Tag: basketball

Cover photo by Tom Arthur, used under Creative Commons license

Well, NOW I fear the deer

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

One of these days the Raptors will win a game one, and I’ll be there (maybe) to see it.

Today was not that day.

I did get to go to the game — a colleague had an extra ticket, which I happily bought — but the Raps didn’t win. Not even close.

In fact the Raps got blown out by the Milwaukee Bucks tonight. The fourth quarter was a serious letdown, but before that the stats were mostly even, apart from shooting percentage from 3-point land. There, the Bucks were twice as effective, which made all the difference until garbage time.

Game 2, Raps. Let’s go.

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.:.

Cover photo by Tom Arthur, used under Creative Commons license

“But he’s not even a very good Prime Minister.” “***WHO CARES HE’S FAMOUS OUTTA THE WAY LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!!!***”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

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I stared at this a lot last night. I mean, not this particular guy’s sweatpants-covered junk, but rather crowds of people all but standing on top of me.

See, Nellie and I went to the Raptors game last night. We hadn’t seen one in a while, and we decided to buy good tickets. After all, it was Andrew Wiggins’ first game in Canada, and against the T-Wolves the Raps were all but guaranteed a win. They did win, but it was closer than it should have been.

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Anyway, we discovered when we arrived (after it took us ten minutes just to walk the last 30 feet to our seats) that his gloriousness Stephen Harper was sitting across the aisle from us. That’s his head and torso (and, uh, son) in the bottom right of the picture. The crowds that were clogging up an entire section of the ACC weren’t his entourage, they were — and I still have a hard time even believing this — people lining up to have their picture taken with him.

*Sigh.*

Now, I’ll give the security guys credit: they actually tried to keep the aisle clear during play, as did the ushers. But the selfie-seekers are idiots, and would stand, gape-mouthed and blocking traffic, with Blackberries in hands until they could get a picture with that magnificent head of hair. As such we couldn’t see some of the game, and missed the entirety of the half-time show and on-court entertainment, including Raptor antics which, as everyone knows, are at least 15% of the reason to attend a game.

I actually felt a little bad for Harper…I think he just wanted to watch a basketball game with his kids. But then again, he decided to sit in a place which afforded maximum photo ops. Maybe he should have sat in a box where people wouldn’t bother him and where, oh I don’t know, crowds of people wouldn’t have trampled and blocked the thirty people nearest him who paid good money for their tickets.

The very best part? At some point in the evening he did a photo op with some actual players, and his social media lackey tagged the wrong player.

Oh, and the idiots next to us had a Wand of Narcissism, which just kind of capped off the evening.

11069260_10153062412070673_3175115648376994575_nMaybe the only thing salvaging the evening was meeting up with Kaylea, Jenna, and Jordan over some pizzas at Libretto. We used beer to wash away the distaste.

Cover photo by Scott Nelson, used under Creative Commons license

Early Christmastime

Dan Dickinson1 Comment

We did Christmas a bit differently this year: in order to be back in NS at the same time as a brother and his family we flew out last week — the week before Christmas — to see everyone. Nellie flew the day before I did to see her mother; I joined them Monday and drove to the farm Tuesday. I played with a baby, rough-housed with my favourite dogs, watched my niece’s basketball game (in my first return to my old high school, 21 years after graduation…I nearly broke out into hives), played many games of crib and one of trivial pursuit (brother #2 and his other daughter with a stunning come-from-behind win), ate dad’s ice cream and mom’s pie and drank my brother’s beer, and generally relaxed like it was my job.

We opened a few gifts at my parents’ place, but one very special surprise: a quilt for each of my brothers and I (and our dad) at the request of my grandmother years ago before she died. It took our mother quite a while to find someone who could make the exact pattern she requested (the Boston Common) but the wait paid off: they’re beauties, and now we have quilts from my mother, Nellie’s aunt, and both of my grandmothers.

Back at the mother-in-law’s place we did another early gift opening, and wound up with some terrific local Benjamin Bridge sparkling, and a very cool graphic novel and print from one of Nellie’s cousins. The next day we flew home to Toronto whilst sat next to a screaming toddler. We dropped our bags, grabbed a late lunch at Triple A, and decompressed for the last few hours of our vacation.

Merry early Christmas, everyone.

.:.

Cover photo by Scott Nelson, used under Creative Commons license

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Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

For the first time in ages (seriously, it’s probably been a couple of years), I got to play basketball in the gym. It was good to empty my head of everything but my foul shot for half an hour. A quick trip to Subway and I had sustenance for the evening…all set for studying.

I was a little worried about the course earlier in the week but I think it’s under control. I still don’t think I’ll be spending much time in the bar this week, but I’m feeling okay about Friday. We’ll see if I’m still of the same mind tomorrow.

[tags]mba, basketball, subway[/tags]