Opting out at the Intuit Dome

One afternoon in the summer of 2018, I found myself chatting with Steve Ballmer not about dance moves or sweat stains but about architecture. We were sitting courtside for an NBA Summer League matchup, inside the crisply air-conditioned confines of the Thomas & Mack Center on the outskirts of Las Vegas, watching two teams whose names I forget; in any case the quality of play was not exceptionally high, which may explain why I was able to hold the former Microsoft CEO’s attention for a few minutes.