I’ve got a Fever! An Indiana Fever!

Last night, my family and I were hosted by One2One Network at an Indiana Fever game. Indiana Fever is our WNBA team (women’s pro basketball).

In college, I worked for the marketing group that did promotions at the basketball games. I loved being at all the Xavier Musketeer home games and I loved being part of the contests, giveaways, and other promos.

In high school, Jeff played basketball. And he played really well from what I’ve been told.

While it is in our past, Jeff and I both have basketball in our past. It’s something we’ve both enjoyed- but not together.

Friday morning, I was talking to Teagan about our plans for the evening. It struck me… that my daughter is going to grow up where it is normal for women to play pro ball. I was in college when the WNBA was born- and not without controversy or scoffing. But here we are in 2010 and women are still playing and teams are still playing and seasons are still going. While the WNBA might not be as popular as NBA games, the fact that there are teams and crowds and fans and players and coaches that my daughter can look to for athletic role models is pretty awesome.

Jeff and I aren’t really the “get up and go” kind of people when it comes to anything outside of a 5 mile radius from our house. Going downtown often feels like a bit of a hardship. It shouldn’t. From our house, there are at least 2 really easy routes down to Conseco Fieldhouse. Our drive was easy. Parking was easy- there was a lot right next door that was open for special event parking. The crowd was very manageable.

We made our way down to our seats- row 6, directly across the floor from the team benches. It was crowded but we had open seats next to us on one side and some room on the other side as well. Jeff made friends with the 2 women seated next to us- they could talk about the game and the calls and the shots. Good thing he made friends because sitting by the aisle with 2 young kids next to you can’t be terribly fun. They had to do the handing down of money and cotton candy… they had to stand up a few times when the kids had to potty. 1 of the 2 women- the one Jeff talked to the most- was a very vocal fan. My kids each took a turn studying her when she would get…. um… passionate. “You want some cheese with that WHINE?”

Here’s what I loved… I loved watching these athletes. I loved the communication between the women- both verbal and hand signals and just eye contact. I loved the intensity on their faces. I loved watching them run and pivot and dribble and stop.

While Jeff and I enjoyed the game itself, the kids really enjoyed the distractions and entertainment that presented itself throughout the game. Most of all, they both were quite enamoured with the team’s mascot- Freddy Fever.

Don’t worry- he only uses the giant hands to make a loud clapping sound. He doesn’t wear them all the time or anything. And the gun thing behind him was way cool! When they would giveaway t-shirts, the Fever Hip Hop Team would hand throw shirts to the lower sections but that machine gun t-shirt thrower would shoot high up into the stands in a really cool rapid fire action.

I loved all the dancing. I love the music played at basketball games. I love the dance teams and half time entertainment. I love the crowd dancing. Heck, I love getting up and shaking my own booty.

There was the Fever Hip Hop Team- Fever Inferno. Loved their energy and how much fun they were having. Loved that there were boys who were dancing- and obviously enjoyed dancing. Loved that the team is made up of local high school and college kids!

They were just trying to make me jealous of how much hair they all have.

There was a half time show. I didn’t catch the name of the group but I sure enjoyed them! There was a woman who was obviously the leader of the group and then there were kids of all ages performing a bunch of dance routines. I loved it!

Plus, most of them wore yellow Converse and I am now totally wanting a pair!

And what is the one thing that everyone gets excited about at a big sporting event? No- I’m not talking about the cotton candy (although we did enjoy a bag). No- I’m not talking about the beer (didn’t have any of that). No- not the concessions or fan gear.

The JUMBOTRON!

Everyone wants to be on that big screen, right? We all love hearing stories of marriage proposals via jumbotron. We laugh at the people dancing, we aawwwww at the babies, we giggle when someone sees themselves and starts pointing and bouncing up and down.

When we went to the Tin Caps minor league baseball game in Fort Wayne, our family made an appearance on the big screen during “dance cam.” They played music and people got up and danced. Jeff had Zach on his lap and was dancing with him and there we were- on the big screen. To this day, Teagan insists we weren’t up there because she wasn’t dancing. And, for the record, I was the goober who saw us and started pointing at the screen going “there we are! there we are!”

Well, it happened again. This time, there was a celebrity at the event. I think it was Carlos Diaz- of TV’s Extra! Towards the end of the game, he was being interviewed on the floor down in front of us. We were in the crowd between his head and the host’s head up on that giant screen.

Unfortunately, you can’t capture clean images of that screen with a camera. But we are there in between those heads. I circled Jeff and Zach to help you out…

I tried to zoom in… the yellow arrow is pointing to Teagan and I as we stare up at the screen. She’s staring up, I’m taking a pic. The blue arrow is Jeff with Zach on his lap. Jeff is taking Zach’s hand and “making” him scratch, touch, and pick that guy’s nose. Yes, he really is this funny all the time.

It was a late night for my kids but they really handled it all very well. It was loud and flashy and exciting and late and while it took some adjusting to take it all in, they were both all caught up in it by the end.

Jeff and I decided that we definitely want to go again. Next time, we plan on it being a date night. Down for a 7 p.m. game and then dinner downtown after (like at Scotty’s Brewhouse which is right down the street). I had friends in the crowd- a Mom friend from a local online community, one of my fellow Fit City Mom Bloggers, and one of Teagan’s preschool teachers was there (and sitting just 2 rows in front of us!).

I was surprised at how empty the seats were, to be honest. It was a really fun event. I love watching basketball. I love people watching at sporting events. I love the entertainment and the food and the atmosphere. It was so much easier to get there and park and get inside than I had thought it was going to be.

I really encourage you to go to a game sometime. Best of all, the WNBA really wants you there, too!

Follow the link below and you can take advantage of a special offer to buy one ticket (valued $23 or more), get one free! I checked it out last night. You won’t get to pick any game and any seats for the offer. Go to the link and see what games are available and then it finds seats that are part of the promotion and makes you an offer and then you have about 5 minutes to decide if you want to buy them or not. So go into it when you are serious about buying those tickets! If I took advantage of the offer and had taken the seats that came up for me last night, I would have ended up in almost the same seats we were in last night and my cost would have been around $60 total (2 tickets and fees and I had selected best seats available).

Just go to http://bit.ly/WNBAFeverTix , enter promo code WNBABLOG to purchase tickets and experience the WNBA's exciting, family-friendly, entertainment! You will need to create an account in order to use the code, simply enter your email address, create a password – and discount!