James at the arena - they blocked off most of the seats so that all the people were in the lower sections in front of their "stage." The ESPN coverage of the draft was playing on the big screen overhead. They had a season ticket holder announce the Jazz first-round draft pick to us in the arena, just before the pick was announced by the commissioner on ESPN. "Gordon Hayward!"
My draft BINGO card. As a player was drafted by any team, we crossed his name off the BINGO card. There were only 4 prizes and by the time we left the only one left was for the outside edge (top row, bottom row and outside columns). I had two names left and we gave our cards (and all the cards we'd scrounged from people who had already left) away to some guys who were determined to wait it out. We left at the end of the first round.
The Stockton (right) and Malone (left) statues outside the arena. I remember them playing for the Jazz, but I don't know if I ever got to see them play in person or if I just remember them from TV...
It was a fun, free date night. James would have liked about 3 more hot dogs. They were pretty small. But hey, free is free.
7/6/10 postscript: The free Bees baseball tickets were for specific home games at the end of June and early, early July. So we went to a Salt Lake Bees v. Tacoma Rainiers game on July 6th (Happy Birthday Mom!). It was a beautiful evening, not too hot.
We wondered what the mascot of the Rainiers might be - since their ball cap just has a mountain with a "T" coming out the top. I googled them - the mascot is Rhubarb the Reindeer. Is that more or less embarrasing than Bumble the Bee?
I learned that when a batter hits a home run with no other runners on base, they still get 1 RBI - for hitting themselves home. So their RBI stat will ALWAYS be equal to or greater than their Home Run stat.
Sadly, the Bees lost. Sad again, the game was free, but we spent some money on soda and a churro - actually that was yummy and not very sad - except that it cost money. More sadness, I didn't take any pictures.
Happily, it was another fun date night. :)
