ELECTION NIGHT
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks/months then you know last night was election night in America. My day started off just like any other Tuesday with weights and then practice. But my friend/teammate Odell Hodge asked me if i would do a TV interview about the election. For everyone who knows me knows i will never turn down a request to talk because i love to talk. But Odell didn’t tell me until we got in the car going to do the interview that it would be live and on Phara. For the Americans reading this and asking who is Phara and what kind of show it is let me explain: Phara is the Barbara Walters of Belgium (really).The show was about the election and on the show were: former Belgian prime minister, a famous Belgian singer (who lives in the u.s.) an American professor, and a Belgian politician. And you have 2 professional basketball players from America to give a different perspective. I was asked if i thought Obama would be assassinated. I was also asked about racism. (www.phara.be if you want to watch it). It’s one thing to answer basketball related questions because i have done that for years but when you are on live TV being asked political question it is something totally different. After the show we all were in the green room talking about the show and watching the results and in comes Phara in different clothes than the show she changed faster than superman in the phone booth. She is a really nice lady and talked about basketball and more about the election. She was not what i expected at all usually when you meet people with there own show like they are the biggest ego-maniacs you can find but she was not that way at all.
While in the green room Odell and i heard about an election party “for Americans” at the Radisson in downtown Brussels, there were about 600 people in the lobby. 600 people not all American but most of them, we were watching CNN and the results of the election. Out of the 600 people there i would say about 500 or so were Obama supporters so you can only imagine the excitement in the building. So around 2:15 Odell and I decided to leave because we had practice today but don’t think my night was over. Not even close, i stayed up till about 7 in the morning watching until Obama was declared the winner. I watched McCain’s concession speech which i thought was absolutely brilliant and also watched Obama’s acceptance speech and saw the partying in the streets all over the world. Truly an unforgettable night………..