Brush with HOF fame...

[cubsfn01]

When i was a senior in high school in 1996, I was the editor of my HS newspaper, and we found out that a local lawyer had organized a fundraiser for a former NFL player from the area who had been ill. I met with the lawyer for a story and he gave me a pass to go backstage and meet everyone. At the time I did not know much about NFL history, but i was excited anyway. I met Johnny Unitas, who i had hear of, but didn't know much about, and Coach Weeb Ewbank, who i thought was older than dirt (remember I was 17). I then got my picture taken with two big Defensive linemen who I had never heard of, Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen. The funny thing about the photo was the two hofers (who looked huge) with MY skinny self in the middle, wearing a Cincinnati Reds shirt. Had I known then what I know now, I would have had a million questions.

[t213]

I once witnessed Frank Robinson blow off a little kid at Camden Yards -- "I get paid when I sign" and he stomped off.

On the plus side, in the mid 80s Lyle Alzado lived in my town and he used to come into the Pet Store where I worked. He was always very cool. One time I spent over an hour with him talking about parrots. Very nice man and he always had his wife and kids with him each time we met. He also always wore a muscle t-shirt and I've never seen anyone so big up close.

Other nice guys I've met:
NHL: Mike Knuble, Matt Bradley, Marcel Dionne, Jason Chimera
Baseball: Brooks Robinson, Frank Howard (if you get in line for his auto, be prepared to wait because he talks to everyone, poses for pics and it's easy to get him telling stories from his playing days)
NFL: Henry Ellard
TV: Mr. T (A little kid (maybe 6 years old) came up to him at the baggage carousel at LAX in the late 80s - he had the gold chains and mohawk. The kid said "Mr. T, when I see a bad guy, I'm going to bop him on the head." Mr. T replied "Hey little man, Mr. T doesn't want you to do that. If you see a bad guy, you come find Mr. T and Mr. T will take care of him." The kid responded with "Alright!" or something like that and Mr. T patted him on the shoulder. Mr. T made that kid's year.

Bruce Willis once very politely and friendly asked me if he could cut in line in a shopping mall bathroom when he was filming a Moonlighting episode. He looked like he was 2 seconds from dying so I said yes.

Andy

[FUBAR]

Jason Chimera is an arrogant ass in my opinion.. almost kicked the crap out of him in his first year. Jason grew up in the hood i used to live in. The company i worked for had a hockey team and i used to keep my goalie equipment at the shop to dry out rather then my apartment. Jason was friends with the owners sons and the whole gang of them used to play road hockey in our shop yard.

I show up on a Saturday to our shop and there is Chimera wearing my goalie equipment out on the street, playing road hockey. Now i am not one to start trouble but using 5 k worth of high end goalie equipment is not something you do. I asked him to take it off and put it back. He told me to go F- myself because he was using it. I walked over to him and I am quite a bit bigger then he is and then insisted he remove it or i would! He said he would put it back when he was done with it. He then said he could buy and sell me if he wanted... If it wasn't for our mutual friends, the Oilers would have had one dead little mouth piece in goalie gear. Arrogant little p.o.s thought he was something special cause he played for the Oilers, i could care less.

Now i am not too much of an ass, i had given these kids my old set of goalie gear to use months before for their road hockey but Chimera thought he was above the old equipment.

He/ they ended up having to buy me a new stick cause they frayed the bottom of mine....

On the upside, all of the other Oiler players i met over time have been great... Grant Fuhr was the nicest guy ever and sat and talked with me for about an hour. He auto'd all my old equipment(wish i still had it) His auto looks like it says Great F**k....

[Orions father]

My very first and most memorable to me was meeting Muhammad Ali as a young kid in the late 70's. My father is a big time boxing fan. He was a Golden Gloves referee and always went to the big fights in Vegas. Muhammad Ali in my house was like Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle in most others. It was 1979 or 1980 and my mom, sister and I were staying in San Diego for the weekend. We went down one morning for breakfast at the motels restaurant. After a few minutes my mom told me to look two tables over, there was The Champ. He was eating breakfast with 3 other people. My mom took us over to his table to get an autograph. After we got to his table, he looked at my and said "Do you want to box kid?" It was a mixture of fear and jubilation to the young me. I didnt wash my hand for a week after calming down and shaking his hand. Altough the napkin which I got his auto on has been destroyed from showing it off and keeping in my drawer, the memory will always stay. Looking back, he could have not been nicer. We interupted his meal and he was nothing but a class act.