The Home Opener

So on a less exciting note, I thought the first game of the season was a great success! Sadly, they lost the game on (literally) a last second shot. There was in fact, one second on the clock. Frank Layden did tell the camera (mine) that it was the worst call ever. But overall, it was a nail biter game with lots of excitement and the crowd seemed to be very in to it.

I know Travis was a bit disappointed that he sold 5,000 tickets to the game and only about 2-3 thousand showed up, but I think it was still a great showing and the crowd was loud enough to be 5,000. It was run soooo much more professionally then the road games I saw. They had red carpet, complete with paparazzi taking people's pics as they came in and interviewing them with questions like, "who are you wearing tonight? I love your outfit." They had a brand new, awesome Flash floor, professional media setup, fireworks to start the game, the whole team running out of the tunnel with the lights down and spotlights, and the mascot riding on the floor on the free scooter giveaway. All-in-all I thought it was an awesome production with lots of fun for everyone and a complete success.

It was really cool to see it all come together after following the ups and downs for so many months and not seeing any actual results. I think the players were a lot more pumped to play in front of a home crowd that really loved them too. Maybe now they will start talking. One can dream.

Crowd favorites were already starting to be picked too. I asked all the ballboys if they had a favorite and they all agreed on Michael Cuffee. In their words, "he's awesome!"

As mentioned in my previous blog, I also met the guy who's in charge of the D-league for the NBA. His name is Dan Reed and he wanted to talk to me about filming because apparently it's creating quite a stir. The league is very protective of their I.P. and already shut down one documentarian in Anaheim. Luckily I was able to shmooze him a little when I found out he went to good old Pi High in Ann Arbor and played basketball with Shawn. Shawn- he sends a shout out to you. We talked about Hayward and Donyell, and Quentin and all your old Quinn-daddy boys. Pretty crazy small world. Anyway, he still wants to talk and still has concerns, but the Ace Deuce may come through in the clutch for me.

So that's it. Nothing funny, but it was a GREAT game. Cuffee actually made a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to tie the game when all hope seemed lost. The crowd was on their feet. Not a win, but the kind of game that brings you back. Or brings you to your back in my case.