Saturday, July 17, 2010

(Belated) Stanford End of the Year Banquet

And now, back by popular demand, J and K, the Junior Bloggers! This is actually a promised piece on the end of the year awards banquet that they are JUST SUBMITTING to C and R. Guess they can’t use the excuse, “The dog ate my homework.” Maybe they can use “a computer viruses ate my paper” excuse. J and K said to look at it as a “summer treat” to tide you over until college basketball starts up again. J would write some of the report and send it to K who would add her comments. K is in RED and J is in Blue (we think). They both write in black and the blue is NOT a hyper link. Got it? All typos, texting lingo, emoticons and bad grammer stuff are theirs, unless they are caused by C's fat fingers typing. C and R love that they argue almost as much as we do.

Oh, some back story info, J and K have brought signs to various games and have been recognized by the various players. They also have stalked the players so well and so much (like good junior stalkers) that the players recognize them. Way to go, they are well on their way to making the C and R Stalking Hall of Fame. Oh, here are some visuals to go with the descriptions in the story compliments of the Stanford Fast Break Club, the group that always seems to have their cameras handy.

Junior Blogger Report on the End of theYear Banquet

K and I got to the banquet as fast as we could – which, granted, was not very fast. Not only are we unable to drive – so we had to put up with our parents going the speed limit – but we had to put up with damp hair, broken blow-dryers, fashion crises and butterflies in our stomachs.  Hey I went really fast considering I had softball right before, literallyYah well I was the one who hadn't had time to blow-dry her hair because the blow-dryer I was trying to use was... um... not fully functional :) We arrived at about 6:00, half an hour before the dinner was scheduled to start and halfway through the ‘mingle’ time. We stepped in the door after making each other laugh in an effort to rid ourselves of those pesky butterflies. First thing we see - Nneka, very pretty in a grey top and a black skirt, wearing silver necklaces (Nnek-laces?) that we complimented. She laughed and said thanks. She was very nice, dubbing me the girl from the plane and K the girl from the restaurant. Lovely. It was funny though! She definitely has a good sense of humor. My mom kind of started that one.. "Wow, you're so pretty!!!" "Thanks.. hey! You're those girls...." Haha :) Oh ya. Happened many times that night. "Hi! You're pretty!/ Cool/ So good!!!" "Thanks...." then their eyes light up and they go, as K said, "Hey! You're those girls..." LOL

After talking to Kayla and getting our name tags, we meandered a little bit, sneaking looks at players’ name tags to try and see what table number they were at. K had paid extra to sit at a player table, #19, and we had quite a time of it trying to figure out whose table she was at. I gave her a huge scare when I mistakenly read Jeanette’s #13 as #19, so K started freaking out and hyperventilating until I said, “No! Sorry! Sorry! Not her number! She’s 13!” And K glared at me. You killed me on that one. I definitely had my hopes up and you just CRUSHED themDUDE give me a break I seriously thought it said nineteen! The three looked like a nine okay?! Then we both started freaking out about whose table she was out. Then we saw Sarah Boothe looking at us and trying not to laugh. I guess we were acting pretty nutty. Nothing unusual. And guess whose table K (and later me) wound up sitting at? Yep. Sarah’s. Oh boy. She was a good sport, though, and didn’t mention how insane she must have found us. She didn't even talk to us! One picture and a hello. Okay, awesome. Thanks a lot. Haha. K! Come on. It's not her fault that she was being distracted like for the WHOLE NIGHT by this person who kept talking to her. Geez. Stop hogging the players!! Goodness.

We then went over to assistant coach Bobbie Kelsey and talked to her. We told her that we thought she was very funny and that we loved her and Amy Tucker’s Superhoopsters episode. She must have though we were insane as well, quoting the videos and giggling nervously. She was very nice, though, laughing with us and only shooing us away when she had to – I guess we still come after all those older fans. Hmph. Some things never change! However, we think we come first in the players’ eyes. When we went over and talked to Jeanette, she was very nice and talked to us multiple times. Of course, I had to drag K over to see her, because she’s just a little shy around her idol… hahaha (emoticon thingie that doesn't translate to the blog)  No. I was not shy. I talked to her. I am definitely not shy. Dude! I had to literally DRAG you over there! And I kept saying "Let's go talk to Jeanette!" and you're like "No. That's okay. Let's get sodas." "Nope, let's wait." "But there are people near her!" "But maybe it'll seem too forward this early..." Luckily, to the last one I remembered my sense of humor and said "Goodness, K! You're saying she's cool, not asking her out!!" But no, we were very nice and complimentary and told her we loved her outfit (a pretty floral top and a grey band-aid skirt). She blushed a little – she seems very modest – but returned the compliment and talked to us for what seemed like forever because we were so scared of saying something really stupid in front of her – but was only about five minutes. And she told me she had something for me, which actually made my whole entire life.  And then you go and tear your quadricep and so you can't go to camp and get it. Smart, K. Smart. And YES I know I promised to get it from her. And take her that stupid poster. So I'm gonna look like a total obsessed kid before they even realize it's ME!!! Still. Five minutes with a player – that’s definitely worth $60. And then… we saw Ros.

And let me explain before K jumps in with her annoying comments. Ros was rocking a really pretty red, black, and white cheetah-patterned dress. And I saw her, got something very close to stage fright, went ‘Oh shoot!’ and proceeded to duck behind K. And K, supportive friend that she is, got an evil grin on her face, grabbed my arm, and said “Let’s go talk to her!” Need I say that we did? She was very nice too. She said, “Hey, poster girls!” and we said, “Hi!”. And engaged her in very witty (we thought) conversation. We’ve learned that throw in a lot of compliments and they start to like you. Ros was very nice, laughing with – at? – us and telling me to keep bringing my “ROSALYN” poster to the games so she has a lasting legacy or something. What was I to do? I agreed! So if you see a Ros poster next year, that would be why. I won't even comment here. I wasn't that bad. So, don't sass me. OK what am I supposed to do? Say "Ya, that'd be cool, but you're not cool enough for me to even PRETEND to want to do that." Ya right. Like that'd happen. So shut your mouth and DON'T SASS ME!!

We then talked to Kayla – wow, they didn’t call it ‘social hour’ for nothing – who was looking great in a skirt and pink top. She smiled at us, said “Hey, the poster girls!” and talked to us for a little bit. We left her in peace pleased, flattered, and totally and completely in awe. And then we looked at each other quizzically. For hadn’t Ros just called us the Poster Girls? We think we may have a team name. Oh great. And now we can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

After talking to Kayla we entered the dining room. Wow. Fancy. K and I were suitably impressed. We ducked out of JJ’s way – who had decked out her crutches in fuschia and black tape that matched her outfit, very classy – and split up to our respective tables. We looked at our booklets for a while – not only did they say our names on them, but they had little notes from all the players to the seniors, which was a very nice and personal touch – and then paid full attention to Tara as she started to talk. We thing she summed up the evening pretty well when she said that “It’s a bittersweet evening.” And it was.

She introduced all the classes together. Freshmen first, and then sophomores, etc. She said something nice and something encouraging about every player. K and I were looking at each other and mouthing “So true! Aw! Awwww!” at each other until K’s mom very kindly switched with me so I was sitting with K at Sarah’s table. So then we didn’t just have to mouth it – we could say it! And the best part of the evening (in my opinion) was when Tara introduced Jeanette. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Judging from that laugh I think K remembers what's coming. Not that she could forget, of course. Just pay attention to the story :) Now, before I say what happened, bear in mind that we were both sort of punch-drunk and excited and were, as we always are, a little bit insane. So Tara introduces Jeanette and says, “Jeanette’s biggest fan is here tonight…” and K rises halfway out of her seat and yells “THAT’S ME!” Everyone turns and stares at her, and Tara finishes her sentence. “Tonight… (That’s me!)… her mom.”. Jeanette starts laughing up on stage along with the rest of the Juniors, and so does the audience. To be fair I don't think Jeanette was really laughing on purpose. It was just not very easy not to laugh. Hahaha :D K sinks very low in her seat and tries to not look at anyone but me – especially not at Sarah, who’s trying very hard not to laugh at K but who’s failing miserably. That was horrible. Oh god. And also Tara looks at me as she says that.. What am I supposed to think? Well maybe Tara was trying to secretly tell you in her head "Keep quiet weird poster girl I'm not talking about you." Oh. Funny. Very witty, J. Hahaha, but that definitely gave you quite the laugh. Of course it did!! The entire ROOM was laughing at you! Thanks, J. Thanks again. Did I say at? I meant with! The whole room was laughing with you! Haha :) The rest of the evening passed fairly uneventfully, with speeches from the seniors – Jayne gained much admiration in our eyes for toughing out the speech even though she cried a little bit multiple times. Add that to our admiration of her for toughing out the game against the School-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named with a stress fracture in her foot and she’s got two pretty big fans!

Editors note-
Did either of you ever go to the Stanford Basketball Camp and get the “thing Jeanette had for you???? Inquiring minds (and our fans) want to know.

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