Traveling with the Brooklyn Nets

This past weekend my boyfriend and I were very fortunate to be able to travel with the Brooklyn Nets. Immediately after their Friday night game against Orlando's Magic team at the Barclays center in Brooklyn they came to the airport where we were waiting. Unfortunately they had just lost the game. We would be traveling on the team plane to Detroit, Michigan for their Saturday night game against the Pistons. Then after that game return back to New York on the team plane again. Very exciting and unreal! We get to travel with the team and meet the coaches and players !!

My boyfriends mom won this opportunity in an auction at a charity event for the Alzheimer's Association. This was one of the big wins and we were lucky enough to get it. My boyfriend is a huge basketball fan and I would say I'm a pretty big fan as well. 

We went to the signature private airport in Newark, New Jersey. We got there early so has some extra time to wait until the team got there and we could board and depart. The plane was a Delta private plane and it was massive. It was like a regular plane turned into a nice exclusive plane. The front is where the players sat and they had big tables and first class seats. I would say this is the nicest section. The coaches sat in similar seats. Our seats in the back not as nice but still business class seats. There was delicious food and flight attendants. Short flight just over an hour to Detroit. As we were exiting the plane in the front some players were gambling. There was some big piles of money so the stakes must've been high. We got off and they did shortly after. We landed around 1:30/2am. We headed straight to our hotel in Brimingham, Michigan on big bus with everyone from the plane, players, coaches, assistants, media people and then us. 

The next day was our free day. The game against the Pistons wasn't until 7:30. My boyfriend and I grabbed lunch and walked about the cute town. It was unseasonably warm for January. 

Above is my boyfriend Randy standing outside the Brimingham towns movie theater. 

We had to end our day of exploring short because we were heading to the game with the team. This meant early, 4:45 to be exact. I was excited to get to see the players warm up and get some pictures with them. We loaded up on the team bus again and headed to the arena. Once we got there the bus backed into the arena and we were now only yards from the court. 

 

We had media passes so we were able to sit on the court as they warmed up. 

It wasn't long until we started to get photos with the players. 

Above is Brook Lopez and myself.  He was really nice and talked to me ( a couple of sentences) more than the others. 

Above is Randy (my boyfriend), Joe Johnson and I.

 

Above us and Willie Reed. 

Above us and Bagnani. 

Those are just some of the players we were able to get photos with before the game started. The game overall was good but unfortunately the Nets lost to the Pistons. We got to see the press happen after before leaving. It was an amazing experience. 

We took the same plane back as we took over. On the plane ride back to New York the coach Lionel Hollins came up to us as we were sitting. He was very friendly and remembered us from the press. A very nice guy. I immediately regretted not asking for a picture but oh well. 

The flight home was quick. We landed and exited the plane. Again I see 4 players in the front gambling with each other. Even bigger stacks of money than last time! So amazing to see the players just having fun after a game like that.

 We said our goodbyes to everyone we had met and thanked them for such an amazing experience. Overall this will be something I will never forgot and I am lucky it helped support the Alzheimer's Association.