I Got It Right Here In My Brand New Raptor Bag

This evening saw a first for me: my first pro basketball game. I was lucky enough to get an invitation to the Raptor's preseason game versus the New Jersey Nets.

The seats were in the fifth row and ticket list price was $199. The seats kicked some serious ass, and are of the variety that only large companies can afford to own. That is how I got my ticket.

The crowd of a mere 13,000 seemed positively sedate during the first three and a half quarters of the game. Apart from a few ohhs during a slam dunk or an allyoop (sp?) there wasn't much more than the lull of conversation. There was, of course, the easy to explain laughter (mostly from me) during the Raptor Dance Pack interludes and everpresent whistling (certainly not from me) as the mop girl swiffered the key after free throws.

The Raptors trailed for most of the game and whenever they did manage a lead it was quickly beaten down by a scoreless streak. With less than 6 minutes in the fourth the Raptors trailed by 14, but managed to crawl back.

Down by three, Corey Williams stuffed a follow-up dunk to bring the team to within one, but a quick jump shot by Jacque Vaughn put the Raptors down by 3 with only 11 seconds left. At 5.7 remaining, Corey Williams missed a three-pointer and fouled Antoine Wright. Most people at this point streamed out, but Wright proceeded to miss both free throws giving the Raptors a second chance.

On the inbound, Charlie Villanueva went up for a last ditch three pointer and was fouled with 1.6 seconds. He sunk all three baskets and sent the game into overtime and the crowd into a frenzy.

The overtime, was not as exciting, but Williams and Villanueva free throws put the Raptors up by two and they held on for the win.

Now I'm no baller but this was an exciting finish and a fun game. The entertainment was there and despite the fact that I could never afford to buy seats myself (perhaps the strangest irony of pro basketball) I will definitely go again on someone else's tab.

And oh yeah, if anyone from the ACC is reading this I highly recommend adjusting the "last call" time. Can believe that they don't serve anything after the start of the fourth quarter? Don't they know that without alcohol people will realize that sports are dumb?