Last weekend, I was in Savannah for a social media conference. Thursday night, we had an after-party at the Distillery, a beer bar similar to the Flying Saucer. I mingled with my fellow conference attendees on the outdoor patio.
Most of the attendees were from Georgia or South Carolina. I was telling them about my blog and how there’s a lot to do in Downtown Memphis. “… and I can walk to Grizzlies games at the FedExForum a few blocks from my apartment.”
“Grizzlies?” someone asked. “Who are they?”
“They’re our pro basketball team,” I replied.
“Memphis has a pro basketball team?” he said. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“We’ve had them for 10 years,” I explained. “They’re an NBA team.”
“Really? You mean like the developmental league?”
“No,” I said. “They’re a major league NBA team.”
He looked at me like he didn’t believe me.
“You’ve heard of Pau Gasol who plays for the Lakers? He played for us for six seasons before we traded him. His brother Marc plays for us now. Marc is becoming one of the best centers in the NBA.”
“Okay…” he said, and we moved on to other topics. But I still got the feeling he wasn’t completely sure I wasn’t just making the whole thing up.
Wow. Maybe the guy wasn’t a basketball fan. Or maybe he’s seen Hasheem Thabeet play and just assumed we were a developmental league team.