My highlight of the weekend in Atlanta

[suttree]

It's impossible to fully explain the extent of awesome things that happened this past weekend, courtesy of the unimaginably generous CTO. I grabbed a ton of photos of legendary SU players and will try to upload them later this week, as kind of a photojournal.

For now, though, let me share with you the highlight of my weekend.

So, I'm walking out of the arena after sitting in my seat for about 30 minutes after the end of the game Saturday, just numb from the loss. As I head toward one of the Georgia Dome exits, whom do I see but Hakim Warrick, patiently and cheerfully taking photos with smiling fans, who really seem to be getting some relief after the terrible way the game ended. Virtually every one of them thanks him for The Block.

I walk up at the end and take a shot for a young woman who's handed me her iPhone. Then I ask her to return the favor. Hak is clearly worn out but is a total sport about it when I ask him for one more photo. Shakes my hand and smiles for the photo:

And then it occurs to me. I have the incredible iPhone case engraved by Mason in my pocket. So I say, "Hey, remember your nasty dunk over poor old Royal Ivey?"

Hak smiles and nods his head. Then I show him the case. A few seconds pass as he makes out the image. Then:

Hak: "Whoa. How did you do that?"

So I tell him about Mason and his mad engraving skills, and his brother's graphic design work to produce the image.

Hak, looking at it more closely: "Man. That's cray. That's cray."

And the absolutely natural thought comes to me. I unsnap the phone out of the case and hand it to him without a single word.

Hak: "For real?"

Me: "Absolutely. Hope you enjoy it, man. Thanks for everything."

Hak grins, shakes my hand, thanks me, and off he goes. I thought it was a fine way to pay forward some of Joyce's incredible generosity toward me.

Postscript: Tonight, my wife suggested that I look to see if Hak has posted anything about this. Sure enough:

https://twitter.com/hdubb21/status/320976804292739072

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​

Hakim WarrickVerified account‏@hdubb21​

Dope iPhone case a fan gave 2 me yesterday #orangenation pic.twitter.com/03XtzKf417

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12:10 PM - 7 Apr 13


Mason, your handiwork is now immortalized and has found favor with one of the main authors of our NC in '03.

GO ORANGE (And thanks again, Joyce!)

 

[swish7]

Re: the Hak iPhone case. Nice gesture. Great story.

 

[jekelish]

That is absolutely awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[otisco]

That. Is. Freakin. Awesome.

 

[Jasoncuse]

That's awesome. Good work!

 

[Stevenson]

Awesome

 

[007]

Great story and great gesture, suttree.

What if he wants royalties for using his image??

 

[Meatball56]

Wow... What a great last memory to have after a tough trip

 

[suttree]

Great story and great gesture, suttree.

What if he wants royalties for using his image??

(1) Ah, the thoughts that our litigious society leads us to think. And BTW, I'm a lawyer--though the intellectual property issue you raise is way outside my area of practice.

(2) As a general proposition, I don't get the sense that Hak is the kind of guy whose mind would race in that direction.

(3) Joyce re-introduced me to Hak back at the team hotel later that night, so he has at least some evidence that I am a relatively trusted figure, and not some clown who's just out to make a buck. For God's sake, I gave him my case! And I would immediately cease and desist and turn over whatever I have the moment that I found out Hak was unhappy. Though I don't think that's going to happen.

(4) I asked Mason for a one-off case when he and I first started talking about this. Mason's subsequent production of a few others, I assure you, is not being done for love of money. It's love of the program, exercise of his engraving skeelz, and a big turn of kindness to the fans on this board. If anything, Mason might consider teaming up with SU and program icons to create a special series of these aluminum cases.

 

[CusefanATL]

It's impossible to fully explain the extent of awesome things that happened this past weekend, courtesy of the unimaginably generous CTO. I grabbed a ton of photos of legendary SU players and will try to upload them later this week, as kind of a photojournal.

For now, though, let me share with you the highlight of my weekend.

So, I'm walking out of the arena after sitting in my seat for about 30 minutes after the end of the game Saturday, just numb from the loss. As I head toward one of the Georgia Dome exits, whom do I see but Hakim Warrick, patiently and cheerfully taking photos with smiling fans, who really seem to be getting some relief after the terrible way the game ended. Virtually every one of them thanks him for The Block.

I walk up at the end and take a shot for a young woman who's handed me her iPhone. Then I ask her to return the favor. Hak is clearly worn out but is a total sport about it when I ask him for one more photo. Shakes my hand and smiles for the photo:

And then it occurs to me. I have the incredible iPhone case engraved by Mason in my pocket. So I say, "Hey, remember your nasty dunk over poor old Royal Ivey?"

Hak smiles and nods his head. Then I show him the case. A few seconds pass as he makes out the image. Then:

Hak: "Whoa. How did you do that?"

So I tell him about Mason and his mad engraving skills, and his brother's graphic design work to produce the image.

Hak, looking at it more closely: "Man. That's cray. That's cray."

And the absolutely natural thought comes to me. I unsnap the phone out of the case and hand it to him without a single word.

Hak: "For real?"

Me: "Absolutely. Hope you enjoy it, man. Thanks for everything."

Hak grins, shakes my hand, thanks me, and off he goes. I thought it was a fine way to pay forward some of Joyce's incredible generosity toward me.

Postscript: Tonight, my wife suggested that I look to see if Hak has posted anything about this. Sure enough:

https://twitter.com/hdubb21/status/320976804292739072

Follow​

​

Hakim WarrickVerified account‏@hdubb21​

Dope iPhone case a fan gave 2 me yesterday # pic.twitter.com/03XtzKf417

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• 12RETWEETS​
• 19FAVORITES​

12:10 PM - 7 Apr 13



Mason, your handiwork is now immortalized and has found favor with one of the main authors of our NC in '03.

GO ORANGE (And thanks again, Joyce!)

This is 1 of the coolest posts of all time.

And I probably saw you taking this picture. I gave him a fist pound on my way out.

 

[All4SU]

That's great. I'm also glad he didn't put the word "dope" at the end of the tweet. That would have been sad.

Footnote: every time I read a tweet I become increasingly aware of how rapidly I am becoming culturally irrelevant. Oh, and your post was dope. I think.

 

[Marsh01]

This is one of the best posts ever. Way to represent.

Phenomenal story!

 

[reedny]

Good work on this, Suttree.

 

[DCCuse]

Echoing what every one else has already said. One of the coolest things I've ever seen on these boards. Great story you can tell for yrs every March.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[tee1222]

Great gesture by you and it's so awesome that he tweeted about it. You know that made his day!
SUball

 

[Millhouse]

Too bad he's an Android guy

 

[sutomcat]

Nice story.

No one deserves that case more than The Teabagger himself.

Well done. If this were a fair and just world, the NCAA would pay cases for Hakim, Ivey and Josh Pace.

You have done well.

 

[HakAttack]

I was really bummed out about not being able to make the trip to Atlanta...but you just made my day.

I really do belong to a fan-base that is like a giant family. It's such a great feeling!

 

[Shenexon]

Superb post. Karma at its best. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Frozen]

Tremendous.

 

[mountaincuse]

Great story. Thanks for sharing the post

 

[310Pigpen]

Awesome story. Hope I get to go to a final four during my life.

 

[orangecuse]

Thanks for posting that! One of my favorite posts here ever...along with the UM banner on the football side.

 

[cto]

That is such a great story. When we met with Hak back at the hotel, I am so sorry that neither Mike Dritz or I could take a decent pic of you actually giving the case to Hak. He seemed so genuinely pleased to get it. I think this is my favorite story of the weekend.

 

[llandz]

Great story.