hairyangryfella
Tag Team Quads 93/94
I recently returned from a month-long holiday to the US, my first time there if you exclude a short visit to Vegas 6 years ago.
We started in LA and I went to the final game of the MLB regular season Angels vs Mariners (which I thought was unbelievable - and I managed to get a foul ball when Pennington slammed it into the 2nd tier, it bounced back off the seats and landed right next to me!). Then flew to Denver and had a blast in the snow before attending Jimmy Eat World and Incubus at Red Rocks. After that we flew to New York and stayed with some friends, drove up to Boston for a day, came back for the Giants vs Chargers game and then stayed in Manhattan for a bit. Saw the sights and attended the Rangers vs Blues game at MSG. Following that, we flew up to Toronto to see Niagara Falls, back to Washington for a day for the monuments, down to Orlando for some fun at Universal, over to Vegas so my wife could see what it's like and fly into the Canyon, then over to San Francisco and what I was most looking forward to...
I paid a pretty penny for close seats, and while they were 'row 1', they were behind the fancy ones. Still, they were sensational. You could see the players communicating, looking, even panicking! I could only take pics on my phone, and here are some of the better ones...
Shot from our seats
And it was a night they gave everyone a replica championship ring which is really cool! It's huge, heavy, and has all the player numbers around the edge with blue gems and MVP KD's with yellow.
Curry warming up
KD reuniting with Ibaka which was pretty cool
Superstar shot
Seriously, our seats were fantastic
And you could see into the huddle. It was interesting to see every timeout that Kerr would talk to the assistants for a while and then return to talk to the team - things you don't see on TV
Speaking of TV... we could be seen in any lengthwise court shot down the left, just above the backboard barrier. Spot me in my All Blacks jersey in this TV replay (hint, I'm not actually hairy...)
After the thrill of that game, the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, we flew back to LA as our final destination to fly home from. I made sure I went to a Lakers game while I was there, it just so happened to be the Raptors again, but much, MUCH futher away seats...
Turns out it was Lonzo's birthday. He didn't look super interested for much of the game, and has one heck of an ugly jumpshot, but he can pass it quite well and was clearly who people wanted to see. I was most impressed with Kuzma, personally.
Such history here, I loved it. Including the statues out front. Shame the Lakers sucked, but it was a cool experience, especially the different perspective - seeing the plays eventuate and how the ball went through the net.
Because we don't have any LCS' in NZ I made sure I visited one while in LA. It was just as I expected - hideously overpriced singles, a fat guy sitting behind the counter (on his computer) and a whole bunch of boxes you could get cheaper on ebay. I still bought one, 13-14 Titanium, but sadly got nothing worth more than $2.
I'm rather poor now, but it was definitely a trip of a lifetime, particularly having gotten to each of the 4 big sports - something I'd always dreamed of doing - and Americans do sports and in particular the stadiums very well. Having seen all the stars I followed growing up retire, I'm so please I got to see my favourite player (KD), and the best team in the league.
We started in LA and I went to the final game of the MLB regular season Angels vs Mariners (which I thought was unbelievable - and I managed to get a foul ball when Pennington slammed it into the 2nd tier, it bounced back off the seats and landed right next to me!). Then flew to Denver and had a blast in the snow before attending Jimmy Eat World and Incubus at Red Rocks. After that we flew to New York and stayed with some friends, drove up to Boston for a day, came back for the Giants vs Chargers game and then stayed in Manhattan for a bit. Saw the sights and attended the Rangers vs Blues game at MSG. Following that, we flew up to Toronto to see Niagara Falls, back to Washington for a day for the monuments, down to Orlando for some fun at Universal, over to Vegas so my wife could see what it's like and fly into the Canyon, then over to San Francisco and what I was most looking forward to...
I paid a pretty penny for close seats, and while they were 'row 1', they were behind the fancy ones. Still, they were sensational. You could see the players communicating, looking, even panicking! I could only take pics on my phone, and here are some of the better ones...
Shot from our seats
And it was a night they gave everyone a replica championship ring which is really cool! It's huge, heavy, and has all the player numbers around the edge with blue gems and MVP KD's with yellow.
Curry warming up
KD reuniting with Ibaka which was pretty cool
Superstar shot
Seriously, our seats were fantastic
And you could see into the huddle. It was interesting to see every timeout that Kerr would talk to the assistants for a while and then return to talk to the team - things you don't see on TV
Speaking of TV... we could be seen in any lengthwise court shot down the left, just above the backboard barrier. Spot me in my All Blacks jersey in this TV replay (hint, I'm not actually hairy...)
After the thrill of that game, the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, we flew back to LA as our final destination to fly home from. I made sure I went to a Lakers game while I was there, it just so happened to be the Raptors again, but much, MUCH futher away seats...
Turns out it was Lonzo's birthday. He didn't look super interested for much of the game, and has one heck of an ugly jumpshot, but he can pass it quite well and was clearly who people wanted to see. I was most impressed with Kuzma, personally.
Such history here, I loved it. Including the statues out front. Shame the Lakers sucked, but it was a cool experience, especially the different perspective - seeing the plays eventuate and how the ball went through the net.
Because we don't have any LCS' in NZ I made sure I visited one while in LA. It was just as I expected - hideously overpriced singles, a fat guy sitting behind the counter (on his computer) and a whole bunch of boxes you could get cheaper on ebay. I still bought one, 13-14 Titanium, but sadly got nothing worth more than $2.
I'm rather poor now, but it was definitely a trip of a lifetime, particularly having gotten to each of the 4 big sports - something I'd always dreamed of doing - and Americans do sports and in particular the stadiums very well. Having seen all the stars I followed growing up retire, I'm so please I got to see my favourite player (KD), and the best team in the league.
