I like living in Lubbock year round and rooting for my alma mater Texas Tech Red Raiders in football and basketball but recently surrendered to my fifth wife, Melanie, who\u2019s from Sacramento and during the seven months I\u2019ve known her has been pestering me to buy a second home here so we can watch her beloved Kings at least a dozen times a year.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHow come you\u2019re so interested in those guys?\u201d I say. \u201cThey\u2019ve never won anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNeither has Texas Tech. Besides, the NBA\u2019s way better than college.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDon\u2019t forget where the beef comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI could say that, too.\u201d <\/p>\n
\tWhen you marry a doll younger than your daughters, you know she\u2019s automatically right about a lot of things. That\u2019s why we\u2019re staying at a downtown hotel under some penthouses twenty stories up. The agent takes us up the residential elevator into a fancy place with lots of glass revealing Sacramento\u2019s sort of got that hot and dry look like Lubbock. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis amazing residence offers more than three thousand three hundred square feet as well as three bedrooms, three baths, and an incredible private terrace,\u201d says the agent, who\u2019s about my wife\u2019 age.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI love it, Jimmy. And it would be safe when we\u2019re back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI feel kind of closed in up here. All my life I\u2019ve lived on ranches.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis is a like a luxury hotel,\u201d Melanie says. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe could stay where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSacramento\u2019s booming. We need our own place here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHow much is it?\u201d I ask the agent.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFour point nine million,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019ll give you four point two cash.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cLet me make a call.\u201d She steps out onto the balcony, pretends to talk to someone and probably is, and returns smiling. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave the paperwork ready tomorrow morning and I\u2019ll write the check,\u201d I say. “Here\u2019s my business card to get started.\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\u201cYes sir,\u201d says the agent. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cRight now we\u2019ve got a meeting with the Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWe ride down to ground level and walk around to the VIP entrance where we show our tickets and are led into a private club at Golden 1 Center. A young man in a suit tells us to have some food and relax before the presentation in a few minutes. Melanie goes after chicken on a stick. I chew beef off the stick. Melanie drinks a glass of champagne. I\u2019ve only been drinking water since my heart attack. We don\u2019t really watch the video. When it\u2019s over I motion for another young man.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat kind of seats do you have?\u201d I ask. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cDepends on the price range,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe want some really good ones,\u201d Melanie says.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFor two deluxe seats it\u2019s sixty-three thousand a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s almost sixteen hundred a game,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat includes VIP parking and access to all our clubs and other amenities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe won\u2019t be here for most of the games,\u201d I say. \u201cDon\u2019t you have package deals?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYes, we have a variety of special deals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cListen, Melanie, just pick out the games you want and we\u2019ll buy those tickets now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cJimmy, I want us to be able to go to any game we want.\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\u201cFine,\u201d I say, pointing to my wallet. \u201cWe\u2019re buying the penthouse first thing in the morning. After that, we\u2019ll stop by and fill out the paperwork. Please have it ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYes sir,\u201d says the young man.<\/p>\n
\tI tell Melanie, \u201cLet\u2019s see what the product looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tTwo teams just finished the first game when we enter a big arena of seventeen thousand six hundred seats almost full, damn good for a summer league game. In fact, it reminds me of the annual spring football game at University of Alabama. These fans aren\u2019t quite that crazy but they\u2019re pretty loco yelling at the Lakers and cheering the Kings whose top pick Marvin Bagley hits a spinning jumper and a dunk and a three-pointer in the first quarter. <\/p>\n
\tIn the second quarter Melanie starts shouting, \u201cOh, I love De\u2019Aaron Fox. I just adore him,\u201d as her favorite player glides to the hoop for a few fancy layups. <\/p>\n
\tAfter a while I say, \u201cFox really shouldn\u2019t be playing with these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe\u2019s a second year guy and returning starter. He\u2019s too good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFox finishes with twenty-three points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Bagley totals eighteen points and three blocks, all the swats against a new Laker, Mo Wagner, the Kings fans already hate for playing rough and acting grumpy. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cImagine, we\u2019ll get to see LeBron James two times this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s what I was thinking, Melanie. I want to see him every damn game, not twice a year. We better set this up in L.A. instead of Sacramento.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou already committed to buy our penthouse here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tI pull out my phone, push some numbers on the screen, and say, \u201cThat deal\u2019s cancelled.\u201d <\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m keeping the tickets,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNo you aren\u2019t,\u201d I say, sending the Kings a message <\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou may be going to games by yourself in L.A., Jimmy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI’m pretty sure I could find a companion, Melanie.\u201d<\/p>\n