Wow. Alright, let me just get the only bad part of the our Opening Night visit to Conseco Field House for the Pacers game out of the way…Tyler Hansbrough (the reason we got the tickets) did not dress. Well, he was dressed, but it was a suit and dress shoes. His bad shin is “this close” to being ready to play. While that was a bit of a buzz kill, it did not put a damper on a great, great night for “the boy” and I. I couldn’t even make this up, check this out….
1. He got on the jumbotron (pictured above with me beside him taking the picture).
2. He got a ball when they were throwing them out during a time out
3. He got another pacer jersey when they were throwing them out during a different time out.
4. He got sat on by the mascot
5. NBA Legend Larry Bird was in the house…and my friend Jeff pointed out that we had better seats!
The Pacers didn’t bring home the victory, but man that was a lot of fun. We got there just in time for tip off and were sitting right behind the cameramen on the baseline the entire game. At one point, Jermaine O’Neal came right at us for a loose ball. He landed in the empty seat beside me but did step on my camera in the process. No harm done though. He even said “you okay”?
Could you imagine explaining that warranty claim? “See I was sitting in the front row at this NBA game and a player stepped on it….” Right…
Anyway, “The Boy” was star struck at Dwayne Wade, Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, Danny Granger and, of course, Larry Bird. You can actually see us on the game highlights on NBA.com. The best views are at the :43, 1:36 and 1:47 marks. We’re by the “I” in Indiana on the baseline. The video is (HERE). It was definitely a night we will remember. We’ve got 2 more dates circled on our Pacers calendar right now. November 20th and January 29th. Both games are against the Cavs. More to come on that.
Here are just a few of the many, many pictures I took.
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AARON CONRAD 