Rockin’ Steady

Deadspin H.O.F. Class of 20??

I am quite pleased with the way this turned out.  There wasn’t a lot of great footage from the draft itself, as 1) I only had one beer beforehand and 2) this was a remarkably dull draft, and so inspiration was in short supply.  But the other stuff… yeah, I’m happy.  I marvel at how draining an experience this was — work has been very time intensive lately, and doing this at all involved sacrificing some sleep and some brain cells.  I’m also stunned that everyone from NBA Security seemed to know who I was — and that they were also quite cordial and complimentary.  And more people than ever went up to me — sometimes when I didn’t have the sock on or camera out — to shake my hand and meet the Stephen A. heckling guy.  People wanted pictures.  Very surreal.

Allow me a rant:  The NBA, in its infinite wisdom, sold fewer than 400 day-of tickets Thursday.  My guy got there at 7:30 am, only to be denied along with the overwhelming majority of people who showed up.  I cannot begin to understand why, at a venue that seats over 3000 people, you’d suddenly reserve fewer than 400 tickets for actual fans who get on line early in the morning — taking days off from work, in many cases.  It’s not like this is the Oden-Durant year, or the LeBron year (tickets were much, much easier to get a hold of the LeBron year).  The NFL Draft works largely because it’s a populist event.  It takes great pains to do well by its fans.  It’s impossible to imagine the NFL giving away almost 90% of its tickets to corporate interests.   The NBA Draft will never have that stature so long as it treats its fans this way during its one genuinely interactive event of the year.  End of rant.

I cannot thank John Moe and folks like him for appealing to Deadspin to help a puppet out, Deadspin for putting out an APB for tickets, and this dude for answering the call and making his extras available.  Also, do you like the Mets?  You should read this blog.  A good man writes it.

More thoughts on this video later this week.  Oh, and yes, I wrote and performed the song — words and music (hooray, Apple Garageband!).  Oh, and yes, this really is the last SAS NBA Draft heckling video.

twitter: @hecklingsociety