Season Ticket Review – Voices, rejoice!
Over a month and a half ago, the Austin Toros were experiencing one of the worst starts in NBA D-League history. They had begun the season 0-12. They were facing Sioux Falls, looking for their first win, at home, in Austin.
Game 15: February 13th, 2007
Austin Toros (14-16) at Sioux Falls Skyforce (16-14)
Sioux Falls was playing decently. They had won 8 of their last 9 (and 10 of 13). They were going into the game with every expectation of winning. After all, the Toros were horrible.
They didn’t win. They lost. By 12 points. The Toros were finally in the win column. And it came at the expense of the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Fast forward to last night. The Skyforce have just gotten over a horrible five game losing streak. Their win just two nights before reminded the crowd of what the Skyforce could do – namely, defend. Before that, the Skyforce looked discombobulated, completely confused and unaware of what was going on around them.
Meanwhile, Austin had gone 14-4 since their 0-12 start, a run spurred by that win against Sioux Falls at the end of December. They had won 9 in a row coming into the game, and now the Toros were just one game behind Sioux Falls for the final Eastern Division playoff spot.
Fortunes had reversed, it seemed.
Or had they?
Can this be considered a revenge game in these circumstances?
For the first two quarters, the Skyforce played decent, if somewhat uninspired basketball. During the third quarter (Surprise!!) they played horribly stupid basketball.
Kerrie and I were in the HenkinSchultz season ticket seats. We were closer. We were used to this suckitude – we’ve been watching it over the past few weeks in person – and usually we just curse to ourselves and embarrass the people around us. Not tonight.
We were right in the action, it seemed. So we made ourselves heard.
I’d like to think that our yelling helped spur the fourth quarter comeback. I’d like to think that, through our impassioned critiquing, we lit a fire under the ass of the hometown team. We told them to stop playing stupidly – to start fighting for rebounds, to stop settling for bad jump shots, to drive into the lane and fight for the points.
And they did. As if they heard us.
Instead of resorting for bad 20-foot giveaways – a horrible idea for a team not shooting well – we drove to the basket. We didn’t make all of them at the beginning, but we sure drew a lot of fouls. At one point, we had already put the Toros into the penalty, without – surprisingly – committing a foul ourselves.
We won quite easily after this change of pace. I daresay I had more fun at this game than I have in months.
Regardless of how blasé the half time acts are getting (The Empire Mall Star Search, again, featuring a Cyndi Lauper cover and a knife juggler) or how ridiculous the refs are (one caught a rebound after a free throw, denying both teams the chance, leading to a jump ball… or so I think – the refs never let us know what’s going on), I find that a quick five-minute burst, a series of uncontested dunks and hot three-pointers, and a great seat will help alleviate the annoyance every time.
Let the frustration out, I say. Voice your displeasure. If the team doesn’t change it’s actions, at least you got the frustration out.
If they do improve, then bully for everyone involved.