Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Good Times

This past Monday night Anthony and I had an opportunity to do something really fun. We got to go to a Portland Trailblazers, basketball game. (insert shouts and hollers here)

Now I am not personally a big fan of the game. Heck, I'm not even a little fan of the game really, but considering it was time spent with my boy and the tickets were free, I was a fan for a night.

About two weeks ago I received a call from my sales rep where I get my flooring supplies thanking me for placing a rather large order. In addition to his thanks, he also said there was an envelope at the store with my name on it. In it were two tickets to the game against the Blazers and the Chicago Bulls, a parking pass and two passes to the Lexus Club. Way cool!!!

So Monday rolls around and Anthony was anxiously waiting for me to finish work. I knocked off a bit early and made it home by five. A quick shower and we were off to the Rose Garden. (the arena where the Blazers play) We made it up there just ahead of six o'clock, a full hour before tip off. I pulled into the parking garage, whipped out my handy dandy parking pass and we were in.

A couple of minutes later they opened the doors and we walked in to go find our seats. We laughed because when we walked in, we were at gate A7 and our tickets said to enter at A26. Figuring there must be fifty or so gates we started off towards the higher numbers. As we walked and walked and walked some more, we finally made it to A26. Just past it was A1. We really laughed when we realized we had almost completely circled the arena before making it to our gate. Had we have gone the other direction, we would have only had to walk a short distance to get there.

We couldn't believe what great seats we had. First level about twelve rows up from the floor right behind the Blazers bench. Not quite center court, but pretty darned close! (This pic is from our seats. No zooming in) We sat down for a bit and watched as the two teams did some warm-ups on the court.

We then decided to go see what the Lexus Club was all about, so we donned our wrist bands and headed up the steps to go find it. A very nice usher directed us to the escalator across the walkway from us. Once up there we were treated to a complimentary, all you can eat buffet. They had everything from prime rib to hot dogs available. We grabbed a plate full of goodies and a couple of sodas, then went on a quest for a table to sit at. That was a challenge, but we eventually found one. After filling our bellies we headed back to take in the game.

The game itself was a great one to watch. Lots of action and the occasional slam dunk to really get the crowd going. The Bulls took an early lead, but by half time it had evaporated and the Blazers were in command. They would not lose the lead again and would eventually go on to win by a score of 122 to 98.

To me the Blazers could have won by fifty points or lost by the same and it wouldn't have mattered one bit, because the smile on Anthony's face was absolutely priceless! Oh ya, I guess I had one on too.


Good times...

23 comments:

Ron said...

OMG...what a GREAT extra thank you from your sales rep!

Sounds and looks like you guys had an awesome time!

Yup, the last shot sums it up perfectly...good times!

Wishing you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, buddy!

Later gator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dana said...

*BIG GRIN*

Now that's the stuff memories are made of!

Happy Thanksgiving!

quilly said...

What a great father son day! Life doesn't get much better than that!

Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours!

Anonymous said...

Nothing better than a great father son outing :) Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family :)

Nessa said...

Wow. That's so great. A one on one with your son. You both look very happy.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate and a Happy Thursday just to celebrate.Thursday Thirteen

Roan said...

..and that's how the other half live! When I lived in Dallas, we were often invited to the choice seats at Ranger and Cowboy games. No comparison. There were waiters and real food. Now I'm relegated to the outfield seats and hot dogs...lol Looks like a great time!

Roan said...

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

buffalodick said...

Free food, free tickets, and time spent with your boy... Good memory you'll have forever!

Sandee said...

How fun. I'm glad you both had a great time.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. :)

Dianne said...

check out those2 handsome guys!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family

Jeff B said...

Ron- Those are the kind of thank yous I could get use to!

Dana- Those smiles were plastered on our goofy faces the whole time.

Quilly- So true. Those times are as good as I could ever ask for.

Thom- It was a great time to share.

Nessa- We were definitely happy campers.

BJ- I always wondered how the other half lived too. It was nice to get a taste of it, even if for only one night.

Buffalo- It brought back memories of going to baseball games with my parents many, many years ago.

Sandee- If you were to look up fun in the dictionary that night, you would have seen a picture of the two of us.

Dianne- Where? Bwahahaha Thanks!

Akelamalu said...

Sounds like you had a great time!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. :)

Anndi said...

How cool! I got tix to a hockey game a long time ago and took Chicklet. Wow! Was it ever fun. I'm glad you got to experience that with Anthony.

(Did that fancy schmancy club have banana muffins?)

Have a great Thanksgiving, darlin'!

Jeff B said...

Akelamalu- It was a blast. Thanks

Anndi- I've never been to a hockey game before. I'll bet that's a pretty lively venue. No banana muffins that I noticed :)

Susan at Stony River said...

What a fantastic photo, I love it!

But you do realise that I now have the theme from the TV show Good Times in my head for the rest of the night, don't you? Boy, THANKS!
:-P

Jeff B said...

Susan- All I can say is, "Dyn-O-mite!"

j said...

Y'all look so happy! I'm glad you had fun making memories.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mel said...

Awwwwwwww....what a GREAT memory for you and for him.
And what a very nice gift to be gifted.
Ty for gifting it on to us--those smiles warmed my heart!

(((( Jeff ))))

I do hope it was an awesome Thanksgiving for you and yours.

Anndi said...

You've never been to a hockey game? ACK! Tell you what, come North and I'll make sure you experience the lively goings on at a hockey game (and I'll bake some banana muffins.)

Schmoop said...

Not only good times...but the best of times. Great picture of you and Anthony, Jeff. Cheers!!

Jeff B said...

Jennifer- Thanksgiving was great. Lots of family around and more than enough food to feast on.

Mel- You're quite welcome. Finally, a re-gifting that actually works!

Anndi- That would be a blast. I'll be sure to bring the bananas for the muffins. Lord knows I'll have enough blackening up on the counter!

Matt- Right you are. Times spent with the boy don't get any better!

Desert Songbird said...

I love basketball, so an experience like this would have been doubly wonderful! How fabulous it was that you got to share this with your son. I hope you get many such precious times (fancy schmancy or not!).

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Taking your kid to a live sporting event is the best ...

Glad you and Anthony enjoyed