Lone Nuggets fan or lone fan?
This is an accurate depiction of how the others in the building seemed to feel:
"He keeps taking me to Grizzlies games, Doc."
We did encounter some nice women in section 232. Bridgett (wearing blue) is a huge Allen Iverson fan. Her friend Marselle told us that Allen "could play on the moon" and Bridgett would watch.
Disappointingly for the people of Memphis, there were not six thousand people at the FedEx Forum. This is what one of the concourses looked like at halftime (strategic bathroom planning to avoid lines totally unnecessary).
Other crowd-not-so-pleasers included:
-Two fireworks blasting from the scoreboard during the starting lineups to sparse applause. They did a much better job inducing minor heart attacks.
-Ushers that would not allow upper-level ticket holders to move to lower-level seats. Think Joaquin Phoenix guarding Rome in Gladiator. It actually took us 10 tries to get downstairs, a heavy blow to our "sneaky confidence."
-An on-court announcer wearing jeans, a Rudy Gay jersey and a poor disposition. He did not want his picture to be taken (something about it ending up on the internet). His wish was not granted.
In a related story, this man was peddling fishing equipment pre-game.
He was positioned on a stage in a small annex off of the main arena called the "green room." 100 years ago he'd have been selling bromo seltzer or inviting us to see the fire-eating midget.
Nice Joey Fatone microphone, too.
It does not say much for the crowd at the game or the basketball itself that his act may not have been the most boring. That said, a number of the players were very impressive (see Kenyon Martin blocked shot that sailed to Namibia). The circumstances and atmosphere were not.
-Benetti & LBK
