All Images, reflections, memories and fabrications ©2011 Tony Hernandez Photography

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Initail idea and the home town play by play guys

When I first started this blog, I really thought it was going to be all about photography. My life and times behind the lens .. if you will. But alas, I have many interests so, it's hard to keep the one theme idea going in perpetuity. It's not that I won't be revisiting my earlier posts on the subject, but for now, random thoughts will have to do until I get my writing plan in order. That being said, I must share some thoughts about tonight's Lakers vs Spurs game on TV. It wasn't supposed to be on regular TV this evening. Tonight's game was the sole property of NBA League pass. A "pay per view" service that carries all of your favorite teams games for a small fee of .... well... it's more than I want to pay. For me, getting the scores on my iPhone for free from ESPN is usually enough to get me through until the next regularly televised game. Luckily for all of us Laker fans out there, NBATV does "fan night" on Tuesdays. The way it works is, every Tuesday during the basketball season, all of the next weeks games are posted on the NBATV website. The fans are then allowed to choose the game to be televised by total vote count. Most of the time, there's a Lakers game on Tuesday so, it's usually the game that's picked. This Tuesday was no exception. Los Angeles was in San Antonio for the game and the crowd was very into it from the start. The Spurs fell behind early but came back in the first half to take the lead which they would not relinquish for the rest of the game. Yes, the Lakers lost. But even though my favorite team was behind, I was enjoying the game way more than I should have. The reason for my enjoyment you ask? It was the home teams play by play announcers. One of them being Sean Elliot, who played his college hoops at the University of Arizona. I don't know the other guys name but, these guys were on it tonight. The beauty of fan night is the local coverage. And local coverage means very slanted and biased commentary from the guys behind the microphone. I'm used to some "local color" to the play by play but tonight, it was on a whole different level than I have ever heard. It was great. No pretending by the two sportscasters as the proceeded to go "all in" with tonight's call. At one point, Sean Elliot was on fire. Calling Lamar Odom, "Lamar Kardashian". I thought to myself, good one Sean. Then he made reference to Ron Artest's holiday accident after Artest went all the way to the hoop for a score uncontested. Mr. Elliot chimed in, "that was easier than carrying  Christmas presents into the house". I rolled on that one. It continued for the rest of the game until the very end. It was "local color" at is most extreme and I loved it.

I hope the Lakers continue to win the Tuesday vote on fan night.

That way, I can enjoy the games from a "completely different " point of view.

And that my friends .... is a good thing.