Personal Experience of the Hawks game on Friday

ok, just wanted to share my personal experience of the Hawks game on Friday. In summary, what was supposed to be a regular night at a Rockets game turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Pretty much, some friends and I were planning Friday's game against the Hawks for a while to be a bachelor party outing for someone, so we got group tickets to sit up in section 402 and hang out and enjoy the game.

I decide to head to the game wearing one of the giveway shirts from a previous game with #99 and "Rowdy" on the back. As an added bonus, I decided to get a piece of tape and write "CLUTCHFANS.NET" on the back to see if anyone on the board would notice it. I loaned my throwback red and gold Tmac jersey to my brother and we head out to the Toyota Center.

So I showed up early so that I could get a calendar, which I did and we finished the UH bowl game downstairs in the Jack Daniels bar. We get some food and sit down in our seats probably about 5 mins before tipoff. Just a few minutes after we sit down my brother and I are approached by one of the Rockets staff named Megan. She asks us "Hey are you guys with a group?" I'm like "Yeah" and she is like "How would you guys like to have a chance to win courtside seats." and we were like "YEAH!" Megan tells us that we were picked because we were the only ones in the section wearing rockets gear.

So we are told to sit on the stairs and wait for her to come back. The game starts, but all I could think of was OMG I cant believe this is happening. Megan comes back with Suzy, the cute MC of all the activities during games, a couple of RPD's and a cameraman! My brother was asked to participate in a game where you guess who a Rockets player is before the whole picture is revealed. It was already obvious when we saw a #44 Kentucky jersey. I was screaming to my brother "CHUCK FREAKIN HAYES!!!" cause he wasnt sure who the picture was.

So we get the game right and are led downstairs by Megan and a the RPD's and Suzy. On the elevator I found out that Megan is the same Megan on sportsradio 610 who does the chick picks against John Mclain. We are led through all the bottom floor tunnels and are led out to the floor! I see 2 emtpy seats that were right at the corner, first row, opposite of the Hawks bench and they said "Here you are!" At this point I really could not believe what was happening!

We take a seat and right there is the Hilton furniture guy, you know, the one with the "That's a fact Jack!" Commercials. We find out that he is the one that sponsored the Guess a Rocket event that gave us the courtside seats. End of the first Quarter at this point score Rockets 20, Hawks 16.

I get to talk to the Hilton guy a lot during the game(don't remember his first name) and apparently he is trying to buy the Houston Comets and is close to finishing the deal. He seemed like a fan but didn't know too much about the players. Tmac was bombing 3 after 3, Juwan and Deke were grabbing the boards, and I tell you from the floor level, the speed and level of the game is just amazing. I would get so caught up in watching the game and soaking it all in that I would forget about the score, look up and be like "DAANG we are blowing them out!" How Tmac looks when he rises for a 3 is something else (I guess cause he was hitting them) He was being a little pouty when he'd get fouled, but I would scream "Cmon TMac, you're alright!" and "That's just Marvin Williams guarding you, he's got nothing on you!" as Tmac would spin around him for a layup or rise up for another 3. Each 3 he would hit, the Hilton guy would elbow me and say something like "SEE THAT!? WOO!" My friends who had to stay up in 402 thought Hilton and I had become good friends cause it looked like he was all over me from up there and we were talking a lot during the game haha. Juwan "You can hang a wash on that jumper" Howard played great on both ends and Deke really held down the paint. I dont know if it was our defense that was so good, but it really seemed like the Hawks just play like they are a pick-up ball team. No one really stood out as playing well for them that night, not even Joe Johnson. Everyone was giving us looks when we would yell too much, because, as people have said on here before, it is really filled with mostly old, boring business types.

Halftime we got wristbands to be able to hang out in the Lexus Lounge with all the boring courtside seaters. We had a few beers and made sure to head back in time for the second half. Most of the Lexus Loungers seemed like they didnt even know the game was coming back on since it was still full in there as we were heading out. So I guess we all know why there are a bunch of empty seats at game start and at halftime start because they all hang out there playing pool and just saying hello to each other! One nice thing is some of the RPD's walk around saying hello to people too.

We all knew that the second half was a blow out so really I noticed how good defense Shane really plays as he was frustrating Joe Johnson all night, I could even see it in his Joe's face as he tried a lot of fakes and dribble moves to try to get past, as I was yelling "That is some freakin NICE defense SHANE!" followed by more awkward looks. Anyway I dont want this to get too long, so I will end here and add more if anyone wants to ask about it. Pretty much it was an experience I will never forget. It seemed like everything was slow motion (except the speed of the game from that close), but it was over before I knew it. I want to thank Megan and the Hilton Furniture guy, that is if you guys come in here or someone knows them and can tell them thanks for me.

I managed to get a lot of pictures with my Treo phone so they aren't very good quality.

 

Pics can be seen here if they aren't showing on the thread.

http://photos.yahoo.com/santibanezt

 

haha thanks man, sorry everyone couldnt come down.

oh yeah, since it was a bachelor party, i tried to get the hilton guy to come out with us, (ahem) afterwards, I go "hey you are more than welcome to come with us after the game!", Hilton goes "No im not!"

 

Geocities sucks, I uploaded a couple somewhere else, the rest of the pics can be found at

http://photos.yahoo.com/santibanezt

 

Nope, no one noticed it. The RPD's were asking what it was, so yeah maybe some of em will come in here and see some things we say about them!

It wasn't very visible either, next time I'll try to make one that is more clear.