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[ESPN Mag] - The Brent Barry Ticket Experiment: Leon Thompson

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by jsmee2000, Nov 23, 2008.

  1. jsmee2000

    jsmee2000 Member

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    The Brent Barry Ticket Experiment: Leon Thompson

    Barry doles out tickets in Oklahoma City.
    by Brent Barry, via Ric Bucher

    [​IMG]
    "Hey Brent, can Yao and I get 2 at will call?"

    Apparently not every adult hanging outside an NBA hotel is looking to make money off the memorabilia and autographs he collects. Leon Thompson is proof of that.

    He's also proof that what goes around comes around.

    Thompson, 29, was waiting outside the Rockets' Oklahoma City hotel looking to get a basketball signed by Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, a keepsake he envisioned handing down along with the rest of his collection to his six-month-old son, Rylan. Both Yao and T-Mac signed, and in between, Brent Barry told him tickets would be waiting for him at will call.

    Leon figured actually going to the Rockets-Thunder game was out of the question now that he had a son and fiancee to support. His memorabilia, which once took up the entire second bedroom of his apartment, includes an autographed authentic Emmit Smith helmet and a football signed by the entire 1956 national-champion Oklahoma University team. Rylan's arrival meant stuffing the collection into his closets and turning the room into a nursery. "My responsibilities have kind of shifted," he said. "Brent made my day, month, year. It wasn't the actual ticket. It was the act."

    That's because Thompson believes in Good Samaritan work. He also believes the work is devalued if you talk about it. Fitfully, he explained that he had just done something similar for someone else but declined to say more. He went to the game alone only because he wasn't sure how many tickets Barry was leaving and thought it would sound ungrateful to ask.

    "I wrote in my journal that night, 'The Almost Perfect Day,'" Thompson said. "The only thing that would've made it perfect is if Christ had said to me, 'You made it. You can walk through these gates.' But that's about it."

    So we know now how a MasterCard commercial by Thompson would go. Autographed basketball: $50. Ticket to the game: $100. Eternal salvation: Priceless.
     
  2. crimmy88

    crimmy88 Member

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    That was an awesome story especially since the dude sounds like a really cool guy
     
  3. BaMcMing

    BaMcMing Member

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    payin it forward

    Good story
     
  4. Bassem

    Bassem Member

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    Cool


    Good job, Brent
     
  5. wakkoman

    wakkoman Member

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    He went to the game alone? Doesn't he find out how many tickets there are when he picks them up?
     

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