On Thursday night, Billy took me to an NBA game at the America West Arena in downtown Phoenix. The place was packed, and we rallied with the crowd as the Suns battled it out with the undefeated Detroit Pistons. What a great game! The Suns were in the lead for the most part, until the last 1:56 when they were tied. In the end, though, Detroit hit a three-pointer that gave them a five-point lead in the last 16 seconds, and we headed out the door along with half of the crowd. Oh, well.
But it was so much fun! We were just 11 rows from courtside, and being so close made it better than TV!
In high school, I followed the Philippine Basketball Association (my country's professional basketball league) like a fanatic. I was one. I rooted for my team, Ginebra San Miguel, like an ardent fan and never missed a game. With my meager allowance, I accumulated newspapers and sports magazines, cut out articles and put them together in a book. I knew which day of the week each paper would come out, and if the news stand outside my school ran out, I would board a
jeepney and travel to the next one a few miles down the street. Few other things have earned such devotion from me since then.
In those days, my favorite players have mostly been point guards or off guards. PBA's Ricky Brown, Chito Loyzaga, Jojo Lastimosa, and Hector Calma were great. I loved seeing them dish out assists and shoot three-pointers. And here again, in the NBA, my favorite is
Steve Nash. What a player! And btw, he was last season's MVP -- need I say more?
Here's to watching more games live this season. It's so much fun!
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