Why was it a great week for me? It was sunny and pushing 60 degrees all week. For Portland in winter that is the bomb. And I as a street vendor took it all in. Great sales. And then the capper. My good friend Kirin got tickets to the Sonic/Blazer game from the company she works for, we knew they were really good seats, but little did we know. She tried typing the seat "letters", not numbers into the Blazer site to see the virtual view and they wouldn't come up. Here's why.
Kevin meet Roy.
My friend met me at my apartment and we drank some sake' and walked down to the train. Eight minutes later, off at the Garden with a nice warm buzz and absolutely fabulous tickets. First level we enter on A. The usher led us to our seats, and just kept going down. Off to the right of the basket, literally just a few rows back from court side. We were gawking as the Blazers warmed up. So close. I've been in luxury boxes, which always are mid level it seems, but you have all the comfort. Still, not that close. I had great seats to Charger games for years. Right behind home plate Mariners tickets many times. I snuck twice in my younger years at NBA games in Seattle to seats comparable to these. Got kicked out once after fifteen minutes, the other time was better. The Sonics were beating up on the Kings and led by like 20 late 3rd quarter. People were leaving in droves and I noticed a whole row empty 3 rows from court side. A girlfriend walked right down there with me and we walked by an unattentive usher and sat in the 1st two seats in that row. People were looking like they knew we didn't belong, but no one said anything and even though it was garbage time, it was great to be that close. With like 3 mins. left in the game a very well dressed totally rich mid 40's couple daimonds a blazin' and her fur coat a sheddin', I sound like a hick, huh? They walk up to us, and the entire empty row and dismissively say we are in their seats and for us to move. Did I mention this was the height of grunge, I was a Seattle downtown resident and I was black teed and chain walleted, and the black Sonic beanie. My date was rawked out in Doc's and those grunge lookin' pioneer dresses. I was drunk too. I have had problems with dealing with elitists my whole life. The silver spooners.
I looked at this guy and thought he was such a dick for showing up to a game where the Sonics were up now by 24 and less than 3 mins. remaining. I related to him that he was a shitty Sonic fan and was there just "to be seen" and to fuck off and take one of the many empty seats all around us. They left. 30 seconds later Mr. Seattle Policeman approaches me, with a smile so I knew we were cool, and the couple was hiding like 20 yds away in a tunnel. He said he thought they were a holes too but he had to make me move regardless. I moved two seats over, he left, the couple never came back, score one for the home team poor boys! They made the right decision in avoiding an awkward social scene that Jagermeister, youth, and grunge angst had instilled in me and I would have thrown on them had they returned. There, those are the best seats I have had until Thursday, 2/21. And these tix were given to me, no sneaking involved. It was an awesome experience even if the game was lackluster for highlights. Another cool thing happened, and that is next.
The Blazers won this game ugly, the 1st in home and home series. Someone let some air out of the balloon. The Blazers are stagnant. As we approached the end of the 1st quarter I believe a guy was poised to take some shots for what we thought was a Toyota truck or $50,000. The walkway where the dancers and mascot hang out was to my immediate right, and there was a little divider fence. The kid who was to take the shots was almost touching me through the fence and looked very nervous. So I grabbed his shoulder and told him to relax. Then I got to the point. I asked him directly, "Dude, are you a hack, or have you actually shot a basketball?" He looked at me and humbly said, "I play a bit, I can shoot." I said, "Block out the crowd, your at the park...only listen to the cheers when you make it." Sounds like a cliche moment of the low rent variety, huh? A C list "Win one for the Gipper" moment. He shook my hand and said to me, for real, "I'm gonna do it!"
He was part of a National Car Rental promotion. The game consisted of making a layup, free throw, top of the key, a three, AND a freakin' half court shot in 30 seconds for the top prize. After the free throw, thats a stretch for any average dude in society. This guy was in shape, lean and about 6'3". The layup he got 1st try, the free throw was net and you could tell he had good rotation and form. He hit the top o the key on the 2nd attempt. It took him till the 3rd try for the three, net. 6 seconds to get it done. He ran to half court ball handed to him, he spins around, does the right thing, two handed Larry Bird half court chest pump. Net! 2 seconds on the clock to spare! He streaks off the court right by me, jumps in the air and high fives me and says, "THANKS DUDE!" Did I have something to do with it? Just a little. He was at ease going into it. But here is the kicker. This wasn't the "for the car" shot. People were booing and why? This guy did all this for 10 free car rentals, 10 days of car rental for that? The insurance will be $150 for that. What a rip. Poor guy. What a letdown. The 1/2 court shot was some tie dyed Blazer shirt wearing, gray hair pony tailed 50 something guy who only has seen a basketball on TV and never touched one. He launched a feeble attempt that landed 30 feet short at least, and 20 feet to the right of the board. Pathetic. He got booed too. Freakin' Grateful Dead listening, acid flashbackin', Cheech & Chong 3 lb roach smoking hippie loser. Still livin' for the Walton era. Bill Walton is like the A Hole John Madden of NBA announcing. John Madden is likable. Bill Walton's head is so far up his culo it's a wonder we can hear his inflated opinions of hot windedness. Anyhow National Car Rental, and your lucky they didn't mention you by name on 1080 the fan when they actually talked about it for 15 minutes the following day, your a cheap ass penny pinching loser of a company. He should get a Rolls for 6 months! Losers, what a comedown when everyone realized what happened. Yep, bloggin' about the entertainment, this is where it's at!
Anyhow, my great seats rewarded me with an uninspiring 92-88 win over Seattle. On the one day road trip the next day in Seattle the Blazers came out flat, got behind by as many as 20 points and lost 99-87. The score sounds closer than it was. Thoroughly whipped.
KG with his hand over his selfish, taunting, name calling but afraid to fight self. Yeah,
your good and all, but your past playoff failures haunt you. So it was with the Wolves where you only got past the 1st round once. I believe when your hoisting the trophy whiner boy. Got love for x Sonic Ray but I hate the Celts. Bought and paid for. Hopefully the Blazers will rise from the funk they have been in and take it to the leprechauns, who have been on a 3 game skid. James Jones out of the line up is killing us. Sergio isn't playing well when inserted. Jack has had some solid games recently. Let's do it. 3pm PST at our GAAAAHHHHH DEN!
*trade notes: The Blazers traded little used rookie Turean Green to Denver for Von Wafer. Big F^ckin' Deal! Von's new nickname in this blog if he ever plays will be 'Nilla. 'Nilla, behind the back pass to the Thrilla, Joel Pryszbilla!**The Sonics were trading also. Trying to get worse so they can draft high the next 2 years and then split Seattle when they start to get good. NBA players are gonna love OK City. What a destination point. Bennett, ur scum.
