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Friday night lights

Friday night, March 28 2008. I desperately needed to do my laundry and right aroud the time i had the first load ready to go, i heard my cell phone ringing in the den (I was in my room...). It was a Friday night so i would expect phone calls to be far more promising than any other night, but i decided it was early enough to recover if i neglected the call. So i took my time and prepared one load of laundry (still in my room...). I eye my cell phone as i walk pass it, curiosity beginning to consume me. The "voicemail" icon seemed to gleam at me too. "Hmm It could be important" i muttered to myself...

At that moment i decided to put my laundry down to check my eager voicemail. "Hey Marc i have an extra ticket to the Laker Game, call me back right away we are about to leave...". Marco said it rather nonchalantly too, whether he realized it or not. Five minutes had elapsed so I began to feel a bit of panic. I call back right away and got no answer, twice! I panic some more. "Damn it" i cursed under my breath. I tried twice more but to no avail. I mean there aren't many of these unexciting Friday-Laundry-Laker nights that could turn dramatically exciting. I mean come on I was suppose to stay home, do laundry, and watch the Laker Game on TV! In fact there has never been such a night. "Oh God don't do this to me" i silently bellowed. As if God had anything to do with it right? But thankfully Marco answered on the 5th call and i have a feeling he ignored the first 4 calls just to mess with me too (that bastard!). "Of course I am IN!" i screamed when he asked me again. Such a futile question lol.

I got out of the house so fast i forgot my Laker Jersey. Yea the one i bought to wear at the Christmas Day Game against the Phoenix Suns, and swore I would only wear at the Game thereafter (Sigh...). But it was okay, my night had just magically turned so i couldn't worry too much about a minor though somewhat important matter... The drive to downtown L.A. was shockingly easy too. Perhaps because no one really cares about watching Kwame Brown and the hibernating Memphis Grizzlies. That or we just got lucky. But seriously no one should ever make a remark about how smooth L.A. traffic is on any given night as Marco did. We almost got into two close-calls after Marco said something. Damn...

We got in our seats right in time for the singing of the National Anthem and the player introductions (And if you haven't seen that Laker Player Introduction, man let me tell ya it could bring a true-blue Laker fan into Tears...) But not after a somewhat eventful experience at the entrance. They've got one of those walk-through metal detectors and plastic baskets to deposit your belongings like at the Airport. As i flopped my stuff in the bucket and then gingerly deposited my DSLR (attached was the humongous and attractive ultra wide-angle lens ), the Camera caught one of the Security guy's attention (the one in-charge of the the guy who's in-charge of the plastic buckets). "Uhmm Uh oh!" he remarked. He said i had to take it back to the car even after explaining that the Lens had no extended zoom and mounted flash (which is the rule on most of these stadiums). He was still unhappy after getting a closer look at the Camera and sent me to another Security guy for further examination. Once again i explained expertly about the No-Zoom Lens and my familiarity with the rules. My use of technical jargon did not really help my case i guess because he still had me demonstrate the Lens to make sure it didn't really extend. Arghh!

Anyway to the Game; Well Kobe was on pace to score over 60 points (i projected 52 and Marco said 60 easy). He scored 5 quick points at the start of the 3rd quarter to give him 42. Yea 42!! I was beginning to believe in Marco. Although he was scoring at such a high rate i thought he might slow down at some point of the game. And slow down he did. The Grizzlies began to double and triple-team Kobe and as a result they trailed by 10 at the end of the quarter (I made a silent prediction about this as well...). Oh Kobe ended up with 53 while the Lakers lost by three...

Oh well it was still fun...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Saturday, March 29, 2008