Me and the Clippers
you don’t think that you’re ever going to stand next to a bunch of guys who are over 7 feet tall. why would that ever happen to someone? unless you were center court at the staples center soundchecking for the national anthem?!?
last friday night, i had the very special privilege to sing the anthem at a clippers v. mavericks game. right off the bat, it wasn’t the clippers’ best game. that being said, i couldn’t have done any better, so i was thoroughly impressed.
tasha and i arrived at staples at 5:30pm and witnessed this crazy woman scream at the folks working the media table. something about paying a lot of money for her tickets and needing to get in NOW! it was not the way i wanted to get centered and focused to sing the national anthem.
but as all consumate professionals say, just make the best of what you got. so i tried to step aside from the ranting lady and asked tash if she would grab me a slice of cheese pizza while i waited for our liaison. most folks tell you not to eat dairy before you sing, but i find that a slice of cheese pizza rocks my vocal chords big time and i sing effortlessly. no luck with the cheese pizza – instead, i ate some fries from mcdonald’s.
when we were taken down to the court, all the players were warming up. shooting baskets, stretching, running. the cheer squad was practicing basket tosses and the dance team appropriately shook its collective ass. rob, the guy who invited me to sing, took me out in the middle of all that madness, handed me a microphone and told me to go ahead and sing the anthem.
"here? now? with all this craziness?" yes. that’s how he wanted me to soundcheck. so i took a deep breath, asked him to look out for rogue basketballs and started singing.
the echo was unbearable and i was pitchy and starting to get very discouraged. rob warned me that the echo without all the bodies in the stands was pretty bad. he was right. 90 seconds of an awful soundcheck, and i was ushered to a referee dressing room to change for the big event in about an hour.
tasha went with me. and in true crazy odd night form, i started to get all these messages from the same person yelling on my cell phone voicemail. really didn’t have time to deal with that. tasha told me to put the phone down and not look at it again until after the game. great advice!
i got dressed. put on some new pink eyeshadow a friend bought me on the day we both played hookie from our respective lives. some gold glitter lip gloss that one of my dear friends and solid cheerleader gave me as a way for me to feel her there with me that night. after i ran a brush through my hair and tasha sprayed down all the static filled loosed hairs, i sang the anthem twice in the corner of the shower stall in the room.
tash forgot i could sing until she heard me sing a capella. thanks girl – ; ).
we had 8 tickets. 4 in the 4th row. 4 in the 12th row. felt very happy to have heather and my friend from william morris and his entire family there. it was his idea in the first place to get me to sing the anthem at pro games. so happy he was there to share.
finally, 3 minutes before start time, rob came to my seat and walked me over to center court. the lights went down. a few spotlights on the court came up. and i saw both teams forming a rectangle around me with the color guard carrying the flag. i could have cried.
it’s a tremendously sacred moment. the players take the time to just breathe deeply. the fans get silent. in the stadium, you can hear a pin drop.
i started to sing. i could see some of the guys swaying while i sang. the echo was now beautiful and it felt like i was singing in a canyon – notes lingered on. before i knew it…i got to "brave" and everyone started cheering. it was an almost sold out game. the crowd starts as a low rumble, than the whistling, then the clapping and then the cheering.
rob mentioned that i could wave if i wanted to. so i did. i got off the court and the score keepers shook my hand as they told me "hey, you did a great job!" rob walked me back to my seat and said enjoy the game.
tasha, heather and i promptly went to get me an extra dirty martini. i’d never been so close to the court so when we went to the consessions, we found we were on the VIP bar level. very enjoyable. i’m a sucker for these perks.
somehow, this night was fantastically special to me. perhaps because some of my closest friends were there. maybe because i felt like i sang the anthem with all that i had and felt proud to have surrendered and given like that. or maybe just cuz it was the STAPLES CENTER!!!
anyhow…another forest gump moment. pictures are in an album on the diary page for your viewing enjoyment. scroll back up a bit.