Courtside Babaaaay

by Mindy Lee Irvine, Mars Hill member at the Wedgwood Campus

I had the great opportunity to sit courtside at a Sonics game last week. I am a sports fan; I enjoy events with lots of loud obnoxious people, because I usually join them in their madness.  I do whatever it takes to get on the jumbotron! And I suppose at this point I feel like I am doing some civic support when it comes to watching the Sonics.

If you are a virgin courtside watcher like I was, you have no idea the perks that come with such an event.  There is a special “courtside seat” entrance.  No waiting in line.  They check your coat.  They check your ID for those who will be partaking in the alcohol perks, and the kind man doing so offers a delightful piece of history as he reads your birth year.  Your ticket is checked a few times by ushers to ensure you are in fact a courtside member, and then you then walk into the arena. 

The loud music the squeak of rubber soles on the court is intense and movie-like.  The ushers point you along the court, inches from the very large players who are warming up. You find your seats, while thousands of fans sit above you, staring.  As if you were on a catwalk.  So I could not help but yuck it up.  So I did my model walk, one foot directly in front of the other, flaunting my Kate Spade purse and saying in my head, ”uh-huh, that’s right, I am a courtsider, while you all sit UP there, uh-huh, uh-huh.”  It continued.  We were free to roam the “Courtside Lounge area” Stir-fry, Chinese pork, wine, beer, cracker jacks, popcorn, red ropes, hot dog buffet, and tables of fruit.  All at my finger tips.  And no cost to me. 

Still singing my uh-huh uh-huh song in my mind as my head grew bigger.  And as I walked back to my seat again, the song in my head went “oh yeah, that’s right, you just paid $6 for your one hotdog and I am having two, and beer, and stir fry and fruit and red ropes and, uh-huh, oh yeah, I got it for free, look at me down here, and you UP there.”  (I hope you are picking up the beat and nodding your head as you read this for full effect.) We sat down minutes before the game was to begin and my friend leans over to me and says “ML, I know when you come to games your goal is to get on the jumbotron, but they typically don’t put the ‘courtside people’ on there.”

I gasped in major disappointment right as the buzzer rang for the game to start. “As if,” I said to myself, “as if the ‘courtside people’ are better than anyone else in this arena and too good for the jumbotron.” 

I stood up to my feet to cheer on the Sonics but internally I was confused.  You mean to tell me in order to be on the jumbotron I have to sit up there, with those people?  A Time-out was called and it forced me to sit.  And at the same time God called a time-out on me.  What happen to the crazy sports fan, Mindy Lee? When did my crazy yuck-it-up courtside cat-walk turn into a chic episode of the Don’t-You-Wish-You-Were-Mindy-Lee Show?

I felt ill, and it was not from all the free food I ate. Sinfully ill.  I sulked, disgusted with myself.  I was acting like my worth came from where my seat was at a basketball game. And worse, acting like someone else’s worth came from his or her seat location. Like a childish nanny-nanny-boo-boo game.  How did it switch so quickly from fun and silliness to pride-oozing sin? Did it ever cross my mind that this event was a gift from a generous friend?  That I had no part in making this night happen except to respond yes to her invitation?

I was humbled. In the middle of whistle-blowing and crowd-yelling, I remembered Psalm 8:4 – “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” I confessed, thanked Jesus, and repented.

And what did repentance look like? High-fiving the CEOs sitting behind me, starting the DE-FENSE cheer for those around me, spilling relish on my pants, and dancing during every time-out. And guess what? I got on the jumbo-tron…ok it was because my friend forced my face under one of the dancer’s armpits, but needless to say a “courtside person” got on the jumbotron!