Met Mary Lou Retton at the gymnastics school were my girls attended. Met DREAM at an ISLAM talk at school. At this point, I wanted to DIE and I thought I was already in heaven. Met Warren Moon at a Rockets' game. Met Sleepy Floyd at a free-throw contest at Oshman's on Post Oak. I can't think of any more. That's NOTHING. I always see him there. ALL the time.
Bobby Sura in front of Toyota center earlier this year. Forgot which game. I just remember finalsbound and moestavern19 taking forever to get there. Booker T at Bush Airport. The wrestler.
Talked to Olajuwon on the phone once. (The company I used to work for did the lighting at his home) Met Jeff Bagwell picking up mexican food at El Tiempo. (When it used to be on I-10) Met Warren Moon and his entourage of lady friends at a bar one night at an Alley Theatre opening night party. I met Matt Bullard after a game during the streak. I grew up a Hawkeye fan and watched him play college ball so it was really cool to meet him. He was very nice. Met Barry Bonds when I worked overhire for ESPN. He talked to me for several minutes. I thought he was a good guy. (This was Pirates Bonds, not big-head Bonds) Not sports stars but sports related: Also with ESPN, I got to sit next to Chris Berman as he called a Sunday Night Baseball game in the Dome, and sat, with a pane of glass between us, next to Harry Carray and Steve Stone as they called a Cubs vs Astros game. I got Carray's signature on a Cubs press release.
-Charles Barkley at AMC in Sugar Land when he was still playing for Houston. -Mario Williams at the Galleria, July '06. He came with his g/f? while she was shopping for shoes. My friend pointed him out but nobody in the store recognized him. -Moochie Norris at Celebration Station back in '03. -I played ball with DJ Augustine two weeks ago. (not a star...yet)
Kobe Bryant--- At a gym I worked out at. Signed an autograph on a Sports Illustrated magazine. Real nice guy. He spent time talking to a disabled kid who was rehabbing in the gym. Shaq----Minutes later Shaq walked into the gym. I went home and brought back an Upper Deck basketball card of his to sign. He said he couldn't sign it for contractual reasons. He also spent time talking to the disabled kid. Charles Barkley- At the gym as well. He is a huge person. Didn't seem that big on tv. James Posey- At Blockbuster Video. He pulled up in a Bentley Coupe. Then saw him a month later walk into a Walgreens. He was in a white Escalade then. Nick Van Exel- Saw him at Jamba Juice. Didn't speak to him. Seemed like he was upset or maybe that's how his face looks. Sam Cassell- At Treasures. He was standing near the buffet line looking at the girls walking by. Every time one would walk by, him and his buddies, would shout "Dayamm!" Rashard Lewis---At the gym, asked him for an autograph on a pencil and piece of paper. He remarked signing the autograph with a pencil, "Man this reminds me of school." He is probably the nicest of all the athletes I've met. Stone Cold Steve Austin-- Was sitting on a plane in first class en route to Las Vegas to see the Tyson fight back in 1999. After getting off the plane while standing in baggage claim, he sees a race car on special display that is cordoned off. He ignores the signs that say "stay away" and "do not touch" and he jumps into the race car.
David Robinson- all class. Vinny Pazienza (boxer) at a Dairy Queen on Dairy Ashford 1986 - very cool.
Yao (Momentum BMW 1-10 & Random Chinese restaurant in China Town) Josh Howard (Vegas) Mobley (Fuddruckers) Moochie Norris (Fuddruckers) Dampier (Bar) Deron Williams (Vegas) Chris Paul (Vegas) Joe Johnson (Vegas) Kaman (Vegas) Carmelo (Vegas) Durant (Vegas) Bibby (Vegas) Bo Outlaw (Houston Galleria) Marbury (Houston Galleria) Adrian Caldwell (School) Terence Morris (Gym) Othella Harrington (Gym) Troy Aikman (Church this past Sunday) Modano + Willa Ford (Northpark)
I'm only including athletes I exchanged greetings with and/or had a conversation of some sort with. From what I remember, all the guys were pretty nice as long as you approached them the right way I guess. In somewhat chronological order... Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes at Holiday Inn Hotel in Houston Vernon Maxwell after Rockets game in the Summit Ditto for Otis Thorpe Ditto for Robert Horry Ditto for Rudy T. Ditto for Kennard Winchester Ditto for Calvin Murphy Ditto for Eric Murdock Chris Mullen at the Galleria Charles Barkley at Club Crystal back when it was good on Sundays Ditto for Sam Mack Ditto for Mario Elie Ditto for Carl Lewis Ditto for Michael Cooper Cuttino Mobley at Club Europa Steve Francis doing some promo bs in Austin LaMarcus Aldridge in Austin Mo Taylor at Treasures Ditto for Sleepy Floyd Ditto for Nick Van Exel...Also saw him at BW3s T-Mac at Club Hush Ditto for Chuck Hayes Ditto for Aaron Brooks...Also saw him recently at Frenchy's next to UH & TSU Deke at Club Vintage, the Roxy, & Club Zeppelin Pat Ewing at Club Vintage Bonzi at the Roxy Ditto for Vince Young Ditto for Joseph Addai Mario Williams at Shadow Bar Matt Schaub at Club Zeppelin Shawn Kemp at 24 Hr Fitness Jalen Rose in Vegas Ditto for AC Green
I notice lots of Vegas encounters.. here are mine: Tom Gugliotta (hard rock) Walt Williams (mgm) was in the cab line with Kelvin Cato (wynn) Travis Best (venetian) Clyde Drexler George Gervin Dominque Wilkins Matt Leinart (leaving a club at the mirage) Bill Walton Hulk Hogan Steve Young Cris Carter Troy Aikman
Basketball Robert Reid, Kenny Smith, Moses Malone, Tim Breaux, Juaquin Hawkins, John Lucas III, Steve Francis, Mike James, Rashard Lewis, Shawn Kemp, Horace Grant, Cadillac Anderson, Earl Watson, Ron Artest, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper Football Charley Casserly, Morlon Greenwood, Will Demps Those are just the ones I can think of. Places like the Fonde are full with NBA players all summer.
Met pretty much everybody who was on the team at the time of the Pippen signing press conference. Basically just said hi to each of them. They were all nice enough. The only one there I talked to at length was Gene Peterson. He was very friendly. Also met Rudy T, Sam Cassell and Jim Boylen and had short, friendly chats. Threw a football with Earl Campbell once when I was a kid and used to deliver his newspaper. And Ken Kennard (defensive lineman? for the Oilers) baby sat me once and gave me Chiclets. I met Bill Walton at a Bob Dylan concert. He was very nice. I think there are more but those are all I can remember now. A friend of mine met Clyde Drexler at a water fountain when she'd been jogging. He came up behind her and said, "You run real good." She said it took all she had not to say, "I run real well." Oh, also I dated a woman who used to date Vernon Maxwell. But I never met him.
I met the 1973 Houston Oiler squad; I worked at their summer training camp in Kerrville. Met Sid Gillman, Tom Williams, Bill Peterson and Bud Adams. I worked alongside Mr. Adams son, Kenny, who later committed suicide. Adams had a daughter too about my age. I should have married her and maybe I would have inherited the Titans!! "Met" a bunch of other NFLers as I worked the visiting team sideline during that season. Sat next to Joe Willie Namath on the Jets bench and pretended that the girls were all woo-hooing me. Met Art Howe in a bakery when he was managing the Astros. Met Elvin Hayes at the airport once. "Met" Garth Brooks at the DFW airport once. Met the late Harry Blackstone in 1984 or so. I got to be on stage with him.
Not many here: Cynthia Cooper- super nice, humble Matt Bullard- nice guy Larry Dierker- nice guy, met him a year after he was canned, he was still bitter about it. We had a few beers at a cookoff together. Steve Francis- during his first tenure here, met him in a club. Nice guy, and a freak with the ladies. Dennis Rodman- kind of 'met him'- during his last offseason with the Spurs, he would hang out at this bar in Clear Lake called Clear Lake Beach Club in a private area. He was there one night and I didn't think much of it. My buddy and I were driving home at 2:30 AM and saw this girls ass bent over this car at the Diamond Shamrock on Nasa Rd 1 across from NASA. We decided to stop and get some gas and see what was up. When we pulled up, it looked like a some big black dude was sitting on the back of this crummy little car getting a hummer from this girl and had quickly buttoned up his pants. Sitting next to him was some funky looking white guy. I went in to pay and looked over and said 'what's up' and noticed that the black guy had lots of tattoos (this was before tattoos were a big fad with black folks). I was a little drunk and went in to pay and I realized that it was Rodman. I asked the cashier if that was him and he said 'yeah that's dennis' like they were old pals. I walked out and told them to 'take it easy' and got a good look at him- it was Dennis Rodman. The girl was pretty nasty.
Gracious: Warren Moon, Vince Young, Casey Hampton, Clyde Drexler Tweener: Lebron James, Rip Hamilton Jerk: Tony Dorsett, Roger Clemens, Dirk Nowitzki, Jose Canseco, Marcus Camby (but in all fairness I think I busted his game while he was picking up a prostitute in Vegas... sorry Marcus)
I've met more than this, but these are interesting. Best: Darryl Kile. I was a young teenager, and he was one of my favorite players. He seemed busy before I stopped him, but he stopped what he was doing, and sat and had a pretty good conversation with me. I cried when he died. Worst: Derek Jeter. I saw him on the street in New York, called out his name, and if looks could kill, I wouldn't be writing this. No real response, just a cold stare. Not really an athlete, but a wierd story. I ate at Paul Lo Duca's bar in Sedona the night he was traded from the Dodgers to the the Marlins. (It's a Dodgers-themed bar.) His wife was sitting there, watching the Dodgers and crying. I got an earful about how the trade was ripping her heart out, how awful the Marlins would be to play for, how her whole life was around the Dodgers.
When I was about 14 I saw Shaq and maybe a couple other Lakers (Glen Rice maybe) at the Minneapolis airport. I remember Shaq coming out of the gate and just standing there for a moment and he saw me just staring at him... he had on the biggest slippers I have ever seen. When I was 11 I got to go on the Twins field before a game with the Red Sox. My Uncle sat on a plane with then Twins manager Tom Kelly. My whole extended family (and now me as well) are all big Twins fans since they live in Fargo, ND. So my uncle had somehow got these on the field passes and he took me, my cousin and I out on the field and we chilled in the dugouts and stuff while the Twins and Red Sox were warming up. We were standing right by Jose Canseco as he was warming up, Mo Vaughn was also standing right next us for a while, and then we saw Roger as he was due to pitch. We ended up getting the whole Twins team to sign baseballs for us, and got Marty Cordova Rookie of the Year bats. I wish I had been old enough to really appreciate what an awesome experience that was.
I was horse shopping and went to look at a horse Bud's daughter owned. We couldn't use the indoor arena because Bud had moved all kinds of heavy equipment into it and taken away the keys. He was mad at his daughter for divorcing her husband and having an affair with a horse trainer. She was having to fire sell of several horses to pay the bills. You probably should be glad you did not marry her afterall. I meet Mario Williams at Petsmart. I had my well mannered 80 lb mutt with me and he was checking out ahead of me. He commented that he wished his dogs were so well trained. Craig Biggio was at a baseball game our kids were playing in (fall ball) several years ago. He was very nice and signed the hats for the opposing team. His kid's team crushed ours. But nobody minded.
