When Aaron Napper was seven years old, his father took him to the very first Memphis Grizzlies game. It was at The Pyramid. The Grizzlies lost to Detroit.

“I just remember the electricity,” he said. “I keep the ticket stub on my desk.”

Now Napper is 29. He and his wife, Ranae, had their first child — Lilah — four months ago. So as soon as tickets went on sale, Napper bought two so he could bring his daughter to her first Grizzlies opener.

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Twenty-two years had passed.

The tickets aren’t paper any longer.

“But there’s no way she was going to miss this,” Napper said.

Meaning, of course, that there was no way he was going to miss this — this chance to mark time with a Grizzlies game.

They have been with us that long now. Long enough to connect us to earlier versions of ourselves.

The Grizzlies have been here long enough that a boy could have gone to see Lorenzen Wright as a little kid and returned to see Jaren Jackson Jr. with a little kid of his own.

As it happens, the two games ended much the same way. In 2001, the Grizzlies lost to Detroit, 90-80. On Wednesday, the Grizzlies to New Orleans, 111-104.

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“We struggled,” said head coach Taylor Jenkins, which is the sort of quote that would have worked after most of the franchise’s first games.

The Grizzlies are now 5-18 in openers. No team is worse over that span of time.

The Grizzlies lost their first game at The Pyramid and their first game at FedExForum. They have lost the first games of the season under every head coach in the history of the Memphis franchise.

Some of those years, the Grizzlies went on to win 50 or more games. Some of those years, they wound up in the lottery.

One game does not a season make.

“As soon as I walked in the door, there was this incredible buzz. It didn’t matter where you were in the building, you were a part of it. That night, I fell in love.”

Katie Fisher
Grizzlies fan from St. Louis

But memories?

Sure, one game can make plenty of those.

So it was that Katie Fisher was wiping away tears before Wednesday’s tip because she got to meet Pete Pranica. And with all due respect to Pete — who is a gifted play-by-play guy and a wonderful fellow — there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type.

But it turns out that back in 2021, Fisher and her husband drove to Memphis from their home in St. Louis to run in a half-marathon. They decided, just for kicks, to get tickets to a Grizzlies playoff game while they were here.

“As soon as I walked in the door, there was this incredible buzz,” Fisher said. “It didn’t matter where you were in the building, you were a part of it. That night, I fell in love.”

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From that moment forward, Fisher has been a devout (possibly crazed) Grizzlies fan. She watches every Grizzlies broadcast from beginning to end. And Wednesday, after her husband surprised her with tickets in the lower bowl, Fisher got to take a selfie with Pranica.

“Look at me, I’m crying!” she said. “I’m just so happy I got to do that.”

Not far away, the Olsen family was just as thrilled to be in the building. They flew in from Vancouver for the game.

“It’s my daughter’s 21st birthday,” said Evon Olsen. “She said the one thing she wanted was to come to the Grizzlies opener.”

It wasn’t the Grizzlies history in Vancouver that inspired the trip. Danielle — the birthday girl — became a fan when the family was stuck at home during the pandemic.

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“We watched every night,” Evon said. “The Grizzlies became her favorite team. So she said this was the one thing she wanted for her birthday. We’ve had the best time in Memphis. It’s been great so far.”

Of course, that was before the game started. More about that in a bit. But there was a palpable sense of joy as Memphians poured into the building to celebrate the return of an old friend.

Oh, and then the Memphis Symphony played the national anthem. And — speaking of old friends — Tony Allen and Zach Randolph picked up microphones to introduce the team.

When Grizz, the mascot, lifted that baby in its little bear cub suit to mark the official beginning of the new season, it felt like a perfect start. 

Then came a whole lot of imperfections. Alas. The Grizzlies looked like a team that was missing its superstar point guard (Ja Morant), its immovable big man (Steven Adams) and two other big men off the bench (Brandon Clarke and Santi Aldama).

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Without the three bigs, the Grizzlies got crushed on the boards, 52-37. They hoisted up 43 3-pointers in an effort to compensate. Only problem: They missed 31 of those 3-pointers. Luke Kennard — at least, the man looked like Kennard — went 0-5 from deep. And Jaren Jackson Jr. didn’t get his first bucket (or his second rebound!) until the second half.

So, sure, Desmond Bane (31 points) had an excellent game. But that wasn’t nearly enough. Meaning, young Lilah Napper will have to wait for her first Grizzlies victory. And you know what? That’s OK.

Every NBA season is a saga. Who knew the twists that last year’s season would take? That was one of the rare years when the Grizzlies actually won the opener, by the way. And then all hell broke loose.

Will Morant come bounding back from suspension to rescue the team this year? Will the Grizzlies figure some things out between now and then? Will the franchise trade for another center? Will Kennard ever hit another 3-pointer?

On that last one, anyway, I’m betting “yes.”

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But for now, the Grizzlies are 0-1. As they have been 17 times before.

And the only thing that really means is that we are off on another saga — with a whole city along for the ride.