First of all I have to say an epic thank you to my buddy, a Bucks fan, who hooked these tickets (and for spotting me two beers) - my kidney is yours my friend!
So here I was, a Nugget fan entering the arena of the hated ones. Ready to defend my team until the very end.... However, PSLakerfan was right. I have never in all my years of being a fan of visiting teams ever encountered a more amicable crowd. It's true. Of everyone there I was given hassle only one time (aside from the dude next me - more on that later). Do I credit this to the fact that Laker fan is classy? No. Laker fan is uninformed. As I said earlier, they don't know basketball. I walked around wearing my Pickaxe logo hat, yellow Hawaiian shirt and blue undershirt the whole time and nobody recognized the pick axe logo. To summarize what I said earlier, if it ain't the Laker's logo, they don't care. If it ain't the Lakers doing well, then forget it. Bandwagoners? Mmmmmm....
This was the sight that greeted me when I got there.
Gross right? I know.
There were a few Nuggies fans around... But they were few and far between. We got into the game a little late. The LA traffic held up my buddy with the tickets, but hey, what can you do? I wouldn't have been there without him anyway so I slugged a beer and waited.
We got into the game and after going through the metal detector we were greeted by poor misguided souls handing our what? Car flags! Incredible...
These things are so annoying they have to give them away...
Of course with any free thing, there was some hoarding....
I'm not taking your picture, I promise.
We finally got to our seats and we were seated higher than the scoreboard. Nosebleeds indeed! I tell you though, we could see everything and the trajectories of the shots couldn't have been clearer. It was close at first...
Yes, even Staples Center loves the Pepsi Center.
Then things got ill. We fell behind and there were these dudes that were providing some odd basketball commentary. "Our bigs are key..." - Really? Are they are you sure? Going out on a limb there boy-o!?
I do question what he was saying since we were so far up I could barely tell the bigs from the... anybody... Here's us during a timeout.
Those Laker girls are something else....
Hi!
Then we pulled close at halftime... Over halftime they were running texts people sent in to a specific number at the game. Though my "The Pickaxe is going to roll" was not broadcast, another Nugg fan got this on the scoreboard....
A shoot-around that ensued....
Then holy crap it got close. They showed a split screen of Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise and I made a vocal comment questioning their manhood and the tatted up Latino gentlemen sitting next to me became annoyed. We later made up. His name was Juan. Good guy Juan. Just don't knock Tom Cruise.
The game progressed and the Nuggets hung in there... Hung in there in the lead.
...and then we won. Finally. It was epic. It was grand. It was 20,000 Laker fans on suicide watch!
The commentators behind us and Juan having left early (diehard fans?!), exiting was easy. It was once we were outside that I ran into these fellows. Apparently one of them was marketing these shirts... I told them to come to Pickaxe and tell people how to buy and we would... Guess who Jezru is...
Holy crap... I should have shaved.... My face... Or smiled or something... Jesus...
Who cares.... The Nuggets won and my hat is crooked. BFD!
BUT! My friends! I gotta tell you the best part was what I encountered on the way to the car.. There it was in the street just as BroncofanstuckinSD foretold.... A Laker flag in the middle of the street - something straight out of Life After People....
On the way home I reveled in the tar and feathering of Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson. One woman called in to complain that the refs were agianst the Lakers (really? How many times did Kobe double dribble and travel tonight?!).
The manic Laker nation is alive and well. 24 hours ago they were ready to recieve any and all trophies... Tonight? Not so much.
It was an epic experience that I shall not forget any time soon. The Nuggs won and it was awesome. I even got a Melo chant in there a couple times...
Nuggs in 6!
J
