The Cavaliers have been assembled from cities and countries across the globe. So when they take the court, what’s their support system like back home? As the Wine and Gold took on the Bulls on Saturday afternoon at The Q, Jamario Moon – the pride of Goodwater, AL (pop. 1,633) –had his family glued to the tube …
What’s the support system for Jamario Moon like back in Goodwater?Jamario Moon: It’s great because I’m the only guy out of my city to go to the NBA. I’m only the only guy out of my high school to ever do it. So whenever we’re on the tube, man, whenever they can catch me, everybody’s always gathering around the TV watching. They’re calling, telling: “We’re gonna watch you, you better give us something.”
My uncles came to the last regular season game in Atlanta, and they were like, ‘We already bought the chicken wings and we’re about to cook it up.’ They said, ‘We have some people over there, we’re gonna be rooting for you. Y’all better bring it home.’
We lost, but I had a pretty good game.
Where will the biggest gathering be?Moon: We have this center back home called the Caldwell Center. I don’t know if they’re going to put the big screen in there and have people come down there and watch. It’s right down in the park. Or they could just go and gather up at one of my uncle’s houses.
Either way, there’s going to be a gathering.
The whole family?Moon: Probably the whole family. It’ll be quite a few folks. If they’re not together – it’s going to be a crowd at this house and a crowd at this house. It’ll be more than 50 (people), I know that.
There’s going to be a lot of support coming out of Goodwater.
Will your Blackberry be lighting up?Moon: Aw, man! Before the game. I’ll get hit up during the game. And I’m sure when the game’s over, I’m gonna have some messages come through like, “Man, I just saw that play!” or “You need to do such-and-such.”
I’m sure my mailbox will be full after the game.
Is there one person who’s your biggest supporter (or toughest critic)?Moon: One of my cousins. He’s a big LeBron fan. He’s been a big LeBron fan since before he came into the league. If you want to know anything about LeBron, he’ll be able to tell you – back from when he was born to what size shoe he wore in the third grade. He knows crazy stuff like that. We call him “Mr. ESPN.”
But he knows stuff about everybody in the league – their birthdays, what they’re like. It could be anybody. It could be the 15th guy on the bench and he’s gonna know something about him.
He’ll probably hit me up the most. He’ll be like, “Y’all need to get with it” or “Y’all looking strong.” Yeah, Mr. ESPN is gonna hit me up the most.