But now, it only feels like almost a week since I've been to a professional basketball game.
The Sacramento Kings were in town, playing the Washington Wizards last Wednesday evening.
My friend, who happens to be from Sacramento, got a group together to go watch. It would be fun, cheering and booing and trying desperately to grab a free t-shirt from the mascot or cheerleaders (I didn't get one. Sad face).
I told my coworkers Wednesday afternoon that I was going to this game. Their responses?
"Uh, you realize both of those teams have maybe a combined 10 wins in the season so far."
"Your seats better be amazing, for cheap. They're probably giving tickets away!"
"Have fun at the game tonight. I hope it's not terrible!"
But you know what? The game exceeded all their expectations. It was pretty fun. I'm happy going to anything where I can yell and cheer without earning weird glares from the people around me, and while I kept it pretty contained (because let's be honest, I have no stake in either team, really), I still had fun mumbling to myself and blasting the refs for calls on plays I didn't even watch. I was among friends, in pretty good seats, with some die-hard Wizards fans a few rows behind me - turns out, Wizards fans are very self-deprecating and very aware of their team's troubles. I'm pretty sure they were bad-mouthing their players more than the Kings' players or the refs. Made for interesting background commentary. I learned a lot about the players - which ones really can't shoot free throws (c'mon! They're FREE throws, you gotta get those! They're freeeeee!) and who likes to shoot from the halfcourt line...and on and on.
But we weren't at the game to study the problems of the Wizards, nor were we really there to cheer on the Kings - friend Jillian was probably the only legit Kings fan there, of all the people I knew at the game, she being from Sacramento.
We, and just about every Mormon in the DC area, were there for one player.
Jimmer T. Fredette.
Former standout BYU basketball star (of last year), now a rookie with the Kings.
We were surrounded by BYU fans, Mormons, and Utahns at the Verizon Center Wednesday night. Two guys across the aisle from us asked my friend's boyfriend if he went to BYU, since we were cheering Jimmer on, and he said yes. The guys then mentioned they went to University of Utah awhile back, and were there also cheering Jimmer on.
It seems Jimmer even transcends bitter rivalry lines (once you get out of the state of Utah...).
The Wizards fans were outnumbered that night, not necessarily by Kings fans - but by Jimmer fans.
So it was a good thing he played for part of the 1st half. At least we got to see him play for awhile. We saw him in the second half as well, but this was what we were watching:
We had pretty good seats, but I still had to get my camera zoomed in ridiculously close to get this beauty of a picture.
I'm actually not a Jimmer fanatic, but I watched all the games last year, when he was HUGE as a senior at BYU, and cheered him on, so I was happy to support him this game, in whatever capacity he was working. And I was surrounded by plenty of Jimmer fanatics, so it was easy to get sucked in.
And surprisingly, the Kings won! (Or not surprisingly, I guess, if you were a Wizards fan - they're pretty sure their team can lose any game if they put their mind to it.) We were all pretty sure it was from the 2nd quarter playing time of Jimmer Fredette. Though I also give much credit to #22, Isaiah Thomas, or "Little Man," as I affectionately call him. He's exactly my height (5 foot 9 and 1 quarter inches tall), but knows physics well enough to know how to just toss the ball with enough height and arc to get over a defender a foot taller. He's my favorite non-Jimmer Kings baller.
I forgot how much I enjoy going to basketball games. I either need to watch for when the Milwaukee Bucks come to town next (I just missed them this time - they played Tuesday), or I need to learn to like the Wizards (based on the lack of confidence in their abilities from their current fans, I don't see this happening). Either way, now that I know good seats are CHEAP, I hope I'll be making my way back there a little more often.
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