Bulls Vs Wizards @ United Centre, Chicago

Another check off my to-do list. I finally got to watch an NBA game live when I travelled to the united centre to watch the Chicago Bulls take on the struggling Washington Wizards. I was a bit skeptic about the view from the $20 ticket stand, but thought I could case the joint for now and buy a better ticket for a better game later. As luck would have it, I had to leave for the 19:30 game at 17:30 because that was the only time trains were available (US public transport sucks). So I ended up reaching the Arena an hour before the start, which turned out to be a good thing. Unlike football stadiums in the UK, there’s no grand façade and a gradual building of anticipation which climaxes into the ground. You enter the stadium, take a couple of steps, distracted, whilst gazing at the pretty crowd, and you’re into the stands looking into the most glitzy indoor stadium you’ve ever seen. Having reached early, and not being challenged by the stewards (obviously I looked like someone who belonged J), I could get up really close to the court, and was asked to produce my ticket only when I tried venturing onto the court (it was worth a shot). The next hour I spent walking all around the stands, taking pictures, drinking beer, scouting the bench warmers doing their drills, mentally commending Drew Gooden for being the only Bulls player working on his moves and leering at the size-zero cheerleaders – you cannot appreciate size zero till you see it up close, I could probably have wrapped my hands around each lissome figure twice, and how I wish I could!

Anyway, before this becomes a tale of my wildest fantasies (something else on my checklist by the way), getting back to basketball, I have to say that the entire time I had the widest grin this side of the suez. It only started to wane midway through the third quarter when the Wizards started playing ridiculously stupid basketball – on both ends of the court.

I decided to chance my luck by sticking around the $100 ticket stand and took a seat towards one of the corners, hoping that the poor view would discourage the ticket holders from coming, which for a while it did. So for the next 1 ½ hour I enjoyed the luxury of an ‘as-close-to-the-court-that-an-NBA-fan-could-hope-for’ seat watching the pre-game build up, the ridiculously extravagant pyrotechniques, the player introductions (I just love the bulls tune), a lot of unnecessary distractions from ‘Benny the Bull’ and finally the game. I must admit though, I was expecting the game and players to be much quicker than it was played out. What I did appreciate was the physicality of the game, especially inside the paint. There’s so much shoving, banging and slapping going on, which you can’t make out on the telly, that an average player could just not survive – and this is not even the elite players that I’m talking about. It’s Gooden, Gray, McGee and Brown!!!. The game started out with JaVale McGee making 3 almighty rejections in the first 50 seconds of the game. Boy, the kids got elevation. Unfortunately, he would probably have rated F for defence in Mr Rosen’s book because he was more interested in blocking shots than playing defence. It was a great start to the game though.
A few other players worth mentioning – Caron Butler’s smooth fadeaway jumpers, Antwan Jamison’s unselfish play, Luol deng’s awkward yet effective drives to the hoop. All in all, both teams shot pretty well, so it was quite an entertaining game. I simply hated Ben Gordan, although he had a good game. He was selfish, over dribbled and forced too many shots (which went in, to his credit). But the player I was most interested in watching was Derrek Rose. He IS the real deal! He’s quick, smart, unselfish, got a great handle, a fairly accurate jumper and his hang time is a thing of beauty. Definitely a super star in the making – if only he could get himself a better cast of players around him.

Anyway midway through the third quarter I finally got busted. The idiot ticket holder finally decided to show up and I had to ‘evacuate the stands’. It was all worth it though as I promptly slipped into the stands, a level above, and got an even better view of the proceedings. All in all a great day and goes into the archives of the Sundaresan gallaries.

Photos Link: ttp://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ravi.tw183dd/ChicagoBullsVsWashingtonWizards#