“you can’t chase the night”

Just ran across my favorite-ever story from a Bill Simmons sports column about the 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend in Dallas (and by the way, despite the nickname “Uncle,” Wes isn’t all that old):

“So it’s 2:45 in the morning on Friday night. All the Dallas bars and parties have either closed down or stopped letting people in. I’m standing on Main Street with a bunch of people, including Worldwide Wes, the renowned NBA power broker who’s really a cross between Confucius, a benevolent uncle and The Wolf in ‘Pulp Fiction’ to assorted NBA superstars and up-and-coming stars. Known as ‘Uncle Wes’ to the players, he carries more weight within the league than basically anybody. Because he keeps such a low profile, I could never figure out why. Which is why I went out of my way to spend some time with him on Friday night.

Back to Main Street: We’re standing with a young player who wants the night to keep going. The young player pushes to find another bar even though the odds are against it. Uncle Wes makes a face. He’s squashing this right now.

‘Nothing good can happen at this point,’ Wes explains simply. ‘You can’t chase the night. When the night is over, the night is over. That’s just the way it is. You just gotta wake up tomorrow and hope for a better day.’

Uncle Wes had spoken. I am not exaggerating by saying it’s a strangely profound moment. Within 15 seconds, our group splinters in three directions to look for cabs. I find one with my friend Connor. We climb in. We look at each other.

‘I will never be able to properly explain that story to anyone,’ Connor said.

Agreed. You can’t chase the night. It was like hearing a human fortune cookie. I went back to my hotel, took my contacts out, crawled into bed and hoped for a better day.”