Nine-year-old ’00s expert Omar Searcy talked pop culture, love, sports and politics with Lauren Motzkin and Gabriel Barcia in between soccer and basketball practice Thursday night. He also plays baseball.
Q How was soccer practice?
A It was good.
Q What’s your team called?
A The Indians.
Q What position do you play?
A Midfield.
Q Pepsi or Coke?
A Coke.
Q The mountain or the beach?
A The beach.
Q Coffee or tea?
A I don’t drink coffee. I drink green tea.
Q When’s your birthday?
A Oct. 22. No, wait … Feb. 22.
Q What year?
A 2000.
Q How does it feel to have been born in the new millennium?
A Feels good.
Q What’s your favorite movie?
A “Star Wars.” I like Stars Wars.
Q Which one? There are six.
A I know. I like all six of them.
Q All of them? Wow. Do you have a favorite character?
A Yeah.
Q Who?
A Han Solo.
Q What’s your favorite show?
A “Drake and Josh.”
Q Is that on Disney Channel?
A No. It’s on Nick.
Q Which do you like better, Nick or Disney?
A I like Nick better. It’s more cooler. It has more content than Disney.
Q But do you like Miley Cyrus?
A No. I don’t like her … All right, I used to. But not anymore — I think she’s braggy now.
Q Have you heard of Beyonce and Lady Gaga?
A No. I’ve heard of Britney Spears though.
Q Yeah? Do you like her?
A Yes, I like her.
Q Do you have a favorite song?
A Yeah.
Q Which one?
A My favorite song is the “Oh baby baby” song. I have it on my iPod.
Q When did you get an iPod?
A When I was eight or nine.
Q Wait, aren’t you still nine?
A Yeah.
Q So when you think back on your life, which was your best year?
A My best year was when I was nine. I won the free-throw contest. I was one of the best players of the league, too.
Q What about school? What’s your favorite subject?
A I like math and science and social science … no. Just math and science.
Q And what do you want to be when you grow up?
A Basketball player.
Q That’s really cool. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? Will you be in school? A basketball player? Will you have a family?
A I’ll be a basketball player. I’m gonna leave and go to the NBA after my freshman year of college for the NBA draft. And I’m gonna have two kids … a boy and a girl.
Q Twins?
A Yeah, twins.
Q Thinking about kids already? Do you have a girlfriend?
A I used to. Now we’re in different schools.
Q And you’re not into the whole long-distance thing?
A I guess not.
Q Have you ever been to Yale?
A Yeah, my sister goes there.
Q Did you like it?
A Sure. It was cool. Really cool.
Q How does it feel to have a sister that goes to Yale? Are you proud of her?
A Yes. Yeah. It’s a good place. One of the best.
Q Do you wanna come here?
A Yeah maybe. I am looking into Wake Forest, though. They have a good basketball team.
Q What’s your favorite basketball team?
A I like the NC Tarheels. I like the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. The Celtics are doing good this year. Kevin Garnett was out last year. And now they got Rasheed Wallace.
Q And what’s your favorite place in the world?
A North Carolina. We used to live there. My family moved to California when I was five. Now I live in Burbank.
Q Last question: Have you heard of President Obama?
A Yeah, I know him. But I don’t like him. Not that much. He raises our taxes.