The ArenaEssay Preview: The ArenaReport this essayMy first visit to The Wachovia Center arena was one of the greatest moments of my life. So many people surrounded me as we walked into the gymnasium. It was like I was a small needle in a hay stack. The people in the round gymnasium all formed a crimson, white, and blue rainbow. Everyones shirts meshed together like a woven shirt with different colors of strings. The sounds of the crowd anticipating a hard fought battle between the two teams were like a stampede of elephants. The smell of the concession stand foods made me feel like a starving child. I could basically taste the nachos as a guy walked by me with a basket full of them.
Then the man on a loud intercom basically yelled for the players to come out of their locker rooms because it was time to start the game. The roar of the people surrounding me was like being right behind the jet of an airplane. I sucked it up and stood out of my lightly cushioned seat and began to clap along with the crowd. My hands were sticky because right before I had stood up, I touched someones chewed gun on the side of my chair. As I looked down towards the basketball court, I noticed that the players had began to run out to warm up. Their brightly colored uniforms stood out in the glare of the spotlights above. The court was real shiny as if it had just been waxed like a new car.
The basketball team had finished their morning practice on the other side of the court. I took a quick glance at the outside of Coach Roussel’s office just to confirm the time’s still going. Everyone had their phones out. It seemed that they had been talking to a couple of old friends and family members, though that certainly wasn’t what I’d expected. It was early morning in Atlanta, but nobody was complaining about the first half. No one’s seen or heard from Roussel and my teammates in a long while. I walked to Roussel’s office and walked through the open door to reach out. I held a phone and was greeted by a small, hard looking man with an eyestalk on his other arm. The man told me that he was talking to his friends the entire time, who were not part of the team he had been playing with in general. The other man’s name was Jack and he offered to pay me for a game. “This is what the game looks like this week, folks. You want a chance to get some help out of the ladies?””Well, let me see if you could provide some help. You may have heard of me at the time, but I’m actually from a small town and have traveled a long time and come across lots of young mothers that would work at the local grocery store or at least one of my family member’s restaurants, so it seems I could provide support. We came here here from out of town, though, and didn’t see each other through all night. So I thought it would be cool if we stopped by to talk first. Now, I’d like to explain where we were from. The only way I could make it to the games was so we could talk in person, because the local police said that they would investigate the situation. A lot of local law enforcement in other places and states came with us, and in our hometown of Cobb, Georgia, the police were just kind of looking after the football team. We made it through the first half of practice, though; I was able to catch the team down and get some game time with them, though. But, I got caught. The team sent out a press release in the middle of the game and claimed that the other team was investigating the incident. There wasn’t much to say afterwards; at that point, I just needed some help. I told the guy how much I loved playing basketball and he told me that I was just getting started at the game after all. He told me about Coach Roussel’s team though. The coach was a good friend of mine, and he told me how much I loved his work and
The basketball team had finished their morning practice on the other side of the court. I took a quick glance at the outside of Coach Roussel’s office just to confirm the time’s still going. Everyone had their phones out. It seemed that they had been talking to a couple of old friends and family members, though that certainly wasn’t what I’d expected. It was early morning in Atlanta, but nobody was complaining about the first half. No one’s seen or heard from Roussel and my teammates in a long while. I walked to Roussel’s office and walked through the open door to reach out. I held a phone and was greeted by a small, hard looking man with an eyestalk on his other arm. The man told me that he was talking to his friends the entire time, who were not part of the team he had been playing with in general. The other man’s name was Jack and he offered to pay me for a game. “This is what the game looks like this week, folks. You want a chance to get some help out of the ladies?””Well, let me see if you could provide some help. You may have heard of me at the time, but I’m actually from a small town and have traveled a long time and come across lots of young mothers that would work at the local grocery store or at least one of my family member’s restaurants, so it seems I could provide support. We came here here from out of town, though, and didn’t see each other through all night. So I thought it would be cool if we stopped by to talk first. Now, I’d like to explain where we were from. The only way I could make it to the games was so we could talk in person, because the local police said that they would investigate the situation. A lot of local law enforcement in other places and states came with us, and in our hometown of Cobb, Georgia, the police were just kind of looking after the football team. We made it through the first half of practice, though; I was able to catch the team down and get some game time with them, though. But, I got caught. The team sent out a press release in the middle of the game and claimed that the other team was investigating the incident. There wasn’t much to say afterwards; at that point, I just needed some help. I told the guy how much I loved playing basketball and he told me that I was just getting started at the game after all. He told me about Coach Roussel’s team though. The coach was a good friend of mine, and he told me how much I loved his work and
Later on a load roar stopped the game signaling that it was the beginning of halftime. The intercom began playing a song and the crowd stating swinging their arms back and forth to the song being played. The mass of people that was moving looked like a field of wild flower blowing in a light breeze. A lady rubbed up against me as she tried to move down the aisle. As I walked through the aisles to the concession stand, I began to realize that the concession stand was more hectic then the gymnasium itself. Kids were crying as their parents shoved them back to their seats. The opposing team is losing so the home fans waved their favorite players jersey in the air, mocking the opposing teams fans causing a riot of drunken men by the bathroom. The over priced nachos that I had smelled earlier forces me to settle for a slice of pizza instead. On my way back to my seat, my moth still had the pasty, saucy taste of the slice