![\"Blake](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/blake_griffin_clippers_trade-640x440.jpg\")
<\/a>Blake Griffin, appearing to say, “WTF?” to his trade.<\/p><\/div>\n
I don\u2019t think that anyone saw it coming. He was their \u201cfranchise player,\u201d for goodness sake! Who are the Clippers without Blake Griffin?!<\/p>\n
All that being said, I\u2019m not exactly a rabid fan of his because he\u2019s had, how shall I put it, not the most exemplary behavior over the past few years. Blake is actually a far cry from that shy young guy I was sort-of the first to welcome to L.A. in 2009.<\/p>\n
Yes, you heard that correctly. I do<\/em> have an early Blake Griffin story. Here \u2018tis:<\/p>\n Blake Griffin at JFK in 2009. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n In the summer of 2009, after a trip to New York to entertain my little mother, I arrived at my gate at JFK\u2019s United Airlines for my return flight home to L.A. It turns-out that the airline neglected to call just a couple of us passengers on that scheduled flight, to let us know that the flight would be delayed for take-off. About two hours<\/em> delayed!!!<\/p>\n So, I walked into a ghost town of a boarding area. The weird thing is that I\u2019ve always whiled away my wait in the private lounge when I was flying Business (as I was that night) or First Class. But I just forgot to do so that day. And as I arrived, I spied a really tall, lost-looking young guy walking ahead of me. When we got to the snack counter, where I was right behind him, with no one else around, I asked, \u201cAren\u2019t you Blake?\u201d He said he was, and seemed so shy, and sort-of in a fog. And sort-of surprised that someone recognized him, especially in New York. (Of course, we<\/em> were those two passengers whom United had not notified about the delay!)<\/p>\n Blake Griffin at JFK in 2009. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I expressed surprise that no one was bothering him\u2014after all, he had just been the #1 draft pick for all of professional basketball!!! That\u2019s a really big deal, to you non-sports fans. He said that one or two people in front of the terminal had seemed to know who he is, but that was it.<\/p>\n We chatted for a bit. He seemed kind-of apprehensive about the near future. He was such a far cry from the confident, almost cocky guy that he is now. If we put the two personas together, of then and now, they would seem like Patty and Cathy on the old Patty Duke Show<\/em>! (In case you\u2019re not familiar with that classic television show, one\u2019s demure and the other is the life of the party.)<\/p>\n Blake Griffin, when he was drafted first in the 2009 NBA draft.<\/p><\/div>\n He asked if I go to the games, and I said that I occasionally did, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019d see him there. I told him that Michael Roth, one of the bigwigs at the Staples Center, where the Clippers play, is wonderful, and that he should look for Michael if he needs anything. My one regret is that I didn\u2019t think to give him my<\/em> card in case he needed anything because that may have made him feel better, to at least know one non-Clippers-related person in town. He seemed so fearful of the future.<\/p>\n And then, not wanting to glom onto him, I just walked away and sat down in the waiting area. In a bit, he sat down a few rows away from me. Since we were the only two people there, I kept wanting to go over and chat some more, to make him feel more welcome in my town, but he had ear buds in, so I didn\u2019t want to bother him. But I did call a few guys back home, including Mr. X, and said, \u201cBlake Griffin is on my plane!\u201d But each one of them said, \u201cWho?\u201d I had to explain his new status in the world of basketball.<\/p>\n And here’s Blake Griffin eight years later, with his suitress, Kendall Jenner!<\/p><\/div>\n Boy, have times changed. Now everyone<\/em> in L.A., and basketball, in general, knows the name \u201cBlake Griffin.\u201d But not always for the right reasons. He\u2019s had a rash of injuries over his career. He had two children out-of-wedlock with a former college basketball player, (who previously had a baby with a pro quarterback in town.) He punched one of the team\u2019s equipment managers, injuring his hand, which resulted in being unable to play for over a month. It\u2019s always seemed to be something with him. Needless to say, the powers-that-be weren\u2019t always thrilled with the guy\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n But outside of all of that, he was doing well again this season, despite injuring his knee and being out again for over a month. In his first game back at the end of the year, he helped the Clips beat their arch-nemeses, the L.A. Lakers. And he continued to do great from there.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>