Let me preface this with my personal story. I started a job about 4 months ago in downtown Indianapolis. This is the first year I've lived in a city with an NBA team (I grew up in RI, so I only got to go to a few Celts games). It's also the first year I've actually had a salary and lived like an adult rather than a poor as hell student.
To celebrate this, I bought 2 Pacers half season tickets. I figured that with Bird running the team, the new look Pacers were doing all the right things (getting rid of the bad apples, stockpiling young talent) and would be worth the investment (especially with the Celtics playing here for the home opener). So far it's been pretty great, I've gotten to go to about 5 games so far and I'm using my extra ticket to take co-workers in an effort to suck up and get to know people outside the office setting. It's also entitled me to lots of free beer bought by grateful coworkers, but that's beside the point.
However, on weeknight games, I'm generally at the fieldhouse in my work clothes - shirt, tie, and sometimes suit. Generally I have despised the fans that would do this in Boston, Cleveland, or Memphis, but for me it's become a thing of necessity - I don't have time to go home after work, especially when I can just walk directly to the game. I've found that dressing up also makes sneaking down into courtside seats considerably easier (my current seats are in the 1st row of the balcony, which isn't bad, but the Pacers attendance numbers are low and the lower bowl is consistently 70% full).
But, does wearing a suit make you less of a fan? I guess it's a moot point for me because I'm not necessarily a Pacers fan (although I'll support them if they're not playing the Celtics). If it's a weekend game, I'll throw on a Rik Smits jersey (another issue...does wearing the Smits jersey make me less of a Celtics fan? I maintain that I'm doing it to preserve the dunking Dutchman's memory), and when the Celtics are in town, it's always going to be my McCarty jersey. Let me restate that the Celtics always come first in the NBA, and that going to these games presents no conflict of interest for me - it's like being a Red Sox fan while living in Pittsburgh and going to Pirates games.
So I guess I'm just reaching out for opinions. If me from 5 years ago had the chance to see me at an NBA game in a suit, sipping on a $6 beer, I would have called future me a Edited. Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.bag (side note, past me would have been drinking Karkov out of a Gatorade bottle on the T to prepare for the game). Now, I'm ok with it since it's a matter of necessity. What do you guys think? At first glance, am I a fan, or just a prick?
Topic: Wearing a suit to a game...is it ok? (Read 11647 times)