![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanOh, so, so much happiness that I got to be there for this and appreciate it properly. This was my fandom anniversary event, and even without knowing the first thing about any of them, I was in love with JC before he did more than smile. But having had this past year to get to know more, I got to enjoy a lot more of their individuality as well as their interaction.
To start (while this does not need saying, it's a very good place to begin), I.love.these.boys. They're funny and silly, witty and slapstick, sweet and sarcastic, goofy and handsome and just absolutely everything everyone says about them. They have an unsurpassed sense of humor about themselves with their first priority being to have fun. And they love each other a whole heck of a lot. I am nothing but grateful for the astronomical convergence of events that brought them together and into my backyard this weekend.
(As a bit of fair warning, some of the pictures are very fairly large. Credit for them goes to myself,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
giddyupnow, grrleloquence, and isilya)
A girl participating in the pre-game danceoff requested "(Dirty) Pop" which, it turned out, the DJ did not have. This was neither the high point of his awkwardness nor the low point of the organizers' assumptions as to what would entertain the crowd.
Best sign of the event? A Wild Knight Is Now Preordained. Props man, serious word.
Our seats were right next to where the players came out, so we got to watch everyone wind up and head out. Chris was distracted very early on into the line of Dolphins cheerleaders and actually stopped to chat with one of them, which was quite cute. Lance looks even more amazing the closer you get to him, all fabulous celebrity skin and teeth and he absolutely radiates confidence and dorkitude from his every pore and especially his swishy walk. JC is modest and laughs with his entire being, throwing his head back and grinning in the absolute sweetest way. But Joey was definitely the star of these festivities, hamming it up, looking good playing or lounging, and being generally the most entertaining part of the event.
Jerseys:
Justin: 1 ½ - Mr. JT (Hee :)
Lance: 4 - Lance (I live in hope for a 'space cowboy' jersey)
Chris: 7 - Tricky (Why mess with a good thing?)
JC: 17 - Schizo (Lovehim!)
Joey: 23 - B's Daddy (So sweet. I bet he's a wonderful dad, too.)
Every time someone mentioned JC's upcoming solo album this weekend, even so much as hinted at it, the crowd's burst into cheers and applause. Everyone I met expressed the same kind of unbridled enthusiasm as well, and it's just so cool to know that even though his stuff is certainly a departure from *NSYNC's material, it's being so overwhelmingly embraced by the same audience.
The Daze warmed up on our side of the court. Justin jumps so nicely. It's a pleasure to watch him play - there's the same sort of grace to it as his dancing. Lance... looked pretty in his blue warm-up suit as he took shots at the basket:
As far as general observation of technique during the game, Joey and Chris pull their weight running defense, JC works hard but has truly unfortunate amounts of game, Justin is Justin, sick or not, and Lance, well, he liked to shake it when Joey's on the court (this isn't my JoLa thing coming out, it's gospel truth) and pretty much lets others take care of business the rest of the time.
Lots and lots of early JuC action on the court. The plan (nothing against JC, of course) there must've been either to have the Daze score first or just gift the audience with some gratuitous cuteness. Whatever the case, there was plenty of JC playing defense against Justin (not so much vice-versa, as it were), which was beyond adorable as it mostly consisted of the same sort of coquettish gestures on his part as in the Today show Pop performance pictures.
Lest it go unmentioned for too long, there was JoLa aplenty in the same quarter. So much JoLa! They guarded each other when they were both on the court, and it should be noted that Lance pretty much only hustled when he was covering Joey, not just kind of shuffled within half-distance from half court toward either basket. Touching touching everywhere!
I like to think of it as Impressionistic. (Theirlovetranscendstime!)
Moving right along.
Despite being referenced as the coolest cat everyone (who got hold of a microphone to say it) has met and even after Pat O'Brien announced that he wasn't able to play yesterday because of a severe sunburn ("How are you feeling today?" "Greasy." Word of the day, yo), JC was fouled early on into things. Pretty badly, too, with the luck he seems to have been having this week. Chris, his Knight in red-trimmed white jersey, jumped the guy immediately, ready to cause damage then take names. I want to say he had to be pulled off of the guy, too. I'd want that man watching my back. And for good measure, for the rest of the game, the only ones covering JC on the court were his own boys. Aaaw! (This foul actually resulted in JC scoring the first and, to the best of my recollection, his only, points for the Knights.)
When JC and Joey were rotated out, even though Justin and Lance weren't covering each other, it became All About the Lambs. They were making eyes at each other during others' freethrows. There was schmoozing between plays. There was patting and petting and whispers as they passed close, brushing shoulders. So, so cute.
I love that Justin is a team player; he passes the ball more than he tries to shoot, that he only goes for it when he's as good as certain he'll make it (for which he certainly has the percentage to prove it).
I don't entirely remember how Justin ended up on the floor of the court, but this shot is too precious even without context (that's JC walking toward him to give a hand up off the floor):
Insert obligatory reference to shots from outer space made against Lance's valiant attempts at three-pointers here. I'll spare you, and say only that Lance did try, but his technique seems more made for bowling than basketball with that spin he tried to put on the ball.
They shouldn't even bother with emcees, seriously. Mic up Joey and just get his version of events, which end up not only more colorful and controversial, but a lot more fun to follow than your average 'they went up and down the court' commentary. That and he's close enough to poke fun at himself and his boys and be amusing instead of vaguely derogatory.
At some point, they looped the speaking part at the end of Like I Love You during Justin's halfcourt attempts, which ended up being creepy to us and monumentally distracting to him.
The DJ kept the music going though, and as Justin was walking back down the court a bit of a chant started, which made him smile and duck his head before acquiescing to oblige the crowd with a few moves from the end of the song. He really is darling.
Halftime came and went. Only notable event was my catching a T-shirt left-handed. Go team me! Some highlights though:
JoeC!
JuC!
There truly was something for everyone this weekend.
Around early third quarter, provoked I can only assume by the refs calling double dribbling on Joey, Chris threw something of a diva fit, took off his jersey, and marched off the court. These being official NBA refs and being sadly sans any Coke to dump on them this time he probably felt this was the more dignified way to protest. Wilmer promptly ran after him and everyone was back on the court and in uniform in no time. I should've been paying closer attention, but it did seem like the Knights were getting at least somewhat shafted with the calls and plays all weekend. I guess the refs learned their lesson about messing with Justin from last year. Hell, I learned that lesson last year.
Randomly, some shots of Lance not paired with Joey:
Sauntering mid-court:
Blocking (and I use that term loosely) Taye Diggs:
You see my point.
There was a freethrow contest before the fourth quarter, entirely unremarkable except for this one girl who made six in the allotted twenty seconds. Even Justin found this impressive and ran over to shake her hand, which was kinda very cute.
Justin was fouled on a ten-point attempt, so they move the party back to the Daze end of the court for Justin's freethrows. No sooner do his toes touch the freethrow line but Lance gets out of his seat and is over by his side. There ensued much touching and head-rubbing, which may well have been for its good luck properties because Justin made all five of his first attempts, even with distractions such as Wilmer yanking down the neckline of his jersey saying, "Justin, I'm such a big fan, can I have your autograph?" and being carried away by security, Joey singing Rock Your Body beneath the basket while bootydancing, and Chris leaping up to hang on the rim of the basket.
A little something like this:
(Lovehim!)
After witnessing Justin's attempts at the half-court shuffle, Johnny Wright commandeered a microphone and told Joey that he'd donate $5,000 to Challenge if Joey could make the half court shot, but that Joey would have to match it if he missed. Joey balked a little and told him that there'd need to be another *NSYNC record for him to be throwing that kind of money around. The loudest cheers of the game ensued. (At some point, Justin, too, commandeered a microphone and made references to an album *and* a tour. While living in hope keeps me sane, it's much more fun to have something real to hold on to.
Just to be clear, his lack of basketball savvy never once kept JC from trying his best every moment he was on the court:
I don't recall who Justin was covering at the time, but he was quite accidentally somehow injured in the groin area. There was a bit of a pause as he froze where he stood, then crumpled to his knees, pulling up his jersey to wipe his face/curse out of earshot/what have you.
Joey, ever the most tactful member of *NSYNC, inquired as to "Justin, did you get hit in the nads?" He nodded pitifully, but brushed off Joey's suggestion of taking a break. Tough, committed kid, that one.
Now, this broke out not surprisingly, but I didn't see the provocation. Chris got into it with #15, Nate Butler. A play-by-play of the stripping, wedgie-giving, and free-for-all boypile that resulted:
Don't people know not to start in on any *NSYNC members at this event yet?
Chris divests him of his jersey:
Justin races in to help defend Chris' honor:
But seems to decide that Chris is an unterschtupper and attempts to give him the mother of all wedgies instead:
Joey decides to step in and pull the infant off to leave Chris to deal with the consequences of his own actions:
Witness the two separate piles:
But everyone managed to walk away friends. What I really loved was Lance walking over to the pile with Joey in it as they were in the process of detangling and making his however belated intentions to side with him, however uninvolved and uninvited he'd been. Theirloveissopure!
Ahem.
Another dispute, this time over skillz, broke out when Alfonso Ribero accused the Knights of being lame because despite having an NBA star on their side, they were still losing. Joey came over to contest this allegation, calling him out on how many points he'd scored. Two, apparently, while Joey hadn't scored any, though apparently each of his ass cheeks deserved one. Joey then went on to concede, with fervent support from the audience, that there were in fact a lot of women who would love to get a piece of "this luscious Italian ass." And that pretty much settled that.
Even with coaching by Miami's own Alonzo Mourning from the halfway point, the Knights didn't manage to pull it out this year. Lance announced (there were cheers even before he began speaking this time) that the Daze please come stand behind the big trophies in a way more reminiscent of indecent proposal than a victory gloat. Not to be outdone, Justin coyly leered at him a bit as he announced that this was Lance's first winner's trophy.
More JoLa! Because, yes.
I love them. God I'm such a broken, superfluous record here, but besides adoring every single one of them, all five together were almost more than I could handle. Luckily for you, I've also plum run out of original adjectives, so let's wrap this up.
While we only planned to run intowithout_me and company for dinner, we ended up meeting oogobs of people and swapping stories with some already encountered on Friday. amuse139 told us about meeting Lance and his mom on Saturday night and telling them about her darling little boy, Ben, then teased us with a TrickyFish epic, impossibly tragic JoLa and wish!fic. liz_w managed to get her awesome digital cam inside and made us swoon and drool as we stood waiting for our tables. We met P's friend eleanor_lavish and thanked her appropriately for the ID, kachera regaled us of all the flirting between her and Papa Fatone at the SPI party, got to meet the ladies behind The Great Summer Swag Exchange, powrhug and msktrnanny, plus chased_amy, alittleblue, and many many lovely others I can't recall just now. It was wonderful to meet you all, though.
The food and service at Cheesecake Factory goes without saying, but damn. Andthenwewentbacktothehotelandcrashed, theend.
To start (while this does not need saying, it's a very good place to begin), I.love.these.boys. They're funny and silly, witty and slapstick, sweet and sarcastic, goofy and handsome and just absolutely everything everyone says about them. They have an unsurpassed sense of humor about themselves with their first priority being to have fun. And they love each other a whole heck of a lot. I am nothing but grateful for the astronomical convergence of events that brought them together and into my backyard this weekend.
(As a bit of fair warning, some of the pictures are very fairly large. Credit for them goes to myself,
giddyupnow, grrleloquence, and isilya)A girl participating in the pre-game danceoff requested "(Dirty) Pop" which, it turned out, the DJ did not have. This was neither the high point of his awkwardness nor the low point of the organizers' assumptions as to what would entertain the crowd.
Best sign of the event? A Wild Knight Is Now Preordained. Props man, serious word.
Our seats were right next to where the players came out, so we got to watch everyone wind up and head out. Chris was distracted very early on into the line of Dolphins cheerleaders and actually stopped to chat with one of them, which was quite cute. Lance looks even more amazing the closer you get to him, all fabulous celebrity skin and teeth and he absolutely radiates confidence and dorkitude from his every pore and especially his swishy walk. JC is modest and laughs with his entire being, throwing his head back and grinning in the absolute sweetest way. But Joey was definitely the star of these festivities, hamming it up, looking good playing or lounging, and being generally the most entertaining part of the event.
Jerseys:
Justin: 1 ½ - Mr. JT (Hee :)
Lance: 4 - Lance (I live in hope for a 'space cowboy' jersey)
Chris: 7 - Tricky (Why mess with a good thing?)
JC: 17 - Schizo (Lovehim!)
Joey: 23 - B's Daddy (So sweet. I bet he's a wonderful dad, too.)
Every time someone mentioned JC's upcoming solo album this weekend, even so much as hinted at it, the crowd's burst into cheers and applause. Everyone I met expressed the same kind of unbridled enthusiasm as well, and it's just so cool to know that even though his stuff is certainly a departure from *NSYNC's material, it's being so overwhelmingly embraced by the same audience.
The Daze warmed up on our side of the court. Justin jumps so nicely. It's a pleasure to watch him play - there's the same sort of grace to it as his dancing. Lance... looked pretty in his blue warm-up suit as he took shots at the basket:
As far as general observation of technique during the game, Joey and Chris pull their weight running defense, JC works hard but has truly unfortunate amounts of game, Justin is Justin, sick or not, and Lance, well, he liked to shake it when Joey's on the court (this isn't my JoLa thing coming out, it's gospel truth) and pretty much lets others take care of business the rest of the time.
Lots and lots of early JuC action on the court. The plan (nothing against JC, of course) there must've been either to have the Daze score first or just gift the audience with some gratuitous cuteness. Whatever the case, there was plenty of JC playing defense against Justin (not so much vice-versa, as it were), which was beyond adorable as it mostly consisted of the same sort of coquettish gestures on his part as in the Today show Pop performance pictures.
Lest it go unmentioned for too long, there was JoLa aplenty in the same quarter. So much JoLa! They guarded each other when they were both on the court, and it should be noted that Lance pretty much only hustled when he was covering Joey, not just kind of shuffled within half-distance from half court toward either basket. Touching touching everywhere!
I like to think of it as Impressionistic. (Theirlovetranscendstime!)
Moving right along.
Despite being referenced as the coolest cat everyone (who got hold of a microphone to say it) has met and even after Pat O'Brien announced that he wasn't able to play yesterday because of a severe sunburn ("How are you feeling today?" "Greasy." Word of the day, yo), JC was fouled early on into things. Pretty badly, too, with the luck he seems to have been having this week. Chris, his Knight in red-trimmed white jersey, jumped the guy immediately, ready to cause damage then take names. I want to say he had to be pulled off of the guy, too. I'd want that man watching my back. And for good measure, for the rest of the game, the only ones covering JC on the court were his own boys. Aaaw! (This foul actually resulted in JC scoring the first and, to the best of my recollection, his only, points for the Knights.)
When JC and Joey were rotated out, even though Justin and Lance weren't covering each other, it became All About the Lambs. They were making eyes at each other during others' freethrows. There was schmoozing between plays. There was patting and petting and whispers as they passed close, brushing shoulders. So, so cute.
I love that Justin is a team player; he passes the ball more than he tries to shoot, that he only goes for it when he's as good as certain he'll make it (for which he certainly has the percentage to prove it).
I don't entirely remember how Justin ended up on the floor of the court, but this shot is too precious even without context (that's JC walking toward him to give a hand up off the floor):
Insert obligatory reference to shots from outer space made against Lance's valiant attempts at three-pointers here. I'll spare you, and say only that Lance did try, but his technique seems more made for bowling than basketball with that spin he tried to put on the ball.
They shouldn't even bother with emcees, seriously. Mic up Joey and just get his version of events, which end up not only more colorful and controversial, but a lot more fun to follow than your average 'they went up and down the court' commentary. That and he's close enough to poke fun at himself and his boys and be amusing instead of vaguely derogatory.
At some point, they looped the speaking part at the end of Like I Love You during Justin's halfcourt attempts, which ended up being creepy to us and monumentally distracting to him.
The DJ kept the music going though, and as Justin was walking back down the court a bit of a chant started, which made him smile and duck his head before acquiescing to oblige the crowd with a few moves from the end of the song. He really is darling.
Halftime came and went. Only notable event was my catching a T-shirt left-handed. Go team me! Some highlights though:
JoeC!
JuC!
There truly was something for everyone this weekend.
Around early third quarter, provoked I can only assume by the refs calling double dribbling on Joey, Chris threw something of a diva fit, took off his jersey, and marched off the court. These being official NBA refs and being sadly sans any Coke to dump on them this time he probably felt this was the more dignified way to protest. Wilmer promptly ran after him and everyone was back on the court and in uniform in no time. I should've been paying closer attention, but it did seem like the Knights were getting at least somewhat shafted with the calls and plays all weekend. I guess the refs learned their lesson about messing with Justin from last year. Hell, I learned that lesson last year.
Randomly, some shots of Lance not paired with Joey:
Sauntering mid-court:
Blocking (and I use that term loosely) Taye Diggs:
You see my point.
There was a freethrow contest before the fourth quarter, entirely unremarkable except for this one girl who made six in the allotted twenty seconds. Even Justin found this impressive and ran over to shake her hand, which was kinda very cute.
Justin was fouled on a ten-point attempt, so they move the party back to the Daze end of the court for Justin's freethrows. No sooner do his toes touch the freethrow line but Lance gets out of his seat and is over by his side. There ensued much touching and head-rubbing, which may well have been for its good luck properties because Justin made all five of his first attempts, even with distractions such as Wilmer yanking down the neckline of his jersey saying, "Justin, I'm such a big fan, can I have your autograph?" and being carried away by security, Joey singing Rock Your Body beneath the basket while bootydancing, and Chris leaping up to hang on the rim of the basket.
A little something like this:
(Lovehim!)
After witnessing Justin's attempts at the half-court shuffle, Johnny Wright commandeered a microphone and told Joey that he'd donate $5,000 to Challenge if Joey could make the half court shot, but that Joey would have to match it if he missed. Joey balked a little and told him that there'd need to be another *NSYNC record for him to be throwing that kind of money around. The loudest cheers of the game ensued. (At some point, Justin, too, commandeered a microphone and made references to an album *and* a tour. While living in hope keeps me sane, it's much more fun to have something real to hold on to.
Just to be clear, his lack of basketball savvy never once kept JC from trying his best every moment he was on the court:
I don't recall who Justin was covering at the time, but he was quite accidentally somehow injured in the groin area. There was a bit of a pause as he froze where he stood, then crumpled to his knees, pulling up his jersey to wipe his face/curse out of earshot/what have you.
Joey, ever the most tactful member of *NSYNC, inquired as to "Justin, did you get hit in the nads?" He nodded pitifully, but brushed off Joey's suggestion of taking a break. Tough, committed kid, that one.
Now, this broke out not surprisingly, but I didn't see the provocation. Chris got into it with #15, Nate Butler. A play-by-play of the stripping, wedgie-giving, and free-for-all boypile that resulted:
Don't people know not to start in on any *NSYNC members at this event yet?
Chris divests him of his jersey:
Justin races in to help defend Chris' honor:
But seems to decide that Chris is an unterschtupper and attempts to give him the mother of all wedgies instead:
Joey decides to step in and pull the infant off to leave Chris to deal with the consequences of his own actions:
Witness the two separate piles:
But everyone managed to walk away friends. What I really loved was Lance walking over to the pile with Joey in it as they were in the process of detangling and making his however belated intentions to side with him, however uninvolved and uninvited he'd been. Theirloveissopure!
Ahem.
Another dispute, this time over skillz, broke out when Alfonso Ribero accused the Knights of being lame because despite having an NBA star on their side, they were still losing. Joey came over to contest this allegation, calling him out on how many points he'd scored. Two, apparently, while Joey hadn't scored any, though apparently each of his ass cheeks deserved one. Joey then went on to concede, with fervent support from the audience, that there were in fact a lot of women who would love to get a piece of "this luscious Italian ass." And that pretty much settled that.
Even with coaching by Miami's own Alonzo Mourning from the halfway point, the Knights didn't manage to pull it out this year. Lance announced (there were cheers even before he began speaking this time) that the Daze please come stand behind the big trophies in a way more reminiscent of indecent proposal than a victory gloat. Not to be outdone, Justin coyly leered at him a bit as he announced that this was Lance's first winner's trophy.
More JoLa! Because, yes.
I love them. God I'm such a broken, superfluous record here, but besides adoring every single one of them, all five together were almost more than I could handle. Luckily for you, I've also plum run out of original adjectives, so let's wrap this up.
While we only planned to run into
without_me and company for dinner, we ended up meeting oogobs of people and swapping stories with some already encountered on Friday. amuse139 told us about meeting Lance and his mom on Saturday night and telling them about her darling little boy, Ben, then teased us with a TrickyFish epic, impossibly tragic JoLa and wish!fic. liz_w managed to get her awesome digital cam inside and made us swoon and drool as we stood waiting for our tables. We met P's friend eleanor_lavish and thanked her appropriately for the ID, kachera regaled us of all the flirting between her and Papa Fatone at the SPI party, got to meet the ladies behind The Great Summer Swag Exchange, powrhug and msktrnanny, plus chased_amy, alittleblue, and many many lovely others I can't recall just now. It was wonderful to meet you all, though.The food and service at Cheesecake Factory goes without saying, but damn. Andthenwewentbacktothehotelandcrashed, theend.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: July 24th, 2003 02:06 pm (UTC)Jules, honey, babe, this is so awesome. And the pics! I'm so impressed by us *g* Thanks for writing this up and sharing it.
and Lance, well, he liked to shake it when Joey's on the court (this isn't my JoLa thing coming out, it's gospel truth) and pretty much lets others take care of business the rest of the time.
Hee! JoLa JoLa everywhere. And if nothing else can be said for the boy, he sure does sauter prettily.
no subject
Date: July 24th, 2003 02:20 pm (UTC)*hugs* Mwah, darling. I just calls 'em as I sees 'em, ya know? ;) They were awesome! It was all them! I just happily recapped all the fabulous they made. Whee!
And the pics! I'm so impressed by us *g*
We rock! So much! Not only do we feel like our pictures rock because they're ours, but that they really do objectively rock as well. Go team us!
Hee! JoLa JoLa everywhere.
Everywhere! They're such the odd couple in so many ways as far as personality, but their love! I melt.
And if nothing else can be said for the boy, he sure does sauter prettily.
My god does he ever. But he's also smart! And sarcastic! And professional and dorky and drop.dead.gorgeous. Virtues, virtues everywhere!
As you can see, I might still be surfing Le High from last week. Miss you girls already!