We had a very nice time at the American Airlines Arena to watch the Miami Heat Play the Orlando Magic in one of only two pre-season games before the start of the Regular NBA Season. Keith is a big Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks fan and definitely not a Miami Heat or Orlando Magic fan but he loves basketball so it was fun to watch the game. Last year we attended the Miami Heat/Golden State Warriors game. We each did wear black shirts to the game which are part of the Miami Heat colors. Keith does have a Dallas Mavericks Championship Shirt with us, but thought it best to save that one for the cruise.
With just a two game pre-season schedule, both teams played most of their starters for a good portion of the game so we did see lots of playing time by the Miami Heat trio of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and likewise by Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard, and recently acquired former Boston Celtic Glen (Baby) Davis and others.
We did enjoy the game and we ate at the stadium.
The Miami Heat were welcomed back to the arena for the start of the new NBA Season.
We arrived to the arena about ten minutes before it opened. Like last year, security at the stadium is the most thorough we have seen compared to other stadiums. Unfortunately, and we knew this before our arrival, you can only use point and shoot cameras or ones where the lens cannot be removed.
The game started slow and during the first quarter it was close with the Orlando Magic taking a one point lead at the end of that quarter. As the game continued the Heat took the lead and continued to expand it for most of the game and easily won by 33 points.
LeBron James and Dwane Wade
The big three for Miami (LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade)
Right before the start of the game.
Ready to play.
Getting Ready for the Tip-Off and for the Game to Begin.
The Start of the Game
Miami Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra kneeling with long-time Assistant Coach Ron Rothstein
Jimmy Buffett will be performing next month.
After the game, we left the arena and enjoyed the evening look of the city between the outdoor building/skyline lights and views and the Holiday lights.
A view after we left the arena to begin our walk home.
As we walked back to the Hotel we saw some beautiful Christmas Lights.
At the end of the game, we walked back to our hotel and enjoyed another nice nights sleep. One of the benefits to all of this walking is the ease in which each of us can fall asleep.
Keith brought back coffee to our room and we enjoyed coffee and catching up with the news by newspaper (we also utilize the internet) along with breakfast in our room.
After breakfast we got ready to take another long walk. As we were going down the elevator Keith suggested to Anne Marie how about going to either Key Biscayne or to Coconut Grove. Anne Marie looked over at Keith and Keith realized either Anne Marie loved the idea or that she was saying to herself "are you crazy?". Guess what. It was the latter. Going through Anne Marie's head was we just had breakfast and coffee and where are we going to stop for restrooms. Anyway, after a few minutes Anne Marie agreed and we set out on our long walk. When we reached the point of decision (go left for Key Biscayne) or go stay straight for Coconut Grove we chose left and took a nice long walk over there. We had last done this with our daughter and son in law, Jennifer and Gui, in January of 2010. The walk turned out great.
It is nice that when you go over the relatively long bridge there is a path for cyclists and also a path for walkers, and joggers and several people were out doing exactly that. The weather started off a little chilly because of the wind but, in time, there was less wind and the sun came out from the clouds.
This shows a portion of the bridge that we walked over
On our way back from the long walk we headed over to one of the supermarkets to pick up salads for lunch and we passed a park that we have seen before but never visited. It was a very cute park and we spent about fifteen minutes inside walking a portion of the park.
After we had lunch we went on yet another nice walk. We decided to walk towards the Port of Miami. There were four ships in port. Three of the ships were the same ones from the other day as they had just completed cruises of just a few days and this time around there was also a Costa Cruise Line Ship.
This evening we dined at The Oceanaire Seafood Room. We used a gift card that our son, Eric, and our daughter-in-law Kara gave us as a gift. We dined there on New Years Eve of 2009.
The meal was delicious and the service were impeccable. The interior of the restaurant is very pleasant to the eye with soft blues and sleek looking booths as we as many stand-along tables all with white tablecloths.
We began the meal with a chopped salad which was accompanied by a delicious sourdough loaf of bread and a nice vegetable tray. We each ordered a Grilled Florida Corvino for our entree and we also enjoyed a side order of fresh asparagus.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and as we have done each evening enjoyed looking at the Christmas Lights as we made our way back to the hotel.
We have had a great time over the past twenty-four hours between last nights basketball game and all that we did today.
We thought we would end today with another basketball sports though for the day. Whether you are talking about basketball, or staff on a cruise ship or any collective group of people, a good team is made up of several people working collaboratively with each other.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.........
“A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play.” - Mike Krzykewski
Keith and Anne Marie
Go Celtics!!!!
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