Attending GSoM Night/Warrior home opener was like attending prom, just without all the pressures of getting to second base (or further for those who like it nasty). Actually, it was probably better than prom since you were essentially going to with like 880 more folks all wearing the same clothes… IN ADDITION to all those other fans, service workers, patrons, Warrior girls, GTOe, etc. etc. who were there for the biggest moment of this last quarter of the year. Despite a loss to our new rivals in the western conference, GSoM night was still off the meat hooks with high fives flowing like bubbly in Notorious BIG’s Big Poppa video, the best fans in the world cheering in spite of a twenty point deficit, earthquakes, a drunk displaced Laker fan hitting on women and children, and de-parmesaned garlic fries potentially with the cooks spits in them! Read on for more details…
Big ups to Hash for hooking up the chicken sausage extra-well done in the pre-game cook out! Hot dogs were enjoyed!
On the way to the stadium, doing my best Il Al Skratch impression in his"I'll Take her" video.
I got to say, it was wild heading into the stadium. Fans zooming around, greeters welcoming you back as if this was your home (ha! my 2nd game in two seasons…), big smiles everywhere, and of course the smell of overpriced but always worth it garlic fries all creating this euphoric feeling as if at that moment we were a one-dub, one-bay nation able to crush the Jazz. "S" (my friend) and I carried a few of Tony.psd’s super-tastic signs (We GSoM and GSoM Nite II) as we made our rounds around Club 200 and it was great connecting with some of the readers who recognized his work (Yo, Tony.psd, two dudes asked me if I was you with those signs!). Club 200 definitely had it going on though (at least much more than I thought it would be). Though it’s no Smirnoff Lounge with its dim, seductive lounge lighting and its smells of Panda Express Chinese gourmet, the basketball shooting games they installed along with the inflatable jungle gyms for the kids definitely make the upper level seats more appealing. Plus, they even installed a small bar area with more TVs than Fry’s Electronics (shout out to Charlie Chip). I tried even tried to get my mack on with the Warrior girls who were signing autographs, but this dude was c-blocking like crazy.
This dude was determined to meet every cheerleader there.
As my friend and I held up Tony.psd’s signs walking around the stadium, this random woman with a huge camera started taking our pictures, never offering her name or anything. Whenever I looked into her camera she would yell "DON’T LOOK AT THE CAMERA! PRETEND LIKE I’M NOT HERE!" That’s actually a lot harder than it sounds when your wondering who this woman is. She also refused to answer me when I asked what it was for. Eventually we made it to the escalator and she finally stopped me for an interview telling me it was for a San Francisco Chronicle audio/visual collage for their website. She seemed pretty bummed by my answers though I guess I would be too if this fan carrying an awesome sign answered why he loved the warriors with: "I love meeting new fans, exchanging high-fives, and the garlic fries…go to goldenstateofmind.com! uhh… is this mic still on?"
FJ and I
Finally making to the GSoM table, it was great seeing the GSoM folks and meeting readers as well. Thanks again so much to you Warrior fans/GsoM readers who help make all this possible. Funny thing when I was standing around the area, these two guys said they wanted a shirt and their third friend goes: "Nah man, they’ll make you sign up for a credit card or something… lets go." A really young kid came up to me and said "I’m part of the club. Can I get a shirt?" I responded, "Oh, its only for people who got tickets with GSoM." Kid: "Huh..? What are you talking about?" Me: "Uh.. nevermind."
The seats were better than I expected but it was dope being in a semi-sea of orange-Ts. Fans up there tonight (with or without GSoM) were reppin’ it even when down by 20 points in the fourth quarter. In the last few minutes of the 4th as the Warriors mounted their mini-run, pulling the game within 18 after Bellinelli busted a tre, you would have thought the Warriors retook the lead and actually won the game. That’s what I love about the Warrior fans is that after years of futility, we still manage to cherish the small "victories" like a great box out or outlet pass.
Word to people demanding Garlic Fries: Do not piss off the cooks and service workers, they WILL spit in your food! Well, they didn’t, but they were being pushed to the edge. The common problem is that fans love garlic fries and the garlic fries for some reason can never be made that quickly. Perhaps it’s the not so practical way of making them -- hand mixed. Or maybe its because only so many fries could be made at one time and then there was always a shortage. Or maybe because fries taste pretty bad when cold so that they make them on the spot to keep them fresh. At any rate, while waiting in line for the fries, I overheard this:
Drunk guy: "Hey there (to the girl next to him). Can I eat your eyes?"
Girl: "What? No!"
Drunk guy: "I just want to eat your eyes. Well, you want to go get something to eat?"
Girl: "No, I’m with my boyfriend and I’m in line getting some nachos and a beer."
The guy then proceeded to touch a man’s baby (as the man was holding his baby), which the man with the baby was not exactly happy with. But for some reason, the drunk guy with the interests in eating eyes was soon exchanging high fives with this man with the baby as if they were life long pals.
Drunk guy to my right in the Richardson shirt. In the words of this drunk guy, "respect! respect! excuse me... excuse me!!!
While also waiting in line, a man clearly upset with the speed of the line got into an argument with the garlic fries head mixer, challenging her to "spit in the food." She said "you know I will! They ALL know I will!" He responded "DO IT! I DARE YOU! I DARE YOU!" That seems like it might be the dumbest thing to do since he hadn’t gotten his fries yet and he, like myself, had been waiting damn near 30 minutes for these fries. How are you going ruin it for me, the 30 other people here, and yourself by daring this woman to spit in the fries that we are about to receive or not receive if they’re spitten into (we’re at the front of the line at this point)??? Anyway, they ran out of parmesan cheese for the fries, the woman served them anyway, fans received them, we rejoiced. Oh yea, here’s the 5 dollar soda that went with it.
Eleven dollars well spent
Half an order of de-parmesan garlic fries and a 5 dollar soda later, the game was over and we marched off reminding ourselves that there are still 81 more games to be excited about! As Atma Brother #1, his homie N, S and I walked across the sky bridge towards the Bart train, I managed to cop the "Town" interpretation of the classic "City" logo from a cool Hamilton. I asked if he had any size larges and Atma yells out behind me, "Just try em on in the fitting room to see if its fits!" These two girls next to us looking to grab one glance at each other and roll their eyes with one saying "uuh (groan) … how could he say something like that." Warrior fans take losses hard. Had that been a win, folks would have been high fiving after that joke.
Though a win would have made the night much sweeter, it was still "a great time out!" I was glad I got to share the game with almost 900 folks (and the other 19,100 people in the stadium). Look forward to the next GSoM NIGHT! Go WARRIORS!
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