Laker Time
The three basketball tourists of Danny Stevenson, his brother Paul and I met up on a fresh October morning in London to head off to LA. Georgina Harland, who had worked tirelessly to arrange the sporting chance was there to check we boarded the right flight and to use some of her influence to secure us access to the Virgin lounge. The three of us sampled the breakfast and drinks on offer, and just before leaving the lounge had the amazing fortune to meet Rev Run of Run DMC fame who kindly posed for pictures with us. Was this a sign of things to come in LA? We had no idea…..
We landed at LA International Airport and had a quick debrief of which movies we watched and how many of the female flight attendants fancied Paul (his words not mine!). At that moment it hit home that we were in LA to see the Lakers play basketball, and needless to say Danny’s excitement hit overdrive. A short cab ride later, or at least as short as a cross city cab ride can be during the LA rush hour, we arrived at our hotel. To say that the Hyatt Century City is impressive would rank among one of the trips larger understatements. Newly refurbished and with a swimming pool bathed in sunshine the three basketball tourists were soon found standing on their respective balconies taking in a breathtaking view of the LA skyline at dusk. But this was no time to stand and stare, we were in LA and that meant priorities…. So off to Hollywood for a burger and the chance to test the promise of “endless” soda.
We immersed ourselves fully in all things LA; clad in baseball caps and walking round with cameras we were the archetypal tourists on Hollywood Boulevard, and it was brilliant! After this we decided to have a relatively early night and headed back to the hotel to rest up for our first full day in California.
Our first day started with an unbelievable breakfast spread courtesy of the Hyatt and then a wander across the road to the Century City Mall. Whilst Danny and Paul shopped and admired the sights of the mall I made contact with Jim Gatto who in turn put me in contact with David Pump. David humbly described himself as “here to help” but will forthwith be known as Mr. LA! We arranged to meet David at our hotel in his “little Mercedes” when he would “sort something out for us”. I have to admit, at this point, I was not optimistic as David seemed non-committal about what the day would entail.
My reservations were instantly dashed as David pulled up in a car of approximately the same length as the plane we arrived on. In we jumped and off we went. Though off to where wasn’t exactly clear! Pleasantries exchanged the chat quickly moved to Basketball. Here Danny moved in to his element, talking of players I have never heard of, moves I never knew existed, and at times in a language I began to suspect may be some sort of secret code! David, or “The Pump” as he referred to himself, was clearly impressed. And then came the first of several surreal moments of our trip….
David asked Danny who his favourite basketball player was, to which Danny replied “Shaq”. (That’s Shaquille O’Neill to the uninitiated; fortunately I had Paul on hand to explain to me!) . Quick as a flash David passed his phone to Danny who was then in conversation with the great man himself! Danny chatted with Shaq, who advised him to stay positive and drink lots of water. Meanwhile, all Danny’s two travelling companions could do was giggle through the entire conversation! Dial-a-Shaq over, we pulled up to the first of the appointments David had made for us; the new LA Clippers training facility to watch them train. The Clippers are another NBA team, also from LA, and would be one of the teams we would watch play over the weekend. As the boys sat there discussing the merits of each giant, I mean player, I sat there praying the ball wouldn’t bounce over to me as I can’t catch! Danny was introduced to the coaching staff, and I am no lip-reading expert but I think I saw him pointing out a few tips for improvement to a chorus of nodding!! Oh, and I forgot to mention that the entire time we were clad in Clippers game warm-up t-shirts provided for us by the general manager. Us, look like tourists?! Noooo……..
Next came possibly one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. With another flick of his “cell phone” David catapulted himself from mere demi-god to full on god; he had arranged for Danny to meet NBA Legend and former LA Laker Magic Johnson. As usual our spokesperson Paul was on hand to offer thanks.
A couple of hours later, after a trip via the Adidas store where David kindly had arranged for Danny to have a “supermarket sweep” style shopping trip, we found ourselves camera and Laker t-shirt clad in the Beverly Hills Hotel to meet Magic at a dinner he was attending. I think we blended in nicely, except for the aforementioned cameras and Laker memorabilia!! And then it happened… 6’9” of basketball legend came in to the lobby, held out a hand the size of Danny and shook his hand. Several (hundred) pictures and signed t-shirts, shoes and pictures later and the big man had to go for a speaking engagement leaving Danny with a huge beaming smile. Come to think of it, that smile started with the Shaq conversation, continued through the Clippers experience, and on to Magic…. What a day!
Day one out of the way and with aching facial muscles from smiling so much day two started with us heading off to meet David at the UCLA campus in Westwood. It was hard to know how “Mr LA” was going to follow the day before, but something suggested today wasn’t going to be any less amazing. We spent the morning and early afternoon watching UCLA basketball team (the best college team in the country) train. Again David had arranged for Danny and Paul to be suitably attired in UCLA t-shirts and caps and they even managed a few moments shooting hoops on the famous UCLA court.
UCLA done we then headed off, via the obligatory LA drive-thru lunch, to the Staples Centre for the business end of our trip. Often people refer to sitting “pitch side” or “court side” at sporting events and by this they mean the row of seats directly behind the sponsor boards. Not Danny and Paul though, their seats were actually in front of the sponsor boards, on the court and directly next to the substitutes bench! I swear from my seat waaaaaaay back in row two I actually saw Danny lean over and give the Toronto Raptors coach some much needed advice! To put their seats in to context, Cuba Gooding Jnr was sat directly opposite on the other side of the court and Jack Nickelsons’s private seat was next to theirs. Clearly the Clippers coach had not heeded Danny’s advice in training the day before and went down 93-89 to Toronto. Straight after the game off came the Red of the LA Clippers and on went the Purple and Gold of the LA Lakers. Their opponents had come even further than we had to be there that night as the Lakers were playing Barcelona. The Spanish side always looked in trouble and put up a valiant fight to go down 108-104 to the Lakers. One of my personal highlights of the trip was seeing Danny and Paul standing next to the players during a time-out looking around and taking it all in, it was amazing.
Day three (which felt like day 33 because we had crammed so much in!) was spent with David’s family. The morning was at David’s church, which had a particular impact on Danny, and lunch was spent at the local Deli with David’s family and friends. The afternoon was spent playing basketball at the local gym with David’s assistant Matt but by the evening we were back at the Staples Centre for the Lakers to play Toronto Raptors. Danny and Paul survived the possible nose-bleeds and altitude sickness to sit with me in row one (being the row behind the court side seats!). Easily the best game of the trip, and easily the best view of the cheerleaders, made for a perfect final evening. Dressed in Lakers tops and with foam fingers supplied by Paul we cheered the Lakers on to a resounding victory 112-89. To illustrate the effect that my two companions had on everyone we met in LA, at half time during the game the steward who had been allocated to their block of seats the night before came to the other side of the stadium to say hi to Danny and Paul and to say he hoped they were having a good time. He wasn’t the only person to engage in chat that evening but Danny’s wishes prevent me from relaying the conversation he had with the young ladies sat behind us…!
The final morning was spent on a particularly special trip. Danny and Paul’s grandfather had served on the Queen Mary during the war and we ventured out to see the ship docked in Long Beach. We toured the ship, took photos, and engaged everyone we could in tales of meeting sporting superstars, our hotel and of Grandfather Stevenson. It was a great ending to the four days and more good tales and photos to show and tell when we came back.
That afternoon we flew back to London, tired, happy and a little bit emotional. LA was amazing, the basketball was incredible, David was unbelievable but my travelling companions were exceptional. There was not a soul in LA who met Danny who didn’t take to him instantly. The steward at the Staples Centre was one of many stories I could tell of the friends Danny and Paul made and the people they made smile. As is custom in the NBA where all the players receive nicknames I think it will be a while before LA forgets Paul “The Chat” Stevenson and more so Danny “The Smiler” Stevenson. I feel very lucky to have been afforded the chance to meet them and to accompany them on this trip.
Huge thanks must go to those that ensured this trip of a lifetime was able to happen; Adidas, The Kent Community Foundation and The Rooney Trust Fund.
