TMobile has sponsored this RedsArmy.com report from All Star weekend, so that means we are being paid to report from the weekend by TMobile. Legally, I'm supposed to disclose all that up front.
Oh, the perils of being tasked with covering All Star Weekend from the "Fan's Perspective." You mean I get to go to everything, act like a total Celtics fanboy, go to parties... all without being obligated to wait for players to do whatever they do?
If I must.
After Jam Session... I made it over to the American Airlines Center for the skills competition. On my way in, I saw this big guy with that "player's walk." It's the walk all former players have that screams "I've sacrificed my joints so I could do battle." So I figured I'd kinda idle on a little closer since I knew he had to be somebody.
And it was somebody. Celtics Assistant Coach Clifford Ray.
We talked a little about what the hell was happening with the C's in the 3rd quarters and he seemed just as confused as anyone about it. Thanks to Cliff for stopping and chatting. Nice guy.
Inside the arena, I made my way to my seat. I didn't have far to go. T-Mobile hooked us up with some great seats. Great view of everything.
The shooting stars thing was actually much better in person than I remember it being on TV. The pace was just right. I enjoyed it. And anything that ends with half court heaves isn't that bad.
The PG's were next up and I latched onto my fellow 36 year old Steve Nash since I didn't have another horse in the race. I was hoping maybe after the festivities, we could get together for some metamucil while making snide remarks about how this generation doesn't "get it".
Steve won one for the old guys... which set the stage for our boy The Truth. Coincidentally, I was in the "Paul Pierce" section. Footlocker put out cards with competitors' names on them and the people in that section got 15% off at the store. So Paul won the crown... which allowed me to be loud and obnoxious... and he won me a discount. Nice. Here's my view of his post-contest interview.
The Slam Dunk contest was barely worth addressing... so I'll skip it. I did make my way down onto the floor (I'm resourceful)... and managed to meet that dude from the T-Mobile commercials
He's not that much taller than I am. That's one of the best power forwards ever to play the game... and he's barely 2 inches taller than me. Damn impressive.
After the skills competition came the party. Oh... and it was a party. I, along with Jackie "That Sports Babe" Taylor and WEEI's Jessica Camerato found ourselves about 5 feet from Snoop Dog.
Yeah, it was awesome. And no, I didn't run up on stage naked screaming "Snoop A Loop.... we're going streaking"... although I was really doing my best "Frank The Tank" imitation otherwise.
It was a solid hour... maybe more... of Snoop just tearing it up. It was an unreal show. Here's a little bit of video we caught on a phone:
Wild night. I'll tell ya, the NBA knows how to throw a party. Here are some more pictures from last night. And as always, follow me on Twitter because I'll be tweeting and posting photos from the All Star game. I think my seats there are pretty good too... so it should be cool.
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