RonG
All for one
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2008
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- 7,562
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I had been wanting to make summer league for some time, I have an 18 year-old cousin who in the last 18 months fell in love with basketball. I'm really close with his mom, my cousin. The kid had a terrible dad, and I have done my best to be a positive male role model in his life. He finally started letting me in a few years ago after his dad was killed by the police during a hostage situation. That's the back story, its important for context.
This kid has been withdrawn for years, the only way I was able to reach him was discussing hoops. So I was giving him shit about being a celtics fan during the finals he mentioned the summer league this year. So I made it happen, planned a trip to Vegas for him and I so we could experience summer league together. Do to some other travel commitments we were only able to go the Friday and Saturday.
I am a fanatic by definition. I don't support any other teams, I enjoy watching other teams but I am a Cavs fan first and foremost. My little (6'5 cousin) is a celtics fan but in actuality he is one of those fans that is fans of multiple teams. So I am wearing my cavs gear surrounded by fans from all over the league. He is wearing his Tatum jersey I bought him for his birthday, and we are getting ready to enjoy the NBA summer league experience when we notice we are surrounded by GS and Laker fans, I already warned him that there will probably be some shit talking. To my amazement there was zero. Everytime I have been to games where the cavs are visitors I have had to put up with the shit talking ect you all know what I am talking about. Anyways the next two days were a completely different NBA and Fan experience for me. Instead of shit talking there was a lot of great basketball discussion with the fans around us at all the games. We discussed the CBA and NBA changes we liked, disliked and of course about some of the talent we were seeing. It was seriously one of the best basketball experiences I have had in my lifetime and I got to share it with my little cousin.
The arena was easy to get in and out, we paid for General Admission and we sat as close as 5 rows off the floor for several games. The fans of all the teams were cool, no bullshit no rudeness and the fan experience was top notch. You could exit and re-enter the facility without any issues. The food and drinks were good. They had autograph sessions after each game. Taxies or ride share to and from was pretty easy as well.
One of the best parts for me was learning to appreciate other fans in a non adversarial way, was truly a surprise for me. The absolute best was watching my cousin and seeing how happy he was, it takes a lot to get a smile out of him some days and he smiled for 2 days straight.
We already made plans to go next year, but we will be going the first week, he got a real kick out of seeing NBA stars and we both knew the first week would be the best week for him to do that.
So if you have been on the fence about the summer league, Id encourage you to go. The TV version is terrible in comparison.
This kid has been withdrawn for years, the only way I was able to reach him was discussing hoops. So I was giving him shit about being a celtics fan during the finals he mentioned the summer league this year. So I made it happen, planned a trip to Vegas for him and I so we could experience summer league together. Do to some other travel commitments we were only able to go the Friday and Saturday.
I am a fanatic by definition. I don't support any other teams, I enjoy watching other teams but I am a Cavs fan first and foremost. My little (6'5 cousin) is a celtics fan but in actuality he is one of those fans that is fans of multiple teams. So I am wearing my cavs gear surrounded by fans from all over the league. He is wearing his Tatum jersey I bought him for his birthday, and we are getting ready to enjoy the NBA summer league experience when we notice we are surrounded by GS and Laker fans, I already warned him that there will probably be some shit talking. To my amazement there was zero. Everytime I have been to games where the cavs are visitors I have had to put up with the shit talking ect you all know what I am talking about. Anyways the next two days were a completely different NBA and Fan experience for me. Instead of shit talking there was a lot of great basketball discussion with the fans around us at all the games. We discussed the CBA and NBA changes we liked, disliked and of course about some of the talent we were seeing. It was seriously one of the best basketball experiences I have had in my lifetime and I got to share it with my little cousin.
The arena was easy to get in and out, we paid for General Admission and we sat as close as 5 rows off the floor for several games. The fans of all the teams were cool, no bullshit no rudeness and the fan experience was top notch. You could exit and re-enter the facility without any issues. The food and drinks were good. They had autograph sessions after each game. Taxies or ride share to and from was pretty easy as well.
One of the best parts for me was learning to appreciate other fans in a non adversarial way, was truly a surprise for me. The absolute best was watching my cousin and seeing how happy he was, it takes a lot to get a smile out of him some days and he smiled for 2 days straight.
We already made plans to go next year, but we will be going the first week, he got a real kick out of seeing NBA stars and we both knew the first week would be the best week for him to do that.
So if you have been on the fence about the summer league, Id encourage you to go. The TV version is terrible in comparison.