Game One, Service Unavailable By Jordan Rivas
04.19.2008 - Updated on 04.19.2008
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Damn the motherfucker.
Understand this: Certain things can come between a man and the game he loves, but nothing came come between his love for the game.
Due to circumstances beyond this writer’s control, he was neither in the arena or in front of TV during game one of the Spurs-Suns series. Where I was isn’t entirely important. What is important, is that with 19 seconds remaining in regulation, the Spurs down three, myself and about four nail biting Spurs fans were hunched over my Motorola Moto Q, furiously tapping on the usually dependable mobile device, trying to refresh the Fox Sports Mobile web page to get an update on the game.
Technology, however, felt like being a bitch.
My thumbs punished the little device as I quickly navigated to ESPN’s mobile site to get the score. The had Spurs managed to tie things up – overtime.
Now understand, at this point, I’m getting all my information in small bits of text. I don’t know Finley made a three pointer to force O.T. I didn’t know that Tim Duncan made his first three pointer of the season to force the second O.T. All I know is I need a fucking connection that works.
Second by agonizing second, we keep slamming the refresh button, first on cell phones and PDAs and finally on a nearby computer. People who, by normal standards, have little in common, are all in the same boat when their team is locked in a tight contest in game one of the playoffs. Few things can bring people together like sports, particularly in difficult circumstances.
When the Spurs finally win, we don’t see Manu Ginobili’s twisting, falling, off the glass, lay-up. We don’t hear any exuberant call by the announcer. Instead we anxiously watch a web page refresh, bit, by bit, by bit – until finally we see it: Spurs 117 – Suns 115, FINAL.
Trust me, it isn’t any less exciting, exhilarating or special. No matter where you are, or how seemingly disconnected you are, fans are fans, the playoffs are the playoffs, a win is a win.
After the game, I only have thing left to do. I whip out my Moto Q one more time and fire off an email at resident HoopsVibe Suns fan, Jason Kelly:
That’s one...
three more to go.
Peace,
J
[image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24265620@N00/]
