I'll skip the many athletes I've seen in public places but only said a quick hello to... My Dad worked for the United Way when I was a kid, so I got to meet a lot of Oilers/Astros/Rockets at all the charity events. Met Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews many times this way. They were both super nice and always remembered my name when I'd see them again. Robert Reid was always around too, also a super nice guy. Rudy T was at a bar listening to a band I was subbing for many years ago. I sat next to him for a few minutes. He said we were good and we talked about the movie The Commitments. Turns out it's one of his favorite movies. Mine too. We laughed about how every other word was "fuggin". Also told him who my Dad was (he was involved in the United Way too) and he remembered meeting us several times. At least he said he did. Met Mario Williams at a 2006 Texans 'open house' my band was playing at. I said "Mariooooooo!!!!!" and he smiled and waved at me. I think he was shocked that I recognized him, since it was just a few weeks after he was drafted. As I was rolling my gear out after the gig, he held the door open for me. I said "thanks, good luck this season." He laughed and said "thanks, man!" FYI, that guy is HUGE. I met Cliff Branch, (Raiders Hall of Fame WR) a couple of years ago. He is a family friend of a girl I work with. He came to work and let me try on his Super Bowl ring. We went to lunch and he was wearing his Raiders jacket. That guy is a super nice guy, but MAN - he has an EGO. Nothing wrong with that, though.
i met otis thorpe at a bowling alley one time. also, a lot of the oilers used to go in a bar my dad owned. my step mom actually racked greg montgomery in the nuts after he whipped out his junk in front of her.
I've seen all of 2005-2006 Rockets team when working at the Rockets. Most of them nodded their heads to say "what's up" I also saw Clyde Drexler and Bill Worrell. Bill said hello to me. I was at the holiday party that year and I was in the same elevator as T-mac along with my guest. He was indifferent to us. It was only three of us. We didn't say anything because he seemed he didn't want to be bothered. I also ran into Shane Battier last month at a bar in Midtown. I went up to say hello and he was very nice. He was with Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich and some Bulls player. I saw Dante Robinson at a club. I was trying to get through the crowd to the bar and I brushed a huge guy and he wouldn't budge because he was busy talking to a girl. After I got my drink, I turned around and recognized him. I've seen almost all of 2005-2006 Comets team as well, including Cynthia Cooper. That's all I can remember.
Herschel Walker - 1997-ish? He was having Thanksgiving dinner at Luby's in Dallas after the Cowboy's game. Rude people were forming a line to his table for autographs. He was waaaaaay nicer than he should have been. I guess it was one of his laid back personalities. Felton Spencer - 1999. He was in the mall by the Riverwalk in San Antonio...in some baby clothing store. Yeah, he's a former Jazz player, but he was extremely nice. Mitch Richmond - 1999. Also in the Riverwalk mall. Got his autograph in Sam Goody...nice guy. He and Richard Hamilton were buying huge stacks of CDs, but I didn't meet Rip. Rudy T - 2007. I was walking into a game at Toyota Center and he came walking out one of the non-public exits on the side of the building. I just walked up to him and said "Hey Rudy!" and shook his hand. He said "Hey how are you?" with a big smile. Felt real genuine. Then some other people pulled him aside for a picture. Came across really humble and appreciative of his old fans. It seems like there's more, but I can't think of them.
I thought you would like that. He signed a picture for all of us. One of the guys is a huge Bronco fan, so he signed one for him and put "PS - Broncos suck". He said he loves Andre Johnson and likes the Texans, but he will always be a Raider fan first. He said he was the one who talked Al Davis into signing Randy Moss and that Al is always wanting to know his opinion of players before he signs/drafts/trades for them. Not sure if that's true or not. Could be him just talking, which according to the girl who knows him, he loves to do.
- yao ming - jon barry - luther head - damon jones - stephon marbury - daniel gibson - p.j. tucker - lamarcus aldridge - kevin durant
Um, am i the only one who thinks Clyde is on the third most interesting part of that photo? More narration please. For me, I think Rudy T tops the list, in terms of getting to talk with someone and realize what a genuinely great person he is. I've also met Sam Jones, Robert Reid, Calvin Murphy... all pretty nice guys, though Sam can be fairly bitter. Dr. J once said "excuse me" when he needed to get past me into the locker room for a Rockets game. I have never washed that shoulder.
Where did you run into them? I consider "running into" someone to be when you see them somewhere you weren't expecting them to be. Not saying that's not the case, but it seems like it would be highly unlikely to just randomly run into all those guys. EDIT: Just went back and read some of the other posts. Your list doesn't seem so crazy lol.
Saw Dick Butkus at Cheers shot bar on Sixth Street in Austin at about 2AM. Asked how working on My Two Dad's was and was promptly escorted out of the bar by his entourage.
Basketball : Kevin Garnett(we won the championship at his camp),Shammond Williams, Baron Davis, David Wesley, Eddie Robinson Football : Michael Vick, Dan Reeves, Jamal Anderson, Ray Buchanan, most of the atlanta falcons.
Probably in the Austin/ Houston area? 4 of them are former Longhorns, are Rockets/ 1 former Rocket and isn't Damon Jones a Houston native? Doesn't seem that unlikely to me.
I saw Franchise and Cat at Dave and Busters. Tried to strike up a conversation with Mobley, but he wasn't interested. I saw Cassell and Van Exel at Jason's Deli in Sugar Land. My friend talked to Cassell. Said it was sad to see him go (To Phoenix.) I saw Ken Caminitti at a card shop when I was little. I was looking at posters and he walked up behind me and was looking. I was too intimadated to say anyhting. Caught me by surprise. It turns out he was there for a promotional event for baseball cards. I only collected basketball cards.
Nice: -BOKI (Maxim party...very funny) -Hakeem (had dinner with him at a friend's house...Great guy, scared of dogs) -Steve Francis (Maxim Party..nice guy) -Cuttino Mobley (Maxim Party...nice guy but very dumb) -Charles Barkley (Timber Wolf Pub) -Charles Jones (same bar) -Craig Biggio (rode on an elevator together and chatted) -Mark Grace -Ladanian Tomlinson (sort of knew him at TCU, very humble guy) Indifferent: -Tim Hardaway -Anthony Carter -Rodney McCray -Bob Sura -Jon Barry Rude: -Kareem (at the galleria) -Scott Padgett (total cocky jerk...which was shocking...nice ears buddy) -Larry Dierker -Andre Dawson and the award for biggest jerk ever...Mickey Mantle (though he was probably just hungover)
i've met my fair share as well. Being in a "high-end" industry, i've done business w/quite a few athletes who live in this area. However, growing up in Paris (Fr) one of my best friends @ the International School of Paris was Kevin. His parents used to kill all the other parents @ every event during the annual ISP Olympics. His dad's name was Tommie Smith of gold medal olympic fame (black power salute). He lived in France during the 70s. Very nice, generous & cool.
I forgot to mention while on a business trip in Chicago I ran into the entire Bulls team of 2 years ago at Navy Pier. It wasn't all that exciting though. The only person I shook hands with was Ben Wallace.
Michael Jordan (at club spy back in the day...) Carl Lewis (The Roxy) Sleepy Floyd (Treasures) PJ Brown (Miami Airport) Reggie Bush (Galleria) Chris Webber (Galleria) Shaq (Galleria) Chris Paul (Galleria) Charles Barkley (every club in Houston when he was a Rocket) Rudy T (some bar - had a shot with him) Jose Lima (Sam's Boat) James Posey and Nick van Exel (Galleria) D-Wayne Wade (a club downtown) John Paxon, Will Perdue, Bill Cartright (yep, old school Bulls on Bourbon Street) Warren Moon (The Gingerman)
incredibly nice: Ken Caminiti, Craig Biggio, Steve Smith (the hoops player, not football) pretty nice: Otis Thorpe, Thurman Thomas, Brent Price, Kevin Bass (I tutored his nephew at his house, so he had to be nice.. his wife was super nice though), Bill Worrell, Bruce Gietzen (hahaha remember him off Paramount 20 and HSE or whatever it was?) so-so/apathetic but not mean: Swindell, Drabek, Dave Jamerson, Matt Maloney, Cat Mobley arrogant: Calvin Murphy
