-As a reporter, I was doing my job...but as a fan...I must say it's weird to just be standing there looking at David Stern, with him standing there looking at you.
-David Stern is about 5'9", maybe even shorter, and very tan. He obviously has lots and lots of money. You can tell he's done thousands of interviews because he speaks in short soundbites that are easily transferable to a news story. I asked him about the Salimas Brothers (something I read on a link from slamonline...the Salimas brothers are former ABA owners who signed a deal when the league merged to make a percentage of the other ABA team's tv revenue forever.)...he basically said that it was a deal made by the four teams so it wasn't his concern. I also asked him if two ABA teams being in the finals meant anything and he went off about how exciting the ABA was and listed a bunch of players, including Maurice Lucas for some reason.
-I also spoke with Bob Lanier, he didn't seem like that nice of a guy. He did the interview outside of normal media time though after he got done signing some balls for kids. Now that I think about it...his old interviews were pretty cocky too so I'm not surprised.
-Dikembe Mutombo is gigantic...I don't even think I came up to his chin and I'm 6'1". He also, of course, sounds like a monster when he speaks...but ironically he was the nicest guy. He said the stitches in his lip were fine and "part of being a warrior." He also said Read to Achieve was important because "the bible tells us that the people will perish without knowledge." It's always weird to hear the voice of satan quoting the bible. He also, of course, said whether or not he plays wednesday s up to the coaches and he has no idea. He spoke for about a minute in response to every question I asked and he's very charismatic and friendly.
-Joumana Kidd is SO beautiful. She's a 10 easily. She's about 5'5" or so. Unfortunately she has a primadonna personality. A kid asked her for a hug and she said "A hug? How about a high five" then walked away. She was pretty short with me, which made for good soundbites but wasn't very friendly. She was there doing interviews for NBA TV before I spoke to her. Someone needs to remind her that she was a Budweiser girl before she hooked up with Kidd.
-I spoke with Rod Thorn...he's about 6'2 or 3"...a little taller than me. He's very friendly and soft spoken. I asked him about the draft and he said he was looking for an outside shooting point guard or a little size. I asked him about Nenad Krstic (just because I could) and he said hopefully Krstic will be up next season but he doesn't know. He really must not know if he is looking for another big man in the draft. He also said he had no idea he'd be this successful when he took the team over. I thanked him and told him he's a great GM. Very nice and humble guy.
-For any of you who know who Joe Piscopo is...he's also a very cool guy...he talked with me a bit after the interview about being an NJ sports fan.
-Bob Hurley, one of the best high school coaches ever, said he hadn't been second guessing Byron Scott at all and that it's just part of the finals spotlight.
All in all it was a pretty fun day...I wrote and voiced a story on the event that'll be on the radio tomorrow...88.3 FM for the few of you who might live in North Jersey.
And if anyone's curious...THIS is why I can refer to the Nets as "we."
Nice work. 
...here's hoping the 8:04 newscast will run it again.
