The Return of Football

Well the title may be rather misleading as football in some shape or form hasn't 'gone away' due to the Wuhan Flu or CCP virus (no i wont call it what people are saying), football in Perth was put on hold until restrictions were eased. Now that this has happened we have football returning, this edition is Perth hosting Floreat Athena. A good game to go to where two historical heavy hitters of Western Australian football take to the field yet again for the spoils. So I watched a decent game bathed in beautiful Perth warm, bright and sunny sunshiny winter's day.

Perth were the stronger side during over the first half but were just unable to convert the dominance of possession into the tangible dominance of scoring goals. Floreat to their credit, held firm and were able to scramble their lines from the Perth danger and were probing during many counter attacks. Only to be denied by the Azzurri regularly. The arm-wrestle between the two league heavyweights didnt really swing greatly to either side until Perth had a player sent off for a second yellow card offence which gave Floreat the numerical advantage to muscle their way into the contest and take control. Which they did by breaking the dead lock in the second half. Late in the second half Floreat were able to double their lead as Perth just didn't have the depth to keep out the visitors, nor mount a threatening counter or offence to try and pip one back. The game finished 2-0 in favour of Floreat.

It was also as usual, a pleasure to be at Dorrien Gardens to watch football as Perth SC have great food and beverage facilities and if you wish to drink inside you can enjoy the sweeping views of the ground and the quaint tight community feel of this corner of West Perth in the inner city. Peroni were 10 dollars and went down a treat. I know many people seem to be savouring these even more so now that wuhan flu restrictions have been eased. While the beer to me tastes no different than before, I can totally understand as it just feels great to be able to watch sport, talk away with your friends and just enjoy a refreshing beverage at a fantastic venue.

Now I have to also add that the pasta was very good, yes on the over-cooked side of things, but this isn't you cooking at home, this is to cater for 1000 or so people at the venue. But the sauce and sprinkling of Parmesan was delightful and yes I did buy two generously filled servings at 5 dollars a serve. I didn't know but Perth have chips with cheese and gravy available and for the same price looked and smelled great. Hot dogs were 3 dollars a pop, with the bread either being your standard white bread affair or even ones with sesame seeds. Which used to for burgers but not for hot dogs, which tasted really good. Then to finally round off the food I did have some soft drinks at the standard $2.50 fare to cap off a great afternoon at Dorrien. Yet again was a treat to head down and will always keep coming back.

Lacklustre Clippers Clipped by Pelicans

Well it isn't every day that someone like myself has the opportunity to go to an NBA game, let alone a match in Los Angeles and one to see the Clippers or the Lakers for that matter. So it was an opportunity that I couldn't turn down when I had the chance to snap up a ticket. Unfortunately I was unable to buy a ticket for a Lakers game to add to the whole basketball in Los Angeles experience, as the price for the ticket was way too expensive for me and I had to resign knowing that just seeing the Clippers was a feat in itself on this holiday. Oh and the World Cup in Russia had made a rather larger dent in the holiday war chest than I had budgeted, but that is what life is all about? Anyway, let us return to Los Angeles, it was a rather crisp and cold night. It had rained prior and it is rather akin to Perth, or Australian winters (excluding the top end or Tasmania) where the nights were cold and the days were not too bad, unless it was a grey and miserable wet day.

So I wasn't exactly staying in a place in Los Angeles that is considered safe for myself, or for anyone for that matter, but it was easily accessible by public transport so that is the reason why. Call me foolish, foolhardy, or somewhat stupid, I tend to put myself in these situations but again it is part of the adventure of travels and of course an eye-opening and enriching experience. But I caught the silver LA metro line up to the city centre and then i walked down towards the Staples Centre. Like all basketball venues I've been to in Portland and in Perth, the outside looks deceptively small but once you go in, it is huge. Anyway, I should go back to talking about the game!

I found my seat and it was quite high up, but that is OK I wasn't upset by the fact I was thankful to even be here to watch a game and to be in the country as it is just a fantastic place to visit and spend time in. But it wasn't too high where I wasn't able to see the players or the action, it was just right I thought. So I was watching the action all unfold but I must disclose like I have many times hopefully before, I enjoy basketball but I am no way an expert or an aficionado of the sport. However, I was witnessing the Clippers playing rather poorly and the visitors from New Orleans were running rings around them. It was something I wasn't used to. I had totally forgotten that New Orleans even had a team and I was initially confused by this, however a quick google thanks to the WiFi supplied by the stadium brought me up to speed with the whole Hornets fiasco and shuffling around.

The Pelicans were just never under huge threat and were able to diligently build upon their lead over the course of the four quarters and the Clippers just seemed to be Clipped, now that is terrible, but they were just not kicking it into a high gear and just seemed too stiff, predictable and bland. Even the off court entertainment seemed the exact same way where all the noise from the PA, the guys and girls talking on the mics and the music blasted over the time-outs or quarter breaks to generate some kind of atmosphere. Perhaps this is a regular thing for basketball in LA, or in general, but I think I was perhaps spoilt for watching a few Trailblazers games where the atmosphere there was very loud, intense and very passionate; very much like the Timbers games too.

I think I would assume that this is what the atmosphere would be like if I were to visit Old Trafford, or any of the Emirates (Etihad for City) named cloned stadiums to watch Manchester City or Arsenal. It would just be for 'the plastics' and genuine fans would be few and far between and drowned out by the stadium's PA system. The Clippers though did stage a very slow but gradual comeback against the visitors, as they were starting to nail the basket and were stringing passes together and building a very patient and diligent game. But it just was too late with the hosts falling 2 points shy at the final buzzer 117 to 119.

The food though was very much like at the Blazers' games in content and in price, albeit slightly more expensive by a buck or 3. That of course comes down to LA and the demographics compared to Portland being a 'smaller' city obviously than LA. So I had nachos with thick goopy nacho cheese sauce, which I have to admit, is unhealthily delicious with jalapenos and a large cup of doctor pepper for 20 dollars. I also had a few beers which were 10 dollars each. So this became very expensive fast, especially when I was converting from AUD to USD. As I was rather high up in the centre, I didn't want to go all the way down and go through the rat race to find more food and drink, but there was plenty on offer when I saw it going up to my seat. But I just have to say I thought it was a great experience. I hope that I am lucky enough to return, but I am just thankful that I did have this opportunity to watch some basketball in LA and to see yet another NBA game.

Trailblazers Tame Bulls

It was another cold, sharp, crisp winter's night in Portland and I ventured yet again to the Moda Centre to watch some NBA between the Portland Trailblazers and the Chicago Bulls. I had always wanted to see the Bulls play as growing up during the 1990's you were inundated with all things Chicago, Bulls and the legends on the court that were just so phenomenal. However, I knew that the Bulls that I was going to see were a tiny shadow of what they used to be of the heyday of the 1990's. But, it was something that I have wanted to do.

Portland were much like how they played against the New York Knicks and were in control from start to finish. It was a well-oiled machine display and they were just ticking along throughout the match. The crowd were right behind the Blazers, and was rather reminiscent of when I watched a few Portland Timbers games the previous summer. The fans are tightly knit, despite their political views which for me is rather astonishing with Portland being a very blue state these days. But, sport does unite us from all corners of the spectrum so it really shouldn't surprise me. That is one thing that I really do love about sports, watching and being involved with it. It bridges many divides.

Portland didn't really look under threat though during the game, but there were moments where the Bulls did try and mount a form of counter which the hosts had to call the odd time-out to just collect themselves and reset the tempo to their liking. This didn't happen too many times though, but unlike the Utah Jazz game, this was a refreshing and positive sign for them leading into the tail end of the season.

Getting there and going through were the usual affair. The metal detector and check was very much like the World Cup in Russia and when I was in Brazil during the Olympics. Finding my seat wasn't difficult with everything well signed and easy to navigate through. Though they do have a lot of bars and eateries to just sit and chill while watching the game on the screens. While this is good to have, and I am all for it, I'd rather see the game live. It can work at Optus Stadium for the cricket and the Aussie rules, which have excellent viewing bars, doing for basketball is not really for me.Portland finished the game 124-112 winners.

The food was standard as I have covered earlier but this time I did buy some beer. I had Coors Light for 9 dollars but I gave the guy a dollar tip as I was trying to get to my seat quickly and I didn't want to obstruct anyone from viewing the game. I didn't have anything to eat during this game as I will admit that when I was downtown prior to the game I was at Buffalo Wild Wings. This place is generally wings, but you can of course order burgers, fries and other things. But you usually come for the boneless or bones wings which come in many sauces. They vary from tame, to medium to hot but varying flavours. It was good to have wings while watching some earlier NBA games and then heading down to watch my game live. I sure would love to have something similar in Perth.

Once again it was great to get out of the cold, and miserable wet conditions of Portland and just escape and watch some basketball. Was great to break up the winter's chill of the Pacific North-West.

Portland Fend Off Knicks

On yet another cold, crisp and cool Portland winter's evening was host to the Trailblazers and the New York Knicks at the moda centre in downtown Portland. Getting there isn't an issue if you just jump straight onto the Max tram service that the city has, then a straight short walk to the arena. Getting into the venue isn't very difficult, besides the initial security detectors, but that is a given. Finding my seat wasn't difficult, however, on this occasion I had special seats due to a friend of mine offering me his spare ticket. These seats were about 10-12 rows back from court-side so I was almost there in the action. It may sound like a fair way away, but the way the rows have been angled and are rather close to each other to the court, it does make it feel much closer.

Portland were in control all game, but there were times where the Knicks began to claw their way back into the contest. The margin at times was blowing out to 15 points, but through some resilience from the visitors, the margin was kept around the 9-10 point mark. However, Portland had a better day at the office, compared to the game I saw against the Jazz. They were sinking every basket, stringing passes together, moving across the court well, rebounding and applying great pressure when defending.

Food-wise, I had a cheeseburger with chips. This time round they didn't give me any ranch or blue cheese sauce which was a shame as the chips were delicious but could have done with some dipping condiments. The chips were garlic, herbs and salted which made a nice touch to just ordinary chips. The burger was fresh, with the lettuce crisp and the bread soft. However due to the nature of an Oregonian winter, the tomato was virtually white, tasteless, lifeless and soggy. An unfortunate aspect of out of season produce. With a large cup of coke it was in total 20 dollars, I think the cup is actually smaller than the collector's cup so you are getting ripped off for the same price for cool drink. Also with Oregon and the west coast of America getting obsessed with banning straws etc, they have biodegradable straws, which are fine at first, but they turn into a soggy useless mess due to exposure to the coke or liquid you're drinking.

The Blazers ran out winners over-all 111 to 101 with the fans once again winning a 6-pack of nuggets as they hit over 100 points. I really do enjoy coming to the Trailblazers games, especially when I was treated to some special seats from my friend. I really appreciated that and hopefully can experience the NBA again close up!

Seahawks Fend Off the Chiefs

On a very sharp, cold and breezy Seattle winter's night was host of the National Football League's fixture between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs at CenturyLink Field. This stadium is an incredible stadium for its sheer size. The stadium is for 70,000 spectators and 69,500 odd turned up to scream at the top of their lungs and make one heck of a noise to maintain the reputation of Seattle being one of the noisiest stadiums in the league. So noisy in fact are the fans at CenturyLink, is that they trigger the second highest amount of false starts in the league, second behind Minnesota. However, for a casual fan like myself, it was intense the noise and rather painful. Then again I had 6 fans in my seats scream at their fullest capacities in the back of my head to induce said migraine.

Tickets to these games do not come cheap, and unfortunately the cheapest I could afford were towards the very back. While not a bad view, the bitter cold blowing into the semi-open stadium did make it rather chilly. I do recommend to take your gloves for a game and a warm jacket, in which I did. But apart from the noisy fans behind me, the atmosphere is what I was expecting in an NFL game. These fans wear their emotions on their sleeves and are not afraid to show it. They do not take too kindly humour of the wry, witty or even dry varieties. So I suggest that you don't engage like that. 

The game however was a very even contest with Seattle coming out of the blocks early and hard. But failing to capitalise on the dominance. This is where Kansas City Chiefs had began to turn it around and cause trouble for the Seattle defensive team. Yes, that is right, there are effectively two teams within the team. One is an offensive team, then when they are on the defensive, well, you got it there is a team for that as they switch. So It is rather difficult to follow if you are not a fan of the game like I am. When I start to get into understanding the basics of the game however, it stops and then there is a considerable pause in the play. So it is hard to understand why they stopped and what was it for.

Kansas during the second quarter edged in front over the hosts and the crowd were wavering in their loud support for the Seahawks. But with mistakes from the Chiefs, Seattle had turned it around and with some touchdowns and conversions had hit the lead and secured the match as 38 to 31 point winners.

Beers were the usual fare at the game, I had a bottle of Budweiser for 12 dollars and chips and M&Ms for 12 dollars in total. There were plenty of other foods, but I wasn't going to fight through the crowds to fight for the food and fight all the way back up to the back of the stands with the food.
Despite the cold, and the bitterness of the winter's night in Seattle, it was a wonder evening to watch my first American football game. If you are in the states and you want to tick it off your list, I recommend it.

 

Utah Upbeat As Portland Slow On The Trail

Headed to my second NBA game at the Moda Centre on a rather chilly, crisp, cold and clear night in downtown Portland, Oregon to watch the Portland Trailblazers play host to the Utah Jazz. I caught the Max to the Rose Centre and was a little long as per usual when you cross through cities on a system that should be heavy rail, but that's the US for you. I got into the venue but I had to hand over my selfie stick to the cloak room. While this is a standard policy for virtually every stadium around the world, I thought id just have it in my pocket until post game for some after match selfies.

I found my seat with no difficulties, but there was a couple who had placed their coats on my seat and I didn't want to be squashed up next to them so I sat behind them where there were a couple of empty seats. I sat there for the first half and a couple of minutes into the third quarter until a family decided to finally arrive after eating and drinking on the concourse level. I don't understand why would you spend this money on basketball tickets, come all this way, (Portland is very sparsely populated) and not watch the game live and not on some screen in a concourse food outlet?

I happily moved, but went to the opposite side of my seat to get myself a better, or different perspective. I had no problems finding a seat as people were starting to leave half way through the third quarter as Utah were dominating Portland. The home side were competitive in the first half only trailing by 6 at half time. However, Portland's poor shooting and woeful rebounding, steals and foul count had given the Jazz easy opportunities to sink for threes and take free throws to blow out the lead beyond single digits and ended up running home with a 30 point win, 120 to 90.

The food was the same but this time I had the chicken spicy burger. It was 12 dollars also and I had a collectors cup on top of that for another 12. The total was 24 dollars and I have to say that the chips were once again a bit average. They were garlic fries, but I had to add some more salt and have ranch and barbecue sauce to add flavour. The burger was dray and utterly tasteless with little to no spice what so ever. I found this disappointing as in the United States if something is spicy, you know that there will be a bit of a tickle, unlike in Australia where it is a land devoid of anything remotely spicy.

The bread was dry and felt stale, but I could be wrong as bread in the US is usually a bit dry and not overly soft like back home. The lettuce wasn't bad, but the tomato was not pleasant. The chicken patty was bone dry and without any flavour. It only just had that crumbed taste and it did break apart easily like regular chicken. However, all in all it was not very nice.

A shame that the food on this occasion was even worse and that the Trailblazers played even worse still. But It is a neat little basketball stadium in a small Pacific North-West town that I am sure that I will be returning to at some stage in the future.

Portland Overcome Memphis

It was a crisp and cool early December winter in Portland, Oregon which was the host to my first National Basketball Association match, between the Portland Trailblazers and the Memphis Grizzlies. It was also my first trip to the Moda Centre in Portland as my previous outing here was a Timbers game last July.
The venue is very much like the Perth Arena, and most basketball venues I would imagine, with signage that was straight forward and well signed. The staff were helpful also and there were no major issues getting to my seats.

Portland started off very slowly with Memphis sprinting out of the blocks in the first quarter and dominating the frustrated home fans. Where I was sitting was rather boisterous and I loved the support as it was very much like my time at Providence Park, only with more music from the sound system. Portland were slowly warming up to the contest and in the second quarter they were starting to find their feet. However, some sloppy shooting, poor rebounds and giving away some fouls were keeping the Grizzlies with the noses in front of the contest.

By the third quarter Portland found new energy, they began to hit their strides with the crowd pushing them along. In this quarter their passes seemed to stick and they were blocking almost everything Memphis threw at them. The rapid turnovers, and the turnarounds had ensured that the Trailblazers had hit the lead by three quarter time. In the final quarter Memphis were a shadow of their former selves from the first quarter and were trying all they could to try and stem the flow of the home side. However, in the last 5 minutes of the quarter Memphis did manage to break open the Portland defence, but it was too late and Portland were too resilient holding out the visitors 99 to 92.

Food was not bad as I had the chicken strips with chips and barbecue sauce. I had a collectors cup with coke and a cider during the game. The cider was an apple cider which was not sweet, so if that is your thing for apple ciders then you may not enjoy it. The cider was 11 dollars, the meal was also 12.50 and the collectors cup was 12. This seems to be standard for sporting venues as I recall this for the Timbers and at the Dodgers and Galaxy last year.
All in all a fantastic first game for me and would highly recommend anyone in the US during the winter months to go and see a basketball match.