NEW YORK -- Bill Bradley scored big-time here at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, hosting his "HOOPLA! Bill Bradley back in the Garden" fundraiser, which brought in NBA legends and $1.5 million.
As is always the case with events such as these, the most interesting stuff doesn't make it onto the evening news -- it happens behind the scenes.
The following snapshots were taken by Washington correspondent Jake Tapper:
Bradley spokesman Eric Hauser is attacked by a ravenous press corps before the start of the event. I wanted to know if actor Harvey Keitel was going to be showing the crowd his penis, as seems to be in the fine print of the contracts for many of his films of late. Hauser had no comment.
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The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash interrogates illustrator LeRoy Neiman, a favorite artist of athletes as well as Hugh Hefner. Big donors to Bradley's 1978 Senate run received a Neiman poster of the candidate with his sleeves rolled up and a silhouette of New Jersey in the background.
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Lakers great, "Airplane" co-star and all-time NBA leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the first star introduced to the crowd.
Spike Lee zooms in on former 76er Moses Malone and injured New York Liberty star Rebecca Lobo with his ubiquitous camcorder. Lee filmed much of the proceedings and seemed to be having a great time.
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Actor Ethan Hawke looks up at Julius "Dr. J" Erving. At right is Hall of Famer Bob Cousy. Backstage, I asked Hawke to write a poem for Bradley. He looked at me like I had asked him to recite works of Proust in Mandarin Chinese. Turns out Hawke's a novelist, but not a poet at all, save for his appearance in "Dead Poets Society."
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After two hours of celebrities gushing about what a mensch Bradley is, the presidential aspirant himself, beaming, finally takes his place at center court. Bradley's uniform number with the Knicks was 24.
A man in a chicken suit is escorted into a back room by Madison Square Garden security. Just as Bradley took the stage, the Chicken Man had run onto the court carrying a sign berating him for not debating Al Gore weekly. Security ripped off the man's chicken head before rushing him to the back room. He was never heard from again.
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After the event, three teams of legendary jocks were offered to the media hordes. This was the first crew, which featured Bradley's Knicks teammates from the 1970 and '73 NBA championship teams. From left to right: Willis Reed, Dick Barnett, Jerry "Mr. Memory" Lucas, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Bradley's roommate on the road, Dave DeBusschere.
