A good friend of ours, Brian H., won a T-mobile sweepstakes for the "Shot of a Lifetime" by sending a text message during an NBA basketball game. Out of 250,000 entries, he won a trip for himself and his "Fave 5" to go to Orlando, for game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And a chance to win $50,000 in a game of H-O-R-S-E with D-Wade, who plays for the Miami Heat.
Brian & his wife Jen invited us, and 2 other friends, to go with them. It was totally a once in a lifetime experience. The trip included round trip airfare to Orlando, FL, hotel, most food and tickets to the game.
We arrived on Saturday late afternoon and met with the T-mobile people to get prepped on what was going to happen on Sunday. We were on our own for dinner that night, so we took a taxi to the mall/restaurant area and had a yummy dinner at Mimi's Cafe.
Sunday morning we met the T-mobile people in Brian & Jen's room so they could film us just hanging out and talking about the trip and the upcoming competition with D-Wade. It was crazy, they had a film crew with us all day, videoing and taking pictures left & right. They also interviewed us one by one in a separate room. That afternoon we headed across the street to the Amway Arena (where the Orlando Magic play). We got a quick tour of the place and then we got to go out onto the court. It was amazing! Being down there on the wood floor where all the action happens and looking up into the vast seating. After a few minutes, we picked our jaws up off the floor and started shooting some hoops. Well, mostly the guys, but Jen & I shot a few free throws too. About an hour into it, we look over and here comes Charles Barkley! It was awesome. He practiced around with the guys for awhile and then in comes Kenny Smith & D-Wade and a bunch of other ex-players, announcers, etc. Then, the competition started. Click here to watch.
After the competition and all of the interviews that Brian H. had to do, we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner and to change for the game. We then got to go back to the arena, before it was open to everyone else, and watch the players warm up from right down on the floor. We then went to find our seats, which were about 15 rows up behind the Magic's bench.
Earlier in the day, right after Brian H. won, Charles Barkley said, "y'all have to come out with me tonight to celebrate at Club 23." We didn't have our hopes up, but, after the game, we went and found him and he told us yes, meet him there in 20 minutes. We ran to find a cab and when we got to the club, Charles was waiting for us! We went in with him, and his security people, to a VIP section that was roped off just for him (and us) and about 6 other people. We just kept looking at each other saying, "is this really happening?" We got back to the hotel around 3:30am, but it was worth it.
What a fantastic time! Thank you Brian H. & Jen for taking us with you, and CONGRATULATIONS! You deserve it!
6 comments:
What an AMAZING experience that you will never forget. How awesome. Love you guys.
Holy cow, that is crazy. What a great story and an awesome opportunity. It sounds like it was a lot of fun.
Oh, and I'm jealous that you got to go to Mimi's Cafe. That used to be Vicki's & my favorite place when we lived in CA. They oddly don't have them here. Such good food!
This is so incredibly cool!! After they showed it on TV Barclay said that he "hung out" with you guys that night, but I figured he meant like a few minutes after or something... you actually hung out!! And how cool that he actually won the $50,000!! Awesome!!
That is amazing!!!! What an awesome experience for all of you!
That is amazing. Amazing!
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