Those who woke up early or stayed up late in the continental 48 got to check out the United States men’s basketball team take on Australia in Melbourne as part of the lead-up to the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Of course, if you were in Australia, you could have just gone to the game, which we learned from the Twitter account of actor Russell Crowe was not necessarily a good idea.
You see, the court was elevated, as the game took place at Marvel Stadium (yes, that Marvel), a multi-use stadium that needed to do the March Madness thing to accommodate a basketball court in a non-traditional venue for a game.
I got one of the contractors here to measure the distance between the sideline and edge of the raised court. It’s 3.1m (just over 10 feet). So yes, if Delly goes full Delly, it’s a 93cm drop. pic.twitter.com/4jDB7K2RGy
— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) August 21, 2019
So what we’re dealing with here is a court you have to tilt your head back to view, since it is actually above where you are sitting, and a whole lot of space for stuff. This means that Crowe’s first row seats that cost him a pretty penny really, really kinda stunk. The Academy Award-winning actor posted a video to his Twitter account in which he praised the decision making of those who did not fork over cash to have essentially obstructed views to a scrimmage.
$1500 a ticket for this view. AUS v USA .
Jokes on me.
If you weren’t among 50,000 there and you chose to watch it on tv at home, good decision . pic.twitter.com/VlNuXWp6iI— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
Because he was unable to successfully check out much of the game, Crowe instead opted to use Twitter to vent some frustrations.
Who won?
— Libbilis (@libbilis) August 22, 2019
The promoter
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
The only thing achieved tonight by @BasketballAus was enjoining with the promoters in ripping off well meaning lovers of the sport. It was a farce. https://t.co/M04iiL26Xm
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
I wasn’t there. Why was it a farce?
— Bill Baxter (@bill_baxter) August 22, 2019
If you weren’t there , then your opinion is meaningless isn’t it Bill?
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
Not great! It was especially not great that Crowe didn’t get anything included with his seat, either.
Did that include drinks, plenty of drinks.
— Deckhand Guy. (@XJetPro) August 22, 2019
0
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
To make matters worse, the space in between Crowe and the floor was filled by various folks who were there to work during the game.
This is not the best seat in the house by a longshot. How much did folks in front pay for theirs?#USAvsAUS
— GilSoChill (@gil2chill) August 22, 2019
The people in front of me are officials and people working the game . I was in the first row of seats.
— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019
This is a pretty crappy turn of events for anyone who wants to watch a basketball game, and hopefully if Crowe heads to another basketball game in this venue, he opts to sit above the action.