Sports Spectacular-RED CARPET

Playing FROGGER on the LAX tarmac didn’t seem like the best start to a trip. But, boy was I wrong.

Here’s the long version….

Shanon and I entered a video into a contest for Sports Spectacular online.
We asked each of the four 2011 Honorees; Landon Donovan, Blake Griffin,
Lindsey Vonn and Troy Polomalu a singular question about something that
intrigued us in their lives.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/SportsSpectacular/posts/211863018845907

And through some luck… we won.

So Saturday morning we got on the plane and a lot like the LA skyline, the
rest gets a little hazy. But also very sunny.

To say they hooked us up with amenities would be like saying that
Cedar-Sinai is just another hospital, a huge understatement. They put us
in an amazing hotel, on the 18th floor, lookingwest toward the ocean that’s
just miles away.
(Somebody pinch me, and please do it hard.)

The next day is when the fun really began, like getting a pass and
skipping the first 26 miles of a marathon. In the morning we saw Summer
Sanders in the lobby. I got convinced NOT to challenge her in a race in the
pool, much to my dismay. But that moment was a little precursor for what
was to come. Later that evening we met up with our camera-man and
producer who were helping us with the RED Carpet event. They were
veterans of the business, were keycontributors of the late ‘Best Damn
Sports Show Period’ and were great and professional.

And then the stars started filing in. We scoped athletes and
celebrities coming down the line and Shanon chatted them up. In
under 2 hours we got to see Landon Donovan (“The Colorado Rapids
won the MLS Cup, do you think you’ll ever beat them again?”),
Lindsey Vonn (“How do I move up from the greens on the slopes to
the blues?”), Blake Griffin, Troy Polomalu, John Salley, Marcellus
Wiley, Michael Strahan, Ron Artest, Ms. America,Jim Everett,
Leeann Tweeden and a bunch more.

(I haven’t touched on this enough, but the event raised over $20
million dollars for the genetic research at Cedar Sinai. This
research is invaluable and can be great that this event can pull so
many people from so many great fields together togenerate more
than just money, support for a great cause.)

We got to hang around with some of the coolest and most selfless
people in the industry.

The next day we went to the Santa Monica beach, the sun was
high in the sky and as the tide of the freezing Pacific Ocean
washed over my toes I tried to comprehend how truly privileged
we were to experience such a wonderful trip. I simply couldn’t.