Mini Project #2 - Adam Crystal

My favorite fame-related memento would have to be an invitation to Michael Jordan's 30th Birthday Party. I obtained this because my father used to work for the video game company Acclaim that at the time was making the first version of NBA Jam for Sega Genesis. Michael Jordan was the biggest NBA superstar at the time so he was one of the bigger basketball names to be endorsing the product. The game went on to do very well and made Jordan even more money so when his birthday rolled around, Jordan's agent at the time sent out about fifteen invitations to my father's office. Luckily, my father was one of the people who got one of the invitations. I remember I was about 10 and really wanted to go but it was in Chicago. At first I was just happy to have the invitation because I would just show it off to my friends because I know none of them had something like this. I guess I didn't' really think about it, but over time my feelings about it changed. I realized that my father was actually a pretty important person at his job to be given one of 15 invitations. Also, I realized just how big of a deal this was. When it happened it made headlines because of its extravagance and looking back I now know it was really kind of a big deal to get one of these invitations and it is something very few people even have. Also, my dad no longer works there but I think he was proud that his bosses thought enough of him to give him one of these invitations. They knew he wouldn't got but they appreciated his hard work on the game and thought him deserving of this little memento and I didn't realize until recently how much something small like this meant to my father. My father is always proud of all my accomplishments and is always talking about me to others but for something like this I am very proud of him and this is something that whenever my friends are over my house I show them and I brag about him for a change. This is something whose value and what it's meant to me has definitely changed over the years. I never really understood why my father got this but just thought it was cool because it was for Michael Jordan. But now I realize that it's not just who the invitation is for but why I have it and why my father was given it that makes it more special that what the invitation is for. For all of these reasons, this invitation is my favorite fame-related memento.