YOU BEEN BLINDED

A Visit To The ESPN The Mag ESPY Style Studio

ESPN and a bunch of athletes and celebrities were in Los Angeles this week for the taping of the ESPY awards. I got a chance to spend a couple of days at the ESPY Style Studio to take in the scene and speak to some players.

There was all kinds of loot for the ESPY participants to pickup including Skull Candy headphones, Karl Lagerfeld sunglasses, Redpepper jeans, and Kefir, which is the health drink of choice for a lot of jocks.

It was a good trip overall, and after the jump I interview a Heisman trophy winner, a couple of NBA champions, and a guy that’s not a big fan of sports blogs.

Sam Cassell gave me a few minutes of his time even though he hasn’t had the best experiences doing interviews with random people.

HG: Sam, thanks for the time.

SC: No problem.

HG: You’re in LA for the ESPYs, I saw some video of you chilling with Manny Pacquiao in Vegas, it seems like you’re enjoying your third ring.

SC: That’s what you’re supposed to do after you win a championship. You gotta live it up and enjoy it so that’s what I’m trying to do.

HG: You bounced from the Clippers and landed on a championship team. Now you see Elton Brand leaving. You think he was influenced by you or is it something about that organization that’s driving players away?

SC: (laughs for a few seconds).. I’ll say I’m not surprised to see Elton leave. But to tell the truth nothing surprises me. It’s a business. You gotta remember that. It’s a business first and it has it’s ups and downs.

HG: Ok Sam, last question. You were rumored to be judging a (pole dancing) competition over the weekend. Did that go down?

SC: (half-hearted laugh) I didn’t do that man c’mon. I’m gonna be a head coach soon so I can’t do something like that.

HG: Thanks Sam.

SC: All right.

Antonio Pierce of the NFL champion New York Giants was in the house but he wasn’t sporting his ring. R.W. McQuarters had his and left me blinded by the bling.

R.W. wasn’t in a very talkative mood, but AP picked up the slack for his teammate.

HG: What up Super Bowl champ?

AP: I’m good. I’m good.

HG: You won the Super Bowl you gotta be good. How much have things changed for you since winning the big game?

AP: There’s nothing like being an NFL champion. I’ve gotten so many words of respect, so many compliments from other players. It’s great. Guys are really happy for me.

HG: I saw you talking to TO. Did you rub the fact that you have a ring in his face?

AP: haha, no. TO’s a good guy and a good friend. He’s a competitor. I’ve said a few little things to different people but I’m not rubbing it in anyone’s face.

HG: I know it felt great to knock off the undefeated Patriots and get a ring, but did you feel a little something extra for Eli Manning considering all of the criticism he’s gone through in his short career?

AP: Eli has the thickest skin. People were down on him but we never gave up on him. He’s a Manning so there’s all those expectations and he’s lived up to them. He’s turned into not only a great player but a leader too. Through everything he always kept his composure.

At this time NY Giants tight end Kevin Boss walks over to us. Pierce and Boss talk about dinner plans. As Kevin Boss is leaving I ask him since he’s up here (at the Style Studio) does that mean Jeremy Shockey has to sit down stairs? He laughed a little and then Antonio Pierce added his own joke.. Too bad I can’t say what it was.

HG: Last year at the beginning of all of the Michael Vick drama, you had a quote….

AP: Anybody that fights dogs is a punk.

HG: Yeah that’s the one. I wrote about it at the time, but I want to ask, were you speaking directly to Michael Vick when you said that?

AP: I said it in response to what was going on but it wasn’t directed only at Michael Vick. Anybody that’s fighting dogs is a punk.

HG: You raise pitbulls so I know this is an issue that hits home for you.

AP: Yeah man, and people have gotten on me about my dogs, but I’m not doing anything like dogfighting. Think about, what if somebody got thrown in the ring with one of those MMA guys and was forced to fight? It’s the same thing for dogs, and you just don’t treat dogs like that.

HG: Ok one last question.. Tiki Barber retires and then you guys win the Super Bowl. Any relation there?

AP: Who? Who? There’s your relation right there.

HG: Thanks AP.

AP: Cool man.

The Boston Celtics were all over the place. I talked to Ray Allen for a few seconds, and then to P.J. Brown for a few minutes.

HG: First of all, lemme say congrats. I know the championship was a long time coming. How does it feel?

PJB: I’m still trying to get used to it. After we won, I woke up the next morning and just stared at the ceiling. It’s a great feeling.

HG: Before the finals started the Lakers were everybody’s pick. What did you guys say as a team about that?

PJB: We didn’t listen to the critics or the experts. The experts were wrong so it didn’t matter.

HG: What’s the best thing about being an NBA champion?

PJB: So far all of the love and support. A lot of people are coming up to me and saying congratulations. It’s all been great. And something else that’s happened is I’ve developed a new respect for all of the players in the league. It’s so hard to win the championship and most guys never will, but everybody’s working so hard trying to accomplish that goal. You have to respect guys working that hard.

HG: So are you coming back to try and win another one?

PJB: Im 50-50 right now. It was hard to win one. Who knows if I would win another one? But right now I’m undecided.

Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns stopped and talked with me even though he’s not a fan of sports blogs. That was the only thing he wanted to talk about.

HG: What’s up Braylon? I saw you on HBO during the townhall meeting on sports media. Things got ugly there but was there anything you wanted to say that you didn’t say that night?

BE: Not really. I wish the sports blogs would stick to sports. Bloggers can be good but they try to get to personal and I don’t like that.

HG: So what were you thinking when Buzz Bissinger started going off on Will Leitch?

BE: I wanted to be on Buzz’ side but he went to far. He was saying the right things but the wrong way. He went AWOL.

HG: So is it the pictures, the writing, or what that bothers you?

BE: It depends. If it’s too personal it bothers me. I was just talking to Matt Leinart (gesturing towards Matt Leinart). Matt was having a private party at his house and then the pics are on the internet. Same with VY, Vince Young. He was at a club but it’s his birthday. He’s allowed to go out. He was holding a bottle of alcohol.. So what? He’s over the age to do that. It probably got hot so he took off his shirt, I don’t know, but those pictures shouldn’t be all over the internet. I wanna see the blogs writing good stuff, nothing inappropriate. Keep it sports.

HG: Well, Matt’s pictures were posted by somebody at the party so he needs to take care of that. Hopefully you don’t end up in any compromising pics on the net.

BE: Not me. And even if there are some pictures I’m gonna say it’s my twin.

HG: Thanks Braylon.

BE: All right man.

Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow was torturing himself at the ESPY Style Suites. NCAA rules prevent him from picking up any freebies, so he could look but not touch. He should’ve brought his dad to cover for him like Stephon Curry did.

Since he had free time on his hands Tim Tebow decided to answer a few questions from me.

HG: You were part of a national championship winning team your freshman year, you followed that up with the Heisman, what are your goals for this season?

TT: As a team we’re looking to win the SEC championship. You win the SEC championship and you’re probably gonna be playing for the national championship so that’s our focus..But it’s gonna be hard. The SEC is tough and even one of the lower teams can rise up and beat you.

HG: I know your partial but from all of the football you’ve seen is the SEC the best conference?

TT: There’s a lot of good teams in other conferences. The Big East, ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, they all have good teams and any of them could send somebody to the national championship.

HG: You still respect the Big Ten after their championship performances the last couple of years?

TT: Oh yeah, you have to. The thing is the Big Ten doesn’t get to play against the SEC style very often so it’s hard for them. It’s hard for us too because their style is different. So when the SEC and Big Ten are matched up both teams are trying to adapt to the differences.

HG: Last year June Jones was trying to knock your game in support of his quarterback Colt Brennan. Saying you’re a system quarterback. I liked your response when you said “what quarterback doesn’t play in a system?” or something like that.

TT: Yeah I think I said that.

HG: You did.

TT: It’s true though. Even in the NFL, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, they play in a system. They’ve mastered the systems they play in, but it’s still a system. Every quarterback plays in some sort of system so I just try to play the best I can in our offense.

HG: You’re the Heisman trophy winning quarterback for Florida. Have you noticed an increase in the quality of women you’re pulling?

TT: (Laughing) Well, it’s Florida, they love football, so people have been around me since I declared for Florida. Everywhere I go, it’s “Go Gators”. Gators are everywhere. I get more congratulations than ladies coming up to me. Actually I get men and women congratulating me.

HG: What does a big time college quarterback do in his free time? Mess around in the dorms?

TT: I try to relax whenever I have downtime. I also think it’s important to try to help the less fortunate.

HG: Yes, I’ve read about your missions and your work with ministry. If you weren’t going to the NFL is ministry what you would do instead?

TT: Whether I’m in the NFL or not I want to do ministry. I want to help kids and other people. It’s something that I really enjoy.

HG: Thanks Tim. Good luck in the future.

TT: Thank you sir.

The Ghost, Kelly Pavlik, was in the house and you couldn’t find a more normal high-profile athlete. He looks and talks like somebody you would find at a normal job, not like a guy that will put you on your pockets.

HG: Thanks for the time champ.

KP: Yeah, thank you.

HG: Let’s go back to the first Jermaine Taylor fight. You’re down in the second round, and it looked like you were in trouble. You got off the floor to eventually knock out Taylor. What were you thinking when you got knocked down?

KP: I was just thinking I’ve waited too long for this. I want this too much. I can’t let it get away. I knew if I could survive that moment, I would get my chance. He would make a mistake and I would capitalize.

HG: One of the keys to your style is that you throw a lot of straight hard punches. How do you keep up that work rate for an entire fight?

KP: I want to be mentioned with the great fighters so I have to stay dedicated. I’m talking about training 8-9 hours. Sacrificing. Sometimes guys get money and they don’t work as hard. I’ve made some money, I’m living comfortable, but I’m not done, I’m still dedicated. I’ve only had one title defense. I want to do more. If I show up out of shape I can get hurt. Plus I have my family and I’m fighting for them too.

HG: Recently there was some news about threats being made against you, but the police have closed the investigation for the moment. Is everything ok there?

KP: Yeah.. That situation involved a former manager. He’s run into some bad times and I guess that’s what led to his comments. I reported it because I have a family, my daughter and my fiancee, so I have to look out for them. You know, I’m out of town a lot and if I came home and my house had been broken into, I wanted people to know who was responsible or how this happened.

HG: Ok cool. Last question. You look around and see some more famous athletes, but do you take pride in the fact that you could knock 95% of them out?

KP: (laughing) I don’t look at it like that, but it’s always good to know.

Also spotted at the Style Suites:
Terrell Owens ( Didn’t want to talk because he didn’t “know where this would end up”.)
Steve Nash ( Said let’s do it next time. As in when Steve? Not like I’m gonna be bumping into you at the grocery store or the gym.)
Matt Leinart ( Had his young son with him. I asked if I could get a pic, to help humanize Matt, but for some strange reason he didn’t want to deal with a sports blog.)
Michael Strahan
Russell Westbrook
Patrick Willis
Adrian “Purple Jesus” Peterson
Helio Castroneves
Freddy Adu
Kent Desormeaux

ESPN, ESPY, Tim Tebow, Boston Celtics