Miami: basketball, beach and the sidewalk/catwalk
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2009
1
22
43
Trip End
Jun 22, 2010
Where I stayed
Miami Beach, Florida
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The first thing that we noticed after we were dropped of by the taxi at our hotel was how everybody walking on the streets (we named them catwalks!) was dressed. Its normal here to walk around, (streets back from the beach) in only bikinis and bordies displaying fancy jewelery and tattoos. More skin and less clothes is definitely the go and the "undies undies undies, bathers" concept doesn't apply here...lol. It's like a fashion show to show off your cool rollerblades or matching chiuawa dogs. You can go to the post office in rollerblades, go jogging in the streets and turn at the lights with traffic or maybe kick a soccer ball down the street?? We had a few quiet chuckles to ourselves over the 3 days we were in South Beach. There was even a guy walking around with ghetto blaster on his shoulder. He had a very apt t-shirt with "Graffiti saved my life" on the front. Maybe he was on his way to a break dancing session!!The actual beach reminded us alot of Scarborough beach back home except that its maybe twice as wide and bordered by hi-rise apartments and hotels. The sidewalks are huge too with lots of coconut palm trees.
We went to the American Airlines arena twice. First was to see the Miami heat take on the Philadelphia 76ers to which the heat easily beat. Dwayne Wade for the heat was amazing that night. He scored at will and made heaps of dunks, pretty much just dominating the whole game. We had a great time and had a great view of the court even though our seats were way up the back of the arena.
The second time to the AA arena was to see the Heat take on the visiting San Antonio Spurs. The spurs are my favorite team in the NBA and to finally see them in the flesh after watching them for so many years on TV was truly awesome. We had great seats only 10 rows back from the court. We also discovered that the Miami heat team shop at the arena also sold Spurs Jerseys so I immediately bought a Manu Ginobili Jersey (my favorite player) and wore it during the game. The game was great, the Spurs took the early lead that got up to and stayed at 20 points for most of the first three quarters. Manu was playing great and the whole Spurs team were working together well I was wearing my jersey with pride!Dwayne Wade for the Heat was kept quiet until the 4th qtr when he led a Heat comeback. The crowd got really pumped up and the Spurs were wilting under the pressure. I suddenly began to feel about 3 feet tall as the Heat fans behind me started talking and D Wade started making all his shots. I didn't have to stay quiet for long as Manu made a crowd silencing three pointer and killed all the heat supporters hopes for a heat victory. The Spurs won the game and I was stoked.
Comments
gosh it looks great, and as you say it is better to see the game in the real.
so much more atmosphere.
Just as well you have this blog as you would forget half what you have seen and done by the time you get back....it is like an electronic journal.
Had my exhibition last Fiday night and it went off really well with what Don calles my 'rent a friends' Mum was there and it was so good.
Matt, were the meals as big as the menu you were holding?
They were definitely huge. I managed to finishe mine and the left overs of Shelley's we shared the next day!
Hi Aunty Beth I just got an email from Mum to say she really enjoyed your exhibition. That's fantastic that you sold 11 on the opening day! I can't wait to see some photos.
That's so true about our journal, the beginning of our trip seems ages ago...and would definitely forget all the details if we didn't write it all down.