Empty the Bench

The 2007 NBA All-Star game has come and gone, but its memory will live forever in the hard-hitting blog of Boston Celtics’ dancer Courtney. Courtney, shown here hiding under four layers of mascara, was voted by Celtics’ fans to represent her team as one of the 30 dancers in Vegas. The whole crew can be viewed here. For 1 week, Courtney blogged for the NBA about her adventures, including:

On waving from planes:

Today I went to the airport to do a Southwest Airlines promotion with Dominique Wilkins and Clyde Drexler. And we actually waved in the Southwest Airlines NBA Slam Dunk plane. I was posed along with Kimmie of the Sixers right next to Dominique Wilkins on a platform as he waved in the plane. Tons of pictures. And two of the dancers rode down the conveyer belt and we all unloaded the bags from the plane. A lot of fun. A lot of photos, a lot of fun. So now we just had lunch.

On people she looks up to:

There’s so many girls I look up to and aspire to be. It’s like when you’re a kid and you watch your favorite athelete, your favorite dancer, your favorite anything and you aspire to be that person. Sarah from the Knicks is an amazing inspiration to me. Lindsay from the Clippers is also an inspiration. Gina from the Phoenix Suns and Jackie from the Nets. Also, Laurie Ann Gibson has been an amazing inspiration to me, and I will forever work harder because of these people.

On her tastes in film:

It was an incredible, incredible feeling that I got to entertain the great entertainers. I’ve seen every Adam Sandler movie ever made — I mean I’m one of his biggest fans. I hit that last pose and I was literally eye-to-eye with him. It was incredible, I can’t even believe it.

The whole blog is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the trials and tribulations of being a professional NBA dancer, and has some hysterical photos of the girls just goofing around, too. And if you want to know more about Courtney, don’t miss her Celtics dancer bio, where you’ll find a quick Q&A session. Here’s just two teasers:

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? “On the court at the TD Banknorth Garden, of course!”

If you could spend the day with anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be? “John Mayer, so he could sing to me all day.”