FanPost

The Real Story and The Loss of a PtR Great

On March 6th, 2009, I left my house in Austin to pick up a man I had met about three times and who I considered my friend. We drove to San Antonio to pick up a guy at the airport who we had never met and who I considered my friend. We then drove to downtown San Antonio and met two other guys at Rosario's restaurant on S Alamo.

We talked. We drank. We went to the Spurs game against the Wizards. We had a suite courtesy of another person we had never met and who I considered a friend. We all had a good time and the Spurs won. We went back downtown and hung out on the Riverwalk drinking. One of the guys had his fiance show up. Then the woman who got us the suite showed up. We drank a little more and then we all headed home.

Then there was the real story.

That was one of the most insane and completely surreal nights of my life. Completely off the charts.

I left home and picked up Matthew Powell. Former head honcho of PtR. He and I had been to lunch once and we had gone to a Spurs game once. At this time, he was probably still running PtR or had just very recently handed over the reins to me.

We drove down to San Antonio and picked up SiMA (in from Colorado) at the airport. We had never met the man. He was wearing his cap backwards (always a bad sign). We then headed down to Rosario's to have a drink and wait for Bones (in from Ohio and who we had never met) and Tomasito (who I don't think I had met) to appear. They finally showed up and we had our group together. Bones was in town with his "wife". But, when we asked him what they were up to tomorrow he said, "well, actually, we are getting married".

Anyway, we had a drink or two and went to the game. We were treated to seats in the Ticketmaster suite courtesy of a PtR member who had to remain unnamed. We had a good time giving each other a bunch of crap. It was just like the comments in the game threads, just louder. The Spurs dismantled the pathetic Wizards in a very forgettable game.

After the game, Bone's "wife" joined us down on the Riverwalk for a few drinks. Then our ticket benefactor joined us. We all knew her here as Bellasa. While hanging out, we told Bellasa about Bones and his "wife" getting married the next day. Her eyes lit up and she asked, "where are you getting married"? They said they found a spot on the Riverwalk today where they were going to have the guy do the ceremony. Bellasa had other ideas.

You see, Bellasa is a giver. She said that they should get married in her venue. That it would be perfect. And she wanted to go take a look. It was 1:00 and the morning and we headed over to the venue. We went in and got the tour. The view of the stage, the view of the balconies, we went behind the scenes, we went up in the catwalk, we saw the offices, we saw the second venue. We saw it all.

The next day, while pretty hungover, Bones and his "wife" became Bones and his wife at the venue.

It is one of the greatest and crazy stories that I can tell. How Bones and his wife came to San Antonio, met a couple people from a sports blog that he frequented, and ended up getting married in the magical Majestic Theatre. Bones (Jeff) and his wife (Dina) are just the FIRST couple from PtR that Bellasa had an influence in their marriage.

The other story might not be as surreal, but it is far more romantic. In January, 2010, PtR's very own Latin_D made his infamous road trip to the US from Argentina. His trip to the US was one of my proudest moments as the boss of PtR. We (me and several other PtR members) got him hooked up with all kinds of freebies. We got him into four Spurs' home games for free, a free place to stay in SA for 10 days, a Toros game, a Spurs game in Portland with a free place to stay, a Clippers game and places to stay, a place in San Fran, a game in Denver with a place to stay, and the All-Star game in Dallas.

Well, at the very beginning of his trip, Latin_D was in SA and Bellasa hooked him up with tickets to a show. An opera or something fine artsy. He took another PtR member Queness as his "date". Queness and Bellasa became good friends. Latin_D (David) and Queness (Amy) are married. Now live in Argentina. And have a kid.

In the early days of PtR, she had a tremendous impact. On its writers and its members. She gave of herself always. She gave us suite tickets. She gave us encouragement. She sent us memorabilia. She met us for drinks. She hooked us up with good seats. She always smiled and she always loved and she never forgot us.

Bellasa is Bella Rodriguez. One of the great women to roam this planet. Sadly, very sadly, she passed away today. This site owes a lot to her. I owe a lot to her. Several others around here owe a lot to her. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we will miss her.

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