It Happened To Me: I Sat Real Close
Oh and the Spurs lost again because they haven't a ball-handler.
I was in town for work. When I am, I try to meet up with friends and family but also work around the work team events that happened. It was storming and icy this week, so I didn’t want to make anyone do anything dangerous.
However, I saw a tweet about the Manu bobble-head. Well, I should go. I called up my mom. She said she was happy to go. I figured the cold meant I would be able to get good seats on the cheap and was right. For about $200ea I got 7th row seats. That’s just about the distance you want to be behind the bench so you can see over gigantic humans. I’ve sat courtside at college basketball games and while it is very cool to hear and see the communications and whatnot, it is also a little bit disorienting. You can’t quite see all of the action. I like it, but its not necessarily the most enjoyable way to watch the game.
“Um, you should prepare yourself to be on TV, ma”
I have seen Spurs games. I knew we’d be visible. I didn’t think we’d be as visible as we were. “I could see you the whole game!” says my child, back home, watching on League Pass.
“Nachos and popcorn?” says my wife, also watching back home. I like what I like, y’all.
I will say the food fare in the Charter level isn’t as tasty or interesting as the stuff in the cheap-seats. The HEB plaza level has some good tacos and the 100s has the whataburger and stuff. Here? Well, old popcorn and boring chips.
I have lived in San Antonio a long time and knew some people were going to get greedy or try some arbitrage with the bobble heads. We arrived at about 6:30p for the 7pm tip, and there were people streaming out of the game with a small stack of the items.
Later, multiple fans, seeing my mom and I with our own bobble heads asked “How were you able to get some? They ran out when I got here”
Having been to a college basketball game where they gave out free scarves and now this for the free bobble heads in the same month, I can tell you the answer is to get there early. That’s the trick.
Getting *to* the Charter level was kind of crazy, as overwhelmed Spurs staff were adamant that everyone even looking to get to the elevator was not allowed to do so “Get back! Get out!”
We went to the Spurs shop for a bit, which was packed and overwhelmed as well. I wanted a Spurs beanie with the little ball (a pom pom, or bobble it is officially called) but they were sold out. I asked a lady about it while getting a beer in the Charter level later and she said “Yeah I just got there early”. So it goes.
When I went back to the Charter level and they still were overwhelmed and still adamant and still shouting. Realizing they just wanted to get bobble-head fans back out of their area, I held my own bobble-head up and more prominently. (Not like, I won-a-trophy-style, but more like, I’ll show-I-have-one-but-on-the-sneak). Then an observant staffer asked me in a suddenly soft and pleasant voice “How can I help you, sir?”
It was a good time. The Spurs had 17 turnovers to the Kings’ 8. We couldn’t stop the De’Aaron Fox/Demontas Sabonis duo, and the ball-handling staff of the Spurs were either injured or out.
I briefly thought about how Sean Elliott was broadcasting a game with Sabonis, whose dad he competed with (in many games) but also in his most famous game. I also thought of the last time I took my mom to a Spurs game in which we sat as close. I was getting some award for being in the Spurs Drug-Free Youth Basketball League and she was my plus-1. The best I can recall that game was also in February, and it was also during a tank-a-thon.
I’ve never sat courtside — like feet-on-the-floor — and I am still waiting for that to happen. I am willing to pay a reasonable amount of money but I refuse to be gouged. This terrible Spurs season is a good time for getting good value. I remember around 2016 or so, seeing that I could fly to DC (I had work there) first-class and buy courtside tickets at a Wizards game for cheaper than a quick drive down to the AT&T Center would cost for the same view. The Wizards, as ever, were bad. The Spurs were good. So it goes.