Best kept secret at Oracle Arena

There is nothing like sitting lower section at a Warriors game. Hearing Baron as he calls out plays and seeing the actual size of some of these guys. Not to mention the sheer intensity of each play and the fact that the players actually hear what you yell out. The list goes on it is definitely a treat that is for sure. It gets better though awhile back a friend of mine turned me on to what I like to call the Oracle Arena’s best kept secret.

At first glance you would think this little nook was off limits. It is the cheerleader’s entrance and exit area. In fact you might catch them practicing while you visit this little jewel. Anyway so it's easy to over look this path and opt for one of the many food and liquor establishments you passed on the way to your seat. They say curiosity killed the cat but don't be fooled it also led to riches behind your wildest dreams. Or maybe just a beer and a hot dog depending on whom you ask. Either way you will be rewarded trust me.



As you make your way up this little runway you will see many security guards. Just act cool and don’t worry they may scare off other would be explorers but not you right? In this hallway you will see the cheerleaders warming up. To your left you will find the pearl in this oyster "Golden State Greats". Ironically I think a gal named pearl works there to. Anyway these lovely ladies got exactly what you need beer and hot dogs! What is that in the distance? Yes it is a clean and unfrequented bathroom. Never again will you wait to use the bathroom with this knowledge.



So there you have it a low traffic area to buy food, liquor and use the bathroom. Not to mention you get to walk courtside and catch a close up glimpse of the Warrior girls to. You won’t find some of the more exotic foods at this stand but I think the benefits outweigh the negatives. So next time your fortunate enough to be seated in the lower section I highly recommend you visit Golden State Greats and tell Pearl GldnSt8Warriors.Blogspot.com sent you.

Warriors VS Zalgiris Kaunas

Another game another Hyphy the fans have spoken. Yet again I would like to thank BART for my transportation to and from the game. I went into this game wanting to see the W's dominate and that's what I got. But let's not get ahead of myself here. The day before as you all probably know the Clippers made our boys look a little soft. They just were not hungry and the clips looked starving. Maybe it has something to do with us bumping them out of that 8th seed?



Anyway the game against these kids from Lithuania started off interesting. I was a little taken back from there sequence glimmer get ups not that there is anything wrong with that. At one point I literally felt sorry for Zalgiris Kaunas. You could tell they wanted it bad but the refs kept blowing the whistle. With good reason mind you it was not like the calls had been unwarranted. A lot of rules are different in the NBA like Goal tending for reference. In their league it is perfectly legal to knock it out if its bouncing around the basket.

I have to give respect to the Lithuanian people who showed up. They had a huge flag draped over up in Club 200 and sounded nice and loud. Speaking of that I have been disappointed in the noise level at the two preseason games. I will leave that for another article though its only preseason i cant get to worried we got soft yet.



By half time it was evident we had this game in the bag. Jackson was looking great and so was B Diddy. I think we also got a good idea from that game who is going to get cut. They got 18 on the roster right now only 15 can stay. We got a solid team if we can stay healthy. Our veterans "Bill Walsh voice" areee ammaaaazzzing and our new talent is looking promising.

Club 200 Review!

****DISCLAIMER****

Club 200 is not yet finished and won’t be officially open until Oct 30th for the season opener against the Utah Jazz.

"see pics below article"

With that said I had high hopes for Club 200. The sales guys have been touting it as almost better then the lower club areas. Will club 200 live up to the hype? I don’t think it’s going to hold a candle to the floor level beer and hot dog stand where the cheerleaders warm up. But it is looking promising.

When you arrive at Club 200 via escalator you will be greeted by the snazzy new floor mats. Can I get one of these for my house? Several new signs have been added and the walls and supports have been painted a new fresh color scheme.

The Kids section is clearly not finished yet but the paint and wall props are in place. Didn’t find out to much more on what they plan to add. I imagine some sort of interactive games or something to keep the kids busy.

The food booths have new signs and new items on the menu. I am looking forward to trying the Red Snapper but that will be for another night. The same classic upper level Beer and Hot Dogs can be found all over. Just a hint of the good food from lower level made its way up top.

Last comes the new Sports Bar and Lounge area. Both look promising especially on those nights like last when it’s a blowout and everyone looks like crap. The Sports bar is supposed to be reminiscent of the one on the lower level. It will sport a full bar and several areas to sit and watch sports on the many HDTV’s in the bar. The Lounge area is a little different. The person I had spoken with said it will have a PS3 area that you could sit and play games. Of course WiFi is available so you could bust out the notebook and lounge etc.

All in all it’s looking good. At first I was a little disappointed mainly due to the hype I was hearing and how unfinished it was. I think once it is complete it will turn out to be a very nice addition. In the end you can’t complain the organization mad e a lot more money with the playoffs last year and they put some of it back into the facility. I commend them for that as it would have been just as easy if not easier to pocket those funds.

Stay tuned for opening night review of Club 200!

Warriors Rookie Season Ticket Holder Event.

Big Basket Ball day here. It started with my Fantasy draft this morning followed by the Warriors Season Ticket Holder Rookie training in the afternoon. By the way the tallies are in on the poll we had to see what would become the Official drink of GldnSt8Warriors.Blogspot.com and it looks like Hyphy won by a landslide. As per my promise I will drink a Hyphy prior to every home game this season. So with BART as my ride and Hyphy my fuel I was off to get trained on how to be a rookie season ticket holder.






The event was held in the Colosseum not the Arena. Upon entering, each Season Ticket Holder was given a free T-Shirt saying "Season Ticket Holder" on it. After being guided up the stairs by strategically placed Warriors girls I made my way to the main area of the event. It was packed and full of chaos. I felt lost as to what to do next. I caught site of what appeared to be free food and drinks. I then quickly made my way to the front of the free for all of popcorn and chips.




With Salts and carbs safely in tow I headed towards the drinks. The whole time Warriors girls are moving throughout the crowd trying to feverishly sell raffle tickets. With my fill of free snacks and Pepsi out of the way i decided to position myself better to see the speaker. After going over the Season Ticket Holder information they brought out Biedrins. He talked a little bit about the excitement of the post season and what they will try and bring this season.



Once Beidrins was done talking they started to announce the raffle ticket winners. Did I win? Come on now do I buy raffle tickets? Nope my eye is on the free swag. With my ear to the concrete I got a kite saying Nate Thurman and Al Attles would be signing. With that news I made my way to a line that started forming. What good timing! Once I got my Autographs I heard the usher tell Nate 10 more minutes then they have to stop. There was still a good amount of people left in the line too so who knows if everyone got one. After that it was just basically hanging out trying to blow time before the pre season Clippers game started at 6pm. All in all a fun little shin dig I would of thought the raffle would of been free to everyone in attendance. But the free Attles and Thurmond signing was well worth it.













STAY TUNED FOR EXCLUSIVE FIRST HAND REVIEW OF CLUB 200 COMING TOMORROW!!

Warriors vs Lakers Recap

Wow it’s going to be an exciting season that is for sure. That first quarter was intense can anyone say “He put some English on that one”. B Diddy aka Boom Dizzle aka iDizzle was amazing. As long as he stays healthy we stay very dangerous. The other starters looked good as well. Harrington was hustling and looked to be in good shape. Jackson as always looked confident and solid. Biedrins had his normal great hands. I love when we drive and they fall on the rock for the double team only to leave Biedrins open for the quick pass and in. The big surprise of the starters was Azubuike. He gained the start due to Monta’s injury on Friday. Now I know everyone was probably sick from all the JR comparison’s he drew from the commentators. But the fact of the matter is he played his ass off plain and simple. He was rebounding he was scoring and he was playing hard defense. Yes it’s preseason but he was still matched up against Kobe in that first quarter. Now given Kobe looked nothing like the Kobe we are used to. Either way though Azubuike is a player to watch and he looks to be in great shape. I hope to see that same flare during the regular season.

Then the rookies and new acquisitions hit the floor mixed in with some old faces. Nelly picked Barnes to lead them for most of the plays at the Point Forward spot. Barnes was struggling and didn’t manage to score in 20 minutes of play. Hudson looked good and it's nice to have a veteran guard to pick up some slack. My verdict is still out on Belinelli though. I know the commentators think he is going to be better then Rick Barry. Behind the hype though I still didn’t see enough to say wow he is going to be a super star. I think he has the talent his shot is effortless even from behind the arch. I liked his ball control to you can tell he can move the ball. We will have to wait and see though if he can make the switch from Euro to the League. My hope is he will be one more weapon in our deadly arsenal. Good ol Air France Mickael Pietrus saw some minutes. As always he was struggling a little with his offense. I think he continues to get better and his key role is really his athleticism and his defense. Croshere is going to be a piece in the puzzle that we had been missing last year. I don’t see him playing a lot of minutes but there will be certain circumstances when he will fit perfectly in our strategy. It’s nice to have a big man who can shoot behind the Arch. I was also very happy with O’Bryant he was grabbing boards left and right. I think he might have a place on this team. As for Pat Burke and Tierre Brown well I don’t know if they will stay with us with the season starts.

As for the players who did not see any play time. Ellis I am sure everyone is aware of his reason for not playing. He is young lets hope that neck sprain can be brushed off like Jackson did Baron’s collar in the playoffs. Brandon Wright I had high hopes for but honestly he needs to bulk up and grow some. 6’9 and 200 pounds is crazy Belinelli weighs 10 pounds less then him and he is like 5 inches smaller. I think he can grow into a good ball player though. As for Kosta “#19” Perovic well he is big but will he be around in the regular season though? Lasme and Powell?

LET”S GO WARRIORS!!!!

Monta Ellis update.

Just finished watching The Warriors Round Table they had Mitch Richmond on and he said Ellis will not be playing tonight but he is doing fine. I hope to see him on Sunday in Oakland.

NBA 2K8 Review

First off it must be noted that I have always been a live fan. But long gone are day's when my Genesis would run till the after hours only a video game or crack fiend would be familiar with. These last few generations of hardware have also ushered in a new regime in the video game sports world enter 2K sports. Hands down 2K’s basketball offering has been better then Live since 2K6. Live has burned me over and over again yet every year I purchase it. Only to find yes 2K’s version is better.

Ok enough of my internal struggles to hold on to a game and company once loved. NBA 2K8 is an "Bill Walton voice" Amaaaziing video game specimen! Every year they have continued to improve it. This year I would say the most major improvements is its difficulty and the player’s movement. Now when I say difficulty I mean it in a very good way. Last year it was just too easy to drive and haphazardly pass with relative ease. This year it is more simulation and less arcade. To me this is a step in the right direction if I want Arcade style I will pickup one of the Street titles. I like my coffee strong and my simulations real thank you.

As for the player movement wow I really like it. From the way a player moves to get around a pick to the way weight transfers and the body reacts to a fast paced turn. The physics and the graphical presentation have improved a good deal from last year. The crowd and bench area is looking a lot more real as well. I was also happy with the audio. It’s nice to see the Warriors historic run to the playoffs and the huge Bay Area culture have made its way into the commentators vocabulary. They’re something so right yet so wrong about hearing Harlan say “Hyphy!”

All in all NBA 2K8 is a keeper. It’s a solid simulation basketball game with some good quality extra features. At its core it delivers as a good basketball game and its Association mode offers a wealth of depth for any franchise fanatic like myself. The new Sprite Slam Dunk contest is interesting as well making for a fun mini game. Very similar to the Live version of the slam-dunk contest. As always the online mode is vastly superior to anything else I ever seen before. With the Online League interface that not only keeps track of stats it also allows for team management. It’s no contest when you weigh in those factors. This Mickeys is for you 2K you did it again….

Check out Boom Dizzle in action:

Marco Belinelli Training Camp 2007

This guy could be the additional scoring power we needed. With him coming off the bench we just got a lot more dangerous. It sounds like Nelly has confidence in him but we will just have to wait and see for sure. Out of the rookies we picked up I think he has the most potential.

I will be attending the rookie training event on Sunday. Stay tuned for original photo's, video's and articles.

One on One with Stephan Jackson.

It's sounds like Ellis should be ok. We will see how serious this injury was come the 9th when they play the Lakers for a Preseason game in Honolulu. What a scare that was though.

For now let's take a look at a recent interview with Stephan Jackson in this GldnSt8Warriors One on One segment.

Fed Ex from Oakland...

I was on lunch talking with my wife getting ready to head back to the office. Then a Fed Ex truck pulled up out front and knowing it might be my season tickets I sprung to the door. After quickly signing for the package no sooner was i ripping it open. Inside I found a Backpack with the Warriors logo on it. Inside that was a plastic bag again with the Warriors logo on it containing several forms, Envelopes, the season tickets and a Pin.

Fan for life!

I love Basketball and play on average about 3 times a week . I also love the Warriors as you can see.