As a young girl I had grandiose career plans. As a 4’11 fifth grader, I was one of the taller girls in my class and, accordingly, I decided that I would utilize my height to my advantage and be the first female to play in the NBA. Unfortunately, some fifteen years later I am finally starting to acknowledge that at (a generous) 5’5, I may have to give up on my dreams of playing professional basketball. Although I will not be suiting up for a game anytime soon, I had a chance to revisit my love of basketball by attending a Boston Celtics game with Nadia Johnson (NH) and Constance Jones (NA) as we celebrated Michon Pinnix’s (NA) birthday. Attending the game was a great way to venture B.H.S. (Beyond Harvad Square) and discover one of Boston’s most treasured pastimes. I had so much fun that I want to share this experience with my fellow HBS’ers so I have arranged a special HBS Discount to the last game of the season, Boston Celtics v. Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, April 18th. But before you go, there a few best practices/lessons learned that I will share with my loyal readers so that you can craft your own successful three-point plan.
HBS’ers are everywhere!
When we arrived at the arena, Michon said we would “make the jumbotron.” Out of an arena of a few thousands people, I wasn’t convinced that we’d be picked to dance live on the elevated, four-sided, center court screen in the middle of the court. We started somewhat shyly, bopping our heads to the music in the arena. By the third song, (and after our second drink) we were standing at our seats and showing off some serious moves. Of course it didn’t hurt that we had great seats and awesome moves. Our 15 seconds of fame came when Nadia tapped us and pointed to screen where we saw our images on the jumbotron. During our 30 second pseudo-dance-off-challenge to the Celtics Dancers, a few HBS’ers in the arena recognized us and came over to our section of the arena. The lesson learned was that no matter where you go, even when you are venturing B.H.S., there are always HBS’ers around so be careful of showing off too many moves!
Plan your alcohol intake accordingly:
As part of the evening we felt inspired to enjoy Boston’s best offering of alcoholic beverages at a sporting event, a.k.a beer. We planned for one drink per quarter but our plans were cut short when we approached the bar at the end of the third quarter only to be told that alcohol sales had already ceased. Now, we hadn’t planned accordingly and were left with no drink during the entire fourth quarter. (Does anyone have David Stern’s contact info, I’d like to have a strong chat with him about this “no alcohol in the 4th quarter” policy). The lesson learned is that you should plan your trips to the bar accordingly and grab your last drink prior to the end of the 3rd quarter.
Don’t Pay Full Price:
At HBS we have been taught to leverage our networks. I did exactly that to score four tickets with retail value of $110 each for free. While I can’t guarantee you a discount that sweet, you definitely don’t have to pay full price. With only one home game remaining in the season, I have arranged a special HBS Harbus reader discount of 50% for select seats at the upcoming April 18th Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons basketball game. If you are interested contact hbs@celtics.com and ask for the HBS Harbus discount.
