On Sunday afternoon, I arrived at American Airlines Arena and met up with Marcus Crawford, who is the cousin of Shaquille O'Neal.
This game would be the debut of Shawn Marion in a HEAT uniform.
Before the game, he addressed the crowd, thanking them for welcoming him and that he wanted to be a part of the turnaround of the franchise.
The HEAT provided me with some great merchandise to show my support for the team at the game including 3 t-shirts, a flag, noisemaker, and more.
Kobe talking to Michelle Tafoya after the game. It was nationally televised on ABC.
Notice the color changes in the seating
The home court
Quite a bit of Barcardi available inside the arena
Fuegos Grill
Not sure why, but there was a Marino and Jordan jersey in the upper bowl.
A different season ticket holder gets a shout out in each game program.
Player introductions
I haven't seen this before to date. The Cheerstix/Thunderstix were dropped from the ceiling rather than handed out.
Wade asking for an isolation opportunity
Odom at the line
The mascot Burnie
With the dance team
Pau in Lakers colors and Marion the Heat uniform
Radmanovic for 3
Then the HEAT put us a bit closer to the action
Marcus took us down to the arena DJ and I appeared on the jumbotron
This guy on stilts taught me that screams=shirts in Miami.
This arena was one of the nicer facilities in the league. Prime location downtown with an entire shopping complex nearby. Windows throughout the arena allowing fans to see the beautiful scenery outside (namely the Bay), and just a modern feel to all that they were doing.
Marion started a bit slow, but eventually seemed to fit right in and made the HEAT very competitive in a game the the Lakers were expected to win. He finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
It seems that I keep saying this at every game I go to, but once again a team had a double digit lead late in the game, only to see it disappear. The Lakers led by 17 in the fourth, but then the HEAT starting hitting 3 pointers, even Mark Blount hit one. The HEAT got within 4, but Pau's height and Kobe's free throw shooting sealed the win 104-94
Wade shooting a much needed 3, but no luck
Arena #19 in the books
One of my favorite promotions at this arena was that every fan in attendance received a "boarding pass" and late in the game, they announced which boarding pass would win a legit ticket. I had hoped my free trip to Nashville would come true, but no luck occurred.
Views from our Miami Beach hotel
A stop at FatBurger
South Beach at night
A sculpture in downtown Miami. It appears to be a broken bowl of oranges scattered all over.
Biscayne Blvd
Holocaust memorial
South Beach
Thanks to Marcus Crawford for arranging all of this for me. Also a thanks to Rosemary Escamilla for offering lodging arrangements for my trip.
If you don't already have high-speed Internet, I recommend getting it before reading my Phoenix post which is coming up next. I say this because my next blog will have more pictures than any other. It will also feature the arrival of "Diesel" in the Valley of the Sun...
2 comments:
I know that the Miami Heat retired Michael Jordan's number 23 so that might be the reason to why his jersey is up there. Not sure about the Marino one however
Pat Riely decided to retire Jordans #23 because of the impact he had on NBA Basketball.He believed that Jordan's # should be retired by every team because of the populatiry he helped the nba recieve.
I think Marino's jersey was retired for the same reason that he had such a huge impact on Miami sports
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