Watching NBA live in New York

By being tuned in to ESPN at the right moment, one Filipino father and his son got to fly to New York City to watch the New York Knicks home game against the New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden in New York City last April 7.

You could in fact call this tale a story of serendipitous coincidences. Antonio "Tony" Valera is a senior assistant vice president and head of financial planning and control of the Manila Electric Company. He is a veteran of 24 years with the utilities giant, the first 13 of them with Meralco Foundation and the latter 11 with Meralco, the company. But over and above all, he is a sports enthusiast and so are his three eldest sons, Ramon Jaime, 21; Roberto Antonio, 17; and Miguel Victor, 15.

In the Valera household, the TV set is always tuned in to ESPN Star Sports. Father and sons make it a point to watch the NBA games. They discuss every move of the players, merits of every team, the good points and failings of each player. It is a bond between father and sons and provides endless discussions over the dining table, in the family car, whenever and wherever they happen to be together. Mother Felicitas, comptroller of a travel agency, is a less keen cage fan, while the rest of the family – Anna Cecilia, 12, and Luis Angelo, two – are too young to have any marked preferences, so listening in on the enthusiastic arguments and joining in the frequent laughter is their main participation.

One day, Tony and the boys were, as usual, glued to the TV set watching an NBA game when an advertisement flashed on-screen. Tony remembers it said something like "Would you like to watch the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets play in Madison Square Garden?" It also said to log on to espnstar.com and enter the password Madison Square Garden to find out about details of the offer. Egged on by the boys, Tony decided, "Well, what the heck, why not?"

Anna Cecilia happened to be on the Internet at the precise moment, so he asked her to move aside for a minute. He logged to the espnstar.com website, entered the password, and found out that the intriguing question on the ESPN screen was part of the program’s NBA Backstage Pass Promotion for Asia, Japan and Europe. The promotion involved flying a lucky applicant to New York for a weekend in Manhattan, the climax of which would be watching the New York Knicks battle the New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden on April 17. All that was required was for the applicant to enter his name, address and e-mail number. Which Tony did, and promptly forgot about it.

This was sometime in late January or early February. On April 1, Easter Monday and a working day, Tony had to stay home because one of the children was sick, so he was able to check his e-mail box which he is not able to do sometimes on a daily basis while at the office. And so it was that he received a letter congratulating him for being short-listed as among ten probable winners from the Philippines for ESPN Star Sports’ NBA Backstage Pass Promotion. The letter was signed by Jax Mariano, senior public relations counselor of Pro-Solutions, which handles the ESPN account in the Philippines.

Tony’s first reaction was that this was an April Fool’s Day joke, but then, recalling that he had indeed entered his name in the promo contest a couple of months or so earlier, he immediately called up Jax Mariano. The news proved to be only too true. The catch was that the applicant had to have a valid US visa, photocopy of which he was to fax immediately to Pro-Solutions.

Again, serendipity was at work. Tony’s job involves a lot of travel, so indeed he had a valid US visa. Using a neighbor’s fax machine, Tony immediately faxed to Jax Mariano copies of his passport and US visa. Shortly after, he received a second e-mail from the latter informing him he had won and could bring along a guest!

Amid jubilation over the totally unexpected windfall, Tony found himself in a quandary. Who would he bring along to New York? His wife didn’t particularly care for basketball, so she was out. It was now a choice between the two oldest boys, both of whom had passports and valid US visas. Ramon Jaime, a college student, was the bigger NBA fan, but when he had graduated from high school a couple of years earlier, Tony had taken him on a trip to Sydney, Australia. Onie, on the other hand, was the one now graduating from high school and heading for an industrial engineering course at De La Salle University. Clearly, he was the one in line for a graduation prize. So Onie was the choice.

Onie was mind-boggled! Not only would it be his first trip to the US, but he would get to see an NBA game and his hard-court idols in the flesh!

Father and son left Manila April 15 on Northwest Airlines coach-class tickets via Japan to Detroit, where, for some reason, they missed their connecting flights to New York. After a four-hour wait, they finally were able to fly on to JFK Airport, New York, where they were met by a guide and delivered to the Time Hotel, Manhattan, at the corner of Broadway and 9th Street, close to Times Square. The duo had the whole morning to recover from the tiring flight, but spent it instead walking around.

Meantime, other winners from Asia were also arriving: four winners each from France and Belgium and their guests, a winner from Japan complete with interpreter and parents, winners from Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore; a 12-year-old boy from Thailand, accompanied by his mother. They all met later in the afternoon when they were bused across the Hudson River to the NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. Here they were treated to a welcome reception and then a tour of the studios, where they later were shown an NBA live broadcast.

The next day, after breakfast, the group was toured around Madison Square Garden, where they had a chance to gaze around this historic venerable temple dedicated to sports. There was a basketball game going on, so they were not able to visit the locker room of the New York Knicks. Instead, they were shown that of the New York Rangers, the hockey team, which, as Tony describes it, "looks just like any other locker room!" After that, it was off to the NBA Store on 5th Avenue and 52nd Street to buy souvenirs and other knick-knacks to add to the give-aways they had already been earlier gifted with by NBA. The rest of the afternoon was off time until six p.m. when they returned to Madison Square Garden for the main event – the game!

The group was given VIP tickets for Luxury Skyboxes, from which they had an untrammeled view of the goings-on. Since it was the home game of the New York Knicks – in fact, the finale of the regular season – there was a lot of hoop-la on the hardcourt, including performances by the New York Knicks City Dancers, one of whom later posed for a souvenir photo with Onie and Tony.

The Nets are now headed for the playoffs – which Filipino fans will be seeing soon on ESPN Star Sports – wiping off the Knicks, who had dominated New York basketball for over a generation and will be missing the postseason for the first time since 1987. The Nets, in anticipation of the playoffs, apparently were "resting" their regular players, whereas the Knicks fielded their best.

Both Tony and Onie declare it’s a different feeling, perhaps more accurately a "high," to watch an NBA game live, right in Madison Square Garden, from watching it on TV.

Father and son agree it was a chance of a lifetime, sharing the unforgettable experience of being VIPs at a game that is their favorite sport. And all because Tony Valera happened to be watching the right TV program, at the right time, not to mention owning an e-mail number and a valid US visa.