The NBA Draft

Nothing gets me more excited than a sports draft.  Whether it's fantasy sports, NFL, or NBA, it doesn't matter... I sometimes even read the results of the MLB, NHL, and *gasp* WNBA drafts.  I don't know what it is.  Does it go back to my schoolyard days of getting picked for dodgeball or kickball teams?  Is it because it has all of the strategy of a good game of risk or carcassone?  Or is it because that day can alter the trajectory of a franchise for years to come?  What if the Trailblazers pick Michael Jordan instead of Sam Bowie?  What is the 49ers picked Aaron Rodgers instead of Alex Smith in 2005?  The draft for better or worse is the building block for most teams to get better, without paying out huge contracts that only certain teams can afford.

We moved to NYC the same weekend of the NFL draft (which is my dream to attend).  And from that point I realized, I am in a city that is going to host a variety of sports events, but also my two favorite drafts; the NFL and NBA drafts.  So I researched when the tickets were going to be put on sale, and within 10 minutes of the date, I had 2 great tickets to the NBA draft.  I don't know how, but I convinced Spencer to fly a few thousand miles to go to the draft with me.  If there is someone you want to go to the draft with it's Spencer, as his usual party trick involves naming off the college and high school of any basketball player that comes to mind.

So we both leave work a little early (Spencer worked in the NY Gap Offices) and head to New Jersey for the draft.  It's usually at Madison Square Garden but because of construction it was moved to Prudential Center "The Rock" in Jersey.  We take the train there, barely making the first train out of the city due to a power outage that knocked the whole system offline for several hours.  We get in with about 30 minutes to spare so we walked in to check out the scene.

The Tag line, where amazing happens comes to mind.  It looked just as it does on TV and we got to experience it live!

I grabbed a quick seat behind the NBA tonight crew as they were prepping the pregame show for the draft.  It was great seeing the behind the scenes, almost like a scene out of "Sports Night".  I am still trying to find out a way to get a tour of the ESPN campus in Bristol.

These were our seats for the draft.  Within 50 feet we had every team represented.

I obviously was repping the GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS.  

I won't bore you with the rest of the details, because honestly if you cared you would know the results, and if you don't then there;s no need to list them out here.

The highlights I will say were that the Warriors picked who I wanted them to pick, Klay Thompson, out of Washington State (I don't know if that's a good thing), but I am happy about it now...

And when the Kicks picked everyone went nuts in a good way and bad.  We all knew what was coming... Boooos!!!