I’m sure you’re pumped up for tonight. In fact, I’m sure that your outfit is laid out on your bed—face paint included. Oh, that Bulls home game tonight; you wouldn’t miss it for the world. No? This isn’t what you thought I was referring to? Unless you are one of those obsessive, spastic kids that commit half their lives to fantasy sports, you probably didn’t even realize that the NBA season had kicked off. Luckily, it’s a long season, and you’ll have plenty of time to make up for your oversight and still catch a few games.

Granted, going to a Bulls game now is not what it used to be. No one in his right mind would tell you that attending a game this season could even begin to compare with going to one in “the good old days,” a.k.a. when they won. You have to look at it this way, though: going to a game in the era when Jordan was leading the team to championships was phenomenal, amazing, fabulous. Going to tonight’s game will be great, exciting, fun. This still beats the average Friday night. Also, consider the fact that a game, which generally tips off around 7:30 p.m., fills that pre-going out lull that the U of C student population has so stupidly created by insisting on showing up at parties no earlier than midnight.

I really love going to games, regardless of the Bulls’ record. The environment, on the whole, is very amusing. There are those time-out games where little kids race cars around cones or big kids run (wobble, more appropriately) dressed in blow-up Benny the Bull gear. For me, there is always the anticipation of the “Kiss Cam” camera where the Jumbotron focuses on a couple who then kiss. It would obviously be a sign if you went with a date to a game and the cameraman decided to put you on the screen. My faith in the “meaning” behind the selection, though, is wearing down since this soothsayer in disguise always seems to end his program by trying to get two hot blonde chicks to grope each other. Oh, the humor.

For those of you who are unimpressed by the non-basketball-related aspects of attending the game and who have retained your “Bulls suck” attitude, let me remind you that the Bulls aren’t out there alone. Obviously, due to the nature of the sport, the Bulls always play another team. Have interest in seeing LeBron James’s rookie season? Go to the games versus Cleveland on December 20 and March 1. Wanna catch a glimpse of the infamous Kobe Bryant or the rockin’ Allen Iverson? Get tix for March 13 or November 7 (next Friday), respectively.

There are tickets to be had for as little as 15 bucks a pop, including those damn Ticketmaster fees. You can even print your tickets out online so that you can utilize the time you would have spent waiting in the will-call line to BS the rest of your core bio paper.

Go to a game, sport. You know you want to get out more. You live in Chicago; pay da Bulls their due respect. Personally, I think it’s worth the trip out to the United Center just to see Eddy Curry in the flesh. It is one thing to think of what 6’11”, 285 pounds might look like, but it is totally another to see it live. What’s more, rumor has it that he can do standing back flips. Now that’s a sight I’d like to see.

Just like a prayer, I’ll take you there. It’s like a dream to me.

(You just have to tell me where. E-mail elcerulo@uchicago.edu.)