Have you ever sat courtside at an NBA game? My wife and I did way back when, before she was my wife, when we lived in LA. It was for a pre-season game between the Suns and Clippers. There was a group of us that went; our seats were up in the 300 level, where we typically get seats. It’s where the “real fans” sit, or at least the ones without money like that… haha. However, the Clippers were doing a seat upgrade promotion, and… we were chosen! Actually, we were asked if we would be interested; my wife responded “hell yeah”, or something like that. So there we went… all the way down… and sat on actual chairs, right to the side of the basket; it was awesome. Got to see Shaq in street clothes up close and personal… damn he’s huge, and also Bill Cartwright, who was an assistant coach at the time. Actually, they’re all pretty big… when you sit that close, you really realize that. Also took a picture of my wife with Warren G, who was sitting over there; that was cool. The whole thing was pretty sweet. I know it was the preseason, and it wasn’t “my team”, but still a lot of fun.
Fast forward to Saturday night’s Bulls game vs the Jazz. Someone at my wife’s job had won some tickets, but was unable to go; she was nice enough to forward those to her. When I saw the tickets come across, and saw where the seats were located… holy crap! These were some good seats. They’re weren’t technically courtside, but they were a few rows back, just slightly behind the basket, across from the Bulls bench. Of course, there were only 2 tickets… and there are 3 of us, so… after some debate back and forth, it was decided it would be mom and dad date night… haha. We stopped at Rosebud before; had a gift card for years sitting on my dresser that we finally used. I think I had been there once when I was a kid; it was really good. Anyways, my son would get to hang out with his cousin all day, so that was a pretty good consolation prize, although once he heard how close we were… He’s fine… haha.
It’s an entirely different experience sitting that close, and this time, this was a regular season game, and it WAS my team! It was a blast; saw a local TV guy, Toni Kukoc, some guy who dyed his little dog yellow, and a bunch of people which begged the question in my head… how the heck did they get these seats? What do they do to make their money? A lot of people watching for sure, which is always fun. Of course, the most important people that night were ON the court. I was thankful that the Bulls didn’t F up our night by losing again. They beat the Jazz, which was good for their 3rd in a row. For all the frustration they’ve caused us this year, they are 8-3 in their last 11 games… not bad.
Not sure when we’ll sit THAT close again, but we did scoop some 100 level tickets for my son’s birthday; guilty conscience??? Haha… We had bought tickets to see his favorite player Luka earlier in the year, but he didn’t even play; bunch of crap! This time we got tickets to see his 2nd favorite player; here’s hoping Ja is on the court that Sunday afternoon. We’ll be in the Benny popcorn zone, and one section away from the tunnel where the Bulls come on and off the court; that should be fun. But yeah, for a night, my wife and I “lived it up”; it was a really nice “date” night… we need more of those; maybe once a month? Not talking courtside seats or anything like that, but dinner and a movie maybe? Anyways… the Bulls win that night made it a 2-0 weekend for them; how did the rest of the sports weekend in Chicago go??? Bulls Celtics Monday night. Go Bulls!!!
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