Shakira, met her backstage before a show, was shocked at how down to earth she was, incredibly sweet. Christina Hendricks, met her a few years back at a promotional appearance, totally sweet woman, we talked for a good while total sweet heart. Athlete wise, Clyde Drexler is such a warm and inviting guy. Rudy T is just about as awesome as they get.
Billy D. Washington. Selena (R.I.P.) - stayed talking to a bunch of us, back when I was around 19 or 20, at a concert... she was done and was complaining that she was tired... and just sat and talked to us... she said: "This is so relaxing... talking to y'all without the pressure of an interview, getting paid for it, etc."
Nicest athlete I ever met was Darryl Kile. Nicest living athlete that I've met was Kevin Millar - he likes to buy drinks. Least friendly that I've met was Derek Jeter.
I could understand this. But my wife ran into him one day here in Henderson at Chuck E. Cheese and Mike was there with his kids. She said he was very approachable and polite. My daughter asked if she could take a picture with him and he was very cordial about it. Also ran into him at the M Resort...where he was eating with his family. Didn't chat with him...thought it was best to leave him alone. Seems like a pretty down-to-earth family guy who has one helluva life story to tell. Which, speaking of, Mike is going to do a show here in Vegas where he goes through the story of his life. He's also going to take questions from the crowd after the show...which should be extremely interesting.
Got to meet a lot of Houston athletes in the 70's and 80's because of my Dad's work, but I'll stick to the people I've met more recently. JVG - a friend of mine had a party last year and JVG was there. Apparently their kids go to the same private school. He was very nice and down to earth. He didn't really want to talk about b-ball but talked about everything else. It was cool, he was just another guest at the party. Dunta Robinson - Met him when I played in the Texans pep band. He stood outside the locker room and talked to us for 10 minutes or so right after the game. He asked he he could play my drum. Kevin Walter - Met him at an open practice this year. He was so nice to my 7-year old nephew. He promised to find him after practice and give him his gloves, but we ended up leaving early. Sorry Kevin! Eric Winston - Met him at the same open practice. He pretended he was going to squirt my nephew with water and made him laugh. Seems to really like kids. Mario Williams - Met him at a gig for Texans season ticket holders in 2006 right after the draft. I was rolling my gear out a door he had just came in and he said "oh, sorry man..." and ran back to hold the door open for me.
One of the nicest is a D-list celebrity but Ryan Cabrera was hella nice. I've never heard of him until one day me and all my friends were at a bar and the girls started freaking out cause Cabrera was next door. With them being too afraid to do anything and me not knowing who he was I went up to him, his guitarist and manager and said "Hi man, I don't really know you at all but apparently you're pretty well known with the girls. All of them are with me at the bar next door you wanna come over?" He said alright and him and his friends dropped by 15 minutes later, we all ended up drinking and partying all night everybody was buying each other shots and I got some great advice from his manager about the music industry. Cabrera gave me his number towards the end of the night and told me when he was going to drop by Boston so we could chill again. Me and a couple of girls ended up in his jacuzzi at the hotel... It was a pretty fun night.
Michael Moore - Bought my friend and I dinner and talked with us for quite a while at a restaurant in Austin after we saw him give a lecture at UT. (Woody Harrelson was there, so I give him credit for being a nice dude too) Glen Davis - Trained in the offseason at my gym. Extremely polite and timid/shy. Matt Bullard - Saw him at the boat show. Extremely approachable, was very kind to my mom who talked his ear off. Bill Worrell/Kevin Eschenfelder (sp?) - Bumped into both of these guys at various UH events. Loyal fans and great reps of the U. Hubie Brown - Met him at the CUSA basketball tournament in Memphis when he was coaching the Grizzlies. Guy lives and breathes basketball and was more than happy to talk hoops with me.
One more super nice guy, and one more *******. Evander Holyfield was really nice. Met him at the Olympic Boxing qualifiers at the GRB. James Watson, (wrongly) credited with discovering DNA, was an absolute asshat, and an idiot.
I met Larry Dierker in Galveston once. He was judging the Yaga's Wild Game cookoff. Super cool and nice guy; we talked about the 'stros and baseball for a while. This was back in the early 00's and he was still stung by how the Astros did him dirty. My grandfather taught English at UH and had Hakeem in his Freshman English class. He said he was a nice young man...but not a very good English student.
Janeane Garofalo - super nice, and very friendly. Siouxsie Sioux - Was a blast, interesting to talk to, and interested in what everyone else was doing as well. Rachel Dratch - really cool. Tina Fey - super nice, and genuine Afrika Bambaataa - hilarious guy. He was a trip Rob Lowe - Surprisingly nice and friendly Charlie Sheen - went out of his way to be really nice Val Kilmer - was hilarious. I've heard from other people they thought he was an ass, but I didn't find him to be that in any way. He was just hilarious. He seemed like his character from Real Genius even though when I hung out with him it was long after that movie had filmed. There's been plenty of others, but those are the ones that were the nicest.
i ran into bob knight at peace park in austin once - i was w/ my dog and he was walking by himself. he complimented me on my dog and talked to me while we were walking - really nice guy, which shocked the hell out of me. i smoked a joint w/ milla jovavich at liberty lunch during sxsw about 15 years ago. i used to work for earl campbell so i met a bunch of football players (i hate football, btw) - phil simms was the nicest pro i met - down to earth, funny dude - chris simms is cool too. met bum phillips and his wife too - like i said, i hate football, but the guy is a legend and i was kind of awestruck.
The Big Show - Funny guy. Reminds me of SHAQ a lot. Vince McMahon - Nice, but somewhat timid. Didn't seem comfortable around guns. Josh Koscheck (UFC) - Very approachable. Laid back personality.
Totally agree with you on Clyde. The guy is super nice. He was getting ready to run Memorial and we jokingly asked him to play tennis with us. He agreed and after his run came back and hit some balls with us. It was a lot of fun.
Kristen Stewart- Met her and her pops at an LA Best Buy. She was very nice and not snobby like I thought she would be. Edge(WWE Wrestler)- Real funny dude. Matt Bullard- Met him at Academy and he was with his kid. Chill dude and talked Rockets for about 5 min.
i worked at a local grocery store here in austin that a bunch of celebs would go to. sandra bullock - never found her attractive in movies, but she would come in to my work in jeans, white t-shirt, flip flops, no make-up, no bra - absolutely gorgeous. double trouble - bassist is nice guy - always had a smile on his face...drummer was kind of a prick and usually had a scowl. ann richards - she clearly wanted to be left alone - at best she was cordial, but often was ice cold to people. it was actually funny watching her. i remember once she was looking at cards and some guy came up to her and said "has anyone ever told you you look like ann richards" - he was obviously trying to be cute as a way to talk to her. w/out even looking up from the card she was reading she said "nope" and the guy stood there for a couple seconds and she brushed her hand and said "move along". i always tried to strike up conversations w/ her. the most talkative she ever was to me was when i mentioned her appearance on king of the hill. she said that they had recently asked her to do another episode and i implored her to do it, but this time she should hook up w/ boomhauer - i dont think she knew who the hell i was talking about though. doubt she even watched the show. rick perry - the very last customer i dealt w/ on my last day - i still wish i had told him what a punk i thought he was. i would call ann richards "governor", but this guy got no such courtesy from me. i treated him like he was any other customer and it seemed to bother him - he would do this weird smile/stare like he was waiting for you to acknowledge him. either that or he was trying to hit on me. billy bob thornton - i remember it was dead of summer and he came in wearing all black and a black ski cap - got some food and sat at a table for like 2 hours, left for a couple hours and came back and sat at a table for another couple hours. just kind of weird.
Bill Murray - laid back and had no problem taking a picture with us. Actually I was taking the ppicture of he and the girls but he stopped me and made his friend take it so I could be in it. Jack sikma - at dueling piano bar after a rockets game. He walked by and I just said, "tough game coach" and let it be, but to my surprise he stopped and we chatted for a while. George bush Sr and Barbara - really sweet couple and both were nice and easy going...then again i guess you have to be at that age. We hung out in their apartment above the library in college station for a good 1/2 hour. Bun B - super cool guy and very approachable. Coach K - the guy is intense, inspiring but also easy to be around. No wonder kids love to play for him.
Met Eric Winston, Kevin Walter, and James Casey in Midtown. We hung out for about 2 hours, and drank profusely on the Friday before the bye week last season. All-around great guys. I've also met Ron Artest, Dikembe, Aaron Brooks, and Luther Head. Also really nice guys. Robert Horry has been over to our new house in Sugar Land a few times to check out the quality of work our builder does, and every time he does, he brings over a bottle of wine. Just a super down to Earth, laid back guy who seems really content in life.
