Living in L.A. has led to a lot of cool events in my downtime. I might even go so far to say that I had one of the coolest things ever to happen to me, happen last week.

I was at the Mondrian Hotel in Hollywood, eating at a poolside restaurant with my boy. It was completely empty except for the two of us. Then, out of nowhere, Eddie Griffin walks in. I'm referring to the famed comedian and actor. He's in my favorite movie of all time, "The Meteor Man," and I think his stand-up work is highly underrated.

Anyway, he walks over and takes a seat about 10 feet away from me. I look at my boy and he just says, "I know."

So I see the bartender leave the bar and walk toward Eddie. I assume this is for an autograph. I start thinking that I should scramble some paper together to get one too. I figure I'll wait for an opening like a double-dutch jump rope and then make my move. I'm actively planning this scenario out in my head as it develops.

Unexpectedly, the bartender walks past Eddie. I start to think that I'm not going to have my moment. Then the bartender hooks a left and comes up to me.

"Rod Benson? Yahoo! Sports, right? Ball Don't Lie?" he asks me aloud.

I can hardly contain my smile as we begin to chat.

"Where are you playing this year? Man, you haven't told us where you're playing this year," he continues as we talk.

Eddie, shocked, drops his glasses to the edge of his nose to get a peek at the guy who just got the love. That guy was me. I felt like a champ.

I tell this story for two reasons: 1) Because it's awesome, and 2) Because the bartender's question seems to be on everyone's mind lately.

The other day, I got a Facebook message from my boy and fellow blogger Coleman Collins(notes). He asked me if I had decided on where I'm playing this year. I got similar messages from my former teammates Richard Hendrix(notes), Brock Gillespie and Ayinde Ubaka. Everyone from players to friends to agents have all been asking me. Well, it's September and I still don't know.

This is a funny year because the market has been bad, so I've been patient, trying to make the right decision on a either a good team overseas that will pay AND play me, or doing the training camp thing.

It seems that nearly the entire D-League has elected to go overseas and with good reason. There is money to be made over there and the D-League didn't produce many call-ups last year. It kind of seems like the NBA is losing respect for the D-League. My agent recently did an interview during which he speculated as to the reasons why.

Regardless of the reasons, it seems that all my former competitors have taken their acts overseas for good and I think that my time has come to go collect some more money overseas as well. Right now I'm just waiting on the right opportunity so that I can spread my boom-tho-ness worldwide for the rest of my healthy days.

In the meantime, I've been in L.A. working out at Pepperdine and showing the youngsters how us "old guys" play. It's funny how they consider me to be old. I should tell them I'm just on the third anniversary of my 21st birthday.

It's good working out with college kids, though, because, even though they're raw, they play hard and they feel like they have something to prove. When I play against other pros, they really don't have anything to prove in the summer, so it's different. I almost forgot what it's like to have your coach watch you play and to know that, even in the summer, you're earning your spot. It's refreshing.

I'm taking that "something to prove" mentality with me wherever I go this year. I've gotta remember the days when I was just an awkward freshman to keep the same fire now that I'm an awkward "old guy." I feel like no matter who you are, if you're a competitor, you should always have something to prove.

New haters are born everyday; you have to prepare yourself to rise above them.

I'm workin on it right now.

*****

Rod Benson is a Cal grad who last played for the D-League's Reno Bighorns. When he's not busy watching "Meteor Man," he blogs one or two times a week on Ball Don't Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

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