Shelly Gepfert with Joe Forte

[kevin <bostonceltics17@yahoo.com>]

FROM: Shelly Gepfert with Joe Forte 
DATE: Tuesday, August 28 


Checkmate
Joe Forte may be a rookie -- and sure, he's not 21 yet. Yeah, he likes
Madden 2002 and wants to buy rims that don't stop spinning when his
vehicle stops -- but he's not green. He understands more about the
media than most people in the media.

"Life is like chess," the first-round Celtics pick says. "Everyone has
a motive, a reason for doing things, and the winners are always one
step ahead, figuring out what the next person is going to do and why."

Forte turns off the Inside Edition segment on *NSYNC that's playing on
his front-seat TV monitor and steps out of his green Range Rover. The
D.C.-area resident hasn't moved to Boston yet, and he's spending the
day playing chess in Lafayette Square, across from the White House.
And I'm scoping out potential opponents.

Some have their own chess pieces that they're carrying around in
purple velvet bags, some play quick five-minute games so they can fit
six opponents in during an hour lunch. Some play for money. Joe's just
looking to play.

"My freshman year at North Carolina, another freshman emailed me and
said he didn't believe that I could play," Forte remembers. "So I
personally went to his dorm room and beat him. I had to call him out."

Forte's used to calling people out. Take the piece in last Thursday's
USA Today that mentioned Forte as one of the guys playing and working
out with Michael Jordan. "It's not true," the 6'4" guard said with a
smile. "I've never even met Jordan before, but it's good press."

And hey, everyone has a motive, a reason for doing things -- and
Forte's already one step ahead, figuring out what the next person is
going to do. Forte has tinted car windows for a reason.

"At first, I had regular see-through windows," Forte says, "but too
many people were trying to get me to pull over, so now I'm prepared
for the next guy."

Or the next botched media story.

Shelly Gepfert covers The Life for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail her at
shelly.gepfert@espnmag.com.


kevin lok
48-34