- Bill Russell drives a minivan. During the Seattle game on Friday, we sat about six seats away from the great Bill Russell. We didn't try to talk to him, but Mark snapped a picture of him exiting the stands after the game (see below). When we returned to our car after the game, Russell was sitting in the driver's seat of the vehicle next to us - a somewhat shabby-looking Toyota minivan. I gave him a wave, which he did not reciprocate. A middle-aged white guy hopped in Russell's passenger seat, and they pulled out.
- LeBron James sat courtside at the same game on Friday. In stark contrast to Russell, LeBron had a full 5-member posse, and exited the game through the tunnel rather than fight through the crowds. I overheard a young autograph-seeker later saying that LeBron had walked through the lobby at some point, but was so fully surrounded by posse members that the kids couldn't get near him.
- Chris Mullin was sitting 15 or 20 rows up from us on Friday, near the aisle where he was easily accessible to fans. As we exited the arena, Mullin was in a conversation with some front-office-type guy that I didn't recognize. This did not deter a random middle-aged man wearing a fanny pack. Fanny Pack shoved his head in to Mullin's conversation and announced: "Mr. Mullin! Mr. Mullin! I used to carry your bags at the Westin!" To his credit, Mullin handled the situation quite graciously, and feigned some interest in Fanny Pack's story.
- Daniel Artest, Ron's little brother, played for the Kings' summer league squad. We sat directly behind the King's bench on Saturday during the Kings/Rockets game. I couldn't stop watching Artest during warmups and time-outs (unfortunately, he never made it into the game). His face looks strikingly similar to Ron's, only fatter. His physique is like a shorter Tractor Traylor. Daniel Artest would have looked out of place in the layup line of a Division-1 college team. His presence on an NBA roster (even summer league) was ridiculous. He missed just about every shot he put up during warm-ups (although he worked harder than anyone else on the floor, breaking a substantial sweat). He did manage a two-hand dunk off of two feet with no run-up, no small feat for a guy his size. Artest was enthusiastic during time-outs, shouting the loudest "defense" of anyone on the team as the huddle broke. If the fat guy from the And-1 tour (Escalade is his nickname - I had to do a bit of research there) were to retire, I could see Artest making a run at that job.
-The woman sitting a few seats down from me let out a scream of pure joy when the Blazers finally defeated the Suns on Saturday. I watched several of these summer league games without once thinking to look at the scoreboard. The outcome of summer league games is, in my mind, absolutely meaningless. The same woman made repeated attempts to present Sergio "Spanish Chocolate" Rodriguez with a gift of red, black and silver M&Ms she had special ordered for him. At one point she cornered LaMarcus Aldridge (not in uniform Saturday), who agreed to give them to Sergio. Some Blazer staffer took the M&Ms to the locker room after the game.
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