Warriors Fan Reveals How He Used Fake Press Pass to Sneak Into Game 7 of NBA Finals

Micah Poag, a college student and Warriors fan from Texas, used a fake press pass to sneak into Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

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The young man you see in the photo above is Micah Poag. Poag, a sophomore at the University of Texas, is a Warriors fan, and he wanted to go to Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday (what basketball fan wouldn't?). Tickets were reselling for an average of about $3,000, though—with one fan purchasing two courtside seats for $49,500 apiece—so Poag had to get really creative to work his way into Oracle Arena.

According to Poag, who spoke with Vocativ on Wednesday, he created a fake press pass for the game before buying a plane ticket and heading to the Bay Area. "I’m pretty good with Photoshop, so Friday night I went ahead and bought a plane ticket with the idea that I’d go to this game and make a press pass and see if it would work," he said.

Here's what he came up with:

Anyone who has covered a professional sporting event can tell you this credential doesn't look all that convincing—he found the template on Google —but it worked for Poag, who says he got a 2300 on the SAT, which would mean he's a genius. And the smartest thing he did prior to using the phony press pass was arrive at Oracle Arena super early. Security is usually far more chill when arena staff are first setting up.

"I got out of the house around noon to show up to the game extra early because that’s kind of when I knew I could get in," Poag said. "I was there about five hours early and circled the stadium looking for points of entry."

Poag found his point of entry when he noticed a window washer exiting Oracle. He walked up and started chatting with the washer when a security guard approached.

"I kind of stepped up and showed the guard my press pass real quick and she didn’t really say anything and sort of gave me a nod in, and I proceeded to walk past her," Poag said. "When I was about 15 yards past, I heard her say, ‘Hey,’ but then I didn’t look back."

The best part about this narrative is it's clear Poag, though confident on the exterior, was genuinely nervous.

Once inside, Poag made the wise decision to sit in a bathroom stall for two hours and even pretended to be using the bathroom because, in his words, "no one is going to bother a guy taking a sh*t."

He then slipped on a Warriors jersey and headed to the cheap seats to enjoy the game:

"I watched the game pretty casually, pretty easily," Poag said.

Though his attempt to get on the court after the game was denied because his press pass didn't say "All Access" on it—which Poag says was his only regret—his experiment clearly worked, and he said he would do it again.

"Looking the part is a huge part of it," Poag said. "I think it’s pretty easy when you’re a white kid dressed in khakis with a suit on. I think if you’re confident it helps."

So, here's the formula to sneaking into an NBA game: Be good at Photoshop, be confident, and be a white kid dressed in khakis. Got it?

Though this type of story is fun, it's also the reason we see things like Ayesha Curry's father almost being arrested at Game 6. So it's probably best not to try this next season.

Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.

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