FanPost

After more than 20 years: My first Spurs game

After more than 20 years being a Spurs fans I'm finally getting the chance to watch them live for the first time. I live in northwest México, a few hundred miles south of Phoenix and I have never being to an NBA game, much less a Spurs game because I kept waiting for the perfect moment that never came.

Several times I've tried to make a trip, either to San Antonio or Phoenix but something always happened, sometimes even before I could start planning. Games were scheduled the wrong day, either during some busy dates at work or around some holiday. Some other times it was financial set backs.

This year I noticed a game scheduled at Phoenix was on a Friday and it was not on either end of a back to back so I knew it could be my final chance to see the Timmy and Manu play. I was planning well ahead, I got a couple of friends to agree to go with me. One a Suns' fan and another a Magic's fan. My first friend drop out of the trip a few months ago when he learn he was going be a father once more and the baby was due around game date. We tried to get someone else to take his place but we couldn't find anyone able and willing. We were still set on going.

A few weeks, everything seemed OK so we bought the tickets and made sure nothing would come up that could ruin our plans, but then Spurs' players started dropping like flies and I got worried. First Tiago, then Green and Kawhi. Manu scared me the most. I could always watch the other guys a few years from now if they stay with the team but Ginobili doesn't have too many games at Phoenix remaining, specially considering how often he gets hurt or rested. I quickly checked a calendar and noticed most if not all could come back for this game. This week, Pop announced would be out for the foreseeable future. This means he almost surely won't play tomorrow (shakes heads in disappointment).

Today, when we thought we were all set and just waiting for the next day to start driving north, my friends calls me to say something came up at work and there was no way he could make the trip. For a moment I felt like it was game 6 all over. I thought about making the trip alone, even take a bus, attend the game and come back the same day to avoid driving all the way by myself. Fortunately, just a couple of hours ago, we got another friend to come with me instead and we are leaving at first light tomorrow! We will be seating on row 12 behind the Spurs' bench. If you see #1 Spurs' home replica jersey please wave at your Tv and post about it on the game thread.

Finally, I would appreciate if you guys could give some pointers about how an NBA game works. Here are a few questions I have thought about but it would be great if you could tell me about things I have not.

  • How early can I go the arena?
  • Can I take close up pictures of players before the game? With them? When? How?
  • Is it OK to take pictures during the game?
  • Is there WiFi available in the arena? I'm not sure my cellphone plan works in the US and if it does I'm sure it would be pretty expensive to use it.
Thank you for your help and thank you for reading.

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