Bonner Cheered on at Red River Theatres

I love a good hometown story...when someone from "no where" works hard and  makes it big...so when my good friend Robyn Grant suggested we watch Matt Bonner compete in the three point contest taking place as part of the All Star Game Activities on the big screen at The Red River Theatre I was all in. A town coming together to celebrate a local boy's big moment is just good in every way.

Bonner likely wouldn't have been in the contest at all had it not been for his brother writing a letter on his behalf to the folks in charge. Twitter and Facebook sent the cause viral and soon #letbonnershoot became a "thing". As the days went by and the number of people supporting Matt's campaign for admittance to shoot with the big boys grew so to did the anticipation. When it was announced that he would shoot I think many of us felt he had already won.

When we arrived at the theatre the energy was palpable. Every time his face came across the screen the crowd went nuts. And the crowd itself was wonderful. There were Jim and Mike Burney, a father son duo from my generation. Mr. Burney raised Mike on Charles Street. The Angwins were there, whose daughter went to high school with me. Mick Leahy and JonWalter Elsnau, a couple of feisty 11 year old basketball fans and Track Camp Alumni were there with Mick's Mom Deb. Ralph Jimenez, the editor of the Concord Monitor and my neighbor was there. Little Charlie Murdoch Roy wearing a Red Mamba T-Shirt that came to his knees walked up and down the stairs, and Ami and Ismael Rivera and their friend Jared Sylvester sat down front sporting their Boys and Girls Club Sweatshirts. And there was Robyn's daughter Jordan Grant...currently a superstar for the University of Southern Maine, who watched Matt play as a youngster and has followed his career from it's beginning, the banner she brought to his first game at the Boston Garden hanging on the wall in her dorm sat sporting her red t-shirt ready to cheer. Everyone there connected to Matt and his story in some way coming together to cheer him on. The current Concord High School basketball teams and coaches would have made the crowd complete...it is his Alma mater after all...but there was enough team spirit anyway, and Bonner...as usual did not disappoint.

In the first round he sunk 20 shots..five in a row to start. With each successful shot we all cheered...with each miss we all awwwed. He had the highest score going into the final...yup...he made the final....the unknown red head who wasn't going to be there just a month ago. The media folks interviewing him got a kick out of "Concord NH". "It sounds pretty" one of them said. We appeared on the screen, cheering wildly during his interview on the broadcast and his nickname, given by Kobe Bryant and emblazoned on a t-shirt was given to him as he took his seat. I have one just like it.

There are times when living in the town you grew up in can feel stifling. There are times it feesl very small. But tonight it felt really good. I sat in a small locally owned theatre and watched an NBA player I have known since he was 12 execute 2 of the top three scores in the contest, losing by 3 in the final... to some other town's local boy made big...our tall red headed Matt...and it was good.