Basketball in my Life

 Previously, I have done posts on baseball and football in my life. Another sport that I enjoy watching but never participated in scholastically, is basketball. I can remember going to high school games as a kid and seeing the occasional donkey basketball game with the teachers making asses of themselves. I did play intramural in High School and College. Also, while attending Middlebury Union High School, I convinced Coach Evans that I could keep stats for him and it would help me write my articles for the Addison Independent. He agreed and even let me go to away games on the team bus. I remember games all over the state with my good friends like Jerry Atkins, Kenny Freeman,  and Steve Corbett.

When I got my job with ENSCO in Florida, we started to play games at lunch on Fridays. First, we were going to the Eau Gallie Civic Center, and after our office moved to Suntree, we would play at the outdoor court at Spyglass field. When ENSCO built the current office on Wickham Road, our boss Al Siegel made sure we got our own court at the new facility out in the parking lot. It was a full court with permanent baskets.

After graduating from Florida Tech, a friend, Lois Zabor, who worked at the athletic department convinced me to get the sports season pass for all Florida Tech athletics. The basketball games were always fun, both Men & Women, and there was pizza for the pass holders at halftime. One of the other regulars at the games was Andy Seminick. He was one of the Whiz Kids, a nickname for the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies. He played catcher and had a world series ring.

My sister moved to Florida after my dad had died back in 1991, she wanted to be closer to mom. For some reason, she became a fan of the Orlando Magic. In 95/96 I went to three games with her and we did two more in 96/97. In 97/98 season, a group of us from ENSCO became season ticket holders. My friend and coworker Jamie Oldham got on a waiting list earlier when Shaq and Penny Hardaway were all the rage. It took four years to finally get invited to purchase season tickets, and she wanted me to do it in my name. I did, and I only stopped being  a holder after over 20 years, the last season being 2018/19.

I got to see Shaq play for Orlando and then with other teams including Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and in the the photo from 2006, the Miami Heat. Here he is in a tipoff with Dwight Howard. Duane Wade is on the left.

In all those years I got to see 228 professional games: 11 Preseason, 203 Regular season, and 14 Postseason Playoff games, including the Final Game 5 where the Lakers beat the Magic 99-86 to clinch the NBA Championship. All the games I have seen have been in Orlando at either the Orlando Arena (aka O-rena, TD Waterhouse, Amway Arena) and the current Amway Center on Church Street where I saw 81 games. Teams I have seen play in regular season are:

As a season ticket holder, there were perks. And some crossover. One year the General Manager gave a talk at Florida Tech for season ticket holders in Brevard County where I live. We heard a great speech from the GM and the Athletic Director from FIT. Both the local Men's and Women's teams were introduced and the Florida Tech Panthers cheerleaders and mascots intermingled with the Magic cheerleaders and Stuff, the Magic dragon mascot.

Another perk were the Meet & Greet parties where you got to meet the players and maybe get autographs. Usually it was different venues but one year it was held at the Amway Arena (2006). That year I was able to get every player's signature as well as the coaches. They had tables sent up throughout the arena, this one had Grant Hill and Pat Garrity.

I also got this picture of Grant Hill standing next to Coach Brian Hill.

In 2009, Grant Hill was playing with the Phoenix Suns. Here he is at the pregame meeting with referees, shaking hands with Dwight Howard. Steve Nash, a potential Hall of Famer, is in the front. I think he now coaches the Brooklyn Nets.

And also, Shaq was on that same Phoenix team. Fans loved to boo him every time he touched the ball.

In 2011, I got to see Lebron James do his pregame ritual of throwing chalk. He had moved from Cleveland to Miami...

The Heat had James, Wade and Bosh, all here waiting for the opening tip-off.

Another perk that happened twice was that Orlando hosted early rounds of the NCAA March Madness. As a season ticket holder, I had a quick in to the NCAA site for purchasing tickets. The first time in 2014 my seats were in the loge area where we had chairs with wheels, our own TV (watching NASCAR in photo), our own condiments, and a button to call a server if we needed food or drinks. The good life...

For each year there were six games included, four in the first round and two in the second. In 2014, I went to all six games. In 2017 I only went to first half of the first round (two games) with my brother Tom. For the second half I delivered the tickets to my cousin Jason and his friend so they could see Florida State play. The second round was on St Patrick's day so I took Tom to Meg O'Malley's for their party. Good choice.

These are the teams I saw play at March Madness...(Yep, that is the Albany Great Danes)...

The jumbotron for the second game with Tom. The first game was Virginia and UNC Wilmington.

The view from our seats, located on floor level in the end corner. You can see the Gator mascot and cheerleaders at the other end of the court.

Another perk started in 1999 and lasted until 2002. That would be the WNBA team called the Orlando Miracle. As a Magic season ticket holder, I had first chance so I purchased four. I saw a total of 36 games...

My seats were right behind the home team, here is a picture of me with my Miracle shirt.

A perk of these seats is we could use the bar and dining area under the seats, entering the tunnel where the players enter. It was very exclusive and would have been a good perk for the Magic too. At one game, I ran into Magic starting guard Darrell Armstrong in the tunnel. I always thought he was a small guard but as you can see in the photo, he was taller than me.

I enjoyed taking my Mom and sister to the games. Quite a few of my friends went with me. But before the third season my Mom died and we kind of lost interest in the games. The team moved to Connecticut and play at the Mohegan Sun.

One year we got to get out pictures taken with Tracy McGrady. He makes me look fat... Ha ha.

One year before a game a few days before Christmas I got my photo taken with one of the Magic Dancers. This was with my phone and taken by another dancer. Her name is Nicole Heck and I worked with her mom at ENSCO. I actually had met her when she was about 14 and introduced myself. She was kind and said she remembered me but I did hear from her mom later saying she had seen me at the game. She makes me look fat. Ha ha.

One time the meet and great was at a mall in the Orlando area. They had different events set up including playing pool with the coaches. Yes, that is me playing pool with Coach Doc Rivers, who was the head coach at the time. My nephew Jared and his wife Sarah were with me. Doc makes me look fat. Ha ha. 

Well, that was 272 basketball games I have seen. Probably a lot more than your average person, and it was number three in my sports list. My final picture was taken from my seats in the Amway Center. My nephew Brandon went to most of the games with me. I gave them up because the drive over and back was getting to me. Anyway, COVID hit and the first season I did not have tickets was canceled. 

That jumbotron makes me look fat.