Northwest Division Profiles: Jeff Green, the Baker

Later in the week Russ will preview the Northwest Division in its entirety, and to hype up his work, here's the story of OKC Thunder forward Jeff Green baking cakes:

Too much emphasis at weddings is placed on the kiss.  Romantic comedies always come up with scenes where brides discuss with their maid of honors whether the kiss should be short and soft or long and hard.  The euphemism is present, intended or not.  I've never judged weddings by the kiss.  I find it pointless.  Who marries someone they don't enjoy kissing?  And maybe because I've never been married, I find it difficult to judge a marriage's future success by an act that two people obviously enjoy doing with one another already.  The truth of the matter is: I find the wedding kiss to be redundant, nothing new, nothing learned.  No, the real harbinger of a wedding's success or failure can be found in the cutting of the cake, because at the cutting of the cake we finally see a couple share something with their gathered friends and family that is not rehearsed; the act is unknown to the audience as much as it is to the actors, which is why the creator of the wedding cake is such an unsung hero.


Jeff Green knew the wedding between Kevin and Westbrook was going to be special.  The soft, graceful smile of Kevin arced perfectly the day Jeff met the two, and it perfectly complemented the explosiveness of Westbrook's quick laughter.  Together the two were the perfect blend of moist cake, raspberry filling, and butter cream icing.  Jeff watched the two taste piece after piece of his oven's offspring--Jeff always viewed each cake like a child, born into the world with its own personality--and he never worried if they would pick the wrong cake for their wedding.  He knew they wouldn't pick something too rich or too bland, so after they tried a vanilla cake with chocolate filling and a vanilla cake with white icing, he went to the raspberry that he saw in Kevin's smile and coated it with the butter cream icing of Westbrook's laugher.  He then brought the sample to them on piece of fine china, trimmed in orange and blue flowers, that in their tangled beauty suggested the looming thunder of approaching storm clouds.  The results were stunning and instantaneous.

"This is good," said Kevin.

"No, this is it," said Westbrook."

"I thought this would be the one," said Jeff, sealing the deal, and at the wedding, as the bride and groom shoved cake in each other's faces, Jeff stood in quietly in the kitchen doorway, smiling as if he himself had just tied the knot, the rest of the reception room failing to see the talents beyond the bride and groom's that went into consummating a marriage with the sheer, childlike joy of icing spread, like warpaint, across one's cheeks.

The photo credit goes to Mike Langston.  I think this is easily one of his best, and made this an easy one to write.