Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Hardwood is Back and Kansas is Booked!

Now that the Minnesota Twins won an epic extra inning game against the Detroit Tigers yesterday, that win marks the end of the MLB regular season. It also marks the beginning of our season, the college basketball season. I am sure you are saying, "What do you mean? College basketball doesn't start until the middle of next month!!"

Well, oh contrare, it is the start of the college basketball season for me. Yesterday I got a phone call from Daniel Solow, the Assistant Athletic Director at Hofstra. Daniel, a good guy who I have met several times, was calling me about my season tickets. See, Hofstra, like many other schools, does a re-seating of their basketball seats every few years and this was the year for the latest re-seating. This is based on various criteria, such as how many years you have been a season ticket holder, being a member of the Hofstra Pride Club, the University's alumni booster group, donations to the Pride Club etc etc. If you are wondering, I have had season tickets for the past eight years, and I am a member of the Pride Club (which means I have donated a decent amount of money to the University that I call home. :-)).

Well, the last time they had the re-seating a few years ago, I lost the seats I once had due to being lower on the above criteria. Those seats were lower level mid court on the same side as the team benches. I had witnessed many special games in those seats, especially the magical 2005-06 run Hofstra had that year.

So the evening that I went to get my new seats, Mark Cox, the former Hofstra assistant AD, who I know well, knew I wasn't happy. But all that changed. He brought me to the opposite of the court, Section 111, row D. He told me that he liked these seats even better than the ones I previously had.

He was so right. The seats were mid court, lower than my previous seats and actually have even helped in my blog posts. That's because the seats allow you get to see the coaches and the players on the other side, a view I didn't have when sitting on the other side. You get to see a lot of the emotion on the team benches and even get to see how the coaches are managing the game. And there is nothing better than watching the antics of Bruiser Flint during a Hofstra-Drexel game. Can't thank Mark Cox enough for those seats.

So when Daniel called yesterday, I knew he was calling about the re-seating. It was a very quick conversation. "So Gary, would you like to keep the same seats or move to another section". My reply, "I'll gladly keep the same seats". Daniel replied "I thought so." When my friends Mal and Tieff, my compadres in Hofstra basketball, heard the news, they were quite happy!

So thus, my college basketball season started on a great note. Daniel even had me call Maria Corvino, who I also know and is always pleasant to talk to on the Preseason NIT tickets at Storrs. Thanks Daniel!

But actually, my season started even sooner last week. This is when I booked my flight for Kansas City and my hotel for Lawrence Kansas on November 13. Yup, I am going to be at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas for the start of the basketball season for both Kansas and Hofstra. My friend Grant Hayden, a KU alum, has already got mid-court seats. It should be a rocking good time. I already even have my headline for my blog posting the day after that game. :-)

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