maybe its because its basketball season. maybe its because i just bought my warrior tickets. but since im getting pretty used to this whole bearing my soul on blogger.com, i figured, eh, why not?
i believe it was during my freshman year of high school, 1997-1998, that i began watching college basketball. i remember laying on my living room floor watching a lineup of games one saturday morning, and the newscaster happened to be doing a short spotlight on a player from stanford mens basketball team, a bay area native, who had put his college basketball career on hold so that he could serve a mission for his church. i was immediately impressed. the sportscaster spoke so highly of him, and how incredibly intense he was on the court, but never foul mouthed, mean spirited or arrogant as many good athletes can be. the rest of the team were local heroes as well...arthur lee and the collins brothers...i remember reciting all the team stats the mornings after games and often relived the moments, play by play, with the boys in my morning classes. looking back, those are such good, sweet memories.
i was absolutely beside myself when they made it to the final four. i followed their progress the seasons to come, and loved hearing all the praise of their post player, mark madsen. he was my hero. an amazing player, but more importantly, a seemingly good guy with a lot of integrity. it was never a crush, though. not sure why, it just wasn't like that. i was just so impressed with everything that i read or heard about him.
then, my sophomore year, one of my best friends wrote a research paper about pursuing a career as an athlete. he arranged an interview with this stanford star, and once again had nothing but good things to share about him. he ended up also setting up a fireside, where he came and spoke with the youth about his experiences playing at stanford. it was a dinner, and we were able to sit and talk with him. i was so nervous, i could hardly speak. i remember doing a lot of listening that night.
he was so kind, and acted genuinely interested in us high school kids, our experiences playing basketball and goals after high school. this picture is absolutely too embarassing not to share. it was taken shortly after the fireside. (please ignore my awesome outfit, bangs, braces and geeky smile. i was only 15 years old.)
i followed stanford's progress in the seasons to come, and was thrilled to hear when my favorite cardinal was drafted to the lakers in 2000. i thought it was so excellent that success had found such a decent human being; someone who had been such an example to me for so many years.
since then i've tried to keep current on stanford sports, but its never been quite the same as watching that final four team. i've always preferred watching college sports over pro...there always seems to be such a pure energy and love of the game...a chemistry & excitement that is hard to match. professional athletes had always seemed to have a such inflated egos, and i had witnessed so many teammates & classmates imitate such behavior, i had no interest in keeping up on such things. as i've gotten older, i understand its just part of the sport, but still.
anyways, jump forward about 9 years from the time that lovely photograph was taken. through the wonders of a little known ecommunity, i stumbled across the profile of my favorite cardinal. so i emailed him. i couldn't help myself. i would have sent it annonymously, had it been posible, but i really just wanted to thank him for being such a great example to me so many years ago. much to my surprise, he wrote back. we exchanged a few emails, a couple phone calls, and even more to my surprise i ended up getting to spend a little bit of time with him one evening when he was in town. he was so many things. respectful, smart, considerate, kind, handsome, appropriate, funny, personable, etc, etc, etc.
why even write about this? im not sure. it was a one time, stroke of good luck on my part and was a number of months ago. but as ive said before, sometimes it's just good to allow all your thoughts to take shape on epaper. does part of me hope that by some strange coincidence he stumbles upon this blog? well, of course. id be lying if i said no. do i think that that is very likely or that it would really matter? not really. i think my writing this is more to publicly remind myself and anyone else who may be wavering in the belief that there actually are good people out there. that people really can be as quality as they seem. my proof happened to come in the form of a my high school sports hero, but one who ended up being, amongst other things, one of the the kindest, most considerate and impressive individuals i've ever met. (and yes, one who changed my perception of professional athletes, as well =)) just a few short hours, two rounds of Coldstone ice cream, and a drive around my hometown. yet somehow, despite the simple agenda, the high expectations i had created over the past 9 years were surpassed. by far....RATS. too bad it was only one date.
needless to say, i'm a new found fan of the minnesota timberwolves, and despite their current record, ill be cheering my little heart out at their game against the warriors in january. what can i say? he left a lasting impression. =)
i dont know what it is about them, but housewares make me SO happy. we were looking at various kitchen items, utensils, serving platters, baking tools, and i was just so content. part of me wanted to say, "yes, please. ill take one of everything," and the other part of me had the urge to take everything off the shelves, lay them on the floor, and then roll around in them, similar to the way i wanted to swim in a vault of money like scrooge & his nephews did on ducktales. anyway, here's a shout out for a few of the many things that make me crave that home of my own, where there is a place for everything, and everything, of course, is in it's place. im workin' on it, and until i get there, blog postings will have to suffice. 
the mother of all culinary gadgetry, and one of the loves of my life, please meet... The KitchenAid Mixer. this particular model comes from "Artisan Series," and while i'm not entirely sure what that means, i like it. there are numerous attachments, options and add-ons...hello homemade baby food, linguine, bread, mashed potatoes...the possibilities are endless. 
