All Basketball, All The Time

Since Jacob's school season really got rolling, I feel like everything has revolved around basketball.  That's fine, mind you, but it's been busy!  Two games per week plus practices on the other weekdays really does dominate everything, but as long as Jacob's happy, we'll make it work.  I feel like our dinner routine is totally shot, but hopefully I figure out how to make it work a little better in the coming weeks so we're not eating crazy late or always eating out.  We can try to eat early before late games, but Jacob can't, and road games will throw a whole new kink into things starting Friday, after lots of home games over the past couple weeks.

In between the first and second games, one of the players on the team got caught vaping, which was against school policy and the code of conduct they signed, so he got kicked off the team.  The coach also got sick, meaning the team would be coached by the old coach (currently the athletic director and an assistant coach), who Jacob really wanted to play for.  It was only for one game, but it was a good one.  Not only did Jacob get to play a lot, but he started!  Starting on varsity in 8th grade was one of his goals, and he did it.  And he went out and scored 12 points!  It was pretty awesome to see!

Running out for starting lineup announcements

The following weekend I saw that UR had a game, so once Craig was back in town after his first road trip, we went to a matinee on Sunday.  It was a pretty close game but UR pulled it off despite a last-minute push and a crazy last-second botched play by the other team.  It was fun to watch and Jacob really loves seeing college games so much more than pro games because it's so much more relatable for him.  He knows the NBA is not in his future, but college is a possibility, so he takes in as much as he can from these games.

The following Tuesday was Craig's 50th birthday.  I felt bad we couldn't do more but he was off to practice that evening, so we just did his gift that morning, cupcakes the following night (since Jacob had a game), and ordered dinner in from Outback on Thursday.  His gift was a new TV for our bedroom since the old one was really small and also a bit temperamental (the signal would cut out for no reason sometimes).

Wednesday's game was a bit quieter for Jacob but he still ended up with nine points.  He had another game on Friday, and started the game with four three-pointers in the first quarter!  At one point he had 12 of their first 15 points!  It took the other team about that long to realize they had to cover him, and then he ended up with the tallest guy on the court in his face most of the rest of the game.

He did manage to get one more three-pointer to tie his career single-game high, but his team struggled to keep up with the other team, who apparently haven't lost in over a year.  It was a great game but a tough loss.  Oh, and Jacob fouled out for the first time ever.

Not too often you see his number with that many fouls!  A couple were pretty questionable, but oh well!

His legs were super sore after that game, despite getting some work done on them Thursday and doing treatments on them at home, and he woke up overnight Friday into Saturday with leg cramps.  Poor kid.  I remember how much those stunk because I had them when I was pregnant with him!  We were a little nervous how he'd fare in Saturday's game, but we just hoped for the best.  

Did I mention Saturday's game was in Cleveland on the Cavaliers' court?  I probably downplayed it a bit if I did mention it because I was SO nervous we weren't going to make it.  Jacob's teammates have been going down to illness in waves, and after Wednesday's game he was convinced he was getting sick.  In the end it just seemed to be a little fleeting congestion and the aches from his legs, but we dosed him up on zinc and all seemed to go well.  Of course, given my nervousness I didn't pack or book a hotel until the last minute.  I took Friday afternoon off as a mental health break and ran a bunch of errands.  I did some quick packing and managed almost everything except the hotel, which I did Saturday morning just in case.  I was pretty psyched to get one close to downtown at a really good chain for about $150.  Our goal was to be ready by 9am so I could get gas and coffee, but Jacob was moving slow--as usual, but his legs didn't help matters--and I ended up getting gas without him and making coffee at home, but we still didn't leave until 9:48, which basically meant we'd have to eat lunch on the road rather than getting in more of a driving break for me.  We grabbed lunch in Erie and just stopped long enough to grab our food, use the bathroom, and add sauce to my chicken sandwich before heading back out.  As we were coming into Cleveland my car officially hit 100,000 miles, which was a pretty big milestone since that's always what I had hoped for from my Toyotas, and my old one never got the chance to get there after I totaled it.

We got to the arena with about 10-15 minutes to spare.  It looked completely different than I remembered, and sure enough, I looked back at pictures I took of it in 2007 when we went to a baseball game with Craig's family and they completely changed the look of the outside with a glass shell, at least on the one side.

When we made it inside the arena we met up with his team and settled in.  We had to watch a couple other teams play first, so I killed time taking in the arena surroundings.  It was a totally different setup than a lot of other arenas--steeper seats, different suite configurations, interesting club seat sections--and it looked smaller than I expected.  Turns out capacity is supposedly higher than Buffalo's arena, and it completely blows my mind because it looks so much smaller.  But the scoreboard screens along the sides were HUGE.

Our seats for the actual game ended up being in the front row of the tiny little three-row section just right of center in the picture below, between the pink and yellow signs.  

It was neat to see the championship banner, which was a reminder that this arena was once home to the legendary LeBron James. 

Jacob looked pretty good in warm-ups...

You can just see him taking a shot on the right

 

...but the game ended up being a bit of a struggle.  I could tell his legs were bothering him, and nearly every shot was short.  One of the other parents noticed that he might have been shooting from behind the NBA three-point line (which, admittedly, he can still make, but maybe not hurt?), rather than the green high school line.  So all of those things might have been conspiring against him.  He did get a layup, though, and his team won.

They also got to meet a couple players, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and get their picture taken with them.

Of course, I sort of missed this moment because right near the end of the game, I got a call from a Cleveland number and it happened to be our hotel, which as I mentioned I had just booked that morning.  They shared that the room type we picked (two queens) had been overbooked, which can happen with third-party sites as they don't always have updated counts.  It was annoying because at the time I booked it said they had eight left.  I guess not.  They said they called lots of other people and couldn't find anyone able to switch, so all they could offer was two adjacent (but not connected) king rooms, which obviously would not be ideal with one adult and two kids.  So I had to scramble and find a new hotel immediately (since we were literally minutes away from going there when I got the call).  As I was trying to do that, Jacob got on my case saying that things never go smoothly when I book travel stuff (all going back to that Ocean City hotel mess) and it always goes fine with Dad (debatable).  He got mad when I was passing by $200 rooms, or passed on a cheaper one with a $35 parking fee.  He was just berating me and I was losing my focus as a result, and then he called Craig and it was even more distracting.  Plus we were trying to figure out dinner and getting back to the arena in a short period of time, which complicated things even more.  Admittedly I do try to book on the cheaper side, but I also am balancing a lot of things--location, free breakfast (which is helpful to get a good one with Jacob's restrictions because Dunkin' doesn't work for us!), what the customer rating is (I try to only go 4+ on a 5 scale or 8+ on a 10 scale), bed type, and cost.  It's a lot to take in, let alone when rushed and stressed.  It was NOT a good hour or so from the time we left the arena.  But at least the views outside were cool?

I did manage to book one near the airport--not as good of a location as we had--but it fit the bill in all the other ways.  The problem was that it added time to go there and let Jacob clean up, and then we really needed to grab some dinner for him before the game since arena gluten-free options are never robust.  Add that to him being exhausted and moving at a sloth's pace and things were not going well.  But eventually he got ready, I preordered his food, we picked it up, he ate in the car, and eventually we got back downtown.  Where were promptly sat in awful traffic for 45 minutes.  UGH.

At least we got a good view of the ballpark while we waited...

It was horrible, because we didn't even really know where to park and everything was so slow, so one wrong turn (like when I didn't turn toward a ramp because I didn't know if it was for special passholders) turned into an even longer wait.  Time was ticking away, and it felt like an eternity when we finally pulled into a $30 ramp a couple blocks away...$10 more than the other ramp and a few more arguments later.  But beggars can't be choosers.  It was not our finest moment, but we got there and we got to our seats just as the anthem was starting.  Not bad all things considered, actually.  But man, that was frustrating.

Our initial view from the aisle near our seats

The game itself was interesting--very similar to our Raptors experiences in many ways, but always neat to see another team's take on things.  Game production was fun--less kitschy than hockey or baseball for sure, but always very high energy.  They had a drum group do an amazing take on the Super Mario theme, lots of hip-hop dancers, even an awesome rotating blaster sending balls high into the crowd.  Halftime featured dogs racing up and down the court (on mats, of course).

Carter was obsessed with these fire blasters on the scoreboard.  It was HOT!

Tip-off!

I even pulled out the real camera to try to zoom in a bit.

I guess in many ways it was comforting to see professionals miss a lot of makeable shots.  At one point the visiting team's three-point percentage was stuck in the teens, which was shocking, though they did bring it up to the upper 30s by the end of the game.  The Cavs led for most of it and won, despite a valiant comeback attempt near the end.  Overall it was an enjoyable time, but I just wish Jacob would have had more bonding opportunities with his teammates.  The way we were seated didn't really lend itself to that, but I think overall we had a good time and were happy we made it.

The arena had a ton of cool artwork and displays.  This one was made out of what appeared to be mylar balloons...

This one was balls representing (I think) local high school teams.

They had a section honoring the championship team, complete with the actual floor and the trophy.

Lots of diamonds on that ring!

The postgame show was broadcasting live out in the lobby.

More of the floor...we were shocked at how beat up it was!

They also had a section honoring the Lake Erie Monsters' AHL Calder Cup championship.  Not a bad ring for them!

I have no idea what that thing is on the left, but it was interesting and definitely made this lobby area stand out!  I know it's a sculpture by a famous artist, but not sure what it represents.

This was a mosaic tile artwork piece.  I love the colors. 

How cute is this giant bobblehead of the dog mascot?  And the kid next to him is pretty cute too!

And finally, one last photo op before the walk back to the car.

We ended up sitting in traffic in the parking ramp for a solid half hour or so, but that wasn't unexpected and probably could have been worse.  We were in far better moods by then and I think were a little relieved to finally be heading back to the hotel to get some rest. 

We slept in and I eventually needed to wake the boys up around 9am so we could get down for breakfast before it closed.  After all, we were at a Holiday Inn Express and my cinnamon rolls awaited!  We had a really good breakfast--all the hot stuff, plenty of stuff for Jacob, and Jacob and I both enjoyed coffee, too.  We had a really nice little meal with no bickering!  And the cinnamon rolls were awesome!

While I originally wanted to do something fun in Cleveland on Sunday, Jacob was super resistant.  I tried to convince him that if we did a quick trip to the Christmas Story House (only 11 minutes away), we could go downtown to Wahlburgers for lunch.  But he was not interested and was insistent we get on the road immediately so he could get home and do his homework.  Fair enough.  We checked out around 11am and got on the road.  We tuned into the Bills game, had a thwarted plan to eat at a Firehouse Subs in Erie that apparently no longer exists, and then opted to go the extra hour to Hamburg and grab lunch at Firehouse there.  As it was we got home at 4pm (just as the Bills won) so it was probably good we didn't stop anywhere.  It did put all sorts of ideas in my head for Carter's and my Cedar Point trip, though!

The trip was not without its ups and downs and I don't think Jacob enjoyed it even as much as I did in between the downs, but I'm glad we got to go.  It was definitely a cool experience, even if he might not appreciate it now.  He'd be happier to play in Buffalo's arena, honestly.  But hopefully someday.  

Unfortunately, Tuesday's game was equally frustrating.  He only ended up with four points and his coach decided to use him as the whipping boy for the night and blame him for a bunch of random stuff.  I think it's a combination of being young and not hitting his shots as consistently, so it just highlights anything else he's doing that might not be up to par.  Other guys are doing the same stuff but not getting the same flak, so we'll just need to see.  He was in a really bad mood for a day or so as a result, but hopefully he'll get back on track soon.  Two games before the holiday break, and then we'll be a third of the way through the season already.  Time definitely flies when you're having fun!