I got Gerald Hendersons Autograph!!!

[GOBOBCATS24]

On a picture of him with David Stern on draft night!! I love this. I just received it in the mail but I'm not sure what day it came. Just telling any of you who havent received it yet and are Premium STH's. Also how many of you are going to Fantasy camp on Saturday?

[TheBeagle]

Well, we non-premium peons (;)) only got a facsimile autographed photo of Henderson in the mail. Still, glad you got the real thing because the money you guys shell out, you do deserve some perks such as the fantasy camp! Have a good time, and watch out for Keetch....dude is a nasty baller.....I heard.

(Wish I could've gotten a UPS one instead....)

[TattoodCats4life]

Well, we non-premium peons (;)) only got a facsimile autographed photo of Henderson in the mail. Still, glad you got the real thing because the money you guys shell out, you do deserve some perks such as the fantasy camp! Have a good time, and watch out for Keetch....dude is a nasty baller.....I heard.

(Wish I could've gotten a UPS one instead....)

It's okay Mike, you know as well as I do we'll get our autographs next year.... I'm still hoping to get a game worn from Raja, he wanted to give me one but got carried out of the game with an injury :( I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, hard to miss someone tall enough to play

[dav7z]

Mike give me a Autographed Basketball by Henderson. If any you guys are still looking for season tickets im sure he can hook you up, No camp for me . Beagle, Tattoodcat, 24, where is your seats this year?

[Felton for Prez]

They were all facsimilies (sp). Unless I'm getting hosed as a premium season ticket holder because that's what I got. Nice gesture though.

[Keetch]

I got a signed photo too and didn't really know what to do with it :P; so it's sitting on my dining room table still. Autographs don't mean much to me, especially prints of autographs ha!; they're great fun for the kids though.

I'll be at the fantasy camp morning session sitting in the stands watching my grandson play ball.

Beagle! There was a time that I lived and breathed to get on the court early in the morning and stayed all day. Those days were very, very long ago, lol. Thanks for the props though; its a WONDERFUL fantasy.

I've been looking forward to hanging out with you all at games next year for sure.

[GOBOBCATS24]

Im going to be there in the morning too. I am only 18 so i was right on the edge of not being eligible to go. and my autographed photo isn't a copy. you can see where it smeared a tiny bit on the photo. why did you guys get reprints?

[Keetch]

"only 18" :D don't beat up those kiddies; especially my grandson (he's 13)! Seems that high schoolers might have been better with the adults and let the "kids" be kids. Don't know though and it probably doesn't matter. I think its all just supposed to be fun.

Hell I don't know if the autograph is real or not! I'll have to look harder at it. Maybe its got the same smudge as yours lol. It's fine either way. Now if Gerald Henderson becomes all All-Star; I'll think differently. EBAY baby!

[Felton for Prez]

I've been convinced that my ticket guy doesn't like me, that's probably why. Awesome.

I'll be playing that afternoon with the old folks. I'm starting to wish I had picked up a basketball recently. Gulp.

[TheBeagle]

Chris: you're right. I'm already getting pumped for my first UPS auto!

Dav: Exact same as last year: 215, J, 1-2. Before she got promoted within the company, my rep, Jessica, said I could upgrade to 216 B, I think it was, but it would be a behind the basket view, and I've fallen in love with the corner....just a great angle to see all the plays develop, especially from that height. That said, if I were to get a lower bowl upgrade, I wouldn't turn it down :biggrin:

Also, dav, next time you talk to your rep, see if he can get a Derrick Brown auto...I'll buy you some concessions at a game in return!

Keetch: Seriously, man, you gotta twitterize your experience. I'm dying to see how it plays out from your experience. Like I said before, very happy for you, and I hope you have a great time!

[Felton for Prez]

Just heard Roy is going to be at the camp tomorrow too. Anything you guys want me to ask MJ during the Q&A?

Thinking I may go get a Duke shirt to wear for tomorrow.

[teej]

Just heard Roy is going to be at the camp tomorrow too. Anything you guys want me to ask MJ during the Q&A?

Thinking I may go get a Duke shirt to wear for tomorrow.

Ask MJ if we're actually looking at spending any of the MLE

and lol at the wearing a Duke shit...I mean shirt :rolleyes:

[Felton for Prez]

didn't quite go as expected. for starters, separated my should shoulder playing 1on1 so I actually missed half the camp and MJ altogether.

poor turnout by players, just crash and UPS.

we spent more time talking about UNC hoops than we did Bobcat hoops. if that didn't ring loud and clear a problem, i don't know will.

all negatives aside, it was a very well point on show with some goodies for all. got to see the film room too. that's cool. i really like that stuff.

next year, if you have a chance to go, i highly recommend it.

[Keetch]

Ouch!! Seriously sorry to hear about your shoulder FfP, been there, done that too many times. It really is painful.

I was wondering how the afternoon session went. The morning was kind of mixed I thought.

At about 8 am MJ had all the kids sit around the 3 pt. arc. There were a lot of them, about 110 I was told. Michael gave a brief instruction on shooting technique and then explained how to play Around the World. Then Around the World they went for like the next 45 minutes.

If you'd like to know the gist of MJ's remarks it was this:

Did you have a good breakfast? (repeat)
Who can shoot a layup? (repeat)
I see you're wearing Adidas shoes.....(repeat)
You nervous? You can't miss the layup. (repeat)
You missed the layup. Good try though. Who's next? (repeat)

Of course not everyone missed the layup; but then they'd get to the free throw line and a similar exchange would occur.

It was all cool. MJ offered the kids Jordan shoes if they could meet the challenge, but most of them were too young or small to do that. It really looked like MJ sincerely wanted to give everybody there a free pair of shoes, but no matter how he tried, the kids mostly just kept missing. I guess about 20 or so did get new Jordan's though.

Michael would offer that if a kid could make a shot he could give shoes to so many other kids in the group. So there was some smack talk of making friends by giving them shoes and losing them if you couldn't. Which was all kind of awkward. It was kind of like...hey, I got nothin' else; so lets give away stuff. Honestly for me, it got a little weird.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a few players there, I didn't expect any. But when Crash walked in the place kind of woke up. Lexi, and of all people Derrick Brown were there too. I thought they all looked great. It was the first time I've got that close to Lexi and man-oh-MAN is he big. I wonder if he's self-conscious about it though. He's really kind of shy it seems. I hope Lexi has a breakout year!

LaSalle Thompson and Dave Hanners represented the coaches. They were into it and stayed the whole time. Kudos guys.

The kids were then led thru a stretching session and broken up by age into groups for drills set up in the main court and the practice court. I thought all of that was done very, very well; it was great for the kids, though I wondered what the adults would care about it later lol. The Bobcats had area high school coaches in for the drills and honestly those guys worked their butts off and did a great job. Those guys truly rock.

Roy Williams wasn't at the morning session (bummer). I was told that they couldn't have any college coaches in the morning because there were high school kids there and it would be a recruiting violation. That did make sense.

I watched my grandson drive and shoot a jumper over Gerald Wallace! I was so excited! Afterwards we had this exchange:

"So you got to shoot over Gerald Wallace!"
"Who?"
"....dude, quit watching the dancers...."

It's funny to me how the young ones take to MJ; like they don't that much. I suppose their familiar with him to some point; but most have never seen him play and can't really comprehend the admiration and awe most of us have for him. So when MJ would ask "Are you nervous?" Most just shrugged him off. It was hilarous. They weren't the least bit nervous.

MJ left after the stretching and didn't return. That wasn't much of a surprise. He opened the show and then split.

I think the event was more sponsored by Jordan Brands than by the Bobcats. All participants received a REALLY NICE pull-string cloth bag with new shorts, shirt, socks, a hat, and an armband. I think only the shirt had any semblance of a small Bobcats logo on it. Everything else was pure Jordan Brand. Hey, not knocking it! That's really good quality stuff! But the Bobcats weren't the prime product at this event. Whether thats good or bad I don't know. I wonder if the Bobcats had to pay for all that loot? Anyway, as I left I was mostly thinking about what the point of it all was, and if it worked. I suppose it did. I do like being at the arena and watching the team. I'm thinking about what I'll do after this season, and I was definitely left with a wish to carry on as a season-ticket holder. It means so much to be able to see my Bobcats reps and talk a little trash with them. They're all very, very nice.

I hope in the future they can emphasize the team more. I also look forward to the day when MJ can pretend to be a regular guy and comfortably mix with people. I don't expect that to happen. You can go back to whatever you do now MJ!

[Muttley]

Great synopsis, Keetch. Thanks for taking the time to write it up for us as you do with all the games!

[Felton for Prez]

Unfortunately i don't have a lot to add. i asked fred about the latest in the ownership situation and about appealing to the casual charlotte fan. both answers were pretty PC. whitfield implied that AI isn't coming. his needs don't match ours.

the q&a was clearly driven by roy and by unc questions. i was extremely disappointed by that as were the guys i was sitting with. sad. some dude actually asked if we were going to "draft" AI. i couuld've asked questions all day but we ran out of time.

hanners was great. he did the film room sessions and was the only one that came across as real. met our stat guty who does all the scouting players asessments. i could've spent all day going over those.

like i said, don't know what jordan said. i do know he was running late so the jokes about him on the course were fast and furious.

derrick brown was a nice guy, he was actually running the station were i got hurt. wallace was active, but i didm't really get a chance to meet him. i was diasppointed that more players weren't there.

[SWedd523]

UPS official has my seal of approval:evil-grin:


:clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping::clapping:

[Beekizzle]

I was excited to get mine in the mail. Nice little treat, would have really like the basketball though. Can't wait until next season. Anyone going to the Pre-Season games in Greensboro and Charleston?

[davcbow]

Im going to the GSO game, myself, my girl friend, my daughter and her husband all 4 going....:biggrin:

[spectre]

Good stuff guys! Sounds like a great time.

In the Observer article it said Crash came up from Alabama just to attend that event. Can you imagine that? What a frigging catch he was!

[GOBOBCATS24]

I was one of the kids that got some free Jordans!!! they gave us a lot of cool stuff. and Gerald did drive up from Alabama he mentioned that. and he was really tired thats why he wasnt realy active. Derrick Brown was awesome and I definitely couldn't compete with him on anything. and Alexis was really cool too. I couldn't get over how great MJ was. I freakin love him. great guy. I had so much fun at that camp. I was in the oldest kids group and they ran us pretty hard. I finished 3rd overall in the skills challenge and missed out on a signed DJ Augustin ball by .18 seconds. we got to see the lockerrooms and stuff which was really neat. about the ownership deal I asked Fred and he said that Bob Johnson is waiting for MJ to get the right people together to buy the team. i was like dur. but anyways pretty cool stuff.

[spectre]

I was one of the kids that got some free Jordans!!! they gave us a lot of cool stuff. and Gerald did drive up from Alabama he mentioned that. and he was really tired thats why he wasnt realy active. Derrick Brown was awesome and I definitely couldn't compete with him on anything. and Alexis was really cool too. I couldn't get over how great MJ was. I freakin love him. great guy. I had so much fun at that camp. I was in the oldest kids group and they ran us pretty hard. I finished 3rd overall in the skills challenge and missed out on a signed DJ Augustin ball by .18 seconds. we got to see the lockerrooms and stuff which was really neat. about the ownership deal I asked Fred and he said that Bob Johnson is waiting for MJ to get the right people together to buy the team. i was like dur. but anyways pretty cool stuff.

Dude that is awesome!

[davcbow]

I was one of the kids that got some free Jordans!!! they gave us a lot of cool stuff. and Gerald did drive up from Alabama he mentioned that. and he was really tired thats why he wasnt realy active. Derrick Brown was awesome and I definitely couldn't compete with him on anything. and Alexis was really cool too. I couldn't get over how great MJ was. I freakin love him. great guy. I had so much fun at that camp. I was in the oldest kids group and they ran us pretty hard. I finished 3rd overall in the skills challenge and missed out on a signed DJ Augustin ball by .18 seconds. we got to see the lockerrooms and stuff which was really neat. about the ownership deal I asked Fred and he said that Bob Johnson is waiting for MJ to get the right people together to buy the team. i was like dur. but anyways pretty cool stuff.

Yes it is very awesome...:cool:

[teej]

awesome dude...man .18 seconds...thats gotta suck. where all the guys legitimate ballers or just rich kids?

[GOBOBCATS24]

a lot of the little smaller kids were just rich kids but the guys in my group were pretyty good. there was this one really good player he was 18 and he could dunk and stuff. hes going to some junior college and transferring to play at uncc. I had some pretty good competition. I made a jumper over Alexis which was cool. we had to charge at him and then jump stop and elevate over him with his hands up in the air. I drained it. hes tall as crap though I can't imagine being my height in the NBA (6'4") I thought i was kind of tall but I'm not. MJ missed one shot all day long. He is still VERY good. when he first came out and was warming up he was draining from everywhere and we were just waiting to start the camp and he went into the crowd and told this kid he needed a rebounder. so the kid went out there and MJ was purposefully missing every shot and it was clanking off the rim to the opposite side of where the kid was every time. Hes so good he can miss on purpose and make the ball go where he wants off the back of the rim. just being on the same court as him made me so nervous.

[Felton for Prez]

Looks like I get shoes too!! In a very nice gesture, the team is sending me a pair for the pain and suffering of an ER visit. I thought that was very cool on their part even though I probably won't be able to play hoops for 6mos.

I take back all the bad things I've said about how the team treats season ticket holders (for now).