On May 31st, before Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the San Antonio Spurs, I sent out the following tweet just after 8pm:

Do the spurs win again tonight?I’m taking okc – Durant with 53!!!Haha

— Kenny Eller (@KennyEller) May 31, 2012

Then a little over 30 minutes later I was on the pre-game show on TNT with Ernie, Kenny, Chuck and Shaq, very unexpectedly of course:

httpvh://youtu.be/yHo7yuRHnQY

[Click here to see video of me on NBA on TNT Pre-Game Show]

I actually had the TNT pre-game show going in the other room at the time and was in my office on the computer when my buddy Justin called and said, “Nice job making it on TNT!”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, right, that would be nice.”

To which he responded emphatically, “No I’m serious, they just showed your tweet!”

I of course had no idea which tweet he was referring to.  At the same time, while he was talking to me, I could hear my phone blowing up with messages, as I held it to my ear.

All I can say is, thank goodness for the DVR!

The funniest thing to me is how worked up Charles Barkley got and he was actually agreeing with me, even if he didn’t know it!

“Well you’re wrong Kevin Eller! (Shaq in the background “Kenny, Kenny, Kenny…Kenny Eller, haha”) OKC is going to win tonight!  The Thunders going to win tonight!”

Chuck and I were both right on that night.  OKC did win (Though KD didn’t come close to 53, haha)!

The odds of the TNT staff picking my random tweet out of the millons of tweets being sent are obviously extremely slim.

To me, it is just further proof that I’m on the right track!

me vs. MJ…the sometimes you get on the NBA on TNT journey continues!!!  As always, thank you for following along!

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Connect:  Twitter (@KennyEller) and mevsMJ.com Facebook Fan Page.

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If you’re new to the site, I set out in August 2010 to get a game of 1-on-1 vs. my childhood hero Michael Jordan.  This site is about that journey…through every valley, to every mountain top of triumph!

After watching this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest, I came to the conclusion that I need a Hype Man! (submit resume here)

Hype Man Definition:  Someone who brings excitement and hype before and while an event is taking place.

Kenny Smith is a world class hype man!  Kenny, who was Blake Griffin’s coach at the NBA Dunk Contest, gave a great example of exactly what a hype man is and does.  He had me excited!  He had me anxious to see Blake’s next dunk!  He hyped Griffin up and if you’ve ever seen BG play, he doesn’t really need any help with that (watch here).

It got me thinking.  How great would it be if I had someone before I hit the publish button on every post telling the World, “YOU MUST READ mevsMJ.cooooom!   Kenny Eller is about to share with you Something you’ve Never read beforrrrrrrrre! Prepare to have you mind bloooooowwwwnnn!”

Then again….

The Ramifications of a Hype Man :-/

If you have a hype man, you actually need to be REALLY…REALLY GOOAT! (somewhere between good and great ;-))

If not, the person hyping you may do more damage than good.

Going back to Griffin’s dunks on Saturday.  They were good, but not as special as Kenny “The Jet” pumped them up to be.  For many that resulted in an adverse affect of what the actual goal was.

Example:  I went and saw (for free) the movie, The Green Hornet, before it came out and thought it was going to be the worst movie I had ever seen.  Instead, I LOVED IT!  During the weeks that followed, I hyped that movie to anyone that would listen.  While my expectation was low going in, what do you think the people I hyped the movie to expected?  They expected it to be great, right?

If Blake had just gone out there and dunked, I probably would have went to sleep that night highly impressed.  Instead, I felt a little let down.

But if you’re GREAT!

If you’re great at what you do though, a hype man can take you to the next level!

Mike had Nike and Spike.  That grew to include almost every person who had ever even seen the game of basketball.  We were all MJ’s hype men!

The thing is, Mike Jordan almost always performed well.  So when people heard of his greatness and tuned in or went to see him, they left on the majority of evenings concurring with the hype.

We are our own Hype Man!

If you have a Facebook Fan Page for your blog or company, or Tweet when a new post or product is released, you are your own hype man and rightly so!

If you don’t believe in what you do, who else will?

Friends + Family + Supporters = Hype Man

Who supports you?  Who helps you?  Who spreads the word on your new post or product?  Who cares?  Who hypes you?

These are your hype men/women!!  Make sure you appreciate them and let them know you do!

Be My Hype Man!

If you love what I’m doing here, HYPE ME!  Do so on Twitter, Facebook, through Email, pick up the phone and tell your friends and family!  Find me someone to play!  Tell Mike Jordan about me!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m gooat, but I am giving it my all here at mevsMJ.com.

To anyone who has ever passed along something from this site, THANK YOU!

For the rest of you…join the others and be my hype man!

(ps:  I was kind of kidding about the resume part above )