January 28, 2010

• Big Ballin’ Baby! 

  This week the Lakers sent me my 2009 Championship Ring.  It’s huge!  (That’s what she said!)

  

  

  

  It was a free gift to season ticketholders.  It’s a golden. metal paperweight with real leaded Czechoslovakian cancer causing crystals.  Damn it’s cocky.  But damn it’s rad.   It would be awesome for the desk at work, but I wouldn’t want to lose it. 

  Courtside – Clippers vs. Lakers – January 6, 2010

  Let’s just say I could get used to this.  If you are a big basketball fan, I recommend that you do this once in your in life.  Everyone asked and I said, “Once in a lifetime experience, but I think I’ll do it again someday.” 

  Here’s my take.  If… IF you are a huge fan, it’s worth paying your own money, but if you’re paying that kind of big city money, you need to see a superstar.   Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan… you have to be watching a transcendental legend.   If you live in Milwaukee and say courtside only runs $500 a seat (I have no idea how much courtside in Milwaukee costs), then yeah, maybe you can splurge for the experience just to sit courtside and watch a crappy team in a small city.  Otherwise, only go if the company is paying.  I went because I get to see my favorite team and one of the best players ever to play the game while he’s still in his prime.  Did I mention that sitting courtside at a Lakers game was on my bucket list? 

  The game I went to happened to be broadcast on three TV stations in the area.  The Clippers station, the Lakers station, and ESPN.   Triple coverage!!! 

  The photos (taken by a Getty Images photographer) show me in the background… 

  

  

  And then my other friend found me on MSN pictures of the week with LL Cool J.  Well… sort of.  You know that’s my gold shirt right?

  

  Here are some of the pictures that I took.  Let me know what you think of them! 

  

  

  This is the door to the room where all the courtside people and celebs go.  It’s just a bar with woodsy walls and a few TVs, nothing really photo worthy inside.  I was ordering my drink and Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling was next to me talking to his friends.

  

  

  The Lakers frickin’ lost!  They had beat the Clips nine straight times and couldn’t make it ten. 

  What I Learned Being Courtside:

  1. Getting great pictures at sporting events requires some basic photography skills, but mainly it comes down to access.  If you’re close, you can get some great shots. 
  2. If you had to sit close, which sport is most worth it?  Basketball!   Football, Baseball, Hockey, Soccer… in those sports sometimes you want to sit just a little bit back so you can get a better view of the whole field. 
  3. Sit back.  Yes, lean back in your padded chair.  Leaning forward is the equivalent to standing up in other sections.  If I lean forward in my seat to look down the court, the person next to me has to lean to see, then the person next to them, then the person next to them… domino effect.  So sit back, you’ll see the game fine.  That’s why everyone sitting courtside on TV looks so seated and relaxed. 
  4. You can talk smack to the players and they hear you. Sometimes they talk back to you.
  5. I thought sitting close I would hear the players talk more smack.  They didn’t talk that much.  I heard a “F**k!” out of Kobe. Baron Davis told the ref during a timeout , “C’mon, you know that call was bullsh*t!” 
  6. Sometimes you get to throw the out of bounds ball back to the ref.  I did.  Twice!
  7. It is fun sitting courtside and texting or messaging your friends during timeouts.  Most common message received, “I see you on TV!”  The most common message I sent to friends, “Haven’t seen me in awhile?  Turn on the TV!”
  8. Last and most importantly… don’t eat when the game is going.  This is Hollywood, you don’t want to be caught trying to stuff a hot dog down your throat when the camera pans.  Only Tera Patrick can pull that off.   

  

  I know… the camera adds 10 lbs., but still, I need to lose weight this year! 

  • 12:00 pm
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