It’s not every day in this industry when a sports figure asks the reporter a question; it’s almost always the other way around. And wouldn’t you know, I almost messed it up.
I was standing next to Illinois coach Bruce Weber watching the finals of the Desert Duel Summer Prep Memorial (an AAU tournament) when he asked me if I was from the area, and to verify directions to the airport.
I looked at the jotted down highways on his program and told him he had it correct: head east on US-60, north on Loop 101 and west on Loop 202 to get you to Sky Harbor from Mesquite High School. He nodded and we continued watching the action for a second before my mind reprocessed the information. I had to get his attention again to tell him to actually go west on US-60 to find Loop 101.
After he left, I imagined Bruce Weber driving east for miles on end, not figuring it out until he hit Globe and eventually missing his flight. I would have been right near Eric Gordon on his list of most disliked people. Then again, Apache Junction could have picked up a fantastic boys basketball coach.
