Sometimes it is tough being a fan.
I am a Laker fan who grew up in Charlotte. So, every year I would go to the Charlotte Coliseum box office before the season started [that was pre-you can buy everything online] and get tix to the lone Laker game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Then I moved to the Cincinnati area and getting to the Laker game was tough. However, my wife and I did manage to get to the Laker games in 1999-2000 and 2001-2002. Then the Hornets went bye-bye.. Since then, the Bobcats arrived....but our schedules didn't allow for a roadie to the game. Not until this year.
We come home for Christmas for a 10-day vacation [which has been, probably, the most relaxing ever] and the Lakers were in town smack dab during it. So, my mom got us two tickets as presents. Below is just some ins and outs of how our night went.
-The arena is nice since it's uptown. The old Coliseum was on the outskirts of Charlotte where nothing was around it. The Charlotte Bobcats Arena was fairly easy to get to and we parked about 2 seconds away.
-I don't know if this is the NBA's new thing [the same rule applied at Atlanta's Phillips Arena], but the doors open just 1 hour before gametime. I don't like that. I doesn't give you a chance to check out the arena and....spend money. About half of the 19,000 was in line to get in and once 6:00p came and doors open, all you wanted to do was find your seat, then stand in a long line at the concession stand. It used to be that the doors opened 1 1/2 hours before game time and you could check out all the stuff to do.
-We had tickets in the upper level...but right at halfcourt. A little steep for my wife's viewing pleasure [she didn't like the heights] but decent tickets nonetheless.
-They have this bar/club thing in the arena. In the upper level on the baseline....there was an open viewing area, a bar and a jazz band playing. Not our cup of neat, but pretty neat.
-We sat in front of a row of hill-jacks who had to scream the entire....and I mean ENTIRE....game. They are those people who get involved in every chant ["Who's basketball is it?? BOBCATS basketball!!!!]. Everything was "terrible!" or "ridiculous!". He spent most of the night yelling at the Laker fans in the crowd, mocking Kobe Bryant and then chiding Bobcats' coach Bernie Bickerstaff over his coaching decisions. Fans are fans and such....but sometimes too much is too much.
-Oh, and it was a pretty good game. Everytime my wife watches a basketball game....it goes into overtime. Everytime. I know so, because its always when I turn on a game and say "there is only about a minute left in the game"....and then it goes into extra periods. This one went into THREE overtimes. Still, she enjoyed the game...as did I.
-Kobe dumped 58 points....his third highest scoring output ever. He had a spectacular alley-oop and his a ballsy three pointer to tie the 2nd overtime.
-He wasnt't the only player that went off. Emeka Okafor scored 22 points, grabbed 25 boards and blocked 4 shots. Gerald Wallace scored 28 points. Matt Carroll scored a career-high 27 points. And Raymond Felton scored 22 points and 15 assists
-Oh, and the City of Charlotte....figure out a better way to clear out the parking lots.
Peace
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