This year at the Prudential center is a far cry from last years experience at the Izod center. The area is better, and its closer to my home in NY but I knew the head of security at the Izod center which is how I met the entire team last year. I don't have access to the tunnel/locker room anymore, but I still get a guest pass from the Nets organization so I was able to get some cool pics. when i got to the arena i went down to the court to see who was warming up before the game. i was able to get this pic of Kmart. Note about Kmart - really nice guy. there was one kid there SHOUTING for him "kevin! kevin! KEVINNNNN!!!!!" instead of getting annoyed or ignoring him he waved and said something like "ok little man i'll come over when i'm done. don't worry." sure enough he came by, signed the kids hat and took a pic with him. and later on when Scola was done warming up, some guy was like "scola! scola! SCOLAAAAA!" and then he looked at me and i was like "could i get a pic?" that was all for pregame. didn't take any pics during the game but at half time i went to the "Cure Lounge" which is the Nets VIP lounge. Free, unlimited food and drinks! i got my money's worth of the catering there . i was on my way to throw out my plate and head back to the seats when some guy cut me off in front of the garbage can. he was polite enough to turn around and excuse himself... the cutter was none other than leslie alexander. he ran off, back to the court not to miss the start of the second half, before i could even say hi. security wouldn't let anyone near the area where he was sitting so i had to take a crappy pic from a distance. once i knew he was at the game i spent more time watching him than the game. plus in the second half the rockets made it a blowout anyway. he was pretty interesting to watch. he was a fan of the tiger woods type fist pump. he also seemed to really enjoy watching Goran and Pat. a lot of fist pumping going on when they played lol. the game ended and it was time for the post game wrap up. i didnt know Clyde was going to be traveling with the team. doesn't he usually only do home games? note about clyde - awesome, awesome guy... he is a consummate professional lol. not many people recognized him in jersey. there were two people standing in front of me waiting for autographs. one turned around was like "who's that?" i said "clyde drexler." the guy goes "was he any good?" i said "not really." so those morons left and i got to catch a pic with clyde before he had to leave! haha losers... my friends kid jumped in. chase was the next guy out. he was hanging out with some friends wearing arizona gear for about 20 minutes. when they said their goodbyes i told him i was happy for him working his way into the starting lineup he seemed genuinely happy about that. the last two guys that i was able to catch were kyle and chuck. chuck signed for everyone and their mom. i didnt want to get in the way of kids getting autographs to ask for a pic but i just told him congrats on the triple double and he was like "aww man thanks a lot." he looked particularly surprised that i even knew about it. down to earth, awesome guy. kyle was with a large number of family members. playing with a couple of little kids (i don't know their relation) and making faces at them to make them laugh. before he left i told him that i was happy to see he finally got the starting job he deserved, and that he helped me come in second in my fantasy league lol. he laughed and seemed to really appreciate the kind words. overall i'm really proud of this team. not only because of their accomplishments as a team, but because they are all nice guys who are down to earth, modest, humble, and friendly. you can't say that about a lot of pro athletes but the rockets seem to like collecting guys with this personality. hopefully it pays off for them because these guys deserve all the success there is.
lol yeah he does. i'm sure someone will make that photoshop soon. kim wasn't at this one. i think she only goes to the "big" games and weekend games. tuesday night against a probable lotto team with no superstar attraction... not a big draw.
nice post. I was going to go (courtside were like 65 bucks on stubhub, lol) but I scheduled a freaking appointment at 530 yesterday.
thanks clutch! contributing to the board is what makes the world go around. i'm happy to have the chance to do it. i was supposed to meet up with another clutchfans poster, carl herrera, but i didn't check my email before the game... sucks. i'm only going to one more game this season in jersey and thats when the knicks go across the river. if you want to meet up there let me know.
I've never met any of the players, but just from watching on TV I get the same impression, as far as them being real nice down to earth guys. Thanks for sharing. Nice pics.
Who are you and how do you get these bad ass seats? Weren't you the guy who took pics with my wife, Kim Kardashian, at a Nets game?
This is what I have come to like the most about this team during the last few years. We probably have the best team in the NBA when it comes to having humble and down to earth characters and. You can relate to the players on a much easier level. I congratulate Les and his personnel for their vision of what a team should look like and what character is all about. Lets hope they continue to build our team in the same mould for many more years to come. I think Shane also had a big part in it too and a lot of his traits have rubbed into this team. Man I still miss Shane. Youre a lucky guy to meet the players like that.
