Wuddup Fanatics! My inaugural season as a proud season ticket holder is off and running, and what a start it's been!  After seeing More Than A Game with fellow MVPs, I was eager for the preseason games to start! It was great just to be back in the Q, and I got to enjoy the games with some good friends and fanatics.  I'm slowly becoming a staple in the Team Shop, which is both a blessing and a curse!  I've already spent about a quarter of what my two seats cost me for the entire season, and we've only had two home games! AHHHH! I need to work a second job just to support my Cavs gear addiction!

Most of the preseason games were fun but laid back, giving me time to walk around the Q, get used to where my seats were in relation to the most important places (i.e. bathrooms, beer stand, Team Shop of course, haha).  The Olympiakos game was far from laid back though, there were so many Olympiakos fans there waving flags and chanting it almost felt like a road game.  I hope we were good embassadors for any people who were in Cleveland for the first time, although I know how heated the forums got over "Baby Shaq" and the gang coming into town.  Of course I ran into Cliff before one of the games too, probably the most dedicated Cavs Fan I've ever met.  I'm hoping to one day lay eyes on his collection of team apparel, which from his wife's description has no rival.  I watched one preseason game with 216Ant and his wife and daughter, who is inarguably the cutest baby on the planet.  She cheers for the team too, and from the sound of it, a future Scream Team member in the making!  The Cavalier Girls seemed to be running a skeleton crew of only a few girls a night, but I might've just not been able to see them all from my seats up in the Fanatic Addicts section, haha.  Either way they were more than ready for opening night!

Opening Night vs. our hated rival the Boston Celtics was awesome!  Took Candice2.0 (proud owner of the WITNESS garage) and we had a blast.  The atmosphere was electric, and the crowd was in near-playoff game form.  It was SO loud in loudville, but when we went home and watched the game (yeah, we re-watched the game, lol), it didn't seem as loud on TNT as it did in person.  Must be due to microphone placement or something, cuz I swear it was as loud as a playoff game.  Much kudos goes to the Video folks down at the Q!  The opening intro vid is one for the ages, and you MUST make it to your seats before it begins when you go to a game. Of course the pyrotechnics always help make it sweet, and a new song (My Time by Fabolous) gets the crowd PUMPED! I just listened to it and got goosebumps again, haha.  We had dinner at Bar Symon with fellow fanatic CFPPF, and it was delectable! I highly suggest the Pork Pastrami sandwhich and Lola Fries, but I think I want to try out the BSpot next.  Of course, losing the opener kinda put a damper on things, but overall it was a great time. 

Of course the only other game that month was our first CavFanatic night of the season!  We had a Halloween party at the Hard Rock Cafe beforehand, and nearly 100 fanatics and their families/significant others showed up for the festivities!  Ahmaad and Nicole swung by (sans costumes..GRRR!!!), and former Cav (and current Fanatic) Jim Chones and his wife dropped in to say hello and to sample some of the awesome food we had to choose from (I personally liked the spicy chicken nuggets best).  A highlight for me was when Mr. Chones said that he reads my blogs and that I'm a good writer! I almost passed out!  Candice2.0 won the prize for best costume, and what a prize it was: two suite tickets to that evening's game!  I was lucky enough to accompany her, and boy lemmie tell you, them suites ain't no joke! We had free food and drinks, and each seat in our suite had a big gift bag from Olympia Candies full of chocolate covered goodness!  Jen from the Cavs was kind enough to let us take a few extras that were left behind after the game, probably in an effort to get us to leave, lol.  We even brought the Birthday Boy of the evening CFPPF in the suite for the fourth quarter to check it out too, much love to the security guard who allowed us to do that (hope we don't get u in trouble!).  The return of Delonte West was spectacular, and we were treated to some awesome team play and unselfishness that led to highlight reel plays.  We didn't want it to end, and it was probably the best game experience I've ever had (and that's saying a lot!).

So yeah, although we started out rough by losing the opener, and the next game after that (ugh), it was great to see us get back on track with a solid win against the Bobcats after beating the TWolves on the road.  Its a long season though, and I'm hoping we can string together a few wins and start working on our team chemistry.  We do have quite a few new faces, and we've seen in the past how difficult that can be, as well as how important court time in real games is to the gelling process.  Tonight we're back in the saddle at home vs. the Wizards (and its also Fathead tradeable player pack giveaway night!).  Stay tuned for the next installment of my S.O.D. blog!  And if u see me at the Q, holla atcher boi!