Stephen Curry: House of Hoops Appearance

By: Benjamin Cruz

The line in Serramonte Mall in front of the Foot Locker, for once, wasn’t for a pair of the newest Air Jordans. It was to catch a glimpse of the Golden State Warriors rookie sensation, Stephen Curry. He was there to promote the grand opening of the new House of Hoops, which carries exclusive pairs of basketball shoes.

Most of the people in line could care less as to what was being sold. As long as they could see Mr. Curry, I’m sure they would have lined up at a bakery.

After asking around, the line started at around noon for his 4pm appearance. I arrived at about 1:15 and the line was already 70 deep. At about 2:30pm, we were let into the store, 20 minutes later the district manager of Foot Locker addressed the crowd. Much to the dismay of the crowd, he informed us that Steph would not be signing autographs causing the majority of the crowd to leave.

As 4 o’clock approached the crowd grew bigger and bigger and at 4pm, the crowd filled the store and even extended out into the mall. A representative from Nike got on stage to warm up the crowd and talked about shoes. A “Curry” chant started about 2-3 times. Finally, at 5 o’clock, Stephen Curry arrived.

Chuy Gomez (from 106 KMEL) was the MC and conducted the interview with Steph. He came out to a huge ovation and cameras going off like we were on the red carpet. Chuy asked him several questions about the year that the Warriors had and the year the Stephen had personally. He even referred to “The Birdman” several times. No, he wasn’t talking about Chris Anderson. He was talking about the move where he faked Chris Anderson out of his shorts on national TV.

Once the Q & A was done,a few people from the audience were invited to come up and ask a question. Each person who was awarded the oppurtunity to ask a question was gifted an autograph basketball.  Steph also helped honor a local basketball coach with an award, signed a few autographs and left.

While Steph’s visit was a lot shorter than advertised, it was well worth the wait. He showed some personality when interacting with the fans. He answered all the questions clearly and didn’t dance around them. Someone in the crowd shouted “Trade Monta” to which Steph quickly responded, “No, we’re not trading Monta, we need Monta.” Steph’s a leader, plain and simple and it is no surprise as to why he is a fan favorite. One of the thing’s that stood out to me was that he referenced the playoffs for next season as the goal. While that may be a stretch for this team right now, I like that he is looking to the future already.