Selling Out @ the ESPY Awards After Party

This is a story about a girl who ends up “selling out” because she wanted to appear like she belonged at the ESPY Awards after party…(beyond just looking like a Basketball Wife.)

And yes, that girl would be me. Samia Khan.

Now, before you gossip-lovers jump to conclusions that I got wasted or hooked up with some star athlete to “fit in”, CTFO and listen (or well, read.)

You see, I was trying to play “wing-woman” to my sports enthusiast friend Umar (who works at ESPN, mind you) at an event that’s considered the Oscars of the sporting world, but… I had no skills when it came to recognizing any championship-winning athlete.[1]

To be honest… our conversation for most of the night went something like this:

“Um, is that guy famous?” “Is he an athlete?” “Athlete or rapper?” “Am I racist?” “Am I height-ist?”

Yeah. I was a lost cause. So I just became “pretty girl who smiled and said nothing” while Umar became “boy who chats sports and knows his shit” anytime we ended up in a conversation with a sports star. (I was just hoping for a Steve Nash sighting to redeem myself with some sort of sports knowledge.)

That was, until, we spotted…the guy who broke my heart.

And I’m not just talking “oh I was sad for a day” sort of heartbreak. I’m talking… I shed a tear that day, and developed a disgust for anyone associated with this guy. I’ve had countless arguments with people over how this guy “destroyed” me, and how I couldn’t associate with them if they supported him…even my own distant family members.  It had been more than six years, but the vendetta was still there.

However, I had a dilemma now…because this was also the one person at this party that I actually knew (or well, knew of.) So. I did what any girl looking to fit in would do…

I sold out, put my USC Trojan pride aside, and chatted it up with former Texas quarterback (and current Buffalo Bill) Vince Young.

* gasp *

Yes, I put a smile on my face, walked up to Mr. Young, and cheerily told him about how he made me cry more than 6 years ago when he beat my alma mater USC in the championship game. He apologized for causing me pain, I told him “no, no, you played well, I guess you deserved it”, and in a surprisingly humble response, he said “it wasn’t me, it was my teammates” and heavily credited the defensive line for leading Texas to victory.

Ah, I’m a sucker for humility.

We chat some more. I tell him that, because of him, I’ve hated everyone that I’ve ever met who was even slightly associated with UT-Austin (even my crush on Matthew McConaughey lessened after discovering how much of a Longhorn fan he was.) We then made peace, posed for a few photos, and parted ways….leaving me with the kind of Trojan shame one feels after spending the night in a UCLA dorm or something. But the shame faded quickly, and instead was overtaken by the joy I felt after realizing I talked to an athlete for a longer period than my friend Umar (I’m an Aries, life is one big competition in my eyes.)

I tweeted/Instagrammed a photo of myself and Mr Young, confessing to my fellow Trojans that I had indeed sold out… and this morning…Vince, playing his cards right, retweeted the same photo.

And well, we all know the key to my heart is social media. Retweets mean more to me than a delivery of roses, a box of chocolates, or…in this case, alma mater loyalty.