If you had to guess what Jaylen Brown’s highlight from the team’s visit to Washington DC might be, you might say celebrating Banner 18 at the White House. Maybe, maybe not. Personally, what I would say, I would go to Waffle House or wherever with my guys to celebrate what we’ve done. It doesn’t really matter,” Brown said of visiting the nation’s capital and meeting with President Joe Biden. “It’s about our group, so to celebrate with our group that we did something special is pretty cool to me.”
How about leading the team in scoring (31) and beating the Wizards 108-96 in arguably the ugliest game of the season and taking control of their destiny in the group stage of the NBA Cup? Seemed like a ho-hum effort for the defending champs. “We figured it out and we’re still figuring it out as a team. It’s a new season. All of this is just adding to our learning process and it’s great to win games and learn at the same time.”
Well, speaking of learning:
Three weeks ago, Brown tweeted that he wanted to meet Bill Nye, the seminal TV science educator of our times. Nye happened to be in town at Capital One Arena and the two met after the game.
“I was just up thinking about my educational experience [and] it just crossed my mind. ‘Man, I gotta meet this guy,’” Brown said of his tweet name-checking a childhood hero. “His contributions to STEM and STEAM have been amazing and he made learning fun. Gowing up, I used to be excited when the teacher said we’d be watching Bill Nye today. Looking back on it, to shake his hand for helping me on my education journey, was pretty cool tonight.”
Brown, of course, launched the Bridge Program at MIT, “a 12-week summer leadership program for under-resourced high school students in the Boston area, centered around three core pillars: 1) Leadership and Activism, 2) Mental Health and Wellness, and 3) Sustainability, Innovation, and Technology.” He’s been a strong advocate for giving underprivileged kids a chance they would otherwise not have and investing in their future. In short, Bill Nye would be proud.
