Had a pretty good Valentine's Day yesterday. Laura got us some tickets to see the Austin Toros last night. Who are the Austin Toros? Is it Austin's association of matadors? A ferociously homosexual street gang? Or is it a collection of basketball players not quite good enough to make the NBA? Actually, it was a trick question; it's both the matadors and the gay gang. Wait, *checking notes* it's actually the BASKETBALL! The Toros are a part of the NBDL, which is the minor leagues for the NBA. I've been wanting to go for a while now since I heard about the team, but we didn't make it out until last night.
I love minor league sports. With minor league sports, you take the exact opposite of everything that's bad with major league sports (the players make too much, the seats cost too much, the cheerleaders consider themselves to be dancers and not just fancy strippers), and then add in a dose of the weird.
Example numero uno of the weird, but fun nature of minor league sports: at the game last night, you could enter a raffle to win a date with one of the players after the game. In the world of minor league sports, not only do you have the chance to take the players out, but you're probably expected to pay. They did the same thing for a date with one of the cheerleaders, and a 15 year old dude who sat a few rows in front of us won. Is that against the rules? Oh no, they sent him backstage with the girl and he didn't emerge all game. You've got to love any athletic contest where you have a random chance of fornicating with some of the participants.
The game itself was actually really good. I don't think NBDL teams focus so much on the defense, as the final score was 121-117. There were maybe 300 people at the game, but we were a raucous force, compelling our Toros to a last-second victory. I was getting into it, but mainly because two of the weird guys I'd watched all game played a large role in the finish. One was a 7 ft. 3 guy who looked like a huge, Puerto Rican transvestite (he was actually really good) and the other was a giant, bearded guy who kept getting the ball whanged off his face (not surprisingly, he was not so good). I don't remember many NBA games coming down to a duel between two guys like that. Good game.
If you live near an NBDL team, I encourage you to go to a game. They're cheap and really fun. If you can't make the game, you should at least enter the raffles.
Posted by Cody at February 15, 2006 7:27 PM