blaylockboyz Goes to NYC Pt. 2 4/18

I Finally touched down at LaGuardia around 10 AM Thursday and headed to my hotel in Times Square. As luck would have it my room was already available which allowed me to revive with a quick shower so I could head over to the St Regis.

Today's meetings started with the Finance and Relocation Committee at Noon, to be followed by all the owners around 3 PM. Unfortunately I arrived after several of the owners had made their way into the hotel and I just missed Jeanie Buss and Glen Taylor heading in through the main entrance. Most of the owners tend to use other, lesser known, ways to get in as to avoid the media circus out front. Speaking of media, Sacramento was well represented with crews from News10, Fox40, KCRA, and CBS13. I also saw Ryan Lillis from the Sacramento Bee. Chris Daniels from King5 was also there along with someone from KOMO and Bob Condotta to represent the Seattle contingent.

As I was walking up to the hotel David Beinick asked me if I was from NY and I told him I just flew in from SAC so he did a short interview to get my take on the Kings saga. Once I finished up with that Chris Daniels came over to say hi and we chatted for a few. I know SAC loves to show their disdain for Daniels but he is really not a bad guy, he just has a different audience that he gets paid to report to and they obviously want a "pro Seattle" slant, which he happily delivers.

I missed Matt Moore since he had left to go work, but Tim Ghiorso was camped out near the entrance. Talk about a die hard! Tim spent all day traveling Wednesday and then slept at the airport before arriving at 8 AM! That is some dedication right there. Before I arrived Tim and Matt did a great interview with Eric Rucker from Fox40 that we got to see edited before it was used. That was interesting to see how they take all of the days footage and turn it into a 2 minute segment.

One of the great things about Thursday was that all the media was out front with us the whole time. This was an awesome insight into the mechanisms of the media cycle. Anyone who thinks they have an easy job has never seen all the time they spend waiting for something to happen or someone to show up so they can spring into action and jockey to be the person right in front that gets to ask the only question before the subject gets escorted away. Let me tell you Nick Monacelli is "the Man" when it comes to being that guy in front. It was very entertaining to watch!

Highlight of the day was definitely seeing Michael Jordan walk right by us! That was amazing! We also saw Ben Stein, who inadvertently stumbled into a waiting media crew hungry for someone to interview.

As the day wound to a close, and it was apparent there would be no significant news being released in the Kings saga, Tim and I decided to head out to the Bronx and catch the Yankees game so we could visit Yankee Stadium and take in one of America's great Ball Parks. It was a great end to a hectic, but fun day...

blaylockboyz Goes to NYC Pt.1 4/17

The Playing To Win RV was due to arrive in Lot K shortly after 5 PM for a celebration with Kings fans and our local road warriors Carmichael Dave, Sean Thomas, and Elliot Sisson. A festive crowd was gathered and ready to celebrate both the return of the Playing To Win Tour as well as the final game of the season, hoping it wouldn't also be the final game for the Kings in Sacramento...


While my son was making his way through the crowd in his purple morph suit, taking pictures with people and fist bumping fans, my wife and I were hoping this wouldn't be the last time we get to enjoy an event like this as a family. These past years going to Kings games has become a family ritual that I really hope to continue, as well as have my kids enjoy with their families years from now.

Once inside the arena the mood was more festive than the last game in 2011. This time fans seemed optimistic that the Kings won't be leaving mostly due to the tremendous work Mayor Johnson has done as well as the community coming together for the last 3 years to fight off what seems like endless attempts to pull this team out from under us.

My flight for New York was leaving at 10:45 PM, which, unfortunately, meant I would have to head to the airport midway through the 3rd Quarter. This was my lone regret when deciding to be outside the St Regis Hotel for the NBA Board of Governor's meetings. Before heading out I said goodbye to my wife, son and our friend, then made sure to hug our usher and the beer girls at my regular stand just in case this was our last game. I then walked across the quiet parking lot, looking back one last time at Sleep Train, and sped off to the airport.

As I boarded the plane I was pleasantly surprised to see the Mayor (along with his wife) who said, "nice to see you rockin' the colors" and gave me a high five. There were also several media members from Pro Basketball Talk, Cowbell Kingdom, and Small Market, Big Heart on my flight. I then settled in for the first leg of my trip headed to Atlanta which was a very long and turbulent flight that resulted in very little sleep for me. Once we landed I was glad to have time to grab some food before hopping on the much more pleasant jaunt up to New York...