Michael, who works at the arena, offered to take me up on the gray domed roof at sunset, and I wasn’t about to turn that down.

Climbing the roof is sort of like climbing an overturned mixing bowl. The sides are steep – when you walk out the door onto the roof, it goes straight up. On top, there’s a big flat expanse with giant letters that spell out “FedEx Forum”.

We spent about half an hour on the roof, me taking 360 degree photos of downtown and Michael talking about how cool it was to be on the roof during last winter’s snow storms.

The Memphis skyline, as seen from the FedEx Forum Roof

From the roof, you can see from South Main to the Sterick Building, from St. Jude to the Wonderbread Bakery and the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech.

Here’s an entire set of photos of the Memphis skyline, taken from the roof of the Forum.

Go There (and check out some of the Forum’s great sporting events and concerts):

FedEx Forum

191 Beale Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 205-1234

27 / 365

The sidewalk outside the FedEx Forum is lined with balls from different sports, including sports that aren’t ever played at the Forum.

Courtside at the FedEx Forum

To get there, you go down a really steep driveway into the basement of the building. There are some choice parking spaces down there (including Josh Pastner’s). The Tigers’ bus was pulling in as I was walking down the ramp, and I got to walk into the building right behind the team (I even got a little “hey, what’s up” nod – Squeee!).

Before I went to the Forum yesterday, I had no idea where the PA announcer sat during Tigers games. I just took the booming disembodied voice yelling “FOR THREEEEEEEE!” to be something akin to the voice of a basketball-obsessed omnipresent god. It’s nothing like that, really. Chuck is a regular guy in a blue vest who gets to sit in the best seat in the house for all of the Tigers’ home games.

He was kind enough to answer my questions about why people love the Tigers so much, what it’s like to live his dream, and exactly how many e’s go into every “for threeeeeeeeeee!”

Once the pep band took a break from warming up, Chuck tested the mic:

You can catch Chuck Roberts in action at any Tigers home game.

Chuck Roberts loves Memphis

My mom surprised me with an extra ticket to the men’s game against Jackson State at the FexEx Forum. And though my seat was way, way up (section 217, row K), I could still see everything just fine.

I was really excited to see the brand new Tigers in action under head coach Josh Pastner. This is definitely a different team. Pierre Henderson-Niles got skinny, Preston Laird got a scholarship, and free throws made it into the basket.

There were also some funny parts – on two separate occasions, Tigers went flying over the press table. A ball got stuck in a tangled net and a guy on a ladder had to be called out. Josh Pastner had a few moments where it looked like he forgot he wasn’t actually playing basketball.

Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins called this the “season of the underdog”. Maybe so. All I know is that I’m so glad it’s basketball season in Memphis again.

Naryan Yawning by Frank Peters

Granted, the game is just an exhibition, but it still means that basketball season is here. I can’t wait to see how the Tigers do under their brand new coach, Josh Pastner.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m., and I’m not sure if the game is going to be televised.  If you’re going to miss the game, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see the new Tigers in action (like the grudge match game between Memphis and Kansas that will be aired on ESPN on Nov. 17).

To get you in the mood, here’s a Coach and Four song about the 1985 Tigers’ Final Four game against Villanova.

Coach and Four – Tiger High ’85 (zshare)