This has to go down as one my best stories this year so far.
There were two NBA regular season games played in London in March. The first ever games played outside North America. Since I’ve been playing basketball for more than 15 years now, I thought this was a great chance to see how the pros do it.
Through some really interesting chain of connections that went as far as Spain, one of my friends managed to get two free tickets. So on a Saturday night we went to see the game. The O2 Arena was packed, but we had excellent seats.
The Nets played The Raptors. The game was very entertaining and the organisers did everything by the NBA book, with cheerleaders, some acrobatic shows, shooting contests, etc. In one of the long time-outs in the fourth period they’ve announced that some prizes are to be given away by one their sponsors to some randomly chosen lucky spectators. We were all made to stand up and start clapping and shouting. Then they told people in the upper gallery to sit down. And people in sectors so and so to sit down. And people in rows so and so... After a few more of these calls we were still standing. It wasn’t long before we heard a guy announcing “Row F, Seats No 190 to 195, you are the winners!!!” I tried to check my ticket, but when I saw my face on those giant screens and felt the spotlights in my eyes, I knew something had happened. Yes, my friend and I and three other “neighbours” had just won a high definition Flip video camera. Nothing extraordinary, but a fantastic experience. The cheerleaders came with the prizes and I offered to swap my prize for one of them, but had no luck.
After things had cooled down a bit, we realised that the other winners knew our connection as well and also got free tickets. This was when it all became clear. So one guy, big NBA organiser, gives five free tickets to some of his friends and then they all win the raffle. We couldn’t stop laughing. Actually he came to see us at some point. We asked if he had anything to do with our win. He smiled and pretended to look confused. We smiled back. There was another guy who won an exotic holiday for two in one of the other time-outs. We figured he must have been a better friend. Or his manager’s cousin.
So in the end things weren’t as random as we were made to think. And what’s even more interesting is that although I usually believe in justice and fairness, I didn’t mind this time. I didn’t care that more than 20,000 people were most probably tricked. Why? Probably because the stakes were so small. But also, because I won!
The Nets eventually won the game by 137 to 136. It took them three extra periods. What a night!
