of the first quarter. I was surrounded by fans holding pretzals, giants cups of Pepsi and yelling at nearly every call the ref made. Vendors selling pizza and fairy floss trolled the aisles, just in case your super-super size meal wasn't enough. On the court the game moved fast. Really fast. There wasn't more than two points in it for most of the game. If one team got the edge, it lost it just as quickly. But the game almost seemed to come second to the on-court shenanigans that went on during time-outs and the period breaks. As soon as the ref called time-out, the media would flock to the court for a presentation for Black History Month, a cheque donation, to say happy birthday to a guy who's had the same court-side seat since the arena opened, or a visit from the Mayor. It was the last event that had me hugely confused. This guy comes onto the court and the crowd goes crazy. Turns out it's the Mayor. Rightio. Don't think the mayors back home get that kind of reaction. I found out later that the Mayor is Kevin Johnson, a former NBA All-Star and also the man behind the new stadium deal that the King fans are all excited about.
At half-time the antics continued. Musical chairs with people in giant Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Mountain Dew costumes, dances from the cheerleaders, free stuff for the crowd...it went on. On court the game stayed close. With less than a minute to go there were still only two points in it - with the Kings in front. A few penalties and some quick shooting and the lead went out to six points by end of the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment