Courtside at the Jazz

On Thursday I had a few tickets to go and see the Utah Jazz play against the Portland Trail Blazers in a pre-season game. The tickets were for the nosebleed section, but that didn't stop my friend Tyler and me from sneaking down to the floor to get a better look. After one failed attempt, we made it down to the second row. I was, of course, shaking - I just KNEW we were going to get caught. I tried to look like I belonged and cheer like I was invested in the game but not TOO invested, you know? Tyler was threatening to shout obscenities and after the guy in the gold vest (the Usher/Security) I begged him not to. Best to lay low. Unfortunately, or...fortunately, Tyler's idea of laying low included climbing over the seat in front of us to land courtside. I must admit that I was trembling still, heart racing...I was so worried! Turns out I'm not the rebel I like to pretend to be. But we sat there and enjoyed the drunk kids (their eyes turned yellow because of the booze - who knew?) and the cheerleaders making faces at each other, listening to the players trash talk and goof off with each other, and even hearing the players yell things like, "Call it both ways, ref!" I didn't realize NBA players still yelled that ridiculous cliche. Apparently they do.

After the game we were successful in finding my parking spot and my car was still there. Yay. We went to dinner, where I realized that my friend Tyler is quite entertaining. Of course, I knew that he was a nice guy, easy to talk to, etc. But I couldn't help but be shocked when he looked over at a guy filling up his drink and said, "That guy is cool," in a tone loud enough that the guy could hear! The stranger preceded to look up and say, "You too can have a beard as great as this," meaning the red, shaggy beard he wore. This beard, his piercings and his custom-fitted newsie hat really added to the look. Tyler and I then discussed whether or not alcohol can turn the whites of eyes yellow (I think it does) and we both decided that we didn't know much of alcohol. Our new friend said, "It's good. That's all you need to know." I appreciated the sentiment, but I disagree. Anything that smells that awful... even if it weren't again the Word of Wisdom... Ok, I don't know. Regardless, beer stinks. I had to smell it the whole time we sat next to those drunk guys making eyes at the cheerleaders.

The saddest part of the evening happened a mere half hour from the time Tyler started making fun of my broken globe key chain. Yes, it was broken. Yes, it was ghetto. But I liked it. I loved it even. It represented my love for geography. So I stood up and dropped my keys. The globe couldn't handle it. The broken plastic cracked even more and the globe rolled away. Tyler laughed and asked if he could finally throw it away. I consented. Even I realize that the ghetto-ness could only go on for so much longer.

Anyway, it was a really fun night. The Jazz won, despite their lazy playing. They kept it close when they didn't need to... and nearly almost lost. I guess no one wanted to be injured because it WAS a preseason game, after all.