A few weeks ago the Utah Jazz were in town to play Real Madrid as part of the NBA’s preseason European tour. But you may be asking isn’t Real Madrid a soccer team? Throughout Spain those team names you associate with soccer are actually those of athletic clubs, home to teams of many sports from handball to field hockey to basketball. Much like in soccer, though, Real Madrid and Barcelona control the money and therefore the best talent. The game, however, was a blowout with every member of the Jazz taking their turn to clown on Spain’s top club.The most interesting part of the night was not actually the game but how we got into the stadium. For some incredibly logical reason the ushers were employees of the NBA league office….who didn’t speak a word of Spanish. Sure enough problems arose in the ticket lines (not enough windows open for ticket purchase, online ticket mix-ups, etc). Being the only ones able to serve as intermediaries, we helped convey a few messages, only to be rewarded with free courtside seats. I felt like a Spanish Spike Lee (courtside, shit home team) though had it not been for free tickets and the scrumptious stadium burritos the game would hardly have been worth the listed ticket price (30 euros for the upper deck).
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