winning

again last night we found ourselves at the arena (no this isn't turning into an nba blog) courtesy of some last minute tickets that found their way into our hands. i was a little leery about putting the heartstrings out there again to get tugged on by the local team. we didn't dominate like we had through 3 quarters monday night against memphis. and as i settled in to watch the up and down, back and forth tilt, where neither team really broke away i attempted to remain neutral.
but of course as the final minute ticked down, with our team holding on to a two 3 pointer lead, it was nervous time. fortunately the guys buckled down and held off the blazers to win it by 8. and later as we were on our way out and back home, somebody asked me where the visiting team would go from here. i explained that after the obligation of press conferences and clean up they would be on a plane out of our town and on to the next stop.
and as i pondered this fact and the reality of the nba as this traveling circus, i thought about what that must mean to so many other fans. fans in those one horse sport towns like memphis, oklahoma city, portland and sacramento. for them the arena is an ever changing window display of the out of town stars on parade. kids wait all year to see their heroes come into town and then find themselves in a quandary as to whether to root for kobe or not. it is however, always good to be the home team.