Random: View from SM MOA Arena Upper Box during FIBAOQT

Happy Sunday. My boys are still out for their weekend basketball club in LSGH. Awww, props to me, two blog post in one day.

Anyhow, as you know Manila is hosting the FIBAOQT (Olympic Qualifying Tournament) in SM MOA Arena. Yesterday, we watched the live semi-finals, we saw four teams, Canada vs. New Zealand, and France vs. Turkey. Hubby was given free tickets, choice between semis or finals, which is today. We opted for Saturday, since we’re bringing Chase, our 10 year old son. Ooops, please wait, if your are here for the technical and official game results, this post is not for you. I’m here, the mostly outspoken me, who wish to tell on animatedly my first experience watching a live, international sporting event, and my first (and hopefully my last) upper box viewing experience in SM MOA Arena.

Canada (of Steve Nash) won vs. New Zealand at the Semis of FIBAOQT. View form SM MOA Arena Upper Box.

Upper Box is on the 4th Floor.

I have acrophobia. Being in the upper box, and in the highest of which, letter I, makes the experience worse. Literally, chairs are small, little spaces between rows, very steep and inclined. The whole ordeal is reminiscent of riding Anchor’s Away in Enchanted Kingdom. Professional Heckler’s tweet is spot on. Oh please, don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to be here, honest. As a stage mom, this is very exciting for me, I made sure to be there for my son’s first live sporting event. This was also a good time to bond for a rainy, date night.

Sidestory. I’m a basketball player. I can hold my own. Really, I did play in High School, won MVPs for two years (3rd and 4th year), and played in my company event, wherein we also won. It’s just been a while though where I rekindled my liking of it in a level of supporting a NBA Team. My boys are devoted Lakers and Kobe Bryant fans. It’s NBA TV everyday, morning, and evening. It’s only very recently though that I got so into it. I cheered for Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. I’m invested. But I’m not into Gilas Pilipinas this time around, so I don’t even know their current coach. Hold on, there’s a story with Ted Baldwin later.

Because I was very uncomfortable, I had to entertain myself. I told the boys I will be rooting for New Zealand. Since once a fangirl, always a fangirl, I took an immediate liking to Robert Loe. Haha. Only he had 5 fouls, and had to leave.

So I turn to another New Zealand player to cheer on, Thomas Abercrombie.

Thomas Abercrombie made 1 of 2 baskets few seconds to go.  This was a live shot from iPhone 6 zoomed view.

That awkward moment when a fangirl tweets and the wife likes it back. In fairness, my tweet was safe. Hahaha.

Canada won. It was a great night to cheer for Steve Nash. You have to give it to the Filipino Fans, we really do love the game, as we cheered on both teams. This is not how I remember a live show, last was a really long time ago with PBA Team with Jojo Lastimosa still in it. Hah. This time, it’s fun and very lively. There’s sports commentator, professional cheerers per team, and drumbeaters.

Drumbeaters at the SM MOA Arena General Admission area.

Then we went to watch the main game, France vs. Turkey.

Pre-game warm ups.

Halftime Show

It’s rewarding to know that we are in the same arena as Tony Parker, this will have to do since I can’t say we saw him up close. Haha

We hope that this will be the first of many more live sporting events and concerts attendance in SM MOA Arena and elsewhere. Last time I was in SM MOA Arena was for Lee Min Ho’s My Everything Concert, and I invested on a VVIP ticket, it was 5 rows away from the stage. If you are into cheering or supporting a team or a fan, but are terribly scared of heights, the Upper Box is not for you though. Haha

France wins vs. Turkey in FIBAOQT Manila Semifinal round.

It was a pleasure. Best part was Chaseyboy did not touch his iPad for three hours. Yay!

On our way down, I saw people asking to do a photo op with someone. Boo me. Not knowing him, I coerced Chase to take a photo with him too. That’s what stage mom + fangirl mom do best, I reckon. Haha

Chaseyboy with Gilas Pilipinas Coach Ted Baldwin.

I had to ask my husband about this guy that I made Chase take a photo with. Oh my, I’m a happy girl. Hope this event inspires Chase to also love basketball as much as we do. We don’t want to appear that we’re forcing him to take weekend training, but he does need physical activities. So, we made a choice. Cheers! ;-D