I had the pleasure today of covering the Showdown in Chinatown. For those of you who don't know, I'd imagine that number will be the majority, every year Steve Nash holds a charity soccer game in Chinatown (the Manhattan version) that features famous soccer players and famous basketball players. It's for the Steve Nash Foundation, which ultimately gives back to kids, which you could file me under thanks to this great opportunity.
While I was the recipient of Brandon Jennings "are you kidding me" faces about other reporters questions, and the journalist responsible for finding out that Marcin Gortat had aspirations of keeping goal, I was also the lone member of the media more in awe of a fellow person in a golf shirt with a press pass than of the NBA All-Stars around me. While I tried my hardest to get in interviews with Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Tony Parker, and Jennings, I found myself drawn almost like a magnet to one of my teenage idols, Jay Williams.
It's no secret that I'm a Duke fan, and as I always tell the story; it's because I really liked Chris Duhon coming out of High School. I was in need of a college team to root for as St. Johns had entered irrelevancy, and I wasn't going to watch a sport that I love without any rooting interest. So I thought the world of Duhon and really took notice of his backcourt mate, Williams. At the time he was Jason and there wasn't a thing he couldn't do, save for maybe hit the free throw to complete a four-point play.
Williams handled the rock, ran the offense, played tight defense and had a mean cross-over, those were the things he was good at. He was GREAT at shooting from deep, getting to the basket, and even throwing it down with force from time to time. Williams won a championship in 2001 and a Naismith Award in 2002. He was a prolific collegiate athlete, that had a terrible, you could even say dumb, injury ruin his career.
I worked at ESPN when Williams came on as a college basketball analyst, but I never had the fortune of meeting him. I had gotten in whatever interviews I could get in at the Showdown on Wednesday, and noticed him standing right near me looking almost lost, this was my opportunity.
"You're playing in this too," I asked the guy who I feel like I've known for the last decade. "Na man I'm on the other side of the fence today," responded Williams with a smile as if we had known each other. Jay clearly wasn't playing in the soccer game as he was sporting an ESPN Polo shirt with several other ESPN reporters and camera men in his vicinity. We went back and forth for a little bit about how the Knicks need a point guard and I think he'd be the perfect fit, as well as how he isn't fit to play in the NBA due to his past injury but wishes he could. He even cracked a joke that he would've given the Heat more than Mike Bibby did during the Playoffs, at least I think it was a joke.
The fact that I was able to have a personal conversation with a person whose jersey I'm sitting in as I type this, a man who is responsible for getting me to fathom the idea of rooting for the Bulls after killing my Knicks repeatedly throughout my childhood, and a personal inspiration to me, just blows my mind. I went into today drilling into my head that I have to be a consummate professional and not a fan, and here I am, talking to Jay Williams about his career and his thoughts on Grant Hill.
I love what I do because being a professional in this field is better than being a fan in it. I wasn't talking to Jay Williams as a fan to an idol, we were talking as professionals, and the aftermath feels hardly any different if not more gratifying. Beyond Williams, working on a field and trying to get Steve Nash's attention for a question and having him give me a respectable answer is way more memorable than being a kid and having Donyell Marshall give me an autograph so I would leave him alone. Having Jared Dudley tell me he's got me for an interview when he gets away from the cloud of reporters completely trumps the hope that maybe Anthony Mason will sign for me when he feels like it later. Standing next to Grant Hill with a voice recorder inches from his face has to beat floor seats.
While I'm not out on the court playing with them, getting their respect, and engaging conversations with them is as cool as it gets. Standing with Jay Williams I didn't feel like I was talking to a guy who was faking being nice to me because that's what he gets paid to do, I felt like I was conducting business in a friendly manner. I didn't want to overstep my boundaries so I thanked him for his time after about two minutes, and walked away after he gave me a familiar dap as if he were one of my friends that I regularly see.
An experience that I won't forget, but just a day in the life.
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