I spent this past weekend in Memphis with my dad and son. My son got tickets to a Bulls-Grizzlies for Christmas, and this was the weekend we went. It was fun too. What I want to talk to you all about today is the experience of going inside an arena during a wave of this seemingly never ending pandemic. But first I want to talk about some other stuff I noticed while in Memphis.

First off, the hotel was clean, well managed, got things when we needed them and pretty much every attendant was masked when walking around the main area of the hotel. I felt comfortable, especially after my dad and I sanitized and cleaned every handle and highly touched surface in the room. We also ordered all of our food to go, ate it in the room and did not have to step inside a restaurant while we were there. It was nice.

When we walked around the downtown area, we wore our masks, and I would have to estimate about 80 percent of the people we saw had masks on as well. I was pleasantly surprised. This is on me. I figured that we were going to be in the South, I see people in Saint Louis not following masking rules and that it would be a free for all. It was the opposite. There were more people wearing masks than were not. And if someone did not have one on, a store clerk would hand them one and they would put it on, no questions asked. It was great. I was stoked. And the local coffee shop we found and frequented had excellent coffee, service and also high masking standards. To see that in a college town was icing on the cake.

Monday was game day. That was the reason for being there. This is what it was all leading to. We decided to get downtown at noon for a 2:30pm game. We figured we could go to the fan shop, get our concessions and find our seats before there were a ton of people. It worked. We got into the arena around 12:30 and my son and I did a little shopping. Since his birthday is coming up I told him I would buy him one thing, no jerseys since they were far too expensive. After about a half an hour he found a shirt and we bought it. It was contactless pay, every worker had a mask on, some were gloved and it felt safe. The other customers gave space, we found it easy to maneuver the shop and I felt okay. Then we found our seats with relative ease. They were great seats. And for about an hour, no one else sat by us. This was my time to get the concessions for my son and I. I figured if we could eat before other people came, it would be easiest. And it was. We ate our nachos, drank our water and shared some popcorn, with no one else in sight. It was great. After we were done, we cleaned up and put our masks back on. By the way, we were wearing the KF94 masks, and I highly recommend those. They have the feel of a KN95, but they, for me, fit better. It was tight on my face and it left a little room so my glasses did not fog up.

About 15 minutes before tip, the arena was about half full. I was hoping this would be the case for the whole game. It was not. Maybe five minutes before introductions more people came in. In about five minutes time the arena was about 85 to 90 percent full. This was when my anxiety went up. My ticks came out. I was clearing my throat a lot and twisting my head from side to side. I did my methods to calm my nerves, but they were still pretty high. I made sure we all kept our masks on tight to our faces, and just rolled with it. It did help to see about 65 to 70 percent of the crowd with masks on. Unfortunately the people sitting next to me and my dad did not have masks on, or if they did, they wore them around their chin. Not to be deterred, we put my son between us, and I turned my body towards him so I could protect him the most. And we made damn sure we kept our masks on the whole game.

When the game started something shifted in me. I was still nervous and ticking, but when incredible plays happened, I cheered. When good passes were made, I cheered. When my son had a question I was quick with an answer. When the PA asked the crowd to get loud and stand up, I did. I found myself getting lost in the game action. I was masked obviously, but the game was making me cheer loud. It was kind of neat to see a live game. I have not been to a live game or concert or anything like that in two years. This is because of the pandemic, but also because I have actively chosen not to go. But this was for my son. My dad and I hatched this plan before Omicron was on the radar. We have all gotten our shots, done what we have been informed to do by doctors and scientists and my dad and I have extra antibodies after getting COVID ourselves. I even asked my doctor about going, and he said that, as long as I wore my mask and followed the rules, I should be okay. And now that I am two days removed from going, I am glad that I went and did this thing with my son and dad. I was nervous being in an arena, but I got through it. My dad had a good time watching a live game mainly because he was excited to see his grandson see a live game. And my son, he was eating up every single second. He has not stopped talking about the game since we left the arena at 5:15 Monday night. He is already an excitable, talkative kid, and this game has only multiplied that ten times.

So while I would not recommend doing this unless you go about like we did, I had fun. It was a memory that I will never, ever forget. The look on my son's face was more than worth the trip. He was on cloud 9. It was amazing. And I want to give the FedEx Forum their due. They did an excellent job trying to get as many people as they possibly could to follow the rules, and they did their job. My hat is off to them. And to the city of Memphis as well. Thank you for the hospitality and for wearing masks when they were supposed to. This was a good trip and a trip to see how something I used to do all the time without a second thought would feel now that I haven't done it in two years due to the pandemic. It was a nice experience.

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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