kings game

Last night, I was lucky enough to head to a Kings game with a friend. Since heading to a Peruvian soccer match was part of my last few days in Peru, I thought it may also be fun to go to a game here. I was hardly prepared for several of the differences I faced.

Walking into the arena after so long was amazing because things just seemed so different. I tried to hand my ticket to the first guy and he just wanted to run the metal detector in front and in back of me. The next lady took my ticket and scanned the bar code, then gave the whole thing back to me. Okay, what was that all about? When did the ticket people stop taking the tickets? What is the point of the bar code? Do they think they are reducing paper waste? I still have the ticket...it will still end up in the trash somewhere!

Just inside the doors, I couldn't help but laugh at the stark difference of the food available. There was stand after stand in Arco of ice cream, sandwiches, and the most comical - portable bars! Knowing that arena food is probably two to three times what it should be, I could only imagine the price hike on a rum & coke. Amazingly enough, people bought these things. In Peru, there were a few stands where the women would take whatever they sold that evening and feed their family the next day. They might have even been able to serve meat if the sales were good enough. The majority of people inside the Peruvian stadium buy small packets of chifles, habas tostadas, and other crunchy salty things for a whopping $.15 each.

The game last night was more of a show. There were a few people that were emceeing and games were played whenever possible. They kept giving things away in an effort to win over more fans. The fan base seems to be low and it is said because the team isn't playing well. The final score was only a 7 point spread but I could see that the Kings only seemed to have spurts of good playing.

The highlight? Michael Jordan was at the game!