In the afternoon of March 31, I received a flurry of emails from the office of City Manager and Human Resources (HR), talking about the lottery for tickets to go to the Warriors Playoff game the following evening. I did not pay too much attention, since they were mostly addressed to all users, until our Director Christopher came down to our office to congratulate me on winning a ticket plus two guests.
The curtain of a full drama was thus lifted. After sharing the good news with Paul, I confirmed with HR about my intention of going, and listed my preferred email address and cellphone number. As instructed, I would receive an eTicket soon. If not receiving it by 5:00 pm the next day, I should email a designated email address for assistance.
The next came quickly, but without any trace of the ticket. Since we had invited Jim to a pre-game pizza dinner, and game as a second guest, it was my responsibility to secure a definitive answer by 5:00 pm. In the face of a total silence from the authoritative source, I started to bug people for follow-up details. I started by emailing my other two fellow winners, and managed to wangle a name and address for a personal contact. The contact promised that in the next hour, we would receive our tickets, but without avail. A quarter before 5:00 pm, I finally emailed HR. As if to preempt winners' due anxiety, the HR manager sent out messages stating that the tickets would duly arrive in each one's account before the game at 7:00 pm. She and her department were working frantically and closely with Ticketmaster.
At Woodstock Pizza, I wolfed down my three pieces, while my eyes were gluing to my phone for any glimmer of news. At 6:19 pm, a confirmation email finally came. Three admission tickets were indeed in Paul's Messages. Without further ado, the guys happily gobbled their last bite of pizza and the rest of their beers. We three left Woodstock to go straight to Kaiser Permanent Arena in the rain and under a rainbow. At 6:38 pm, the arena was half full. We were inspected at the entrance, but immediately rewarded with our long-lusted-after t-shirts and a portrait of the Santa Cruz Warriors. Our seats in D-section were decent, according to Jim, a seasoned Warrior fan and loyal attender of games.
At 7:00 pm sharp, the game began with the national anthem. It was a solemn moment with everyone standing up towards the American flag. I have seen similar occasions before on TV, but not in person. This is the second time I had been to a sports event. It was decades ago when Nick bought us tickets to go to a football game between Cal and Stanford in Berkeley. The first game was lost to the guest team, even though there were many highlights of catching up and even scoring ahead ten points and more.
It was the City's plan to fill the arena with spectators, so as to render support to the first Warriors playoff game against the Valley Suns. The City was certainly not disappointed in its plan. As warned beforehand by our courier drive Jon, the arena was filled with deafening sound and noise from many a sturdy man or woman fan. An extra heavy set man behind our row was thumping and shaking the whole section at the slightest provocation, while his young daughter was constantly shrill with her high-pitched cry for "Defense."
There were many professional Warrior fans. In front of our row, sat three families with a dozen kids, all of similar age. They started by constantly buying snacks, drinks, and memorabilia, but recouped their expenses by catching all freebies thrown in our direction. At the height of 6'6" or more, one of the three men netted all freebies without a miss with his extra long arms waving all directions. It was quite a rare skill.
We left a little before 9:00 pm under the crescent of a new moon, ending two exciting days after winning the ticket. The experience was real, definitely not a April Fool's Day joke!
