SAN ANTONIO — For the first time in roughly five months, a cold front rolled through San Antonio before the Spurs' open scrimmage, dropping low temperatures into the 60s after the hottest late spring and summer on record, with 73 days over 100 degrees.
This was a blessing for more than 13,000 Spurs fans who waited in long lines for the doors to open on the first Saturday of October at the recently re-branded Frost Bank Center, the home court of the Spurs since 2002. They were there to watch an open scrimmage that followed the first four days of the team’s training camp at their brand-new Victory Capital Performance Center.
A few thousand showed up long before the scheduled 4 p.m. opening of the doors before the 5 p.m. tipoff. Admission was free, after all, and with open seating it was a chance to get a close-up look at all the Spurs, especially 7-foot-4 rookie Victor Wembanyama, the French teenager whose image already adorns murals on several buildings around town.
Minutes after the multitudes were allowed in, a pair of fans wearing bright green Lucha Libre masks declared they had been the very first to have arrived at the arena.
"I was here at 7:45 this morning," proclaimed Alexander Herrera. "I was the very first, but I had to leave to pick up my dad and come right back. When I got back there were a couple of guys ahead of me, but I followed them in and here we are."
He and his father, 72-year-old Juan Herrera, snagged seats eight rows from the baseline and, importantly, on the end of the court from which the Spurs would enter and exit. Both stood and cheered each time a Spurs player emerged.
“It’s my 42nd birthday today and this is what I wanted for my birthday,” the younger Herrera said. “The greatest wish I had for this year was to see Victor. It’s a dream come true for me. I’ve been a Spurs fan all my life.”
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