Jose has rediscovered his love for the NBA, so we’ve been going to a lot of games recently. And I’ve got to admit that I enjoy the games as well.
It reminds me of when I was in the 5th grade, and the Hornets became Charlotte’s first professional sports team. The entire city went basketball-crazy — not exactly a surprising thing in the already basketball-crazy state of North Carolina — and we watched the Hornets games religiously. One night I even ripped one of my braces brackets off my front tooth while I was wildly cheering with a blanket in my hands. The blanket caught on my braces, since my mouth was wide open cheering, and bam — we had an 11:30 p.m. emergency meeting at the orthodonist’s office.
ANYWAY, I digress.
We went to a half dozen games last year, so a week ago we decided to just buy a 6-game package for the rest of this season. As a bonus, we will now have access to playoff tickets should the Rockets make it there (they’re likely to make the first round at least). The games are really fun, and now that we’ve been to enough games I know all the guys on the team.
My favorite guy on the team is Shane Battier. He’s my age, so I remember him from when he was at Duke, who of course played Georgia Tech on a regular basis as part of ACC conference play. With three family members having graduated with degrees from UNC, I know I’m supposed to call his alma mater “Dook” and all that, but hey, my dad went to Duke for a few years too. As a middle schooler, I wanted nothing more than to go to Duke. So I like Duke. And I like UNC. Deal with it.
ANYWAY, I digress again.
I like Shane Battier. He completely shut down Kobe Bryant when the Rockets played the Lakers last spring, which was awesome to watch. Everything I have seen of him in Houston, both on the basketball court and off, indicates that he is both a great basketball player and a great person. But he’s more of a defensive player than an offensive guy, which means he doesn’t get a whole lot of attention. In fact, the Rockets TV announcers often comment on how his job is to go out every single night and defend the best player on the other team — not an easy task. That’s why it was so cool to see this lengthy article in the New York Times today about Battier, “The No-Stats All-Star.”
It might be time for a #31 t-shirt.
I love basketball. Unfortunately, with two kiddos, it can be hard to make it to the games.
Any guy that can help shut down the Lakers is OK in my book. Lakers suck! Go Kings!