My overpriced credit card comes with various perks that I wouldn’t otherwise use, but one of these was StubHub credit of $300 per year. Nicole is a big fan of the Golden State Warriors basketball team and has been throughout most of the time she has resided in Los Angeles. Being a big fan of Nicole for most of the time she’s lived here, I got us some tickets to check out their game versus the LA Clippers. For those not in the know, Golden State is San Francisco (or the bay area’s) NBA team. Coached by former Chicago Bull Steve Kerr, and starring Steph Curry, they emerged from obscurity to become one of the most entertaining teams in modern basketball by completely changing the game.
That may all sound dramatic, but it is true. Basketball prior to Steph Curry and the Warriors was a lot of two-point shots with the occasional three. Steph Curry and former teammate Klay Thompson’s barrage of three point shots led the Warriors to multiple championships. Many former NBA players found this style of play to be insulting, but it’s basic math isn’t it? 3 > 2. As long as they go in, it’s a pretty solid game strategy. Anyway, now you have the background. First we had to get to the new-ish Intuit dome in Inglewood.
The average parking lot was around $50 and some of those simply entailed parking in someone’s driveway in the neighborhood. Rather than do that, we elected to take our first Waymo, the autonomous cars that have faced a bit of ridicule for getting confused in San Francisco and some parts of Los Angeles. But at $18 and no need to tip (because no driver), the price was right. A Waymo arrived shortly after Nicole sent for it and we were soon on our way — not entirely sure what to expect.
None of this will probably age well, but for now it was a bit of a novelty for us. It did seem to struggle at times, hesitant to make turns if a pedestrian was on a sidewalk, and other times leaving its blinker on for blocks as if it was being driven by some kind of retiree. With those elements aside, it was actually kind of a chill experience. No need for awkward small talk with a driver and we could choose our music and temperature control as well.
We were dropped off on a back street, a few blocks from the arena — our Waymo’s decision apparently. About four other Waymos decided on the same random street, something that probably annoys the Inglewood residents. It was a tech kind of day as we went from our autonomous car to the arena which didn’t scan tickets, but rather used facial recognition to identify us and grant us entry. It was nice to not have someone grope at our phones, but also a bit disconcerting at the same time.
Our seats were on the terrace. I don’t have the kind of coin to get us courtside. I hope Nicole was okay with the somewhat distant view. The seats filled up with what appeared to be more Warriors fans than the home team Clippers. We were very annoyed by both sets of fans nonetheless. Having previously only really attended women’s soccer matches, the crowd is very different at men’s professional sports. They’re very loud, obnoxious, and intense and not nearly lesbian enough for my taste.
The game commenced and my little point-and-shoot did a respectable job in getting closer to the action. It was a bit of an anemic start with both teams failing to make their shots. Actually, this kind of continued the entire game. Many potentially game-changing calls were blown resulting in a bit of controversy that ultimately ended in Steve Kerr being thrown out of the game. He wasn’t wrong, though. The refs later admitted to making mistakes. There’s also been some recent betting scandals that haven’t quieted rumors that many NBA games are fixed.
The Warriors trailed for the majority of the game and nearly won it in the final seconds, but missed their last shot. It was all a bit stressful, and for me didn’t have that much to do with who was winning. The crowd was just so rowdy and passionate. I’m sitting there thinking it’s just a game, but the man next to me was screaming at the top of his lungs like someone just ate his taquitos without asking. When the t-shirts were being launched, he jumped to his feet and I was sure I’d be elbowed in the face before I would have a chance of catching one. There was far too much toxic masculinity in the crowd for my liking.
All in all, it was cool to see some of these iconic players in person, but we were both a little bit overstimulated by of the crowd. I told Nicole that I think I need to stick to women’s sports, where women meet other women at the game, have a nice conversation, and end up going home with each other by the end of the night. That’s the kind of fair play I can get behind. After exiting the arena en masse, we got another Waymo to ferry us back to our sanctuary in Playa del Rey. While I hope Nicole had a good time at the game, I think my favorite part was the Waymo.
passports & pepto bismol 