Way Up There Seats
"The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family." – Mother Teresa
Given that my wife is traveling with our son to Tokyo as he prepares for his study abroad experience, it is up to me to take on full parenthood responsibilities with our 16-year-old daughter, Helena, for about a week or so.
I am writing this only a couple of days into this role of single parenthood, so I am sure there is much more to happen soon.
The Spurs Game
I’ve been aware that one of my first responsibilities is to ensure our daughter is prepared for when the Antonian Dance Team performs in the pre-game between the Denver Nuggets and our San Antonio Spurs.
I came to realize there is much more to this requirement than I expected, such as the following …
First, I had to make sure to read all the instructions from the dance coach regarding the expectations for the evening. I got around to this a little late, so I had a busy few hours on the Saturday afternoon before the evening contest.
Given our dance team would perform before the game, everyone who wanted to watch them do their dance had to purchase a ticket for the game. While I did not appreciate this requirement, I suppose it makes “business sense” to the Spurs. I will tell you more about the tickets a little later.
There is an online waiver form that protects the Spurs organization from the participants suffering an injury. I completed the form in plenty of time, but given that Helena was riding to the game with the mother of a fellow dancer, I needed to text it to her.
There were several other minor tasks, but I think you get the picture.
The Seats
Helena and I both agreed that we would likely leave after her pre-game performance, so we decided to get the cheapest tickets possible … the nosebleed section!
The price for each seat was $34, but Ticketmaster will add their nice little processing fee, so we paid just about $80 for both seats. These same seats were going for nearly $70 each the day before, so my procrastination did help a bit here.
Before I forget, the arena parking was a hard $30.
For NBA standards, we did not do too bad, as we kept the total expense to about $110.
I’ve been to many Spurs games over the years, even dating back to when George Gervin led the team, so I have watched the Silver-and-Black from various sections of the arena.
However, I’ve never had seats where the wall was right behind me! Goodness!
In other words, these $34 seats were nearly at the ceiling of the Frost Bank Center!
Here’s another way to share where we sat … the Jumbotron was below us! That is nuts!
Back to Reality
Here’s the interesting part of this story … Helena and I decided to give the seats a try. It took us about 10 minutes to take the escalators and climb the steps, but we made it, somewhat slowly, as I am still in rehab from my knee replacement surgery.
As it turns out, we had a beautiful father-daughter experience, and we were both glad we stayed to cheer on our team.
We also observed that fans in the nosebleed section are even more enthusiastic about the actual game compared to those paying $300 per seat.
Sometimes I look at things like this and think … Will I ever forget this experience?
The answer is absolutely not!
I think Helena and I now have something in common that we can laugh about for many years … and something tells me that one day, she will say something like this to her kids …
“My dad and I once sat near the ceiling of a Spurs game … so stop complaining about your seats!”
Love it!
See you next week, my friends!
Inspiring Quotes
“It didn’t matter how big our house was; it mattered that there was love in it.” – Peter Buffett
"Family is not solely about blood. It's about who is willing to hold your hand when you need it the most." – Andy Cohen
Homework Inquiry
During the next week, here’s your homework inquiry: What family experience will you make this week?
I use this opportunity to share with you a unique story and a couple inspiring quotes. Oh ... as a professor at heart, you guessed it, I have a homework inquiry for you. This is a powerful question that might just trigger you to take action on something that really matters in your life. If you feel the Catalyst Newsletter brings benefit to you.