Bollywood Night !

On March 16, 2010, the Golden State Warriors held NBAs first ever Bollywood Night! The Warriors are the first sports team ever to hold a culture event like this. I was lucky to join in on the festivities since I attended that game as well. This game was also broadcasted on national television on ESPN as well as broadcasted live in India! Meaning all the fans in India was able to witness this great event and game happening as well! Too bad Warriors lost though …

The game was at Oracle Arena vs. Dallas Mavericks. Everyone that attended the game got free t-shirts too. On the front of the shirt, it says 'Got Curry?' and on the back is a big logo saying 'Bollywood Night'. 

During the game, in between time outs and halftime, there were many cultural performances. The Warriors Girls even dressed up and performed cultural dances. And during post game, they had American Idol finalist Anoop Desai to perform two songs lives as well. Fans were able to sit in the lower level and watch the post game show if they wanted to stay. Not only did they have American Idol star to sing, the Warriors also had a Q&A session with Stephen Curry post game along side with Warriors Vice Chairman Vivek Ranadivé, the first Indian-born member of an NBA ownership group.

Here is a link to the Highlights from the night :  NBA Videos

I think Warriors did really well by having a first ever Bollywood Night. Throughout the season there are always many Heritage nights and events, but no one has came up with this idea yet. And there are a lot of Indians that love sports as well. Even the LA Lakers hasn't had an event like this before. And as an attendee, I must say this event was very successful. Normally during post game, everyone leaves already and no one wants to stay behind due to it being late, and not wanting to be stuck in traffic. Surprisingly, lower box sections 116-119 was actually filled completely. A friend of mine that works for the Warriors said that normally for post game events, they only open up one section, but for this event they opened up 4 and surprisingly fans stayed behind for the Q&A as well as the music performance.

Maybe the San Francisco Giants should have a Bollywood Night as well, since they are big on having Heritage Nights as well. The Giants last year had it first Thai Night. It would only be fair to have a Heritage Night for all heritages in every sport.