My First NBA Playoff Game and His First NBA Game

 

My friend Matt came to visit me after not having contact for about 34 years. I was friends with his father for several years and we would have their family over for dinner or activities. 

About age 14, his family life changed dramatically and Matt was no longer around. Over the years, I would contact his father and ask how Matt was doing. 

A few years back, I got an email through my YouTube account. It was Matt asking if I was the person he knew from the East Coast. I was thrilled to hear from him as I worried about him over the years getting updates on his situation from his father. I couldn't believe that he randomly found my channel looking up "toenail fungus" of all things! Since I have cured myself of a bad case of fungus, I made a video years ago about how I cured it, and Matt happened to see that video!

He asked if I would be OK with him calling me sometime to visit. I wrote back giving him my phone number and telling him to call anytime. 

I didn't hear back from him for almost a year. He said my reply had gone to junk email or something and when he was cleaning out, he found it and got into contact with me again. 

We started talking around the new year and he asked if I would be OK with him coming for a visit as he had never visited the west coast before. 

I gave him a few dates that I thought would work and he booked his tickets. I told him things we could do in many western states that I thought could be fun. I mentioned the Jazz as they are the only major sports team other than AZ, LA and Denver. I don't follow sports much. 

He asked if I would like to go to a Jazz game as I was planning stops in three different states. I told him that I thought we could make that work on our schedule of driving. 

He bought tickets for one of the playoff games and I have never seen the Jazz play, and he had never seen an NBA game before. I have seen the Celtics play in Boston many years ago when Larry Bird was playing for them. 

Matt and I had a great time cheering for the Jazz, but I think we had more fun watching the fans sitting around us. The guy right next to me gave me a dirty look when I cheered on the wrong team at the beginning as the Jazz usually wear white with purple logos, but they were wearing black uniforms for some reason, so the first play, I got confused and everyone around us got upset when I clapped for the opposite team making a basket. Ha ha

I back tracked and ended up finding out that the guy next to me had never been to a Jazz game either and we visited back and forth. His friend however went out and in and out an in and had 9, YES NINE, Beers! He was loaded by the end of the game. I asked if they were driving later as they were all drinking, but he said they had a hotel locally they would walk to after the game. 

The man sitting next to Matt was eating constantly. He and his female companion were out and in constantly eating one thing after the next. At one point I smelled baked bread and look over and he was eating square doughnut looking things covered in powdered sugar. He coughed as he inhaled some powder as they were inhaling the food, and when he did so, a huge plume of white powder came out of his nose and mouth and covered Matt with a fine coat of sugar. It looked like the man was breathing out smoke! 

His friend was laughing so hard she could hardly speak and they both kept apologizing to Matt for his new "grey" look! The man looked a bit shocked and left abruptly coughing and came back with a drink to sooth the throat I guess and offered Matt a stack of napkins. It was funny but not so funny. That same man also was yelling negative things to the other team and I forgot to share that the drunk guy was swearing up a storm and standing the entire time swearing at the other team. 

It was interesting but the Jazz were down all night so the entertaining crowds made it much more enjoyable. 

It was a fun evening and I will share more about his visit tomorrow! Have a blessed day!