America is truly bright lights, big city, and one of the jewels it boasts in its gaudy crown, are the finest and most entertaining sports. It is always a celebration of the world's best, so Americans loudly blare, proclaim, broadcast and dissect.
This is a pilgrimage for me, as I’ve followed the the NBA since a young boy. Oh boy, does America do everything big, the stadium is a modern marvel of sportdom, where seating sections and human traffic though heavy, never jams. And along this sporting highway are numerous food and drink outlets, Orlando magic memorabilia and so many screens with athletic imagery, graphics and iconography that it would make a mad scientist green with envy.
Newly bought Orlando Magic t-shirt in hand, we walk to my section, and staff are polite and genuinely welcoming and the energy that lines the place is palpable. We find our seat and the action is indeed all that is advertised. Though the hometeam loses to the visiting Chicago Bulls, the sheer industry that goes into entertaining the crowd is mindboggling. Whilst cheerleaders dance, stadium staff bring beer, t-shirts are fired through aircannons into the crowd, gymnasts caper and jump and camera men film the crowd and everything is shown on the big screen that hangs suspended in the center of the stadium. We're watching athletes worth millions, amongst a crowd of thousands in a stadium worth billions and it's worth every cent.
NBA: www.nba.com
Amway Center: www.amwaycenter.com
