Gluttony: (noun)

As with the term 'junket' I felt as though I should look up the definition of the word 'gluttony', as I can see myself using it extensively for the next month and a half... So here it goes:

Gluttony: (noun) derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste

Now, I am not one to over-consume food, drink or wealth... Well... Not often... But one thing I do over-consume to the point of extravagance or waste is sports... And this is where I will begin this entry: 

Saturday

Saturday was my first day of attending sports for the trip.  A trip to see the Los Angeles Clippers play the Portland Trail-Blazers at the Staples Center.  I was keen for the game, but I was also really tired...

Late in the last post I touched on how Saturday started, and that was at 3 AM with a person knocking on our door offering blankets... This was how Saturday started, and I never really got back to sleep properly after that, which kind of meant that I was super tired for the day.

We woke up and showered and just hung out in our room prior to the game, we were only a 1km walk from the arena, and the game wasn't until 12:30 PM.  I was really unsure as to why it was 12:30 PM, but I didn't really think anything of it when we bought the tickets days earlier when we were in Australia.  So, we sat in our hotel room killing time and watching Major League starring Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes and Charlie Sheen... Alright times...

We then made our way to the arena and to get some breakfast last in the morning, leaving at about 11:30 AM.  Leaving the Historic Mayfair Hotel and walking down the direct way towards the arena saw us travel through some very, very seedy streets (to the point where I took off my watch and shoved it in my pocket to avoid drawing attention), but we found our way to the arena without incident and eventually entered the arena ready for the game.

Blazers @ Clippers

Entering Staples

*Not our seats*

View from our actual seats

Blazers-Clippers

Clipper team introduction

#32 Blake Griffin

About to tip off

Opening tip off

The game started very much in the favour of the Blazers, who lead out of the blocks and were up by as much as 10-12 points in the first quarter.  This was thanks to guys like Robin Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge, who were the leading scorers early on in the game for Portland.  The Blazers were shooting a very high percentage early in the game, and the Clippers were taking poor shots (I thought anyway) and were not really being that efficient in offence.

For expert analysis I spoke to my father, who quipped: "It'll be a matter of how much, the Blazers are hitting their 3 pointers and the Clippers are giving the ball away."

We paid $20 for our seats in the nosebleeds, this wasn't disappointing necessarily, but considering that the arena was half full at best it was frustrating that so many better seats were going begging... But you pay to play I guess... We tried to get our seats upgraded by using an upgrade Twitter competition, but I used the wrong hashtag...

Yes, I'm a Twitter novice... #wronghashtag

At half time we went for a walk around the upper deck of the Staples Center and found a McDonald's inside the arena... This shouldn't have been especially amazing, but for some reason I was astounded...

The Ds inside Staples

The second half turned to LA, and by 3 quarter time the Clippers were even... J.J. Redick was the principal guy keeping them in it, but Chris Paul and Blake Griffin also played their role in keeping them in the game...

Of Griffin it was noted by my father: "That number 32 looks injured"

Further adding of their performance in the second half: "They've turned around their shooting in the 3rd quarter... And #3 has single handedly scored 3 baskets in a row and brought the crowd back into it... All the momentum is going their way... You would have to say they've clearly outplayed them in the 3rd"

The Clippers took the lead early in the last quarter, and barring a late run from the Blazers held on to win and send the fans home happy.

Clippers on offence

Griffin & Lopez

Late time-out

State of play late in the game

After the game ended we exited and saw that the streets around Staples were beginning to be coloured in silver, black and white, and I twigged that the reason for the 12:30 PM start was because there was a Los Angeles Kings hockey game on that night...  We decided that it might be fun to go to this game as well, but also it would give us something to do in the evening (as our night was wide open)... We went to the Staples Box Office and they said that it would be $95 per person, and we said we would talk it out... Heading across the square we found the StubHub kiosk and bought two tickets for less than $95 total, so, our night was set.

Deciding that it might be smart to find a less seedy route to and from the hotel, especially considering we were going to be walking after dark we chose to take the two main roads, Figueroa Street, and 7th Street... This was markedly less worrying for us... We walked by a Denny's, and we walked by an Avis, which was good for our knowledge for the following day... We turned on to 7th Street and found a building built on the blood, sweat and tears of graduates, the EY building... And found a statue of a man, presumably so despondent with his work, that he had literally put his head through the wall... See below:

Ernst & Young has that effect on some people

We spent some time at the hotel, and then headed out to dinner at Denny's.  This wasn't too bad, I had some mac and cheese which wasn't as good as my mac and cheese, and had a steak.  After we left we had our least fun moment of the trip so far.

Worry moment of the day: (accosted by a black guy who didn't look that down and out 'not asking for money' but asking us to buy him and his girlfriend things)
Guy: Hey, I don't mean to come across all aggressive like, and I'm not asking for money, but can you guys take us inside and buy us some food
Dad: Sorry mate, I don't really want to give anyone money
Guy: Nah man, I come from a really bad neighbourhood and things are tough, like, I used to play football but I busted my leg and can't play anymore and just need a bit of help with some food, you know, because things are tough
Dad: I understand, but I'm telling you I don't want to give anyone any money
*Guy becomes a bit more aggressive, while his girlfriend just pats him on the back*
*Dad maintains that he doesn't want to give any money to anyone*
*Goes back and forth for another minute with the same things being said*
*Various other hockey fans just walk by and see all this going on*
Guy: Is it because I'm black?!?
Dad: No, it isn't, I just don't want to give you any money
Guy: Well you need to go in search of God, because there is something wrong in your heart

This was the most confronting and worrying moment we have had on our time away.  The guy picked us for some reason, but I can't for the life of me think what, and we had told him 'no' more than 4 times before he played the race card.  Now, without wanting to play the race card myself, if he had known our surname he may not have gone down that road, but not wanting to incite a riot we chose just to say 'no' again and leave.  The guy tried everything to get something out of us and when he couldn't he resorted to skin colour... It was a little bit disconcerting... And the irony is that we chose to walk down the main street with many people around to AVOID this exact situation from occurring... I guess you can't avoid these things sometimes... I'm sure it won't be the last time something like that happens in the next 4 & 1/2 months... To explain a bit further, the guy did not look like he needed help, he was well dressed (by random guy on the street standards), and his girlfriend certainly didn't look like she was short of eating... I guess he was always going to keep trying... Anyway, that happened...

After being accosted we walked the 2 blocks to Staples Center in a form of shock and disbelief.  Dad was annoyed by it all and I think we both were a bit surprised by the turn of events.

Canucks @ Kings

In our excitement of buying tickets to the hockey we actually didn't know who the Kings were playing... Turns out that they were playing the Vancouver Canucks, and on our walk to the arena we saw many blue, green and white Canucks jerseys, and the odd black, yellow and red old school jerseys... They seemed well supported... Though very much outnumbered...

View from our seats

I didn't consider that wearing the PAFC jumper with the V could be misinterpreted as a Vancouver shirt... Did have one person say 'g'day' though

Kings V Canucks

Laser show before the teams skated out

National Anthems

Opening Faceoff

As close to a brawl as we saw... Very disappointing

We got to see the arena set up for hockey and the game started... The early part of the game was open for both teams, and the sport is much easier to watch in person than it is on TV... My favourite part of the early stages was when the organ player played the Addam's Family theme and all the fans yelled "The Ducks Suck" at each interval... They really don't like Anaheim... It took a while for me to work out what was being said, but I laughed heartily when I finally worked it out...

As a game it was nowhere near as good as the basketball game we saw in the same building earlier in the day.  The score was 3-0 to the Kings by the first intermission, and was 5-0 late in the 3rd period before eventually the Canucks scored and took away the shut-out... Final Score LA 5 Vancouver 1

Kings win in a landslide

PAFC at Staples

We walked back to our hotel without incident and went to bed... Two games down in a day... Sports gluttony is on!

A final note for our Saturday, although, it will probably be classed as Sunday... At midnight our clock became an alarm clock and decided it wanted to wail loudly at us until Dad turned it off... Never, never, ever, ever take a nice hotel for granted!