Grizzles

Last Saturday (10/20), Brad Baumgartner and I received free ($147) 'Courtside' tickets to the Grizzlies-Heat preseason game. Brad got them from Brad,Brad Leon, Teach for America (that's always how he announces himself when he calls corps members) practically after the game had started, so we hurried down to the FedEx Forum, parked in a sweet, free garage, and headed down to our 'Courtside' seats. As you'll see from my pictures (most of them are zoomed in), 'Courtside' doesn't actually mean right on the court. We were in the 6th row, but we did get to walk right behind the team benches when walking to our seats. First picture is an old Penny Hardaway of the Heat, and a young Rudy Gay - who played amazingly - of the Grizzlies. We also got to see NBA greats Darko Milicic, Chris Quinn, and Hakim Warrick play. Darko has the worst hands ever and just looks like a headcase, Quinn - a former Matt Carroll teammate at Notre Dame - played a solid game and looked to be very team oriented, and Warrick, a Philadelphia area product, must not have heard my calls for him to throw down a spectacular dunk.


One of the highlights of the night was watching Antoine Walker (former All Star) during timeouts. He didn't play one minute of the game and could not have cared less that he was on a team. Every timeout, Walker got up, stood well away from the huddle, clasped his hands behind his back, and looked blankly into the crowd. It seemed like he looked at me a couple times, but I couldn't work up the courage to wave and possibly interrupt his pouting. He's the guy on the very far right of the screen who looks like a security guard except for his Heat shooting shirt.


And of course, the always disgusting looking Heat coach, Pat Reilly. His hair was Greenish and almost pulled into a small bun at the back of his head. One of the highlights of my night was yelling 'get a haircut Reilly', from my 6th row seat, as he paced the sidelines with about 2 minutes left in the game. I got some laughs from people right down behind the bench, so I assume he heard me.


This being my first trip to the Forum, I couldn't help but notice how extremely dark it was. The seats were all blue, and the lights seemed to only illuminate the floor. Very Madison Square Garden-esque.


I had a good time, but never in my life would I pay $147 for those PRESEASON tickets. I'll probably try to go to a Sixers game if they every come to Memphis - that'd be fun.