We are leaving for Austin/ San Antonio tomorrow and will only be back on sunday. I am so excited about going on another road trip.
We've already made up a list of places to go/ things to see like the Fossil Rim Park, Fredericksburg, and the Alamo. And, we'll be spending an entire day on Friday at the 2 outlet malls. :) That is the one of the best parts about Thanksgiving-- lots of sale going on. That and the fact that it is a national holiday, so Yifan doesn't have to go to work. This is the ONLY holiday that gives everyone ( well, almost everyone) 2 days of holidays ( ie Thursday and Friday) and so with the weekend, it makes this the longest break for everyone in the entire year ! ( of course, assuming you don't go on leave during other PH) The only major setback of Thanksgiving is that virtually every single restaurant will be closed on Thursday-- from fast food restaurants all the way to the high-end restaurants. Eating out will prove to be a very big problem.
I had half a mind to visit Houston too, but a friend who lives there advised us against it, and told us that there is nothing much there, and that it'll only be a waste of time. Incidentally, we may be meeting this same friend at the mall. Hehhe. Oh, and gas prices have fallen... so that's good news too. The cheapest regular was $1.98 per gallon last night. Hopefully the added traffic over the Thanksgiving weekend wouldn't push the prices back up.
*****
Last night was amazing. We were at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas to watch the NBA LIVE between Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets.
That's the AA Center where the NBA game was played. It's a huge place, and I understand that ice hockey matches are played there as well.
Lots of parking space available that were very spread-out, but at the same time within walking distance from the Center, so there were no worries of traffic jams after the match, like what we have at the Kalland Stadium after the National Day Parade.
Yifan with his newly- collected tickets at the North Gate ticket booths.( Look at the smile on his face. He was soo excited, he couldn't stop smiling in the car as we were looking for a parking space) We had purchased the tickets online more than a week ago, but the tickets did not arrive in the mail like they were supposed to, so we had to pick it up only on the day of the match.
Others queued to purchase tickets on the spot. There were some Black people on the streets asking for tickets to resell on the black market too. ( no pun intended) After the game, some of these same people were holding paper cups begging for money.
Desperately trying to finish up the Hooters buffalo wings we had tabao-ed earlier on.
The game was set for 7.30pm, and I thought it'd be better to bring some food in, since most likely i'll get hungry before the entire game ends, and buying food there would be expensive. We had almost made it in, when they had security checks and electronic scans, and the policewoman informed us that no food and drinks were allowed to be brought into the Center.
So we stood outside, ate the wings, finished up a bottle of water, and a can of Coke. Minutes before, I had asked Yifan if he wanted to bring his one -litre water bottle into the Center. Think how much we would have to drink if he did!!!
Once you get in, there were stalls selling drinks and food. Of course, they don't come cheap. A portion of nachos cost $7 !!!
More of that later.
But first, let me describe as best I can what I saw outside the building. There were lots and lots of people. Policemen had to be on-site to direct traffic.
Young people dressed like they were going clubbing. The girls were in heels, sparkly tops, and heavily made up faces. The guys were in their usual " clubbing attire"-- long-sleeved shirts that were not tucked in. And most were in smart jackets and coats.
Me? I was in an oversized pullover, courtesy of Yifan, cos my light cardigan wasn't enough for the chilly November night. <>
Needless to say, I looked totally un-glam.
** mental note to myself: pack some much nicer clothes for the upcoming road trip just in case we do hang out at the local bars **
Some of the die-hard fans were in basketball jersies. Very nice. I even wanted to get one for myself, but i thought it was too expensive-- $37.99 for a top.
The STADIUM:
This is when the game had not yet started. Lights were turned down, but just look at the size of it all.Wooh.
This was during the break before the 3rd quarter began.
The man was "riding" on the circle, and doing stunts like going round and round nonstop, sometimes without his hands!!!
After the end of every quarter, there were games that spectators could either take part in, or they had the cheerleaders out to entertain the crowd.
During one of the breaks, the announcer informed that Mark Cuban, the owner of Dallas Mavericks, had prior to the game, stuck a $100 bill on the underside of one the seats. Some lucky guy found it. Darn.
The men in red on the right-hand side of the court, aka the Houston Rockets.
They were practising just before the start of the 3rd quarter.
Now, because we were in Dallas, nearly everyone was there for the Mavericks.
There were cheers and loud clapping each time one of the Mavs players scored. Obviously all Mavs fans.
Yifan and I cheered silently and quietly to ourselves when the Rockets scored. We didn't want to risk having a can of coke thrown on our heads. hahha.
This is a zoomed-out picture of the entire place from our seats. As you can tell, we were seated very very high up, and pretty far from the court. The seats right below cost more than $1000 each, and had already been taken up long ago.
Initially, i was worried that we would be seated too far that I wouldnt be able to make out anything, and would have to depend on the huge tv screen in the top middle.
It turned out that our view was great. We were seated more or less to the center of the court, so we didnt have to turn our heads each time the ball went to the other half of the court, and neither were we blocked by the posts.
In fact, everything was so clear that i could even read the players' numbers on the back of their jersies.
The area where we were seated had LOTS of asians. When we were outside getting the tickets, I had already noticed that there were quite a number of mostly-young asians. I think they're students. But once inside, i realised that there were a lot more of them. And not just students. There were asian familes, and asian couples.
Just behind us, there was a 3- generation Japanese family. Right next to me was a Chinese couple. Another chinese couple on their other side. More chinese all around us. Indians too. The chinese woman next to me kept talking nonstop throughout the entire game. I have no idea what she was talking about, cos they spoke in some chinese dialects, but it sure was very irritating.. i keep hearing " yao ming blah blah blah". Sian, but typical of the mainlanders.
If you look carefully, you can actually see Yao Ming in this picture. See the second red-man from the left? That's him. Yifan is always complaining that Yao Ming is lousy, he gets pushed around by other players, etc etc, but i think he secretly is a fan. To prove my point: yifan is not very interested to watch the game on tv if Yao Ming is not playing. hahah.
Those are the Dallas cheerleaders.
It's a little too small to read it, but the final score is: 102 to 93. Mavericks won!! :(
Finally a chance to take some pictures after the game ended.
The crowd dispersed very quickly. In fact, 5 minutes before the game ended, people were already leaving. I think they were worried that there'd be a traffic jam if they stayed till the end of it.
At the end of the game, an announcement was made to tell everyone that in celebration of Mavericks' win, Taco Bueno was giving out free buenos.
We were both feeling a little hungry by then, but neither of us bothered to take a closer look at the Taco Bueno coupon that was given out on our way out. Wasted!!
A few more shots before we leave:
A group of Yao Ming supporters with the China flag. heheh.
A somewhat deserted stadium.
You wouldn't have guessed that just minutes ago, the place was packed. What's left are just a couple of officials tying up the loose ends and cleaners clearing up the mess left behind by the fans.
Vertical Leap.
Kids were trying to jump as high as they can.
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So that's my first ever experience with watching an NBA game.
*****
Lots to do tonight:--
Watch LOST, The Invasion, yesterday's My Name Is Earl, The Biggest Loser and The Amazing Race.
Pack my bags for the road trip.
:D
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