With the wife traveling to Miami, OH this weekend for a synchronized skating competition, I chose to visit my parents in San Francisco – the less of two evils. I had a free ticket on Southwest Airlines to use by May 11 and this was the best weekend to use it.

I landed in Oakland around noon and posted on my facebook page “just landed in San Francisco.” Thirty minutes later a friend of mine, who has Golden State Warriors season tickets, commented “Want some warriors tix for tonight?” Since I was already planning to attend the game with another friend of mine, I, of course, said yes. But, there was a catch. He was in Palo Alto with the tickets and I would not be in that area and nowhere near a printer all day.

But, technology these days has changed everything – as you know. He emailed me two tickets, I found a Kinko’s (in this case a knockoff version) and printed out the tickets. In fact, he ended up emailing me all eight tickets so I could sell them outside of Oracle Arena if necessary. In the end, it cost $3.38 to print out all eight tickets.

Pre Game Dining
The friend and I had some time before the start of the Warriors game – we were at Oracle Arena around 4 pm. Thus, since nobody tailgates before a basketball game we thought we would try to find a bar or restaurant around the Oakland Coliseum Complex. One may think this is an easy task. Think again. First, we drove down International Blvd. on the east side of the complex – an area you would not wish your enemy to drive through.

Next, we drove across I-880, down Hegenberger Rd. towards Alameda. We found a strip mall with an In-N-Out Burger, a Wing Stop and Red Brick Pizza. We continued on until we passed a Carrow’s and Yoshino Sushi – an Asian restaurant with a $2 draft Sapporo special from 3:30 pm to 7 pm. We continued until we got close to the Oakland Airport and figured the Asian restaurant was our best bet. And it was.

Yoshino Sushi was a great pre-game restaurant with their drink special. Although we did not eat any food we were impressed with their bar area – both inside and out. We left there to check out a couple restaurants we saw closer to the sports complex Charlie Chan’s Café and Denny’s. Not the best restaurants but our only options. I was hoping the Denny’s would have a cocktail lounge like the Denny’s near the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. And, yes, I said a cocktail lounge. It is sleazy, but awesome since it is in a Denny’s.

We never ended up getting to Denny’s because Charlie Chan’s Café also had $2 beer specials and we stopped there first. I would not recommend eating a Charlie Chan’s Café – as my friend, who is a cook, said “those grills have not been used for awhile.” But, for $2 beers before a Warriors, Athletics or Raiders game it is definitely worth it.

Beg, Borrow and Deal – the Sell Side
My friend who emailed us the tickets ended up selling two. So we had four $10 tickets to sell outside of Oracle Arena. We spent about 25 minutes trying to sell the tickets and did not have one person approach us stating they needed tickets. In this type of market, you either 1) take any offer somebody gives you or 2) give away the tickets to a broker – consider it a donation to the ticket cause. You should never, never hold on to your tickets as you enter the stadium or arena. We gave our four extra tickets away to a broker who basically begged us for them.

The Warriors Win One: Grizzlies at Warriors
Somehow the Warriors managed to score 78 points in the first half – the most points I have ever seen in the first half. Their first half score led the Warriors to a 128-110 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The second most points I saw in the first half was also at a Warriors game. The Warriors scored 77 points in the first half on April 1, 1994 versus the Minnesota Timberwolves.