天天都是特惠季

Kelly Dwyer

Up until this week， the biggest NBA fan you know had never bought an NBA ticket.直到本周，你所知道的最忠實的NBA球迷也從未買過一張球票。

Ive had League Pass① since 2000， and have watched endless amounts of games through the years. Ive written about the NBA since 1997 online， during off hours in high school and college， and then on to working double shifts in my early 20s bartending and then rising at the crack of dont-even-ask to write for various sites you probably dont remember. Since the year 2000， from those fledgling sites to SI.com to Ball Dont Lie② in 2007， Ive had the distinct privilege of being afforded a press pass to see and write about games whenever I ask. Ive been to games before in the seats — a couple of parentpurchased excursions in my youth， and Roto Arcade②s Andy Behrens was kind enough to gift me a ticket a few years back — but never on my own dime.

從2000年開始我就有“聯盟通行證”，過去這些年我看過數不清的比賽。從1997年開始我就在網上寫與NBA有關的文章，我會利用高中和大學時的空余時間寫，20歲出頭時，我會在酒吧服務員這兩班倒的工作空閑時寫，之后還會在那些你也許都記不得的網站上寫過稿子。2000年從那些小破網站開始，到《體育畫報》網站，直到2007年開始在Ball Dont Lie寫文章，我擁有了媒體特權，當我需要看或寫某場比賽時，我就可以提出要求。我以前也去現場看過比賽——小時候父母買票，要么是幾年前Roto Arcade的安迪·拜倫斯送給我的票。總之我從來沒花錢看過比賽。

Mainly because， living with a wife and two kids for the last seven years on a sportswriters salary， every dime counts. Other factors go into this — I dont want to spend my off hours living a busman③s holiday at an NBA game. My two daughters and wife are not sports fans plus we live two hours away from where my beloved Chicago Bulls play， and an hour away from where the Indiana Pacers play.

究其原因主要在于，過去七年，以一個體育寫手的薪水養著妻子和兩個孩子，每一分錢都很重要。而其他原因的影響則是，我不想把自己的休息時間變成一場NBA比賽里的工作時間。我的兩個女兒和妻子都不是體育迷，此外，我們住的地方距離我最愛的公牛有兩小時路程，距離步行者的主場也有一小時。

The Pacers are one of the best teams in the NBA this season， and though the teams attendance has improved along with their play， it has only jumped up from 29th out of 30 teams to 27th. Were I not an NBA freak who is afforded free press passes by the team， I would fall into the sort of typical category that is ignoring the Pacers to stay home and watch games for free on TV — local guy， fan of all sports， father of two. So how much of an investment is it， for this dad who freezes homemade soup and clips coupons while turning down the thermostat when the kids and wife leave the house， to go see a game live with the whole fam-damnly？

步行者是本賽季NBA最好的球隊之一，隨著表現的提高，觀賽人數也在增加，但步行者的上座率也僅僅從30支球隊的第29名上升到第27名。假如我不是一個享有媒體免費資格的NBA狂熱愛好者，我也會成為最典型的一類人——居家男人，各種體育的愛好者，兩個孩子的父親——而且會忽視步行者的比賽，呆在家里看電視上的免費節目。所以說，像我這種在妻子孩子離開時都會把家里做的湯放進冰箱冷藏，剪下優惠券的老爸，去現場看一場比賽能花多少錢呢？……