NBA Draft 2009

The past two days of work have been absolutely insane, but entirely worth the work. Yesterday there were clips all over the place so the morning went very quickly. By 3 pm we were down in the WaMu Theater where the draft was to be held awaiting our walk through of where we would be escorting the players after they were picked. I sat there for two and a half hours, right behind the ESPN camera, watching Jay Bilas, Mark Jackson, Stuart Scott, and Jay Van Gundy perpare for then film their broadcasts. It was so amazing to sit there and watch how an actualy broadcast goes, especially the smaller broadcasts from the theater that were appearing on Sportscenter. I also decided to introduce myself to Jay Bilas because I was so enamored with what I was seeing. He was absurdly tall and very nice. He went to Duke, so I felt kind of bad for him (ha!), but he told me that his wife went to Wake Forest and that was kind of cool. He also asked me about what I'm studying in school and where I was working, etc. The walk-through was pretty confusing at first, but by the time I was escorting, I figured it out. Basically, for the first 15 picks of the draft, I stood at the very front of the theater, right behind the cameras that were filming the post-pick interviews of the players after they left the stage. I was within feet of the great NBA stars or flubs of tomorrow. I was within feet of what could be my future? When I was awaiting the pick that I was escorting, which turned out to be UCLA's Jrue Holiday who was chosen by the Philadelphia 76'ers, I was standing next to another one of the cameras filming the post-pick interviews. The camera operator turned around and asked me if I was an on-air person, like a reporter. I replied, no, I wish. He said, well you should be. That OBVIOUSLY made my night. Then, Jrue Holiday was chosen (ps I would've been escorting James Johnson if he had been there, but he was home in Wyoming) and I led him from his post-pick interview to a series of other interviews. First was with ESPN radio which was right there in the theater. After five minutes of that, we walked through the screaming fans in the theater and through the fans in the lobby all the way to the press conference setup. He had interviews with a former basketball player for TMobile then moved on to the EA Sports press conference and EA Sports booth. Then we went into the liveshot room which was pretty cool. Basically, the liveshot room was a set of curtained off cubes where major stations like CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. were awaiting players to come by and give interviews. I can't imagine what it would be have my future chosen in front of hundreds of thousands of people then be whisked away to talk to a bunch of reporters and fans before I even get to sit down and think about what's going on. I actually express this to Jrue, how impressive it was that he was able to handle all of that. Yet, he was unphased. He was so unphased that we had legitimate conversations throughout the night. About leaving UCLA, the west coast, about Philly, about basketball, about life. It was refreshing... I was always concerned about athletes being dimwits who don't realize what they're doing before the camera or don't deserve that much attention. But, as much of a regular guy Jrue was, he was a talented one, well beyond the court. He was very eloquent compared to many other athletes I've observed and he was collected. He wasn't hauty or cocky or anxious. He was accepting of his responsibility as a public figure and willing to do what he had to do to make it through the press junk. After the interviews with those stations then ESPN.com and the NBA Network, we went to the phone room where he spoke with a coach or a newspaper or something. I was too busy staring at THE STEPHEN CURRY and coming to terms with the news I had overheard, that Michael Jackson had passed away, to really know what he was doing. Yet, once he was done on the phone, we returned to the theater and I brought him to the photo room where he reunited with his parents. I was done by 11 pm which was a lot earlier than expected. What was also unexpected was the fact that we had so much responsibility as escorts. I mean, some of the higher picks were given official team escorts from whomever picked them, but once it got past the top 7 or so, like where I was assigned, it was me, the player, and the body guard. I was the one who had to make sure that Jrue made it to all of the interviews and press conferences. I was the one who spent his first few minutes with him during the beginning of his NBA career. It's kind of neat. I think the most important aspect of my experience last night however was how passionate I was about the broadcasting that was going on before my eyes. I was riveted by the entire process, by the talent, by the skill, by the mere fact that these people were speaking to the entire world right before my eyes. And also, I noticed when I was walking around with Jrue that I had to hold myself back from asking him questions. All I wanted to know was what was going through his head, how he was feeling, what was good or bad, from his eyes, about his present situation. I think thats the reporter in me. I didn't bring my camera with me so I won't be posting any pictures of the draft, but I will try and get a picture of my media credentials so you all (yes, all zero of you who read this) can know that I'm not lying. WOW.