The Cauldron Spits Back
I love my wife. See, here I am checking my mail right before our wedding ceremony (j/k, I was turning the Blackberry off). But on some level, I will never forgive her, or anyone she's related to, for causing me to miss the game above. This was Gil, full-throttle, trying a one-man takedown against a Suns team that was running away with games by like twenty points. Except I was at her parents' house for a certain pagan festival where some dead guys dies again and comes back to life every year, so I didn't see it.
I rip off the scabs in the name of a contest to award one of you a FREE BROADBAND ACCOUNT, courtesy of the NBA itself. All you have to do is offer up a similar anecdote of a game you were forced to miss due to League Pass-denial, or one you watched and thought "thank heavens for League Pass." Do this in the comments section.
Actually, to be perfectly honest, I had Broadband at the time, but this was an NBA-TV game. And themarkpike actually sent me a VHS of the game after the fact. Still, watching that Gamecast on my laptop has to be one of the three or four most agonizing sports-related experiences of my life. Share you sadness, and your glory, and I will judge whose is most worthy.
Nationally and locally televised games are subject to blackout and are therefore not available via NBA LEAGUE PASS BROADBAND (regardless of whether team is home or away). This contest is for US participants only.
By entering the sweepstakes you agree to release Sponsor, the NBA Entities, FreeDarko and their respective affiliates and agencies from any and all liabilities for injuries, damages or losses of any kind to in connection with the sweepstakes, prize or any prize-related activity.
Labels: contests, league pass, television
posted by Bethlehem Shoals @ 11/05/2009 12:09:00 PM
47 comments
47 Comments:
I am a HUGE HUGE laker fan living in New York while finishing up law school. Not being able to watch the last two games (laker v. thunder lakers v. Rockets) has absolutely killed me. Two OT games, two games of Kobe going off, missing durant play, missing Artest v. Ariza all of if because my student loans dont allow me enough money to get league pass. haaarumpphhhh.
If it makes you feel any better, yours truly watched Bucks/Bulls and then Heat/Wiz into Kings/Hawks instead of either of those. I need Gasol back to really feel the Lakers again.
Actually, that should just make you more angry, I guess.
Actually, this is more of a "if only league pass mobile existed at the time" anecdote.
I was in Hong Kong at the time. Big anti-laker guy, and had to wake up early to watch games due to the time difference. It was 2004, Spurs v Lakers game 5. I was already late for work, but the game was getting intense...and Tim Duncan hit's the shot. It sent me into a frenzy, and I rushed to work to gloat to my friends (a Lakers fan) face. Only, because I had to leave early, I had no idea that 0.4 was put back on the clock, and had no idea that Derek Fisher would defy time and space and sink that miracle shot. It also gave me an egoectomy in front of my friend.
If only I had league pass I would have been watching that on the way to work in my phone, and possibly suffered an emotional breakdown on the train instead. Which I would have preferred.
I missed LeBron's amazing one man dismantling of the Pistons in the '07 playoffs. Game 5! (yep. this one: http://bit.ly/1VkWGK) Thanks to my then-girlfriend scheduling a move for 7:30 at night. She was crying and I was swearing as I carried a bookshelf up three flights of stairs and her stoned roommates stared blankly with mouths agape. We finished around 11 pm and the Western Conf 'offs were still going on and she assumed that any playoff game would do. Seriously, I know country songs that are happier than that notion.
#bummertown
I was on the worst flight of my life (stormy flight from Houston into Atlanta). Anticipating the worst, I turned on my cell so I could call my family. Almost immediately, 6 voicemail messages appeared. I listened to the first one and said "YES" a bit too loudly amidst all the shaking. So if NBA league pass broadband had existed in 2004, and I'd had broadband on that plane, and they'd let me keep my laptop powered on during turbulence, I would have seen Tracy McGrady score 13 points in 30 seconds.
At least neither of us watched the Knicks instead.
You guys are awesome dressers.
Did I really send you a VHS? This seems like something I'd do, considering my obsession with anachronistic technology and Gil.
That being said, I wish I had League Pass so that my VCR combo 13 inch TV can finally put its weary head to rest. Programming that thing was a pain and on-demand makes life much easier. Can we go back in time and find some HTS broadcasts of Manut Bol dropping 3's for the Bullets?
Just fresh from submitting my entry over at The Baseline (mine of the Michigan transplants in Chicago/"cocoa peanut butter spheres" variety) and I thought I'd give this a crack, too:
I thought it'd be wrong to make up a game for a game's sake when I had a whole week in mind. So here. I knew exactly what I wanted to write when I read the build-up... my roommates and I had taken up the NBA on their "$50 for the rest of the season" post All-Star Weekend offer.
It wasn't an exactly FD-romantic notion at the time but we had really wanted to hear our own George Blaha over the computer. Everything was winter terrible. The Midwest February had officially won and we thought a silver lining to everything gray might be hearing a familiar voice (with our not so familiar Pistons).
Anyways. What I don't remember is whether they won or not (I had to look it up just now... they did, in overtime). What I remember is switching over to Thunder/Hornets somewhere in the third. "Well, we have this league pass... what else should we watch?" None of us had ever seen Durant play that year. And the apartment got both very loud (CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?) and very quiet (we knew we were watching something special) at the same time. Chris Paul ended up winning the game on a layup... but wow. It was just incredible to watch and we all would have missed it except for League Pass.
My roommate throughout the rest of the season would complain that I liked "unactualized ideas colliding without meaning" (the Golden State Warriors, according to him) over "basketball played well" (the Spurs and Celtics were his examples). But that night... and then that week (both Thunder/Suns and Thunder/Warriors occurred over the span of a few days) was the best of both worlds.
I know I went Biblical towards the end in my Baseline entry, too - but the best I can do is that the feeling for those three games was something like the word made flesh. Watching an idea leap to life. That's the over-the-top to say and it isn't.
So right. If there's a subscription to be had, our apartment will be thrilled. And if not, well - it was fun having an excuse to write. Thanks again.
Courtside tix from a friend for Sixers/Knicks on November 18th ... and my darling wife decides to go into labor. I give up the tickets at the last minute, Sir Charles goes for a zillion (actually, 38, I think) and the Sixers win by two. But I have tix for the next night at MSG (not courtside, but decent)!! A few complications by that same darling wife (hemorraging! Jeezus, woman, tough it out, willya?!) and I miss the MSG game, too.
Nobody even thought of League Pass in those days, but I'm still traumatized. Had a vasectomy a week later, just to make sure it couldn't happen again.
File under "thank heavens for League Pass."
As a SoCal native and Lakers fan living in Denver, CO, on January 22, 2006 I became forever indebted to NBA League Pass. That is the day I watched Kobe drop ridiculous amounts of points on the Raptors in live action. Sure that season was otherwise a dud for my team, and that particular game probably didn't excite too many Lakers fans when they looked at the season's schedule beforehand, but the beauty of League Pass is that because I had the option to watch that game on a lazy Sunday evening in my apartment, I did watch that game...and history being made. If only the next-door neighbor girl who watched it with me on the couch could also have appreciated what she was witnessing. I still remember her disgust/annoyance as I gave play-by-play to my brother over the phone during most of the 4th quarter. My brother didn't have NBA League Pass, you see.
This one's a gimme. I have missed ever single game that Kevin Durant has ever played in the NBA.
99% of that is a function of the worldwide leader trying to make us forget that KD even exists, the other 1% is games getting squeezed out of the TV lineup at home by things like The Biggest Loser or The Vampire Diaries.
Obviously, League Pass solves both of these problems.
I've entered the contest although winning may mean the end of my marriage.
I was watching Game 5 of the '94 Finals when it was rudely interrupted by some sort of CHiPs highway safety video featuring a retired NFL player and a surfer. If I'd had some kind of NBA Broadband package, I would have been able to see the final Knicks win of the year.
I'm still angry.
This game is the exact reason that I would love to have league pass.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=281210007
Melo scores thirty in one quarter and all I see is his fantasy box score rolling up at a pace only approached on space shuttle launches. Now I will admit that I did this to myself when I elected to move from Denver in 2005 to Austin TX. ATX is in the thick of los spurs country as such, the local analyst subject me to constant besmirching of the frenetic motion basket ball I personally adore. League Pass would at minimum remove Sean Elliot from my life.
Also grad school is some low paying bullshit.
I want to augment my answer. I really want to see KDurant make the leap, Anthony Randolph figure it out, Branden Jennings show NBA GMs they are idiots, Gil remind us why we loved him, and a whole bunch of other stuff I cant really see 1) while being broke and 2) getting only Knicks and Nets games.
It was High School. It was May of 2006. I had to study feverishly for the SATs because everyone was crazed about College and how hard it was to get in and how unbelievably perfect you had to be to get in ANYWHERE. Let alone, where you wanted to go.
(Important Note: I went to a boarding school in New Jersey)
It was a Sunday afternoon. I had an appointment with my SAT tutor, he was strange. All SAT tutors are strange. They were very good at small useless test and now they make their living from that. I sat in the library faux-listening to him, looking out the window and tapping my foot. While I was sitting here learning "tricks" to do well on my SAT my Los Angeles Lakers were playing Suns in game 4 of the 1st round. I had spent all year sneaking around my dorm after lights out to watch Lakers games, using weird streaming services, but now RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT, there was a game on ABC at a normal hour. I should be watching it. Not to mention the fact my Lakers had won two of the three games in the series so far.
You know when you have a horrible or even seriously mediocre team you have dreams of what they could be if they played perfectly? I used to use that vision to fall asleep at night and this team it was playing better than I could ever imagine. AND I WAS STUDYING FOR THE SATS!!! As we slowly ended our lesson and he gave me my homework I ran out of the library.
I had planning this all lesson, but I knew that the closest building I could go into with a TV was the infirmary. I was well known by the "Infirm Ladies" because I had to pick up my ADD medicine every day, so that I wouldn't become or a drug dealer or something. I also had to pick up my medicine anyway. As I ran the short path to the infirmary I could only think that I had missed the game, panic tightened my chest. As I opened the heavy door and then the second heavy door I focused in on the TV. First scanning the bottom to see what channel it is on. ABC! Yes! I begin to focus on the picture and get my bearings and 7.9 Seconds to go, Lakers down my 2. JESUS CHRIST. I had only missed 99% of the game, but we were going to lose. I watched Kobe as he passed under the basket and his strange shot fell in sending it in to overtime. I couldn't believe it. I was too shocked to even be excited. I think the "Infirm Ladies" were trying to get my attention but I'm still not sure.
I sat in some alternate world and watched OT on a 12 inch TV. With 6.1 seconds Kobe found a random place inside the arc to rise up over two Phoenix defenders and calmly sink the midrange jumper to win in Overtime. That will always be my favorite basketball moment ever. Since then I've wanted to watch the rest of this game, because this was the first basketball team I ever fell in love with operating well past the absolute best they could ever be.
It kills me that I missed it for some stupid meaningless test, but I saw us win, which caused me much joy anyway.
I don't know whether you will even consider this, but it's my story.
Matt
Twitter: @mfeige
I'm a Spurs fan and a T-Mac apologist, which puts me in a tough situation when we play the Rockets. I firmly remember it was the 9th of December, 5 minutes left in the third quarter, because I'd intended on finishing the game my parents insisted on taking me out for an early birthday celebration because they were going out of town. I'd figured, the game was wrapped up, everything was good, the Spurs were in lockdown defense mode, what was the worst that could happen?
This was almost 5 years ago.
For those of you unfamiliar with what T-Mac did to the Spurs on December 9th, 2004, I direct you here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceLlz7dOOvY
It is actually slightly painful to celebrate my birthday now.
This is nothing. I missed Boston's comeback in Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals; one of the greatest basketball moments in recent memory. And the worst part is that it's my own fault. To make a long story short, my grandfather bought the fam a week's trip to the Bahamas. I was going through a tough breakup at the time, and I'd spent a good deal of the trip either moping around or watching basketball. The Lakers went into the third up by 24, and for a couple minutes, the Celtics were looking like they'd given up. I said to hell with it and went to dinner. My grandparents knew I was missing the finals to be with them, and they couldn't have been happier. I will never forgive myself for missing the Celt's comeback. It might be for the best, though, as I probably would have given myself an aneurysm. As much as I hate the Lakers, I hate the Celtics even more.
I just moved to the US from Finland. Little did I know this would actually compromise my NBA viewing. Sad but true.
I didn't have cable in finland (why?....a supposedly hilarious clip from Finland's version of SNL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKc1Hjjz1Ys). But I did spend our wedding present money to go out and buy a big flatscreen specifically to pump in League Pass Broadband. It seemed the perfect solution, no need to flick through the pulp to get to the fiction. The problem was that every household in Finland that owns a TV must pay a license or risk the wrath of the door-to-door TV inspector. You get a knock on the door and open it cause you mistake it for the postman or the pizza guy, and the TV inspector physically removes your TV on the spot and hands you a massive fine. Not only did I risk the ultimate shame of violating the honor system of the nordic social pact for the NBA, it meant my wife and i couldn't answer our door, ever, under any circumstances.....knock-knock....shhh, lights off, music down, hold your breath, I don't care if grandma is coming to visit today just have her throw pebbles at the window cause i just can't risk missing melo, JR, birdman and mr big shot tonight. Yes, I'm cheap , but I'm a stubborn man of principle and to me it wasn't a TV, it was clearly a purpose-built NBA viewing device.
Then when I arrived in Boston I learned about the wonders of 'blackouts'. League Pass no longer meant I could actually watch any and every game. Say what?! I had to make the difficult choice between; A) cable with 5000+ channels just to watch the celtics and nationally televised games, B) League Pass Broadband meaning blackouts of every single game that everyone around me would be talking about, or C) sell a kidney to get both. My wife wouldn't let me part with the kidney so.....
Please either give me the NBA League Pass Broadband prize.....or explain to me how to appreciate the inner-beauty of KG getting right up in the grill of some third-string, half-pint, almost-headed-back-to-D-league point guard to bark like a dog and cuss like a sailor, when the C's are up 30, in garbage time, against a cellar-dweller.
2006-07 season...Suns at Nets epic game. Something like 146-144. During the school year I was a freshmen in college and thus didn't have access to League Pass but went home over break and had League Pass back home so I had about six weeks of nothing but pure basketball. This game was the end all be all game that really drew me into following the NBA on a 365 day basis. Ever since then I don't think there's a day I haven't read some type of NBA blog or MSM story about the League.
Kobe's 61 pts. v. NY is a perfect example of the need for a League Pass account. Mamba unleashing an array of moves, including the sublime pump fake to reverse pivot at the elbow shot against Chandler. I'm sure it was akin to Michael Jackson unveiling the moonwalk on Motown 25 in '83, which I did not see live on account of being not yet born. Unfortunately I had a night class and was unable to experience the methodical deconstruction of the Knicks that night. Kobe coming in contact with Being for a few hours and instead I was stuck listening to smug freshman wax poetic about Platonic forms. If I get League Pass I can just sit in the back of class and enjoy where amazing happens.
I'm a very superstitious person. I think I can alter games. Yeah, it's dumb and as a Bills fan it's utterly absurd. But I swear the Lakers wouldn't have lost to the Pacers last season if I had been able to watch the game. Troy Murphy hitting a game-winner and Rasho Nesterovic goin off on them? Woulda never happened. They're struggling this year without me watching the games. Or maybe it's because they're missing Gasol...
Because I am a wolves fan...nuff said (haven't we been through enough).
Long story: Flynn is actually the first person worth watching since KG left. Also, how can you not want to watch a player who looks like Stewie Griffin.
Game 2 of last year's Eastern Conference finals, when LeBron hit the game-winning 3 at the buzzer. My girlfriend decided it would be a good idea to watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy that SHE HAD ALREADY SEEN instead of letting me watch this game. Still haven't forgiven her for it.
Well seeing as I have an addiction to Boston Celtics basketball, the one that stings the most is the game from last night when they played the Timberwolves. I was unable to watch this game and it was eating me alive not watching when it was such a close game. I tried to get a stream online, but nothing was coming in. 92-90 Final score. Not being able to watch the Celtics is the worst feeling in the world.
How about the ENTIRE 2006 playoffs? I was in Italy at the time, posting up at internet cafes all over the country to stay updated, cursing at myself for planning such a terribly timed trip and missing (what I can now only say "I assume to be") the best postseason of my lifetime. Let's recap: The Suns-Lakers 7-game first-round series, complete with Kobe's iconic game 4 buzzer-beater and ensuing reaction; the whole Gilbert-Bron duel, with Gil's missed free throws, LeBron's chilling whisper in his ear, and Damon Jones' series winner; the Kings taking the Spurs to 6 games behind Bonzi's unprecedented averages of 23 and 12; Bron going ballistic and giving the Pistons a huge scare in the second round after Sheed's guarantee backfired (note: I managed to catch game 7 of this series at a bar. Lucky me!!); the insanely epic Spurs-Mavs series and Dirk's 3-point play at the end of regulation in game 7; the Clippers actually playing in the second round of the playoffs and competing in a spirited 7-game series with the suns; Dirk's 50-point outing in game 5 of the conference finals; everything that Wade did in the last two rounds.
I got home just in time to witness the travesty that was Game 5 of the finals, followed by Antoine Walker and Gary Payton getting championship rings.
I swore to never leave the continent during the playoffs again, but aside from Bron's heroics against the Pistons in 07 and the Celts-Bulls series last year, every NBA postseason since then has been mediocre at best.
I will miss the entire season for the Milwaukee Bucks.Their entire season is on NBA league pass.But, I know the question popped up in your head "Why would he choose to watch the Milwaukee Bucks." The answer Brandon Jennings. In his first game he almost had a triple double. Then he scored 24 and 26 in his last two games. So tell me that you would want to see one on the most electrifying rookies of the draft. If you need more proof go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANZwkvvdVnI and look at the move he pulled on Rodney Stuckey and tell me you wouldn't want to see more.
I read that someone said he is a superstitious person. I read his story, well he is not superstitious enough I say. I am from TORONTO, so I am loyal to MY RAPTORS. Remember when Kobe scored 81 pts. against US? That is perfect example of how I LET THAT HAPPENED. STORY was that I was ARGUING with my parents that NIGHT and I left the house and never watch THAT GAME!! WHEN I don't watch RAPTOR GAMES, THEY LOSE, THIS EXPLAINS WHY THEY LOST SO MANY GAMES LAST SEASON (25 games broadcast on RaptorsTV, 25 games broadcast on TSN2 which normal cable subscriber do not have!!). This season, they are running the same drill!! THATS WHY I need for a League Pass account. I CAN UNLEASH MY power and help the raptors to GLORY! there is no unfortunately or sorry, this IS TAKE OR BREAK TIME for Raptors! Bosh signing an extension WILL DEPEND ON ME WINNING THE LEAGUE PASS! WILL YOU SAVE THE RAPTORS?
At the very beginning of the summer of 2006 (it was the Friday night before Finals week) I was in a car accident that resulted in me having a broken neck and a broken jaw. My jaw was wired shut for the next 6 weeks and I wore a neck brace full time for the next 8 weeks. I continued to do undergraduate research in a biochemistry lab on campus. Since having a broken neck is no fun and doesn't allow you to partake in many activities, I was incredibly focused on the NBA playoffs. The only games I did not watch were the ones on NBA TV. Years earlier, I had chosen the Dallas Mavericks as my team. This summer seemed too good to be true with regards to my team's fortunes. I had a nearly infinite amount of time to devote to watching the playoffs and my team was doing incredibly well. I bet a friend $20 that the Mavericks would beat the Heat in the Finals. To this day, Dwyane Wade still makes me angry.
When I first moved to San Francisco I was distraught. I'm a native New Yorker who switched coasts for a girl, unable to see the disaster it would wind up being. (the coast not the girl)
One of the toughest parts for a die hard like me was sports. I'm a liberated fan and loved having the Warriors in my backyard, but I love the Knicks and the New York hatred in the Bay is almost as bad as the Mid Atlantic where I went to college.
Most Tuesdays (at 4:00 in the fucking afternoon!) you could find me at a satellite bar in a corner in a non descrip outfit, nursing a Fat Tire as I watched the Knicks quietly. I was always forced to ask for the bartender to put on the visiting team as requesting any NY franchise would be met with a sour glare and often cost me watching my game.
After suffering through a painful Yankee playoff and typically disastrous early season with the Jets, my saint of a girlfriend granted me permission to get the package at our apartment we shared with a grungy cokehead who worked at the zoo, never washed his clothes and had a face littered with piercings.
It was November of 2007 and it was getting late early. We'd started fairly strong, not great record wise but playing well, it was the best basketball we ever got out of Eddie Curry but the cancer factor was setting in and Rome was burning. Beefing over God can only imagine what, Steph didn't accompany the team on their first West Coast road trip and season was quickly sinking into disarray.
They had lost 4 straight and were in Sacramento. I watched pregame on the couch with a can of beer. It was 7:00, the Knicks were on and for a moment I felt comfortable. I called my Dad and we discussed whether or not Mardy Collins was up to filling the void at Point.
Then something awesome happened. Nate got the ball in layup line and unleashed a contest worthy jam. He screamed as he hung on the rim than ran with his head down to the back of the line. When his turn came he unleashed another monster. Then Wilson Chandler followed suit, then Jamal Crawford, then David Lee. Before long the whole team was engaged in a battle of one upsmanship.
The slowly arriving NorCal crowd began to goad the visitors on, so did the Sacramento announcers but it wasn't a light moment. The dunks were forceful, aggressive, marked with angry primal screams and chest bumps. It was a communal voicing of frustration, trapped in a bad situation no one was happy with. I could relate and I rejoiced in their release along with them.
The Knicks lost a painful game they had opportunities to win on several occasion in double overtime. They'd finish 23-59 and it marked the end for Isiah and Steph. By the end of 2008 I was back in New York, not without my regrets. One thing I'll never forget was that beautiful little periphery human moment and what it meant to me, something you can't find in a 30 second highlight.
I am a law student in Cincinnati, and being an Ohio resident I am able to get Fox Sports Ohio and am able to watch Cleveland Cavs game quite frequently.
Last December 10th I was looking forward to watching the Cleveland Cavaliers play against the Philadelphia 76ers. Instead FoxSports Ohio decided to show the Xavier vs. Ohio Univeristy basketball game. Since I did not have league pass I had to sit through the travesty that is college basketball.
I am a Spurs fan in living in enemy territory, yes, that's right living in Los Angeles! It's tough enough that I have to deal with joel meyers and stu lantz on a daily basis but they're interrupting my important car chase updates on KCAL9! On top of that, dealing with all these fair-weathered Lakers fans and their stupid Lakers flags, lame Staples traffic on the 10/110, and all those damn Kobe jerseys! Oh the agony!
Anyhow, it's not like I "only" hate the Lakers, I love me my Spurs, but sadly I can only bravely wear my Manu and Tim jerseys at home for fear of my car getting keyed or getting into fisticuffs with Lakers fans at my local In n Out. Help a diehard Spurs fan out so I don't miss on the Spurs running the table this year.
Tell us about a game you missed????
I missed just about all of the Nellie Mavericks run to the 2003 Western Finals when I was working the night shift at the Texas Legislative Council during the 78th Texas Legislative Session in Austin. The Texas lege only meets every other year, and they adjourn around the conference finals/beginning of the Finals. It's agony if you're a hardcore basketball nerd like me. In addition, I was a die-hard Mavs fan living in the heart of enemy territory when they were taking on the dreaded Spurs.
Up to this point, this was the best playoff run for Dallas since they lost to the Showtime Lakers in the 88 Conference Finals, and I was only able to catch a game here or there on the weekends when I didn't have to work. It was just about the best time to be a Mavs fan after the misery of the 90's and I was stuck working without access to a tv and having to refresh the ESPN gamecast.
I missed Game 2 of the first-round series when Bonzi Wells exploded for 45 points and the Mavs barely survived:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200304230DAL.html
I missed Game 2 of the semis against the Kings when the Mavs exploded for 83 points in the first half. This was the night Chris Webber's career ended for all intents and purposes:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200305080DAL.html
I missed the epic double-OT Game 3 victory against the Kings when Nick Van Exel went NOVA and Walt Williams came off the bench to become an unlikely playoff hero:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200305100SAC.html
And considering Michael Finley is my favorite Maverick of all-time, because of all those years he carried such a shit franchise, it's most painful that I missed his finest moment as a Mav, when they rallied from an 18-point deficit on the road without an injured Dirk to beat the Spurs:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200305270SAS.html
Yeah, they went further with Avery in 2006, but that 2003 team was so much more fun.
So I am a die-hard life-long Laker fan, so much so that I cry at night because I was born too late to see the Showtime Lakers live. Of course I end up going to school in San Francisco, a place where they show Laker recaps on local news but don't have the common courtesy to broadcast the game live. Instead, the colorful residents of this Paris-like city(note the South park reference) are given the option to watch the Warriors playing at home, or the Warriors playing away. FML Now the only reprieve I get are the few games a year that TNT broadcasts the Lakers and my knees almost buckled when I found out the Lakers were going to play the Clippers on TNT for opening night. Now I was so so so so happy that I would get to see Artest debut alongside Kobe and Pau and match up against Blake Griffin and a healthy Baron Davis. When the latter became injured as did Pau, of course I was decimated, but still I was happy to be able to watch the opening night live on my tv.
Of course day of the game, at 3:13PM I remember because it was such a crushing blow, my cable gets shut off because my retarded roommate forgot to pay the cable bill and Comcast shut off our service. Of course he knew about this and didn't tell me, only to find out that our internet was also shutoff at the same time and that there was no way for me to watch the game. If I had League-pass broadband i could've ran over to a starbucks and paid $20 to watch the game on my laptop, but of course i didn't even consider that my cable would be shutoff the day of. This is my sob story and i thought about putting it up on FML.com but when I got up to my room to do so, I remembered once again that my internet wasn't working. FML!!! This league-pass would give me the opportunity to not have to worry about my dumbass roommate not paying the cable bill again, and it would also allow me to watch the Lakers in such a basketball forsaken city like San Francisco. please.. freedarko, free me from this shitty situation i've been thrown in. if you do, ill try as hard as I can to free darko from his shitty situation in new york, i know for a fact the lakers can use another defense-rebound oriented bigman off the bench. =]
i live in australia.
For the past 4 years, going to school in Austin, I've had to deal with my Houston Rockets not being my home team and (since I was a student) being too poor to afford league pass. I'm such a die hard Rockets fan, I bail on social events (dates, parties) if a game is on. Anything to watch my Rockets.
Now, I reiterate, I did not (and do not) have league pass or NBA LP broadband. So, what did I do? I watched my Houston Rockets on something called "Sopcast". 82 games (plus every preseason game). All of them in Mandarin. Running scrolls of the Asian alphabet I couldn't begin to comprehend covering 40 percent of my computer screen. The other 60 percent showing a grainy live feed halfway across the world that lagged at the most untimely of times. Meaning essential plays, buzzer beaters, etc. were all usually missed. A particular game (a mid-season double OT nailbiter in the 05-06 season against the Bobcats wherein the Rockets started the world beating line-up of David Wesley, Rafer Alston, Juwan Howard, Dikembe Mutombo and Ryan Bowen!) was missed because my computer crashed... thanks to Sopcast. It was a real love/hate relationship with this program.
This all brings me to a week ago: Wednesday October 28, 2009. The first big day of the 09-10 season. Having watched the Rockets get curb stomped for 3 quarters by the Blazers on a LOVELY, ENGLISH, CRYSTAL CLEAR, LAG-LESS, and free NBA LP Broadband feed that Tuesday, I took the night off work (yes, by this time, I've graduated college yet still struggle to pay the bills as a lowly waiter) to watch the NBA's huge opening night.
I proceed (much to my Girlfriend's petulant annoyance) to watch six hours of GLORIOUS NBA basketball. I watched 3 games on my computer screen at ONE TIME (Cavs/Raptors, Indiana/Atlanta, and Detroit/Memphis) plus the Hornets/Spurs game that was on TV.
That's 4 GAMES AT ONCE!
A BASKETBALLGASM!
And it was heavenly, sir.
So... heavenly.
Unfortunately, the free pass is over now. Yet I (and I'm serious) dream of having it. I dream of having enough money to buy it. I dream of the beautiful quality and the smooth lag free delightfulness. I dream of never missing another meaningful Rockets possession. But most of all, I dream of watching 3, 4 games at once. I dream of Basketballgasms! DAILY BASKETBALLGASMS!
I dream... of you, League Pass.
You saucy, gorgeous beast.
Love,
Dustin
My disappoints are fresh.
I want to live in a world where I get to see the role player matter. Ryan Anderson going for 20 and 10 against the Suns, Sheldon Williams out scoring Gerald Wallace, Ersan Ilyasova taking an ill advised shot in crunch time negating the beauty of Rose-Jennings 1. These are the moments that seem as essential as any playoff moments. The season is a story and it is nice to start reading from the beginning.
I would also like the opportunity to watch along as Andre Miller and Nate McMillion slowly try to destroy one another.
I'm a little hazy with the details, but this is the way I remember this playing out.
A few years ago, the initial Free League Pass Preview Week of the season happened a little later than it has recently. It happened the first week of December. More on that later.
Earlier that year, my friends and I organized our first basketball fantasy league. We'd done fantasy football and baseball and gotten bored with both after a while. Fantasy basketball, though, had us in its clutches from the first week. We were hooked, watching GameCasts and circling the week's basic-cable games on the calendar. Nothing seemed more important in the whole world.
So when Free League Pass Preview Week came along, we dropped everything. My roommate and I were calling back and forth to one another from across the hall, each of us rooted at our respective computers, flipping back and forth between games. It was Christmas morning and we couldn't decide what toy to play with first. As it turned out, my first pick that year was Steve Nash and his was Jason Kidd.
Remember how I said Preview Week came a little late that year? Well, if you ask us, it came at the perfect time because it gave us a chance to watch the infamous Suns/Nets 2OT 161/157 game. As Nash and Kidd battled it out for the more legit triple-double, we realized we couldn't live without League Pass. We've had it every year since and even though I work nights and rarely get to sit down for a full session, it's still my connection to the League angles that I want to see - the Grizzlies and Thunder and Hawks, the ones who never show up on TNT.
I didn't miss the Wiz-Suns game. Well, kinda. I tivo'd it because I had a wife-related obligation that night. I watched it in my Gilbert jersey the next morning, and then I went out to belatedly purchase some Christmas presents in said jersey. And that whole morning still comprises one of my favorite basketball-watching memories. So there.
I saw Kevin Durant live during the NCAA tournament, and he was the smoothest guy I'd ever seen; dropped 25 in the first half without even trying hard. I fell in love. With mainstream TV, the only other time I've seen him was the HORSE contest and Rook-Soph game last year. WTF.
Never seen Kevin Martin play. Yeah, I know.
I want to be a Brandon Jennings disciple.
ANTHONY RANDOLPH.
161-158.
The Suns now that they're Shaq-less and awesome again.
J-Smoove's 22pts-9reb-7ast-6 blocks last night.
Gilbert. Wade and SuperCool Beas (but none of the rest of the Heat). The Rockets. T-Mac when he gets traded to NY. Tyreke.
I might fail out of college if I got it though.
Nothing to do with League Pass, but I was on the way to pick up a friend to go to a Wizards game, and on the way there I got in a crash and wound up going to the emergency room. I totaled the car, leaving me without one since then. But the worst part? That game was against the Jazz, about 3 weeks AFTER that Suns game, where Gil dropped 51 including http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgrmUy8PVA0 ... Gil's swag was PHENOMENAL and I missed it. If I could convey my borderline obsession with Arenas this story would be much more significant, because I left shortly thereafter for North Carolina and due to Gerald Wallace and 3 knee surgeries, I wasn't able to see Gil in person until the home opener this year (which I trained up for specifically).
Oh well, water under the bridge, looking forward to a great season from Gil, the Wizards, the whole league, and the influx of young talent.
I am a huge Nets fan. When i still lived in NY (before college) I watched every single nets game that was on TV ever. I stayed in on friday and saturday nights to watch Jason Kidd dish it to Vince Carter, and to see Richard Jefferson's fundamentals. Watching them for two straight years really is what made me such a big NBA fan. Now the nets are a lot different. But instead of being able to watch the team I love rebuild with such promising new assets, I live in Massachusetts, A New York sports fans Hell.
I just want to watch Basketball every night without staring at Paul Pierce's disgusting facial hair constantly. Thats all.
I am a Knicks fan .... let that sink in for a minute. The best thing about that is that I get to see all the super stars at their best as they post NBA Jam stat lines against my boys. Last year, I not only missed Kobe going all Boba Fett on them, but also the following Lebron perfomance that led to painful discussion of which of them had the most impressive game. Kobe's ridiculous spree of 'How the hell does that shot even exist?' or Lebron's 'Is there a single aspect of this game that he did not completely dominate?'
Living in the Midwest - I miss all these things.
a friend offered me a 10th row seat from which to watch the trail blazers take on the suns last december. brandon roy dropped 52 and the blazers beat the suns, i think for the first time in 8 or 9 tries. the portland media called it the "greatest performance the rose garden has ever seen."
but i didn't go. instead i went with my lady to a zoo christmas light show where we couldn't even see the animals, except for some really sad looking elephants. in the name of love, i nearly got frostbite, missed the game, and got in a huge fight with my girlfriend for wanting to go watch it.
i know it wasn't a league pass game, but still, it smarts.
I missed Steve Nash and my Suns knock off a Celtics team that looked completely unstoppable. I lived in Arizona for 10 years, and I hate Boston (and this current Celts team) with all my heart. I had a feed for part of the game, but it completely cut off with Boston only back by two points with two minutes and 13 seconds in the third. In irritation that they let the Celts back into the game with a great chance to win in the 4th, (especially after the Wolves, my favorite young team, had that heartbreaking loss right before that) I closed the computer and went to go get some late dinner, assuming the game lost for my Suns.
Came back, Suns had won, but I have no idea how they did it, how they locked the Celts down in the 4th, and what either of the teams looked like. Not knowing is almost as torturous as having lost the game -- I don't know exactly how good my Suns are, or what came out that let them win the fourth quarter against a team as good as the Celts like they did. Are they for real? I don't know. If I had a League Pass, I think I would.
As a fan of the formerly-known-as Vancouver Grizzlies, I can't really say that there were any games that I really regret missing while they played here, except for one. They were terrible to watch, and botched draft picks like Big Country Reeves and Steve Francis only contributed to the club's second tier status in the city. But when the Grizz went to L.A. to play the Lakers on January 16, 2001, something (almost) magical happened. Shaq was in his prime. Kobe posted his first career triple-double. And the Grizzlies...were the Grizzlies. Despite all of that, the Grizzlies managed to be in the lead by one with just a couple seconds left in overtime, only to be disappointed by a layup by Shaq that was clearly made after the buzzer. Controversy ensued. The Lakers went on to win the Championship that year. The Grizzlies went on to post their whatever-straight-losing season. But for a day or two, basketball fans in Vancouver allowed ourselves to believe that our team was better than we actually were. And I missed that game because our cable package provider didn't have it. And I am missing all the games they are playing in Memphis because I am in Vancouver. And I can't even go down to Seattle to watch the Sonics because they're now playing in OKC.
I just want to watch some basketball. Even if it is just the Memphis Grizzlies.
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