Beast Mode Night in SF - Part 1

Brad and I hustled down the dimly lit San Francisco street towards a huge Jeep that was parked diagonally up ahead. Two fairly large, intimidating men were standing next to it, like guards, on the sidewalk. I double checked the address where we were headed, it was correct. But there was no door to the night club, Verso, in sight. I looked at the Jeep, again, this time noticing an angular shape in the form of the capital letter B on the door. "It's the Beast Mode symbol," I said aloud. 

The next thing I knew they were opening the doors of the car and showing us how it had been customized both inside and out. It reminded me of the bat mobile a little, only on steroids. Money had obviously been spent making this vehicle a one of a kind collector's item - fit for someone very wealthy to own. One of the men pointed out that it would be auctioned off and the proceeds would go to Marshawn Lynch's charity, Family 1st Family Foundation, which was what had brought us there in the first place. We wanted to attend the organization's NFL Celebrity Bartending Event, starring Beast Mode himself, but we didn't have tickets.

Our plan was to arrive early, purchase tickets, grab dinner someplace, and come back when the party started. We were about to learn that this would be a bit of a challenge, however. After an interesting conversation with the men about life, football, the movie Concussion, volunteering for Family 1st, and how obtaining tickets needed to be done online, we decided it best to go sort things out elsewhere, and come back when the doors were open. We headed towards the symphony hall, knowing there had to be someplace to eat nearby. 

It turned out we would have no trouble finding a restaurant, but after consuming a delicious dinner, we remained ticketless. We wandered back to the night club, passing by venues for both the NFL Honors Awards, and an event featuring Bennet Omalu, the doctor Will Smith played in the movie, Concussion. This time we found a line of about 15 persons outside our event. To our delight, one of the men we had befriended earlier, Boon, recognized us. Knowing our predicament, he came over, pulled us from the line, and ushered us inside the night club. 

The inside was illuminated in a deep ocean blue color, and had a long, well stocked bar along the left wall. There were two floors of VIP booths that surrounded the room stocked with wine buckets and champagne glasses, and there was a decent sized dance floor in the center with a DJ booth up front. Hip hop music was playing, and the floor vibrated a little in time with the bass. We were among the first guests inside Verso. The night was young, and held the promise of meeting perhaps one of the best running backs of all time, Beast Mode, Marshawn Lynch.

To be continued...