Joe Johnson

Welp, knocked another item off the ole "Things I've always wanted to do, but would never in a million years think of off the top of my head" List. Tonight I met NBA superstar, Joe Johnson, of the Atlanta Hawks. I mean, this is a guy who averaged over 20 points a game the last 2 seasons. 25 ppg in his injury-shortened 2006-2007 campaign. That's within 3 points/game of Lebron James' average! One of the 3 people in my group went to high school with Joe. She told me a couple days ago that she was gonna see him tonight and she was gonna get his autograph for me. I went to Target yesterday and bought a new NBA ball and a sharpie. I gave them to her after work today. Around 7:30 she calls me and tells me that if I'm not doing anything, I can come up (to the Dunbar Center) and watch him play. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. Turns out it was in a bad part of town and I was amongst a 1% minority in the room. To be honest, that was a little daunting. He wasn't show-boating or turning on his game near as much as he could have been considering it was just a pick-up game in a city league, but he was still fun to watch. Afterwards, my co-worker and I got my ball & sharpie and she took me up and introduced me to him. I shook his hand and he signed my ball. Then her sister came up and suggested that I take a picture with him. I tried to convince her that it wasn't necessary, but she seemed a bit insistent. I think she just wanted a picture of him ;) Eventually we both posed for a shot. It was really cool seeing all the kids swarm him. I kinda felt like a dork though...being 9 days younger than him and getting him to sign a ball and take a picture. OH well, it was a neat experience.