Some Things Learned from Behind the Spurs' Bench

For our one year anniversary the wife and I decided to go all out and leave the East Coast's random weather for sunnier days in Maui and then San Antonio.  Maui itself is self explanatory. But why San Antonio?  Simply put, the wife is a huge Spurs fan.

Since she's been pounded down and tested by work in her first year of residency, I decided it was best to lift her moral and help her live out one of her all time dreams: to sit court side at a Spurs' game.  Some of the cooler things we saw/learned from our seats.

• These guys love their coach.  I always thought that Coach Pop was one of the best.  But these guys really listen to him.  Its amazing.  As big as egos are now a days, the Spurs seem to have the combination of great team guys and a great coach.
  
  
• Drew Gooden is a bonehead.  Its confirmed.  I've always suspected it.  He always seemed like he was doing his own thing in Cleveland's offense a couple of years ago.  I watched this guy drool at the Spurs' dancers as they performed their routine.  Then to top that, he spotted my wife and blatantly checked her out top to bottom for several seconds.  The nerve of the guy! The wife was a bit taken aback to say or doing anything but once she regained regular thought she asked if she could wave next time.  Whatever!
• From this down low you can see everyones faces but you also risk your view being blocked by a coach or referee.
• You don't have to get up for food because you have your own waiter down here.
• We could actually hear some of the conversations, like Coach Pop yelling at Tony Parker and a little bit of trash talking between Chris Paul and Coach Pop (all playful though).
• The so called basketball statisticians seem to just talk on AIM the entire time.  NOTE: not entirely sure if this was the stat guy or not but there was a lot of talking on AIM going on.

It was a great game overall. We lucked out and it went into overtime. The wife says its one of the best experiences of her life, falling behind our Wedding Day of course! Mission accomplished!

UPDATE: Bill Simmon's went ahead and confirmed my suspicions of Drew Gooden. In his own words:

Know when I knew it was over for the Spurs? When they signed Drew Gooden. Good rebounder, decent inside scorer, total knucklehead. He grew a mini-beard on the back of his neck three years ago. He let down LeBron so many times that LeBron developed an actual "Drew Gooden disappointed me yet again and I might have to kill him soon" frown. When he went to Chicago, Cleveland immediately became a better team. The Bulls dumped him and they immediately became better. He's exactly the type of player the Spurs NEVER sign: someone who looks better on paper than he actually is. I just thought it seemed like a desperate move. And it was.