UPDATE: <a href="http://www.clutchfans.net/news.cfm?NewsID=1248">Full Training Camp Report</a> -------------------- I got back about 20 minutes ago and I'm working on the story now. We did not see any of practice, but I still got a lot of audio tape and quotes. It was a pretty wild experience to be in the media room when they informed us that Mike James had been traded for Rafer Alston. It took me 5 minutes to get cell phone service, but I called Jeff so he could post it on the BBS. Of course the BBS already had it 30-40 minutes before that. So you can put that in the bank that the BBS/Internet had it before Houston media because I was standing right there when everyone found out. The best thing is I got to interview Yao Ming by myself. I was floored by that .... JVG does not have these guys spend a lot of time with the media, but everyone was talking with Wesley, and Yao made himself available. I started talking to him and in the middle of that, McGrady made himself available so others went from Wesley to T-Mac and completely missed Yao. Yao is a quality individual. Right off the bat, you could tell he is a cool guy ... seemed to talk to me like I was playing video games with him or something. Very, very nice guy. He didn't leave until I said I appreciated it and was done. On the flip side, T-Mac you could tell was done when he was done ... there must have been 15 guys around him asking questions and he was out of there. I have become more of a JVG fan with each passing day. I had to contain laughter (not kidding) just standing next to him while he talks.... that guy is funny. He told a story about how every player with heart or is good will say, "I got traded for WHO?" when he gets traded. As if to say that is insulting that he got traded for that player. But the other player will say the same thing. He said Steve Francis absolutely was that way ... that he was stunned when he got traded for McGrady. Then he said, "Except Lamar Odom. When he got traded for Shaq, he pretty much nodded and agreed." There were a few guys today prepared to ask questions about the ClutchFans-media access thing because they got "bombarded" with requests about it. I just had to smile on that. Of course it was a non-issue at the moment when I was standing there. I'll post the whole experience here soon.
Great read clutch, i'm looking forward to reading your complete experience. verry cool you talked to Yao. I'm verry glad the rockets did let you in.
Are you *a-hem!*cough!*allowed*cough!* any pictures, Clutch? This should be good. Thanks for the report. Can I translate yours when it's out to Spanish? edit: I meant because the Spanish page on F-ockets. com hasn't been updated since MAY. That's just despicable.
Clutch, you are the man. I love this site. Not saying this to be a sycophant - but because I get so excited about the upcoming season when I read stuff like that. This is much better than the filtered mainstream media stuff.
NICE work(if you can call it that ) Clutch... I hope T-mac isnt cocky and doesnt give back to the media, I'd like to think he was tired today and wanted to get home..
Man, in 24 hours you go from not being allowed to Media Day at all to getting a one on one interview with Yao Ming?!?!? Unbelievable! It must be good to be you, Clutch. Thanks for the update, looking forward to more.
Clutch, I hope you told Yao about CF.com so he can visit here once in a while. I know Yao likes to post on his own BBS, maybe he can do the same here.
Did you mention you represent a website, Clutch? That could be why he talked to you like it was a video game.
Im very intrested in how the Rockets ate crow and asked that you DO attend training camp. Im also intrested in how you were treated by them while you were there, and also how you were treated by fellow media members. The Rockets should be embracing this site instead of dreading it. Hopefully they learned from their mistake for the last time. I would hope that you consider getting help for audio/video uploads to the sites for events such as this. I think with Rockets2k among others we could do it. I have a Mini DV camcorder and a Sony Mini Disc that records audio if you need it. Exclusive Audio/Video would be super cool even if it is "amateur jornalism"!!!
