Last night James and I sat on the court at the 2018 NBA All Star game. And we didn’t shell out thousands of dollars to do it. Yes that’s me being oblivious to the paparazzi photographing Lou Adler and Jack Nicholson.
At the beginning of the month, I saw something online about being a seat filler at the game, and I signed James and I up before I even asked him. I was added to a waitlist with thousands of others, and thought there is no way we will get tickets.
Flash forward to this past Wednesday, I got an email alert and to my surprise James and I were picked to be seat fillers for the game! We were sent a whole packet of information including instructions on what to wear and how to act. We had no idea where we would be sitting, and the only info we were told was “lower bowl”. We just assumed we would be in the middle of the arena somewhere.
We had to arrive at the Staples Center by 1 PM on Sunday, and from there waited in so many different lines. In line to check our ids, then put in a line to get wristbands, then put in a line to go through security, then put in another line and so on and so on. Once the hour of lines were over we were seated inside the Microsoft Theater for about an hour and a half. In the theater we were told this would be our one and only chance to use the restroom, because once we were in the arena, we could not leave our seats or else we would be asked to leave.
Before they moved us from the theater to the arena, they gave us a debriefing of how the night would go. “We will be putting you in empty seats, and if the ticket holders for those seats show up, you must get up, give them the seats, and leave the arena.” At this point James is looking at me like “We really just waited 3 hours to sit in an arena for 10 minutes??” They continued, “There is a VERY slim chance you will even make it to see tipoff. This is a sold out event, so the chances of people not coming to claim their seats is slim to none. Your job is to fill the seats so during the pre-show it looks like a packed house. There is a chance you will be seated next to a celebrity, please do not bother them.”
They then took us in a line from the theater, in an underground tunnel past dressing rooms, to the Staples Center. This alone was AWESOME. We saw so many celebrities and athletes. We saw Queen Latifah, Kevin Hart, Ludacris, Shaq – who’s hand is bigger than my head, the commissioner of the NBA, Steph Curry, and so many more. They took us in groups around the area, plopping people in empty seats. All of a sudden, they are leading James and I onto the court and into two courtside seats. I AM DYING. JAMES IS DYING. THIS IS SO COOL. We thought we were going to get some random seats in a decent location, we were not expecting this at all.
We watched the Pre-Show, and once the doors opened we watched other seat fillers get plucked from their seats, and we anxiously waited for it to happen to us. To our surprise, we were not getting plucked. We had the best seats in the house, and their owner wasn’t coming to claim them. Want to know why? Because we had Fergie’s seats. Fergie. She had to sing the National Anthem, so obviously she wasn’t going to come claim her seats before the game. We enjoyed the first quarter before getting the boot. We were the LAST seat fillers left. The luck of the draw was truly in James and my favor last night.
I was honored to give up my seat to Fergie. She may have butchered the anthem, but who else can say they had to give up court side seats to Fergie. One of the coolest nights of my life, and James was just as starstruck as I was, except he was all about the players and I was all about the celebrities.
take two 