I keep going to games even though they do things like lose by 33 points to Indiana this week. I cheer like a maniac in my season subscription seats. I throw away my $10 Nalgene water bottle after standing in line for nearly 10 minutes to get through security at Madison Square Garden.
Wait. I did what?
Yeah, I trashed my favorite H2O bottle filled with my own home-Britta-filtered water, just so I could get in the door to watch my beloved 2nd-to-last place team in their 2nd-to-last game of the season. It used to be that security would confiscate bottles of soda and water at the door for 2 obnoxious reasons: 1. So that you'd be forced to buy liquid refreshment at insanely inflated prices from their concession stands inside and 2. To prevent the nasty bottle-cap-throwing incidents of Men's games, whereby irrate fans would toss trash onto the court. When you buy a bottle of water inside MSG, they take the cap off and hand you the bottle. Annoying to say the least. So, when they took my Nalgene bottle off of me at the gate this evening, thanks to the most recent terrorist plot in the news, it was more of a test than I'd imagined it to be. Many penny-pinching patrons like myself, when presented with the choice of their sodas or the game, chose to turn around with their pop in hand. As if the attendence at Liberty games wasn't dismal enough due to their abysmal record...!
As a person with a history of Kidney stones, I carry and chug water at all times. It is nearly impossible to separate me from my water bottle. I was so pissed-off that, parched, I refused to buy a beverage through the first half. But then my thirst got the best of me, and I plunked down $4 for a Dasani Water with no cap. Bastards! It was at that moment I swore that the Liberty were going to win this game, dammit.
And they did, in a nail-biter. With the game tied at 62, the ball in NY's possession, Barb Farris sunk the winning basket with 1.7 seconds to go. A thrilling victory, made possible, in part, by angry loyal fans willing them victory as compensation for lost goods. And with this win my bumbling lovable team became the third-to-last team in the Eastern Conference. We still got some pride, you know.
