Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Star Struck

Gotta write up this one quickly because I have way too much work to do to warrant spending even ten minutes blogging.

Last week I was out at The World Cafe in Santa Monica, hanging out in the bar with Suzanne, when a guy with scraggly blond hair walked by. I didn't give him a second look, but after he started attracting some attention at the bar Suzanne said she thought he might be a celebrity though she wasn't sure which one. The guy was turned away from me so I could tell either, but his hair reminded me of Owen Wilson's. Then the guy turns around, and I'll be damned if it's not the wedding crasher himself. I didn't want to go say hi or anything - didn't want to be one of those fans, since I'm sure he was just looking to get out and have a drink with some friends - but just seeing him there was kinda cool. Surprisingly (to me, at least), that was only the second celebrity sighting I've had in my time out here in Santa Monica.

Anyway, fast-forward today. I'm out walking around the Promenade (coincidentally enough, with Suzanne again), and I find myself walking behind three guys, one of whom is fairly tall. Before long the tall guy turns such that I get a profile of his face, and I'm like, "... wait, that kinda looks like Brandon Roy..." Brandon Roy was the star of the UW basketball team this year, and is most likely going to be a lottery pick in this year's NBA draft. Now, there are very few NBA lottery picks that I would recognize on sight. Actually, other than Roy maybe only Adam Morrison, but that's because Morrison is like 6'10" and has a goofy mustache, so it's kind of tough to not recognize him. Brandon Roy is more like 6'6" and is relatively non-descript, but I recognize him largely because I've followed his career since he was a basketball player at my high school, two grades below me. He had a rough start to his college career, what with some academic issues that initially prevented him from enrolling, but since has blossomed into a pretty damn good player. Anyway, so I'm walking behind these three guys and I'm not yet sure if the guy in front of me is indeed Brandon Roy. After walking a block behind them I finally decide to go up and ask him. Sure enough, it was Brandon Roy. Apparently he's working out in LA to get ready for the NBA draft. I told him I graduated from GHS in 2000, said I thought he played well in the tournament this year, and probably came off as a total bumbling idiot - largely because when I approached him I had no plan beyond finding out if he was Brandon Roy. He was friendly, smiling throughout and engaging for a short bit before shaking my hand and going on his way.

Anyway, the crazy thing I took away from this experience was that six years ago, I was a senior at GHS, Brandon was a sophomore, and that's all there would have been to it. I wouldn't have turned my head if he had passed me in the hall. Now, six years later, I'm going up to him basically saying "Holy Shit! It's Brandon Roy! What's up?!" and feeling slightly star struck. I'm not really sure what to make of the whole experience, but whatever, it was cool. And everybody should follow Brandon Roy's NBA career, starting now.

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