On Friday I drove my son on an all-daylong field trip to the Golden Gate Bridge (I walked it for the first time), Fort Point, and the Presidio. I was in a bit of pain after sleeping only three hours, but of course it was well worth the effort. To keep my family number one requires time and effort, not just talk. I sent texts to Carlos Mortenson, Tim Phan, and Guy Laliberte to wish them all good luck in the WPT finals. Carlos and Tim are old friends, and Guy is a new friend. Guy started as a street performer in Canada, and started a little thing called Cirque Du Soleil. Guy is now a billionaire, and has an amazing "rags to riches" story. Congrats to Carlos for winning the WPT Championship event, well done brother!!!
While talking to the kids on the trip, I realized that the Warriors had a home playoff game, and I called my connection over there (Ben, in the ticket office) to see what they had. Ben sold me on some first-row tickets right behind the press table (center court), and since they had no floor tickets available, I decided to take them. What great energy! The place was rocking and rolling! My wife and I had a great time rooting on the Warriors, and they won big. They were up 18 in the second quarter, and the Mavericks (whom I also like a lot) were never really in the game after that. Of course, I always root for Jerry Buss's (I love Jerry!) Lakers as well…
The Warriors are just plain fun to watch, with Baron Davis, J-Rich, Biedrens, Stephen Davis, and Monte Ellis running the court like madmen, dunking, alley-ooping, fast breaking, and firing threes. Biedrens and Ellis are only like 21 years old, so the Warriors may be great for a long while. Don Nelson is one heck of a coach. I first went up to Nellie over 10 years ago in Hawaii (when I was at Lakers training camp, and he was just hanging out) to tell him, "Thanks for all of the great work with Farm Aid in Wisconsin" (I'm sure that he didn't know me from Adam.) Back in the 1980s, Nellie used to ride tractors around the state of Wisconsin helping to raise money for the farmers, and that impressed me. Then about two-and-a-half years ago I did a charity event in Dallas for the Dallas Children's Hospital through the Texas Stampede organization, and Nellie showed up to play. Of course, I had the microphone all night, and I was teasing him!
Even though people shouted my name a lot, I was pretty much left alone, signing only 10-15 autographs the whole game. I did stay in my seat the whole time, and that helps with anonymity, and also means that you get a ton fewer autograph requests. Not that I mind a few autograph requests most days. When I left the game, I stopped by the bench to say goodbye to Russell Turner, who is one of the assistants to Nellie. Mark my words, Russell will be a head coach someday soon. He has passion for the game, and he beat me out of money at the golf course a few years ago. Today (Saturday) I called Ben and bought some seats in the first row, but at a 45 degree angle to the court. George Lucas owns the five seats right in front of me, and Mark Cuban will be right across the aisle from me. I will not get away with that few autograph requests in these seats, that's for sure! I'll be a bit exposed down there. Go Warriors!
