I live a semi-charmed life when it comes to scoring tickets for Memphis football and basketball games. I am the beneficiary of the kindness of many, many ticket sources. Early on in this basketball season, I was given tickets that belong to a very prominent businessman in Memphis. I'm not going to put his name in here, let's refer to him as John. But I will say that around the office we call him Big John, and not because he's physically a big man, but because of his stature in the business community. His seats were about three rows from the court directly behind the announcer's table. It's very, very hard to go back up in the nosebleed section after watching a game where you're eye-level with the players.

Most recently a friend who has no interest in basketball but who works at the U of M forwarded me an e-mail from the college administration offering four free tickets to tonight's game to faculty and staff. Did I want her to grab them for me? Yes, please, I said. Now, a week earlier, I had asked a manager here at work if he had any tickets available for the same game (we get them because of work we do for the U of M). He said he'd check, but I didn't hear anything back from him. So yesterday I picked up the four tickets my U of M source got for me, and I have to say that the U of M really doesn't think a lot of their faculty and staff because the oxygen is thinner sitting in those seats. Then two hours later, the manager walked by and plopped down four tickets on my desk (these are on the first level). So, in the span of a few hours, I had been given eight tickets to tonight's game. I gave the fourth ticket to a friend here at work (unfortunately she has to sit by us, lucky girl), and I'll probably sell the other four to a scalper before the game.

Yesterday morning another friend who works for a company that owns a suite e-mailed me to say she was working to get four tickets to the March 4 game and IF she gets them would SkooterPie and I like to go with them? Yes, please, I said. (Oh, by the way, SkooterPie, we may be going to another game March 4 with Wayne and Christie. Heh. Oh, and I signed us up to join a cult next month. Love ya, hon.)

So that's what SkooterPie and I are doing on Valentine's Day: Taking Jesse to a basketball game. Woo hoo! Go Tigers!