# E-ticket: Passing on the Magic



## Brian34Cook (Mar 26, 2003)

E-ticket: Passing on the Magic
_By Darren Rovell, ESPN.com_










LAS VEGAS -- In the scorching late summer heat, hundreds of people wait in line at the Sport Chalet, not a slot machine or card table in sight.

Far from the famed Vegas Strip, they're here to collect the easiest jackpot in town -- a guaranteed signature and photo-op session with Earvin "Magic" Johnson. All that's required is to buy some Magic32 shoes or apparel.

If that isn't enough, there's a potential bonus for the alert fan -- an eerily familiar-looking young man with a golden smile -- standing quietly behind the former Lakers superstar.

Every once in a while, a fan stops on the way out, and the same conversation will occur over and over again.

"Wait, are you Magic's son?" they'll ask the young man who stands 6-foot-2 and wears a Magic32 polo shirt.

"Yes sir," the Hall of Famer's eldest says.

"Do you play basketball?"

That always comes next.

"Not anymore," he replies, as if reading from a script. "I'm in business now."

That's where the conversation usually ends. Guys who choose to make a living in suits don't generate as much excitement as guys who make millions in jerseys.

"I know people are going to ask me about basketball," Andre Johnson says. "That doesn't bother me. I just tell them that I don't want to be a player. I want to be the guy that signs the checks to the players. They make way more money."

[More in URL]

Interesting..


----------

