iPhone madness!

Greetings - a tremendous Friday to all of you:

I just woke up after a 4 hour snooze following my 10 hours on-line overnight at the Apple Store in Santa Monica. The company I work for is purchasing several iPhones for marketing purposes, and I was one of the brave soles who volunteered to take turns waiting in line. We broke it up into four 6-hour shifts, and I took a double from 6PM Thursday night to 6AM Friday morning, in anticipation of the 6PM launch of the phones.

My comrades in arms, Nicole, Sara, Lon, and Andy, were great company. Many stories to tell (some not for a blog post) about the experience included:

1. Numerous people stopping and asking "What is this line for?" (My most common response was that I was waiting on line for the iPhone and then to buy the new and much-less publicized "iBra" being launched across the street at Victoria's Secret).

2. The music, which got better during the night until it stopped at midnight, although the quality was still no better than "missing the cut at local talent show" level.

3. Getting heckled by the assistant manager of the nearby adidas store at 1AM as he and his co-workers were locking up for the night. After several back and forths with others of us on-line, I inquired as to why he wasn't working at Foot Locker instead and suggesting it was because they ran out of referee shirts - (I guess anything is funny at 1AM)

4. A group of 5 or 6 guys getting drunk, to the point that one of them tore off his shirt, announced to the freelance photographers and videographers that he was a former backyard wrestler, and then proceeded to impale himself on the concrete for the cameras - twice! This left him no worse for wear, but several large welds getting brighter before the sun came up over Santa Monica Boulevard (you know I was going to use that one).

5. Andy actually being able to sleep for a good portion of his 6-hour shift, which I found very impressive.

and the highlight of the night for me:

6. Our very own fearless leader, C.K. himself, showing up and trying to convince the crowd that his Helio phone had much better features and was less expensive without being locked into AT&T Wireless. He even proceeded to point out the specific functionality of the Helio, like it's
ability to have GPS and to send a text message - hilarious.

All in all, quite a fun all-nighter, and glad to have been part of the Mahalo team. To see a picture for the earlier group on line, which made it's way onto the front page of Yahoo's website today, see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coneee/653667863/

Special shout out to my buddy Steve who spotted me for the first 2 hours, and to Jonathan H. and Raj for bringing us donuts at 6AM (oooooh, doooonuuuts)

Now for some Sports Takes:
Before getting in line, I watched a lot of the NBA Draft and was shocked at the Knicks trade of Steve Francis and Channing Frye to Portland for Zac Randolph. Shocked, because it was actually a pretty good trade by Isiah Thomas, the Rasputin of NBA General Managers. I don't know how he still pulls a regular paycheck from the Dolans, but he does, and this was actually a decent move. Now we find out if this is the start of Isiah building the Knicks back to a winner, or this trade simply being a good one because "even a broken watch gives the correct time twice a day".

NFL Europa closed it's doors this week, after a 15-year run as a developmental league for the National Football League. I am not surprised by this in the sense that it was never wildly popular in Europe - I think because it was using inferior talent. For much the same reason that soccer fails as a pro league here in the U.S. - the greatest players in the world don't play here, and we don't have a long history of loving the game like we do with American football. But I'm disappointed the league is shutting down because it did offer many players a chance to play and improve to the point that they were able to not only be signed onto NFL teams, but help them win championships. Think about it: if there wasn't this league over the last 15 years for players to improve their skills and showcase their talents, then names like Kurt Warner, Adam Vinatieri, Jake Delhomme, and Jon Kitna, might never have become known to NFL fans. NFL Europa, we hardly knew ya.

Finally, the second grand slam in tennis is underway at the All-England Lawn, Tennis, and Croquet Club (that's Wimbledon to the rest of us commoners). There was a time recently when American players dominated this tournament, which begs the question: Where have you gone Pete Sampras and Chrissy Evert, a nation turns it's lonely eyes to you. Well, Serena and Venus are still trying to get it done on the women's side and overcome nagging injuries - but on the men's side, it's time for Andy Roddick to step up and get it done. He's made the finals of several Grand Slam tourneys in recent years, but can't seem to get past Roger Federer. Sure R-Fed is an all-time great, but so was Sampras, and Andre Agassi was still able to balance relationships with Barbra Streisand, Brooke Shields, and Steffi Graf to win a few times. A big deal was made about the fact that Roddick hired Jimmy Connors as a coach. look, Roddick has game and skills, but unless Connors is able to donate a portion of his heart and courage to his pupil, Roddick will unfortunately continue to play second fiddle. I guess this is appropriate, considering he shares his nickname (A-Rod) with another guy who also always seems to come up short in the clutch.

Next time: A salute to the Big Hurt and CB on milestones, and a lesson in watching the All-Star Game. Happy Birthday USA.