The Trinity is now Complete

I don't normally gush about meeting pro-ball-players, but in the past 9 months, I have almost been magnetically drawn to them, completely coincidentally, and only in specifically non-basketball situations. Tonight, the "In 3s" theory was re-proven.

When I lived in Berkeley/Oakland for four months, I ran into JR Rider at 1am at a Shakes and Burgers joint, and we chatted it up for a while about how he felt that the NBA was blackballing him and how New Orleans almost gave him a shot at joining the team right before the playoffs last year. This was an incredibly bizarre experience, less bizarre that I sort of had a amicable relationship with JR when he was on the Wolves and more bizarre because it was JR FUCKING RIDER. At 1am. At a burgers/shakes joint. By the way, he was in peak fucking condition and was clearly trying to get back in the game.

Two months later, on my way back from California to MN, I had a layover in Phoenix. This was the same day that Steve Nash signed his whopping extension, and sure enough, as soon as I got off in the PHX airport, I saw Sir Nasty pacing about. I basically followed him around the airport for 20 minutes trying to think of what to say to him, until as he actually scampered to get on his flight (back to Dallas, nonetheless), I shouted, "Congratulations, Steve" and was thanked for my salute.

Tonight, I wandered into the shoes/apparel spot two blocks away from my rest in Hyde Park, and there stood Eddy Curry. Eight feet tall and two feet wide. Consuming about 64% of the 40-sq-ft store. I shuffled around him to check out some kicks, thereby creating the awkward circumstances by which if I wanted to leave, I had to re-get past him (an impossible task). As he joked with his people and the storeowners, I waited for the precise moment to inch by. Eventually, as he moved towards the wall to try on a powder blue polo, I made my move out the door. Regretfully I thought of nothing worthwhile to say to him, but my affinity for NBAsters, peculiar ones in particular, remained strong.