So, the game was great! But first, the day leading up to it. I got to work at 8.45a to many an amusing remark from my co-workers.

Chekhov: "What's wrong? Some sort of horrible disaster must have occurred!"
The Controller: "Is my clock wrong?"
Bill: "My God, I must be late if you are already here!"
Kathleen: "Were you locked in last night?"
The Evil Overlord: "Did you sleep here?"

O the mirth and merriment. What fun we have at my expense at The Company That Must Not Be Named. Anyway, I worked like a stevedore all day to get out on time, though I didn't, in fact, leave as early as I had planned.

I had good luck getting home quickly, though, and ran into the house. Fran was sitting on the sofa, and he came up to me red-eyed.

ME
Are we going?

FRAN
No, not yet.

ME
Why? What happened?

FRAN
Cynthia's still at work.

ME
O jeez, I thought that you were crying, I though that something had happened!

FRAN
No, no, I was just dozing on the couch!

So we waited and waited and waited. She had gotten work on a movie the day before, but she took it because she was assured that she would be wrapped at dusk and could get home on time. Clearly, this hadn't happened.

We sat around for awhile, then the babysitter came in with the kids, so we sat around with the kids, then we went outside and sat around on the porch.

The game started at 7.30p, and she didn't get home until around 7.45p or so. She was freaked and tense, especially when we didn't quite know how to get there. She knew that it was one exit away on the turnpike, but not which direction to go to get to the one exit, and she chose the wrong one. I had been supposed to go on Mapquest and get the info, but since I didn't have a street address beyond Continental Sports Arena, Mapquest spat on me and refused to tell me a damn thing.

We got there at around 8.10p and had to do this massive sprint-walking thing that practically gave me a stroke. But finally there we were, in our seats, watching the end of the first half.

And it was incredible.

The Jazz were down by six or something when we got there, but as soon as we put our butts down in our seats, they got strength from our presence and turned around and started winning. Or that's how we like to see it.

The Continental Sports Arena is a great place to see a game, as it's not that big, so we were in the cheap seats and the floor wasn't too small and the players didn't look like ants. It wasn't that full, either, so when Cynthia and I went out at the half and got some food and went to the bathroom, there were no crowds or queues.

The feeling around the place was great, too, very unlike the Garden, which is very bright and hard and slick and shiny. The Continental Sports Arena is more goofy and loose and circussy and low-rent. It's more like a minor-league ballpark.

We were worried about showing our support for the opposing team too enthusiastically, but right in front of us was this blonde girl who was rooting for the Jazz, and a few rows down were two other guys, so we were in a mini-Jazz section.

The people right next to me, though, were a father and son who were big Nets fans. The father was quite, but the son was yelling advice and insults at the players in a thick Jersey accent. It was very cute. My favourite bit was after the Nets did a particularly boneheaded play, and the kid turned to his dad and said, "Dad, why are dey so dumb?"

Out of the mouths of babes.

It was just astonishing being there in person, seeing it live, you have no idea.

We were close enough, as I had said, to see the floor easily and recognize the players and really watch the action. It's very interesting to see the entire room, not just what the cameras are showing you.

I watched most of the game like that, they Cynthia nudged me and told me to watch Stockton with the binoculars, and I watched the last quarter like that. Wow. Is all I have to say. He moves so beautifully and fluidly, it's amazing to see. Plus, his ass looks really great in the proper-length shorts that he wears.

Fun things that happened:

Karl Malone got a technical foul late in the game. A foul is when you rough up another player, a technical foul is when you call the ref a motherfucker. Karl finds it difficult to keep his big yap shut sometimes, and was talking and talking even after his T.

I was watching it through the binocs, and it was great, as he was there talking, and Stockton was just hovering by to make sure that Malone didn't get thrown out of the game, and at just the right moment he sort of swooped in and brushed Malone aside and chatted briefly with the ref.

"Never mind, Karl, you go back to the game and let me talk to this nice gentleman here. Hello, sir, please don't mind Karl, I'm sure that he didn't mean it when he said that your wife was a hippo. I have seen your wife, and she is lovely. And I'm sure that she's not sleeping with the entire Nets lineup, Karl was just joshing when he said that. Ha ha ha!"

The other funny thing that happened was when Ostertag (AKA the big useless lump of shit) fouled another player, and his reaction was hilarious! I wasn't even watching through the binocs, and I could read his body language plain as day.

First he opened his eyes and mouth wide, and pushed his hands out, then brought them in to his mouth, then he crouched down small on the ground. Cynthia and Fran and I were weeping with laughter.

ME
He looks like a little kid who made a mistake!

CYNTHIA
I was just thinking that he looked like Molly!

ME
Like Molly when she spills her water after being told five thousand times to be careful!

CYNTHIA
He looks like he is thinking "If I make myself very very small, they won't be able to see me and they'll take the foul away"!

They took him out of the game at that point and not only didn't let him back in, but didn't let him in any of the huddles during the time outs. He was just standing sadly to the side, occasionally peeking inside his shorts to make certain that his manhood was still there.

They wouldn't let him play any reindeer games, either.

Anyway, the Jazz won and everything was swell and marvy, and you can see clips of the game here or an overview of my beloved Stockton's career here.

It wasn't a rout, though, as they were tied with two minutes left, so it was really exciting. The Nets fans started leaving before it was over, though, the stadium started clearing out. I was shocked at these fair-weather fans and said to Cynthia, "If we were in Utah, everyone would stay in their seats!"

God, I loved it. I'm so glad that I had a chance to see them play.

Do you like basketball? What's the best live sports event that you have ever seen?

And we're still talking about being thankful, Thanksgiving and recipes, days where every single little thing go wrong, sounds that you hate, loonies, weird sports, Hallowe'en costumes, death, and Rocky Horror.

Today's horoscope:
Opportunities for intimate moments keep on getting interrupted. Put romance on hold and deal with life's other demands.

One year ago today:
"If you don't walk onstage during the first half of that speech, I'll come down out of the light booth and kill you."

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Last Updated Wed 29 November 10:34:09 2000