Seriously. In my 30 years, I had never been to a professional sporting event. Not even kidding! I guess that’s not unexpected when I spent my whole life in a state without a professional team of any kind and my parents aren’t sports-minded people.
Fortunately, I wasn’t completely deprived in my sports development. My childhood best friend’s family rubbed off on me. They’re all huge sports enthusiasts and contributed greatly to my love of the SF Giants, Red Sox and Cowboys. And my love of the Lakers can probably be attributed to Kobe Bryant. I think he’s fantastic!
While any of those would have made for a great first pro sporting event experience, I reluctantly let Jimmy talk me into a Kings game. Something about free birthday tickets and persuasion from his nephew, niece and her husband.
I don’t know how it happened, but there I was…Arco Arena. Honestly, I expected more from a pro sports arena. I built it up to be this amusement park-like experience where I was just in awe when I walked through the doors. Not so much. I have been to the Thomas and Mack on many occassions and this seems pretty much the same. Oh well. I still had high hopes for the professional athletes I was about to see.
And this is the part of the story where I’ll skip ahead to my favorite parts of the experience. I’d hate to offend all my inlaws by commenting on how terribly the Kings played.
So, on to the fun. The company, of course, always a joy. The fact that there was a restaurant and night-clubish thing at the top of the nosebleeds, very intersting. About 200 jazzercisers performing at half time, seriously entertaining. But my favorite…purple ice cream! No joke. They sprinkle blue sugar on their vanilla cones to turn the soft serve purple. I was so impressed! It didn’t turn out at all like the picture showed and it didn’t add much flavor to the ice cream, but it was a good effort and made me feel like a 10-year-old for a bit. And yes, I took a picture just to share the experience with you! I know it looks very blue but it turns more purple as the ice cream melts.
All in all, a great night, even if it was a Kings game. I’m sure next year their luck will change! At least I hope so. It would make those Laker wins even more exciting!!
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