Star Effing and Balling

Midget basketball image here.

It's dark now and I'm home from my roaming.

Yesterday, I was surprised to attend the Celtics-Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. There were extra, unused tickets someone bought to impress, and I ended up in one of them. Almost a year ago, I ended up attending a game there against the Sacramento Kings because of an extra ticket a friend had received from his boss, a serious fan with seats twenty feet from the court. If I'm watching the game itself, high def is fine. But if you're watching the crowd, you've got to be there.

Yesterday's seats were only a few rows up from where I'd sat the first time, and I'm in danger of being spoiled for anything else. We were still close enough that people look around to see if you're Anyone or With Anyone recognizable. I sighted the first celebrity, a coup since one of the guys I was with can spy at a distance acquaintances from high school who are halfway across the country and two decades from where and when he last saw them. First celebrity skin: Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers- their site's a little dusty, and he doesn't mention seeing me. Then my pal sighted Philip Seymour Hoffman lately of Oscar buzz for Capote. Next Pat O'Brien, the entertainment reporter who lost his gig by drunk dialing propositions to female staffers. Then, the prolific Matthew Modine who was actually sitting courtside and who is reported to be a huge Knicks fan. Spike Lee was there, but that's not such hot news.

In a more bloggy tie-in, Knick rookie Nate "The Gr8" Robinson is blogging his first pro season at MSNBC.

The game was good, too, if you wanted the Celtics to win like I did.