| Hollywood Knights Basketball Game Whittier, CA January 22, 2005 |
When the guys first came out of the locker room, we were thrilled to see that they weren�t wearing t-shirts under their jerseys. This meant a clear view of Nick�s tattoos and glimpses Aaron�s peeking out from the top of his shirt. Unfortunately we were NOT thrilled to see Nick�s hair. I take that back � it was good to see that he HAD hair, but the style was very Ryan Cabrera-ish� in a bad way. The color was a little strange too � light reddish-brown. Aaron�s hair wasn�t that great either. His spikes have grown out and he had the front styled up in an almost �There�s Something About Mary� �do. Luckily they were both sweating a lot, so their hair became more �normal� over the course of the evening. Nick pouring water over his head during warm-ups didn�t hurt either. Aaron even helped Nick fix his hair while they were sitting on the bench. Cute! As the team was warming up, we kept trying to get Aaron�s attention. Because he knows us, we figured that we had a better chance of getting a response from him than from Nick. Aaron had been waving to various groups of people calling his name while he was on the court. Eventually he heard us and turned in our direction. At first he smiled and waved, but then he must have realized it was US because his expression changed. His smile widened and his eyes got big like he was genuinely surprised and excited to see us. It was adorable, and of course we excitedly smiled and waved back at him. Before the game started, the DJ announced all of the players on each team. Nick and Aaron were the last two people left on the Knights� bench. When Aaron�s name was called he ran and did flips across the floor. Nick was left all by himself with a towel over his head. He shrugged to the crowd on the opposite side of the court before he turned to our side, stood on a chair, and raised his arms. Then he threw the towel on the floor and jogged out to center court, where they took a group picture with the Whittier faculty team. I don�t remember much about the game itself � I guess I was too distracted by trying to pay attention to BOTH Carters at the same time. I do remember that when the game first started, Nick got upset because it seemed like the referees were favoring the faculty and not calling fouls. He kept throwing his hands up in the air and making �WTF?� faces. lol At some point (I don�t remember exactly when) we got Nick�s attention while he was on the bench, and he gave us a �wassup� head nod and a peace sign. At the beginning of the second quarter Howie was introduced as a special guest. He was seated on the Knights� bench, and when Nick and Aaron came out of the game, they hugged him and sat down next to him. At one point Diana and I saw Aaron telling Howie what looked to be the story of how his Escalade caught on fire. Aaron was making big hand gestures and saying, �It blew up!� lol At halftime the staff set up tables for an autograph signing while a girl named Jillian performed a few songs. Then all hell broke loose. The Knights team came out to sit behind the tables, and literally hundreds of people rushed to meet them. No line, no organization, just a chaotic mess of shoving and pushing. We made our way to one end, where Aaron happened to be standing. Seriously, we didn�t even know he was there because there were so many people in the way, and luckily it turned out that we were on Aaron�s side. Debi made it up to him first (no one comes between Debi and Aaron lol) and greeted him. He smiled big and responded, �Hey! I�m glad you came!� The first thing I noticed when Aaron spoke was his blue tongue, courtesy of the Powerade he had been drinking during the game. I have no idea why I remember that, but it was kind of difficult to miss. Debi gave Aaron his gift and after thanking her, he asked, �What is it?� lol She answered, �You�re gonna have to open it and find out!� There was still one person between me and Aaron, but I kind of stood on my toes and said, �That�s from me too!� Aaron looked up and said, �I was wondering where you were.� lol Aaron was looking for me. :) Debi asked him if he liked the hat we gave him for his birthday, and he said that he wore it all the time but then he lost it. Of course, I don�t believe him at all. lol Wouldn�t be the first time Aaron has lied! Anyway, Diana had Aaron sign her 49ers (Andre) Carter jersey, Debi got her picture from meeting Aaron in San Jose last month signed, and eventually I made it up to Aaron and had my SJ pic autographed as well. I asked him a few questions about the tour, but he never answered me. Debi rubbed his arm and told him that she was glad he was ok after the car accident, and I said something about it being a scary experience. Aaron said that it he was glad he was ok too. We joked with him about the basketball game, Debi wishing him good luck and me telling him to try to make a basket. lol He looked at me with mock-anger like, �I can�t believe you just said that,� and pounded his fist on the table saying, �Damn it, I�m gonna do it!� Before we walked away, I asked Aaron for a hug and he said, �Of course!� While I was hugging him I told him that it was great to see him again, and he squeezed even tighter and said, �You too!� Debi and Aaron exchanged similar comments, and he also gave her a kiss on the cheek. Diana got a hug as well � it pays to hang with us, right Diana? lol Then we fought our way out of the crowd to try to find Nick. Little did we know that he was sitting on the other side of Aaron, but that�s how chaotic it was � we couldn�t even tell who was the next player at the table there were so many people everywhere! We guessed that Nick was seated where the most fans were gathered, so we re-entered the crowd and hoped we were guessing correctly. Again, we couldn�t see him AT ALL; in fact, I couldn�t even see him until I was one person away from him, that�s how packed and disorganized it was. Little by little we inched our way forward, the crowd carrying us far more than our own feet. Somehow I got pushed up almost to the front of the table where Nick was seated, with Debi and Diana right behind me. After a few moments I think the girl in front of me bent over or leaned on the table because all of a sudden I had a clear view of Nick, who had stood up to take a picture with someone. I wanted to get his attention so I shouted, �Nick, we have a birthday present for you!� I was caught off guard when he immediately looked up at me. *gulp* Unfortunately Debi was holding the gift bag, which had gotten totally smashed in the crowd, and she was still behind me. I kind of laughed and shouted back to Nick, �I can�t give it to you though because I can�t move!� lol Debi managed to hand the present to me over my shoulder and then I reached over the person in front of me to give it to Nick. He thanked me and then added the magic words that I only could have dreamed to ever hear from him: �Give me a kiss.� *shock* EXCUSE ME???!!! YOU want ME to do WHAT?! Am I hallucinating??? I�m sure my face went to �deer in headlights� mode for a split second before I leaned towards him over the table (and over the person in front of me lol). We hugged and I kissed him on the cheek. I don�t remember him kissing me back, but I do remember his face being very warm and firm, not soft or squishy. I�m sure he was sweaty too, but I must�ve blocked that out. lol While Nick and I hugged, I said, �Happy birthday,� and he responded, �Thank you,� right in my ear. *melt* Looking back on it now, I don�t think I�ve ever hugged Nick before. We�ve taken pictures together a few times and Aaron has hugged me LOTS of times, but as far as I can recall, this was my first Nick hug! And HE initiated it! I think I�m still kind of in shock, and I don�t remember much of what happened afterwards. I know none of us ever actually made it up to the table for Nick to sign anything. There was still someone between Nick and me when the Knights were quickly called away from the signing back to the locker room. Then the court was cleared for the second half of the game to begin. Aaron was EXTREMELY hyper after halftime. The kid wouldn�t sit still! He had kind of been dancing to the music that the DJ was playing all night, but he went absolutely nuts in the second half. When he wasn�t on the court, he�d jump out of his seat and start singing and dancing like crazy, making a total spectacle of himself. No, he doesn�t love attention. *rolls eyes* He would go up to Nick or Howie and start goofing off right in their faces. I�m sure Nick is used to it, but if that was my little brother, I would have smacked him! Watching from a distance though it was pretty damn entertaining. lol And Nick didn�t really seem to mind Aaron acting crazy because at one point Aaron sat on his lap, and Nick didn�t even flinch. Very cute moment. At the break between the 3rd and 4th quarter, the Whittier High School cheerleaders were performing, and Aaron and Anthony Montgomery (another Knights player) got up and started dancing behind them. It was soooooo funny! That boy can MOVE, damn. The Knights were way ahead at the beginning of the second half, but the faculty team came on strong in the 3rd quarter to take the lead. We could see Nick getting more and more frustrated as the game went on. He made quite a few baskets, including a great 3 pointer towards the end of the game. At one point another Knights player tried to pass the ball to Nick, but it went out of bounds. Nick was visibly aggravated and he threw the ball hard onto the floor so it bounced up high. The DJ made a comment like, �Ooooh someone�s getting upset!� I was just praying that he didn�t reference the Paris bruise controversy, which thankfully he didn�t. The Knights tried to come back, but the Whittier faculty was absolutely on fire in the 4th quarter. In the end the Knights lost by 10 points, and from what I could see (my view was occasionally blocked), Aaron never made a basket. lol One of the Knights� security guys had told Diana earlier in the evening that there would be an opportunity for autographs after the game (as well as at halftime). Well that was true IF you hung around and hunted down the celebrities. Nick, Aaron, and Jesse Metcalfe left the court fairly quickly. Diana managed to get to Nick and have him autograph her 49ers Carter jersey just like Aaron did. That�s one thing that I�ve never been able to do � get BOTH Carter brothers to autograph the same item. Good job Diana! After most of the players had gone to the locker room, we realized that security basically sucked. We were able to walk out the gym door and down the hall to wait outside of the locker room so we could hopefully meet the celebs as they exited. The security was very inconsistent because one minute anyone was allowed to go anywhere, and then the high school kids who were put on patrol were trying to get everyone to leave. Hello, I�m a high school teacher � I�m not going to take orders from teenagers! We only backed off when the official Knights security guys asked everyone to, but we still waited in the hallway. First Aaron came out (still wearing his Knights uniform) and greeted the fans standing right outside the locker room door (for some reason about a dozen fans were allowed to stay there while the rest of us were asked to back away, very arbitrary). Nick, who had changed clothes, soon followed as Aaron made his way down the hall. Debi said goodbye to Aaron when he got close to us, and he reached out to give us each a hug smiling and saying, �I love you guys! Thank you so much for coming!� Aaron loves us. :) Debi told him that she missed him, and he said he missed her too. Diana asked him if he liked the bracelet we gave him, and it was then that I noticed he was carrying the gift bag we had given him earlier. Aaron laughed and was like, �I didn�t opened it yet! Thanks for telling me!� lol As he was walking away, Debi heard Aaron yell, �Nickolas!� back down the hall to get Nick to hurry up. I�ve never actually heard anyone call him that. lol Moments later Nick approached. He was carrying a shoebox but not our gift. Debi asked him if he liked what we gave him and he said yes, but we don�t know if he ever even opened it. He could have left it behind in the locker room for all we know. I walked up in front of Nick and asked if I could take a picture with him. He said, �Sure,� and stopped for Diana to get the shot. Then I took a picture of Diana and Debi with him too. He was trying to get out of there quickly, so as people were approaching him, he kept walking while signing autographs and posing for pix. I again wished him a happy birthday, and again he thanked me. Nick made his way outside to the team parking lot, where Aaron was already waiting for him. Nick got in the driver side of his black BMW (still no license plates after all these months!), and Aaron ran over to the back of the car and started pounding on it yelling, �Pop the trunk! Pop the trunk!� lol It was quite a funny sight. Debi even yelled, �Don�t do that! It�s a $115,000 car!� Nick finally opened the trunk, Aaron tossed his things inside, and then Aaron got in the back seat. They sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, no clue why, but eventually Nick pulled out. It was odd because he didn�t back up; instead he drove forward and then had to make like a 5 point turn. lol As they drove away, Aaron was hanging out of the back driver side window shirtless waving and saying goodbye to the fans. I tell ya, that kid is shameless! We had heard some talk about an after party and we waited around for some of the other players to leave, but eventually we called it a night and headed back to Hollywood. (of course taking a brief detour to our favorite place, The Grove, where I spotted the very handsome Kyle Lowder from Days of Our Lives) Thus ended our Carter-filled evening. Hopefully Nick and Aaron will participate in more Hollywood Knights events, and next time hopefully we�ll get more advanced notice! However, a day seemed to be more than enough. It doesn�t take much to convince us to make the trek to SoCal, especially when it involves our Carter brothers! |
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| Around 2:30 on Friday afternoon I found out that Nick and Aaron would be participating in a celebrity basketball game in the LA area the following night. My first reaction was that with a little more advance notice, Debi and I could have gone. However, within a few minutes I realized that we really didn�t need any more notice; we could easily be in LA by 6 pm Saturday, if not by midnight on Friday. I talked to Debi on the phone, and her immediate reaction was, �When do we leave?� lol It wasn�t long before Debi and I had made plans to meet Diana, who was at school in Chico, in Whittier on Saturday for the game. A 5 hour drive (or in Diana�s case, 8 hours) won�t keep us from our Carter boys! Diana arranged to stay with a friend about a mile from the site of the basketball game, so she kept eye on the school periodically all day while we bought presents for Nick and Aaron in Hollywood, where we were staying. Since Nick�s birthday was a week away, we wanted to get him a bday gift, and we didn�t want Aaron to feel left out so we got him a little something too. lol Debi and I met Diana at Whittier High School around 2 pm. We had to wait until 5 pm to buy our tickets, and the game was supposed to start at 6. However, Nick and Aaron and the rest of the Hollywood Knights team didn�t hit the floor until well after. We got seats right behind the celebrity players� bench so we could be as close to the Carters as possible, although it still felt too far. |
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| Thanks to Diana for taking this pic! |