[Red2486]

Originally Posted by AcesJames

He talked at kickoff, and most of us laughed at his "it's dope" comment and rolled our eyes, thinking this would be a 1 shot deal endorsement from a celebrity that would flop after kickoff. A few weeks later we get a shoutout from him and the BEP at the SuperBowl. But then, we received word we'd be seeing him again at the Championship, for a live concert, just for us. And then again over the summer we find out he's invested his own time and money, bought air time from ABC, enlisted the help of close to a dozen other A-list celebrities, and produced a 1 hour special promoting FIRST. Plus, to make sure he spreads the message as far and wide as he can, he talks to quite a few major news sources to spread the special.

I have to admit, I was very sceptical of Will.i.am for a pretty long time. At kick-off I thought that he was just going to be promoting himself and the BEP to the FIRST community, but now, I am so thankful for everything he has been doing for FIRST (which is alot). Having someone as popular and as well known as him is giant for us. Every time he posts about i.am.FIRST on the BEP facebook page, thousands of people are seeing it.

And I was definitly one of those people who complained about the stage taking up too much room, but looking back on it, I think that losing some space is a very, very small thing for us to put up with after all that he has done for us. And the show wasn't too bad either.