The Summer League Diaries – Part 2

For Part I of the Summer League Diaries, click here.

I awake to the buzz and nondescript jingle of my iPhone. It’s 9:30 am. The plan was to meet up prior to Summer League Day 2, record a podcast, then head over to the Thomas & Mack. I’ve got some free time, and the Aussies were sleeping off their jet lag, so I head down to the casino level in search of coffee.

The Starbucks line is shockingly short. I jump in, grab a rare treat in the form of a latte, and walk away with a $13.00 charge to my credit card. No one warned me just how expensive even the small amenities are in Vegas.

I step out into the bright, hot sunlight of Las Vegas Boulevard and go for a stroll. It’s 105 degrees and feels positively mild after the 120s of yesterday. It’s an enjoyable jaunt down to Ceasar’s Palace and back to my room. After a quick shower, it was time to head over to Ben’s. The Aussies have risen. We congregate for a brief period, then it’s an Uber to the Thomas &Mack. The Celtics play in a few hours.

The Uber drops us off in the left-hand parking lot, we jump out and are immediately greeted by a parking attendant. He bellows, “the champs are here!,” in reference to the three of us donning Celtics gear. It would quickly become Jake’s mantra for the weekend.

For Day 2, we were in the Michelob Ultra (TM) VIP section, which comes with free food and drink. And by free, I mean, once you pay the inflated price to get into the VIP section, then you have access to the “free” food and drinks. We were faced with two complicating factors, a war on two fronts.

The Celtics were playing next door in the Cox Pavilion, which doesn’t have its own Michelob Ultra (TM) VIP section. So, to catch the Celtics, we had to dart over from Thomas & Mack to Cox and leave our overpriced seats and the comforts of free food and drink in the Michelob Ultra (TM) VIP section. Cox fills up fast though, so were regularly engaging in conversation about when to make the transition, and the first game in Thomas & Mack started an hour after the first in the Cox. It was a cavalcade of complexity. I can feel the anxiety rising in us as we make our way to the Michelob Ultra (TM) VIP section.

We enter into the Michelob Ultra (TM) VIP section and are greeted by a gregarious usher. After I walk in, I hear Jake’s Aussie-soaked “the champs are here” behind me. The usher absolutely loves it. He grabs the three of us and brings us directly to a private table in the front row of the…