Day 35: NBA IN UK

(Also, the first NBA game I've attended in more than a decade)


Vince Carter lookin' British.


The O2 Arena lookin' snazzy.

LONDON - I made it to the O2 Arena for the Heat/Nets preaseason game with one out of two contacts. Not bad! I was covering the game for the Palm Beach Post. Even with perfect vision in one eye, I still couldn't find my seat. The NBA had forgot to provide me with one. Once that problem was solved, awesome times ensued.

The New Jersey Nets won 94-92 in front of 16,500 fans, but as you'll see below not even NBA commissioner David Stern cared too much about that. The fans did get into the game after the Heat rallied from a 19-point deficit, but for awhile all they cheered for was fan-favorite Dwyane Wade, crazy dunks and the Heat dancers. Nevertheless, I'd say the night was a success.

Here's what went down. In order of most exciting to least exciting.

-JAY-Z USED MY PEN!

No I didn't ask for his autograph. Even in the presence of Hova, I had to maintain a semblance of professionalism. Even better, I was being a Good Samaritan. Some kids next to where I was seated asked if I had a pen. I gave them one. Two minutes later, I look to my right and Jay-Z is next to me - signing an autograph with my ex-pen. It was the only autograph he signed. I kinda wanted my pen back.

Jay-Z* received a huge ovation when shown on the big screen during the game. With the exception of possibly Wade (thanks to his gold medal in Beijing), Jay-Z was probably the only celeb there who's a megastar in both the United States and Europe. Beyonce showed up, too.

-Other celebs ranged from ex-NBA stars like Darrell Dawkins and Kenny Smith to football (soccer) star Darren Bent to this albino dude from Big Brother UK. Also, the Brits love Phillips Idowu, a Dennis Rodman doppelganger who won the Olympic silver medal in the triple jump* for Great Britain in Beijing.

-This is probably the first sporting event I've been to that involved a Florida team, but did not involve fans wearing jorts.* Instead, the British made basketball jerseys look sleek. Some Englishmen paired jerseys with well-fitted jeans and a faux hawk. The most common jerseys were D-Wade and Vin-sanity. Also, England's Luol Deng. But there was one guy with dreads who sported an Arvydas Sabonis jersey. Yes, the Lithuanian fans were out in full force Sunday.

-The media food presented England with a chance to disprove American stereotypes - or reinforce them. Alas there was no fish n' chips. There was this gross looking chicken in sauce that tasted pretty damn good. Some rice. Some beef. Some strawberry dessert. And finally, the most loved food in all of Britain - the jacket potato. Seriously, every food establishment in London offers jacket potatoes and/or sweet corn. Even Subway here offers sweet corn instead of banana peppers. It's unfortunate since banana peppers > sweet corn.

-I attended a press conference before the game with Stern. The comish was his usual gruff, non-nonsense self while talking about how Europe is screwing up his plans for basketball to take over the world. He also ripped on London for its perceived plans during the 2012 summer olympics to host every round of basketball except the semifinals and finals (which will be in the O2) in outdated venues.

His straight talk is refreshing, and the reason I respect him more than any of the other major league commissioners (although Goodell should surpass him soon). Still, Stern did have one awesome flub when he referred to the Nets as the New Jersey Jets. Granted, it's forgivable since the Jets had just kicked off against the Bengals. And what's more exciting: Brett Favre or the NBA preseason?

-After the game I attended press conferences with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Wade, Michael Beasley, Carter and Nets head coach Lawrence Frank. The only newspaper that could afford to send a reporter overseas was the Miami Herald. It's sad because five years ago this would've been a glorious road trip for any NBA beat writer. But the newspaper industry's loss was my gain (although not in the long run).

Here's my story. It got chopped up a bit in editing (ahh, my game coverage is so rusty), but hey, London dateline. That's worth something.

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Foot notes

*Although roommate Taylor wonders: is Jay-Z called Jay-Zed in the UK? (and whether 50 Cent is 50 Pence?) The British pronounce their Z's zed not zee. I was caught off-guard by this for a little bit since I always thought of zed as Lord Zedd. The most awesomest Power Rangers villain ever.

*On the other hand, I didn't even realize the triple jump was a sport. But it is. Apparently, one where you jump. Likely three times.

*Apparently, auto racing is pretty big in the UK, which makes me wonder do the Brits allow themselves to dress anything like NASCAR fans in America. Also, I cant decide if this is funny.