I heard a rumor that my girl Big Syllllll may join us in the yard...until then? I got you! Here's to the first WNBA dunk reel lol (Ima let you off the hook Syl - I guess you're savin the left, two, hanging on the rim and the oops for chapter 2, 3....?)
Before I get started with the actual blog i just wanted to start saying congratulations to the LSU Lady Tigers this year. They had a wonderful run once again at the title unfortunately it didn't end with the title but at least u made it. And to all of the girls who got drafted, congrats as well enjoy this opportunity and make the best of it. I'm proud of you and all of your accomplishments. you have continued to bring pride to LSU and to Baton Rouge. Now on to the Lynx! I'm very excited about this year. we did a great job in the draft i know it was very tough to make those decisions with the draft being so deep. we were able to pick up candice wiggins a shooting guard how can definitely help with the scoring load and make other players just from her energy. nick anosike! nother hard nose player who gets the job done. im glad that i dont have to play against her anymore, but she just does whatever is needed for her team to get the victory glad to have her. Charde Houston another player that can come in and contribute and bring a different look to our roster…she can score she is very versatile - and in this league you need someone who can be versatile on both on and off the court. Now on to the blog! russia has been crazy the last couple of weeks but now im finally on the down side of things. almost time to come home. For everyone who answered my questions thank you i really appreciate it. let me tell you about the movies first well me, tan, tans sister, tay and Noelle all decided to go to the movies since we never really have off time. but we decided to go to a late movie – and you know how it is, you want to chill go eat have a good time then go. So, we get there the movie was BORING. i fell asleep. they just laughed bc sometimes i have a tendency to, when I'm getting some good sleep, my mouth is like WIDE open…so course they was trying to put things in my mouth. Popcorn, candy, playing with my lip stuff…So then, following their mistreatment of me, we're getting ready to leave. Now, normally when we leave the little russian lady is waitng to escort us out . Well, her butt wasnt there so we walked down the steps and they done chained the door cut the lights out and EVERYTHING. its bad enough all the american movies are in the back of the movie theatre and you have to walk outside and around the block to get in – and now they done locked us in! Oh Hell No! Me personally? i flip out when stuff like this happens so im going off wait on the first workers i see so i can give them a piece of my mind. Tan and her sister are being the calm ones and tay is claustrophobic so she in panic mode. noelle doesnt say much of anything and certainly is not one to panic- so she just there trying to comfort tay lol. tan, sister. Then of course, some other drunk guy starts to explore the movie theatre. Yeah, the theatre is connected to like this teen club LOL. Apparently,they done found away to go all in the kitchen (yes, there is a kitchen at the movies) and everything! kicking doors open but STILL couldnt find an exit so then every door they came across they just started kick them in lol. Haha, not Tan – the drunk guys lol. finally we found this door that was open (meaning, we didn't have to kick it in…I mean THEY didn't' have to kick it in) and led to another movie. So here we come, actually BEHIND their screen. Then, we walked all in front of the screen theatre full of people no one said a WORD about it! We were loud and noisy and everything standing up there like like we are doing a play LOL! so we walk to the back of the thearte and the door was locked so of course the drunk guys kicked the door in. then, once we thought we were home free, we looked back wonder…hey…Where are Tay and Noelle?????? They are still sitting in the locked part of the building, looking crazy. they thought we were going to come back and get them lol (which of course we did). They were pissed that we left them, but they quickly got over it when, as we're trying to find a cab, drumroll…here comes the beggars!!!! Now normally if i have some spare change i give it to them or either go in a store and buy whatever they ask for but it was freezing and i didnt have a dime, ruble, lint in my pocket. they followed us everywhere we went until we go to where the cabs are normally located of course – OF COURSE - there were no cabs so we had to wait …and here they go "RUBLES, RUBLES, RUBLES"…Tans like tell me what you want in english and ill give it to you. In response they reached for her popcorn and she was like oh ok – and gave it to her. The little girl was like HELL NO! then tan got pissed LOL. They're getting all riled up, Tan's pissed, I have no money so we asked noelle like do you have any spare change to give to these kids so they can leave us alone? See, Noey doesn't say much – but when she does she always makes sense…she made a great point she looked at them and says, she doesnt look like she is in need. They're not dirty or anything…got on some nice coats and everything! You know they must have pissed noelle off bc if you know Noelle, shes the sweetest person ever. Well fast forward a few more days and here's the punchline – why are tay and I eating at TGIF Friday's when we just caught the SAME little girl just staring like crazy at us!!!!! See, we are used to people staring at us now – that's normal here. But this was different! She wouldn't turn her head away! Normally, when this happens, Tay sticks her tounge out at people…but something made her pause…when the little girl saw us recognize her, she quickly turned her head and headed out of the restaurant, with her family a family!!!! A WELL OFF FAMILY. Apparently they had reserved a whole section for a party – or at least that's what the waitress told us! According to the waitress, this family was known for their ridiculous wealth which lead me to think about what noelle had said…hmmmm. wow this heifer got more money then me and she begging. GREEDY HEIFER! Now everyone has to suffer no more giving for me. IM SORRY to the people that actually may need it but this little bad apple may have spoiled it for everyone. on to other things thats been going on in Russia…I got to meet kelis in person at the euroleague allstar game. Of course, because Diana'a owner, Shabai ALWAYS does it extra big, she was our surprise performance. she was cool, she rocked the place and afterward we had a after party at Dee's house and Kelis came! it was wild. her DJ was cool too we got to here good R&B and Hip Hop for a change all the new stuff old stuff. He kept us on our feet dancing especially Becky Hammon she was killing it in Cowboy boots walking it out and everything LOL. Who said white girls cant dance LOL. (I LOVE U BEK I KNOW SHE GON KILL ME LOL). it was good hopefully she comes and does a show in minny but we will see. On the music tip, one of my favorite artists is coming to russia to perform right before my birthday. Erykah Badu!!!!!!! im really looking forward to that she peforms on april 19th…a week or so before my birthday. An early gift for me. We will definitely be headed to that concert! YAY! well that's about it time to go come home eat good and head to minny for a new season. Can you believe we're in our 10th season???? the new and improved team is going to be something to see…so this should be fun and exciting. Expect big things from us this year. To all my fans and friends i will try to keep you updated as the season goes along as well as the remainder of my time here but if its anything that you might want to know about feel free to leave it in the comments section. Oh before i forget congrats to Spartak 2008 Euroleague Champs! Time to party in russia!!!!!!!!!
IM BACK!!!!!! This blog has been written for awhile, but its time to flash it back and get caught up... All Star break was fun but also a lot of work. I was glad I got to go to Louisiana, and get some home cooking or atleast some southern food. Day one: I got to work with my Lynx teammate Lindsey Harding. We went out and helped some New Orleans families paint and bulid there homes and community. My painting was probably the best, Lindsey had paint running everywhere. The head staff member over the organization that put all of this together had to keep coming up to lindsey, telling her to fix the paint. lol. He always gave me compliments. Once we left that site we went to another where we actually had to hammer and nail the wood to the side of the house, so we were actually putting the siding on the house. I didnt do to much nailing bc im not very accurate when using a hammer. So I let Lindsey be the star of that. I just held the wood in place and made sure i kept a close eye on Lindsey and her hammering techniques. lmao. Once that was over, I got to rest for a short period before my agent had me up and running. I was out and about meeting new people getting new connections. We hit up the 8 Ball Challenge celebrity pool tourney were Gabreille Union, Vivica Foxx, Chris Tucker and majority of the NBA players like Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay, Kevin Durant, Alonzo Mornuing and of course many more were, as well as a few hip hop and r&b artist like Yung Joc, Chamillionare, Micheal Bivins, Ludracris, Choppa and many more. They were all participating in this tournament. We mingled, stood around and watched them play pool. You could tell were the hottest celebrities was bc they would have a huge crowd around there table. So guess who had the biggest crowd? None other than Micheal Jordan. He came out and everybody just flocked over to his table. Cameras flashing and all eyes were on mike. He was cool smoking his cigar playing pool while everybody got a glimpse at him. I just stood from a distance in aww. Like this is the person most everybody grew up idolizing and he is here right in front of me. WOW! But moving right along...The night was fun besides my agent introducing me to a 1000 people. I have a lot of names to remember...and shoot, trying to get me to play pool! Swin Cash was playing in the tourney but got knocked out in the first round. shoot, thats why we rushed over to the event! I was straight from the plane from Russia...to give her some support! But by the time we got there she was cooling her heels. lol So of course I had to give her a hard time about it. She was a good sport though, she took her lashing like a pro. MAYBE next year I'll play with you Swin, you needed me on your team lol. SIKE! We probably would have been out iin the preliminaries. lol. Day Two: I got to rest most of this day until it was time for me to take pictures. I was kind of upset bc I didn't have a lot of clothes to wear mainly bc I only had sweats in russia so thats all I could bring with me...the NIKE fam hooked it up and LRG pitched in with some hoodies etc, so I managed and still looked SEEXXYY!!!!! The Lynx actually had a photo shoot for me set up to start some of the promotional things for this up and coming season. But it was fairly hard getting to the photo shoot. First we had to catch a cab then we didn't have an address so picture trying to tell a cab driver to follow someone complete mess. The cab driver starts getting aggravated bc he wants to go one way and the Lynx person we're following wants to go another...on top of that we get caught in a red light so it was confusion everywhere. It got to the point where the cab driver starts screaming and hollering about he should have never picked us up and when he stops again says, "we can just get out and find another cab." So my agent who is always nice, but has some smart ass tendencies says, "don't you get paid more the longer you drive around? We'll just go ahead and stay." Thats all I needed, I laughed until i had to pee. That photo shoot was very interesting I had to wear spandex and take picsI (yep, in spandex you guessed it. sexy.) never thought I would. I had my tattoos out, I hardly ever have my tattoos out! They had me roaring like a lion and doing all of these awkward type photos. I felt corny,but the pictures looked amazing. The catch was that it took about 6 hours. I had other things on my mind to do besides take pictures. I was going to meet up with some of my LSU teammates and hang out with them for a minute...Once I got to them, it was nice seeing them again. its been such a long time. I normally just watch their games on my computer. So it was nice to see them live in the flesh. My parents actually came down to new orleans this day and brought Tootsie (you have seen pics...my agent found out that the hotel was dog friendly so...along came Toots). i didnt get to spend much time with them bc of course I was working but they got to come to all the festivities. I didnt get to go to the celebrity game or to the rookie sophmore game, I attended the events on the night of the dunk contest. The dunk contest was the best, but of course I enjoyed cheering on the rest of the wnba players who participated in the events. Dwight Howard is a beast man, they had some amazing dunks but to see this happen in person WOW! Of course I had to cheer on Gerald Green of Minnesota but Dwight took the show. Even though Gerald dunking bare foot was amazing. Good Job Gerald and Best of Luck in Houston!! then it was on to...A night out on the town with my agent. Here we go...Micheal Jordan had a party and guess who was in there MEEEEEE! Everybody you could think of was there. Everyone who is on is jordan brand and celebs. Terry Crews the guy who plays Damon on Friday After Next was there. He was dancing his butt off! I thought he danced a lot in the that movie and in its deleted scenes and bloopers. But he really gets down when the right song comes on LOL. Chris Paul was cutting a rug too. He was actually smooth with his though. I was asked to dance but i didnt want to embrass anybody with my slick dancing moves.LOL. I have been recruited for many dance teams in my day LOL. SIKE! (i should be on dancing with the stars).lmao! The most exciting part about that night was (I have to say...though my agent was killin me with embarassment setting it up) when spoke to jordan. The night before I refused to talk to him, nervous energy! So here we go...she gets me to meet jordan. Though they definitely put me on blast revealing that I was afraid to met him, he walks over shakes my hand and starts talking. WOW! Im really talking to michael jordan. It wasn't long, short and sweet and straight to the point. But it was definitely a moment i will remember forever. I even got to see Doctor J that day! I went home and slept really good that night. Day3: On to the Guinnes book of records free throw contest- me, Becky Hammon, and Katie Smith all where trying to break the record. Becky ended up breaking the record with I believe 40 free throws in a minute. Not sure. All I know is my arm were killing me. We had to use speed and quickness my arm got tired at the end and I started missing shots. DANG! On to EA Sports XBOX Challenge, it was the easiest thing i had to do all weekend just sit back and play video games. I played against to little boys about 8 or 9. I really dont play XBOX much I'm a playstation person so of course I got whipped the first game but the second game i put up a good fight. I still lost but he had to put in some work to win. Next year ill be ready. Bc I'm buying an XBOX when I get to minny. lol. EA, holler at me. I'm ready for all comers. That bascially was the end of my all star experience...outside of for two more stops to NIKE basketball courts that they rebuilt, where kobe bryant and alonzo morning made appearances. I got to meet kobe, he told I had a sick game and I replied the same to him. Kobe doesn't play, he breaks people down on a nightly basis. Then it was on to footlocker with a little q and a. A lot of people knew who I was! mostly people from baton rouge - they were there asking questions they already knew the answers to, we just had fun for that 15 minutes that I was on stage acting silly and giving away prizes. I didn't go to the all-star game, I went to baton rouge to enjoy my last couple of hours in the states before heading back to russia. All in all, it was a great experience that I will definitely do again. Now all we have to do is get a WNBA team in New Orleans so we can have an all star there. LOL. Be good and be safe, Good Bless! PS: Anyway my next couple of blogs are going to be interesting so I want to put something on your minds just to get some input. So please answer with comments if you have time. Here we go! If you went to the movies with friends and and for some strange reason you got locked in...What Would you Do? A) give the first staff member you see a piece of your mind. B) Break down and start crying C) Sit in the theatre until some comes to get you D) None of the Above Also do you give money to the people standing outside of the bulidings or gas stations when you come out? Yes or No ( and if so Why and if not Why Not?)
On Monday night, after sinking two free throws, and with the LSU coaches in the stands, Shannon Veal passed. I heard from my mom who had just seen the story on the news. In fact, my dad was supposed to go to that game. I had boarded a plane to return to Russia at 4pm that day and was in the air when it happened...I was incredibly sad. Shannon was just beginning to shine and had a promising future. I feel like I saw Shannon grow up right in front of me. I saw her at LSU camp as a kid, in summer league and in high school games. I went when I was in town to support and know that Shannon will really be missed. Its been reported that she died of an enlarged heart ? which in so many ways, as time passes, may be seen as fitting. Shannon's heart was big ? bigger than the average person and it showed on her face and in everything she overcame. Shannon, in managing her diabetes always kept a positive spirit and displayed a tremendous work ethic. She was a joy and will always be an example. To her family, friends and teammates ? stay strong and god bless. In her memory, I've worked with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to establish a memorial scholarship fund. The scholarship will be awarded in May of each year to a Baton Rouge high school female attending a 4 year college or university who has overcome significant challenges or obstacles in her pursuit of excellence in sport, education and/or community service. Nomination forms will be available on my website (www.seimone33.com), on the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's website (www.braf.org) and in various guidance counseling offices by March 3, 2008. Donations of any amount can be made by check made out to the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, noting "Shannon Veal Scholarship" in the memo line and sent to: Baton Rouge Area Foundation Attn: Shannon Veal Scholarship 402 N. Fourth St. Baton Rouge, LA 70802 If you'd like to leave comments for Shannon in response to this post, I will make sure to forward them to her family.... Shannon overcame so much to put herself in a position to fulfill her dreams and attend college. She's a beautiful example of what we as young women can accomplish when we set our minds to it and hopefully, this scholarship serves as a celebration of that spirit. My family and I are deeply saddened by her loss...but hope that through Shannon's memory, we as a community can help other women pursue their dreams.
