Let me tell you how Lucy Buchanan gets to Grizzlies games.

She leaves her house in Bartlett sometime after 3:30 in the afternoon.

She walks more than a mile to catch the No. 52 bus at Yale and Covington Pike.

She rides the bus all the way downtown until it stops at the North End Terminal.

She then catches a trolley to Beale Street.

She walks up Beale Street to FedExForum, where she goes to the ticket office and buys the cheapest single seat available. Then she climbs to the top of the building to watch her favorite team in the world.

That is how Lucy Buchanan gets to Grizzlies games.

One more thing you should know: Lucy Buchanan is 66 years old.

It's all about the bond

It's been a strange year to be a Grizzlies fan, hasn't it?

For the first time in a long time, there is a limit to the dreams.

The Grizzlies are not going to win the title. The Grizzlies are not going to go to the NBA Finals. If the Grizzlies do everything right, if things break perfectly, they might win one round in the playoffs. That's about as good as it can get.

Some of this is because the Grizzlies have been a somewhat diminished version of themselves this season. More of it is because they are playing in a conference with two of the great regular-season teams of all time. The Golden State Warriors are destroying everyone. The San Antonio Spurs are destroying everyone but the Warriors. The Grizzlies — we may as well be honest about it — aren't going to win a seven-game series against either team.

So there has been some angst about what all this means for Grizzlies fans, and for the direction of the franchise. In past seasons, the Grizzlies never made the NBA Finals, of course. But fans could at least entertain the possibility that they might.

Without that possibility, what is the point of the enterprise? Shouldn't the Grizzlies think about — this is the term people like to use — blowing it up?

Answer: No, of course not.

More complete answer: Absolutely, the theoretical goal is to win the title. But if you believe that is the whole point of the enterprise, you really should meet Lucy Buchanan, who would set you straight.

Buchanan grew up in Memphis, went to Rhodes (then Southwestern) College, and worked as a computer analyst for the IRS. She never married. She never had children.

"I'm an old maid," she said.

An old maid who loves the Grizzlies and who has followed them since they arrived in town.

"They're my children," she said. "I love all of them. But until recently, I had never been to a game."

That changed when her neighbor, Lee Porterfield, happened to get some free tickets to the Spurs game in early December. Porterfield is a waiter at Frank Grisanti's Italian Restaurant. A customer offered him the tickets.

"I called home and asked my wife if she wanted to go," Porterfield said. "She said she couldn't, but there was this sweet woman who lives in the neighborhood who might love to go."

So Porterfield took Buchanan to the game and, oh, what he has wrought.

"I loved it," said Buchanan. "I've been back five times since then."

Even though that usually means taking the bus to the games.

And getting there isn't the hardest part. The hardest part is getting back. Buchanan walks back down Beale Street, catches the trolley to the North End Terminal, catches the No. 52 bus back out to Yale and Covington Pike, and then walks more than a mile back to her home, in the dark.

Worse, because the final two buses leave at 9:45 and 11:15 — and because Buchanan doesn't feel safe waiting around to catch the 11:15 — she has to leave the games before they have even ended.

"It's OK," she said. "I still get to see the Grizzlies play. But I don't have a smartphone or anything, so if it's a close game, I don't know who won until I get home."

And that is the point of the enterprise. That connection. That bond. The Grizzlies aren't going to win a title this year, but if that were the sole definition of a fan's experience, explain the Chicago Cubs? The Memphis Tiger basketball team has never won the NCAA title. But it has sustained this community for years.

Besides, who knows what might happen along the way? Who knows what miracles might unfold? And that brings me to the rest of the Lucy Buchanan story, which does not involve a bus and a hike.

As it happens, Buchanan is a regular listener to ESPN 92.9, the radio station where I host a morning show. She called in Thursday and won two tickets to Staxtacular, the annual elegant wing-ding at the Stax Museum hosted by the Griz. Not only that, when the folks at Oak Hall heard about Buchanan's story, they provided her with an outfit and a complete makeover.

"They transformed me into a beautiful lady," said Buchanan. "It was like a dream come true."

Buchanan asked Porterfield — the waiter who had taken her to that Spurs game — to accompany her to Staxtacular.

"I felt like Cinderella," she said. "I cannot begin to describe."

Buchanan took pictures with Vince Carter, Dave Joerger and Mike Conley. She chatted merrily with Marc Gasol.

"Don't tell anyone, because a mama isn't supposed to have favorites, but you're my favorite," she told Gasol.

Gasol winked.

"It'll be our secret," he said.

And so the evening unfurled just as Buchanan dreamed it would unfurl. And then it ended just as Buchanan knew it would end.

Unlike Cinderella, Buchanan has to return to her normal life after the party. She is absolutely OK with that, too.

Saturday night, Buchanan couldn't get to the Griz game because of the reduced weekend bus schedule. She doesn't have cable, which meant watching on TV was out. So Buchanan flipped on the radio and listened to her Grizzlies. To Mike and Tony and (her secret favorite), Marc.

That is the essence of being a sports fan. That irresistible, inexplicable, irrational pull.

"It was a great party and tell everyone I'm incredibly grateful," said Buchanan. "But I still feel lucky when I get there by bus."