NFT: Have you ever met a celebrity? Do share your tale..

was on a plan with Al Sharpton. At the Syracuse airport with Jim Boeheim. Although a big fan of his and Syracuse basketball, left him alone as he's a grumpy guy and doesn't seem approachable.

Saw Darryl Strawberry at a business lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Told him I was a big fan and left him alone.

Used to go to baseball inductions all the time, so would see/meet a ton of people there. Met Pete Rose. He always goes there to sell autographs during induction. Saw Marge Schott at one induction. Still have a HOF signed program with her signature lol. She signed for her dog.

Met a ton of famous people at Lasorda's induction. Ramon Martinez, Steve Garvey, and Tony Danza.

One time. He was regular. No jewez or anything.😆

when I was young, they had NY Giants go around playing basketball against teachers at our school to raise money for charity. I was quite upset because I had heard rumors that OJ Anderson would be there, but he wasn't. This was Armstead's rookie year when he was just drafted and just a late round draft pick. He was very nice.

my favorite when when I was working at a recording studio in NYC early 90's.
Keith Richards was doing a final mix on his solo album. Has the studio (Crazy $$$) booked at 6pm. Shows up around midnight with his father. He has a bottle of Jack, his father has a bottle of Myer's rum. (he also spent an exorbitant time in the bathroom - must have been something he ate)

Also was bartending in 92/93. LT comes in, I pour him a drink Chivas and water I believe?). He downs it 20 seconds then tells me "To put some scotch in it this time"

Harry Carson. Great guy as you would expect. Jerry Reese. On a flight. Also, super nice and friendly. My son was wearing his Giants shirt. It was during the 2011 playoffs.

...and he'd come and greet every table and make meal recommendations. He seemed super nice.

I had my first microbrew there, a New Amsterdam lager.

Used to go down to Baltimore for a series, and stayed at the same hotel as them at the time.

But the most notable one was Maven from WWE because I was with Cam in MO and Brett at the time

Ken Norton, the whole E street band, Patty Lupone, Howard Cosel, Rachel Welch, Joan Jett, Jimmy Conners and many more. Working in Manhattan and now living in Vegas it just happens.
Pulled in for gas the other day and Carlos Santana is filling up

Michael Barrow - really nice and amiable guy. One of my all-time favorite Giants.
Kerry Collins, Dhani Jones, Brandon Short and Nick Griesen were really nice as well.
Eli...twice. Shy and soft-spoken, but amazing experience both times.
Matt Bryant was kind of awkward, but he did sign an autograph for me
I met Daryl Jones, but he was a bit of a prick


Byron Scott was fantastic. I met him when he was coach of the Nets. Awesome guy.

I'm friends with a couple of the guys from Blue Oyster Cult and some other bands you may or may not know. I have also met a ton of athletes...including Joltin' Joe DiMaggio. Never really became 'friendly' with anyone, but frankly they're just people. Treat them kindly and like a person and maybe they'll have a drink with you after a show. Done it many times.

my job. Worked at some of the top Las Vegas casinos. Got to meet and chat with players, actors and politicians. Their just people some nice and some not so nice.

James Cagney was a neighbor when I was a kid (lived about a mile away which was a close neighbor where I grew up - upstate about 80 miles from NYC). He was very nice.

Met Bill Bradley at MSG (after a game) when I was a kid.

Met and got my pic taken w/ the late Darryl Dawkins at bball camp.

HOFer Dolph Schayes (attended his bball camp 3-4 yrs) along with his son Danny. Danny ran the rebounding drill. I remember being like 15-16 yrs old, weighing about 135 lbs trying to box him out. One of his thighs seemed bigger than my whole body!

Met and got autograph from Hubie Brown who was coach of the Hawks at the time.

William Shatner at a movie premiere (Osmosis Jones). Was pretty drunk at the time. Shat noticed me looking up at his hair and cut conversation short.

Olympic skater Scott Hamilton at same movie premiere. Seemed nice.

Molly Shannon at same. Had nice brief chat, before she and her female friend said they had to go to the bathroom. As i said, was pretty drunk at the time, so I of course asked if I could go to the bathroom with them. They laughed.

Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart Simpson, et al. I think she would've been nicer if I bought her book.

Tom Kenny, Patchy the Pirate and voice of SpongeBob Squarepants. He was very nice. Just wish I knew who SpongeBob was at the time (this was around 2001).

Met Pat Croce (once Pres. and part owner of the Philly Sixers) at a chamber of commerce meeting. He was very nice.

There might be more but that's who I remember off top of my head. And last but not least:

Lawrence F*cking Taylor - met him and had brief chat (asked him about his Achilles) at a Giants fan club meeting in Lancaster PA in 1993.

Very nice and gracious when he didn't need to be. A buddy and myself saw him at a NJ restaurant heading into the 2000 season and we actually approached him at his table. This was extremely rude of us in retrospect but I was young and didn't really know any better. He could and probably should have been rude to a couple of older teenagers interrupting his dinner but he could not have been nicer. BS'd with us for a few minutes. This was prior to training camp the year we drafted Ron Dixon and I remember making a crack about him and Strahan not having a clue who our 3rd round draft pick was at the time.

I grew up with Billy Crystal in Long Beach.

The actor James Woods was a year behind me at MIT - his fraternity and mine were both in Boston. I remember walking across the river with him a couple of times.

When I was growing up, one of my father's legal clients had a store in Manhattan where I used to see a lot of the regulars from the TV show Sargent Bilko.

When I was a political activist in the 1960s-1970s, I met Jane Fonda a couple of times. Also Robert Vaughn (Man from Uncle) and the Poet Robert Frost.

I spoke at a rally in Woodstock around 1980 along with Pete Seeger.

Finally, I flew across the aisle from Evil Knievel once. It was pretty funny. The flight was extremely turbulent - very bumpy - we were over thunderstorms over New Mexico. I recognized Evil so I leaned over and said "I don't suppose this makes you nervous." He smiled and said no.

so I've been fortunate to meet many. Probably the most famous is Bruce when I was working at Bloomberg. Charlie Rose taped his PBS show in a Bloomberg studio probably 20 feet away from my desk. The funny thing was that one of my colleagues was a Bruce fanatic, and he was strung out all day thinking he was going to meet Bruce. We had a spiral staircase that took us down a level to lobby, where there were coffee and snacks. I'm going down the staircase, and who's coming up? Mr. Springsteen with Jon Landau in tow. He puts out his hand and says "how you doin' man?" Went back to my desk to rag on my colleague about meeting Bruce, and he was freaking out (he never did get to meet Bruce).

Most of the others I've met were sports-related - John Madden, Johnny Bench, Phil Rizzuto, Terry Bradshaw, Vin Scully, Brent Musberger, Matt Millen, Pat Haden, Jack Buck, Hank Stram - but a few non-sports as well. Sat in a radio interview with a totally out of it Debbie Harry, Eddie Money used my office phone, sat in a booth at NO House of Blues with Jim Carville and Mary Matlin, escorted Steven Tyler and his date (wife?)to the green room at the LA House of Blues, Midge Ure signed my copy of his first solo CD, the Cowsills hung out in my office, saw Elvis Costello come out of the crapper, peed next to Marty Balin and Dan Rather (different times), was on the field to interview the '88 Mets. If you consider radio DJ's to be celebs, I've met dozens, I knew the CBS-FM guys really well - Cousin Brucey, Ron Lundy (a prince of a man), Harry Harrison.

There are others, but that's the gist of it.

In comment 15274538 David in Belmont said:

Quote:

I grew up with Billy Crystal in Long Beach. The actor James Woods was a year behind me at MIT - his fraternity and mine were both in Boston. I remember walking across the river with him a couple of times. When I was growing up, one of my father's legal clients had a store in Manhattan where I used to see a lot of the regulars from the TV show Sargent Bilko. When I was a political activist in the 1960s-1970s, I met Jane Fonda a couple of times. Also Robert Vaughn (Man from Uncle) and the Poet Robert Frost. I spoke at a rally in Woodstock around 1980 along with Pete Seeger. Finally, I flew across the aisle from Evil Knievel once. It was pretty funny. The flight was extremely turbulent - very bumpy - we were over thunderstorms over New Mexico. I recognized Evil so I leaned over and said "I don't suppose this makes you nervous." He smiled and said no.

Hanoi Jane, lucky you....

In comment 15274538 David in Belmont said:

Quote:

I grew up with Billy Crystal in Long Beach. The actor James Woods was a year behind me at MIT - his fraternity and mine were both in Boston. I remember walking across the river with him a couple of times. When I was growing up, one of my father's legal clients had a store in Manhattan where I used to see a lot of the regulars from the TV show Sargent Bilko. When I was a political activist in the 1960s-1970s, I met Jane Fonda a couple of times. Also Robert Vaughn (Man from Uncle) and the Poet Robert Frost. I spoke at a rally in Woodstock around 1980 along with Pete Seeger. Finally, I flew across the aisle from Evil Knievel once. It was pretty funny. The flight was extremely turbulent - very bumpy - we were over thunderstorms over New Mexico. I recognized Evil so I leaned over and said "I don't suppose this makes you nervous." He smiled and said no.

James Woods propositioned my wife, then girlfriend once. He was in his mid fifties and she was probably around 25 at the time. I always thought that was funny.

theft used to shop at a store I worked at in Stamford. Vince, Stephanie, HHH, and Shane.

But actually doing something with a celebrity happened once and it was at my sisters college graduation at JMU in 2003. I was 17 and met NY Giants Delvin Joyce and Ryan Clarke, visiting to see their friend graduate. Ended up playing spades with them all day and went with them to the bar at night.

They aren’t huge celebrities but as a 17 year old die hard giants fan it was the coolest moment of my life.

Justin Tuck was my daughter in laws best friend's neighbor - met him several times...
Growing up in Hackensack I met Harry Carson a bunch of times as well as Pepper Johnson and several others at their barber shop...
Eric Dorsey was everywhere in his little toyota corolla when I was a kid LOL

Lou Piniella, Doc Gooden, Antonio Pierce (5 days before SB 42), Byron Hunt, Zeke Mowatt are others..

Lee Rouson spoke at my school a few years back as a motivational speaker

Also ran into Tiki, Ronde, Jim Finn and others over the years...

Gotta think about others!

John Elway, Joe Montana, and Earl Monroe at corporate events. I chatted a bit with all of them. Montana was the only dick. I met Peyton right after the Giants drafted Eli, so I told him I just became his brother's biggest fan and he thought it was funny. I have Elway shit about not wanting to play in Baltimore (where I live) and he laughed and said it wasn't because of the city.

My favorite "celebrity" story was when I met Wolfgang Puck. My wife's aunt and uncle, who live in LA, took us to Spago one night. We sat in the courtyard and it started to rain, which almost never happens in LA. The waiters were quick to bring us umbrellas and outdoor heaters to make sure we were comfortable. I knew Wolfgang was going to come to our table to say hello because of the inconvenience. I planned to tell him that we made pancakes that morning on the skillet he sells on QVC, which was true. So he comes to our table, puts his hand on my shoulder while chatting with the table, and I was totally speechless. I was star struck by little Wolfgang Puck. I still get made fun of for that.

people I met at Steve Weatherford's charity events. Steve, of course, John Carney, David Wells, Justin Pugh, Peaches and Herb (I was part of a group that sang "Reunited" on stage with them), Prince Amukamara, Mike Martz, some other random kickers and punters.

Master P and son Lil Romeo and their entourage were shopping we shared a head nod as passed each other he had many jewlz on and not regular. Second same stretch of highway Olive Garden on 22 saw Queen Latifah and her aunt waiting for a seat chilling at the bar then of course when we both got our seats she was placed right next to me and my wife. I didn't want to stare felt kind of awkward because she kept peeking my way. After dinner wife went over and introduced us and she was really cool about it.

Steven Bauer. a year and half ago through mutual friends at a party. "thankful for scarface but jeez i've done a lot since then..." talked about music mostly and he has his own thing going with that. Blues, Beatles and Stones are his fav.

who is a well-known office holding politician in Texas. Through him, I got to meet an incredible array of people in entertainment, music and politics. I was only awe stuck by one celebrity encounter...

My greatest celebrity story is when I was an Army lieutenant stationed on the DMZ in Korea. I got selected to be the military escort for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders during their Christmas 1983 tour. I spent a little more than three days with 12 of them and traveled to all of their engagements. It was the first time I had seen any American women in almost 6 months and it was glorious... even for a Giants fan.

Met a ton of US senators when interning in DC one summer, including now President Biden.

In comment 15274531 Dr. D said:

Quote:

William Shatner at a movie premiere (Osmosis Jones). Was pretty drunk at the time. Shat noticed me looking up at his hair and cut conversation short.

This is hilarious

RUN DMC, LL Cool J, Patrick Ewing and Joe Morris. Joe Morris was then nicest and was able to get autographed photo. LL Cool J was full of himself back then.

In comment 15274540 Section331 said:

Quote:

Midge Ure signed my copy of his first solo CD,

Amazing that I see a Midge Ure reference here!

Backstage party at MSG shook hands with the boys gave Valerie B a peck on the cheek hello DLR drinking JD outta my winebag Shook hands with Billy Squire who was also there Met & took a picture with Mickey Mantle also Joe D Met Mike Bossy Gillies & Billy Smith & also Don Mattingly who was pretty cool

John Legend: it was after an early days Kanye West show, I just knew he’s the guy who was singing and playing keys for Kanye. Shook his hand and told him good show.

Rapper Consequence: same show, way more excited to meet him because of his association with Tribe.

Jay Mohr: made him laugh pretty hard which is cool.

in the mid 80s. OJ Anderson and Joe Clark were regular shoppers. OJ was always friendly and spoke to everyone. Joe Clark was a nice guy but you could tell he was a serious person.

There was a Blockbuster Video a few doors down. Went to return a movie after work and I see Carl Banks standing there. He was there for autographs but no one was in the store. Talked to him for 15 minutes or so. He was really nice. My friend asked if he wanted to go to a bar with us...he said " I cant..If I show up hungover for practice tomorrow Parcells will kick my ass"

in AC when I was a kid. Great fun. If you have to ask who that is then I will repost to the "getting old" thread.

I have met and engaged with many other celebs since then as well.

Nice guy. Way more tolerant of the media bullshit he had to do than I would have been (he was with the Wizards at the time).

What I remember most though were his hands. I have decent sized hands (9.5"), and shaking his hand was like having an octopus wrap itself around me. Holding a basketball must have been like a tennis ball for him.

In comment 15274538 David in Belmont said:

Quote:

I grew up with Billy Crystal in Long Beach. The actor James Woods was a year behind me at MIT - his fraternity and mine were both in Boston. I remember walking across the river with him a couple of times. When I was growing up, one of my father's legal clients had a store in Manhattan where I used to see a lot of the regulars from the TV show Sargent Bilko. When I was a political activist in the 1960s-1970s, I met Jane Fonda a couple of times. Also Robert Vaughn (Man from Uncle) and the Poet Robert Frost. I spoke at a rally in Woodstock around 1980 along with Pete Seeger. Finally, I flew across the aisle from Evil Knievel once. It was pretty funny. The flight was extremely turbulent - very bumpy - we were over thunderstorms over New Mexico. I recognized Evil so I leaned over and said "I don't suppose this makes you nervous." He smiled and said no.

Never.

lol

On the street. He was with his family and didn’t want to be rude but one of my riding buddies was so in love with the In Laws movie he memorized entire parts of the movie.
I grabbed my buddy and headed on over just to say hello, we’re big fans yada yada and after acting a bit miffed he chimed right in when my buddy started doing the whole “serpentine Shelly” scene. It was awesome!

Dick Lynch back in the day. An intern came up and said, "Mr. Lynch they're ready for you now."

The game was due to start soon.

He kinda looked at her funny and she walked away.

He looked at me and smiled and said, "Mr. Lynch will finish his pudding first."

Something about the way he said it still makes me laugh.

He was a good guy.

I used to play at an open gym night in USR, NJ, and Dave Jennings was there every week. He was a good guy (RIP), and REALLY competitive. Joe Morris played a few times, and then I would see him at the NYSC gym in Mahwah all the time. A very nice and humble guy.

Keith Lee, the all-american at Memphis drafted by the Nets played there, and I could see why his NBA career was so short-lived. He was literally dragging the leg he injured up and down the court.

It would be hard to call him a celeb, but Kevin Houston played there as well, he led the nation in scoring 2 years in a row and is the all time leading scorer at Army. Man, that guy could shoot. Softest shot I've ever seen. A few inches taller and he would have been an NBA star.

Whitey Ford.
Actually took a ride in a car with Jackie O back in the day. Just the two of us. Truth be told, I was actually driving a cab at the time.

mid 90's when I was a cop. I got a baseball from John Franco to get signed for my son. Every Met was great especially Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson every Met signed to ball gladly except Todd Hundley looked at me like I was from Mars. Met Mike Piazza and Bobby Bonilla at bowling benefit, people paid money to bowl with celebrities most hurried up the game and left Bonilla stayed with his people and said I was busy during the first game with autographs its empty now lets bowl another game seemed like the nicest guy when I spoke to him.

Jim Burt was part owner of an indoor sports facility in Waldwick where my son played soccer and lacrosse, I met him there a few times. I went to SF for the disastrous 2017 49er-NYG game, and took the Big Blue Travel bus from downtown SF to the game. OJ Anderson was the guest, and he sat right across from me. Great guy, had some funny stories.

In comment 15274663 MOOPS said:

Quote:

Whitey Ford. Actually took a ride in a car with Jackie O back in the day. Just the two of us. Truth be told, I was actually driving a cab at the time.

What? That's crazy (Jackie O, not Billy Joel!), what was she like?

Trained with, and know a bunch of MMA fighters, and boxers. Was good friends with a former Giants RB, so would hang out and party with him and some of the other players.

of all placs, the Bronx Zoo. My wife and I took our son there, and a golf cart pulls up right next to me with them in it. Leiter was a little standoffish, but Zeile was a nice guy (not saying Al isn't).

Was at the premiere for the SNY 1969 doc (my friend is SVP of Marketing at SNY), and met Cleon Jones, Ron Darling and Todd Zeile again. He didn't remember the Bronx Zoo meeting, shockingly.

and Harry Carson at a charity event. They were both very friendly. Harry put my daughter on his shoulders and took a picture with her. (she was 3 at the time)

Also met Danny Aiello (RIP), and John McEnroe, both super nice. John spoke to me like I was his old buddie. Told me how after he retired he tried to befriend Connors but he wouldn't have it. Also was critical of Pete Sampras for not being a better ambassador for tennis.

Around 2008 took a family vacation to Walt Disney World and saw him in "disguise" but hard to not recognize him being 6'8 even with sunglasses and a hat. He was doing a VIP tour at Magic Kingdom and had a Disney guide.

Had no interest in doing the Small World boat ride, so my wife took our kids on the line for the ride and I waited near the entrance in the shaded area. Scottie's VIP tour guide brought them to the ride and took his wife and kids to the front of the line (perks of the VIP tour), so Pippen stayed behind near where I was in the shaded area waiting for our families.

We started talking a bit and I asked if he's been recognized yet with his outfit and he laughed and said not yet. We talked for about 15 minutes about the Dream Team and the 90's Bulls vs Knicks clashes.

His VIP tour guide returned with his family and he shook my hand and told me he appreciated me being low key and not exposing his disguise. I wished him good luck navigating the rest of Disney.

Overall, it was a cool experience.

I was working a summer job in college at a local country club. Sir Charles was playing in a charity golf tournament held by his old college coach, JD Smith, who was then coaching VCU. His playing partner was Gerald Henderson Sr., and Wimp Sanderson and Rollie Massamino were also there. Anyway, I was the one who got Charles' golf cart set up to his liking, stocked with drinks and snacks, towels, tees, etc. Drove it out to his car to pick him and his clubs up and drive him to the first tee. He was very nice to me, cracked a few jokes, and gave me a very generous tip.

I didn't say anything to him though

Sonny Smith. JD Barnett was his predecessor at VCU.

dozens of pro wrestlers, especially from Japan, ECW, and New Jersey indies.

Joey, Dee Dee, and Marky Ramone on different occasions. Dee Dee was real friendly because he was drinking. I urinated next to him at two different shows.

Plenty of old punk bands at bar shows or selling merch out of the back of the van.

Too many to mention.

A better question would be, who you've had dinner with and played golf with.

but I once saw Manute Bol in a grocery store. Seeing him push around a shopping cart that only seemed to go up to his knees was comical.

You could see him walking around the store because he was taller than the shelves.

I got to meet Steve Zahn and the WWE Divas he was traveling with. He was much smaller then I thought he'd be.

Briefly met Harry Carson and Jessie Armstead and got their autograph.

Around a lot of others, but never got to interact with them.

In comment 15274725 JOrthman said:

Quote:

I got to meet Steve Zahn and the WWE Divas he was traveling with. He was much smaller then I thought he'd be. Briefly met Harry Carson and Jessie Armstead and got their autograph. Around a lot of others, but never got to interact with them.

Why was Steve Zahn traveling with WWE Divas?

In comment 15274739 Anakim said:

Quote:

In comment 15274725 JOrthman said: Quote: I got to meet Steve Zahn and the WWE Divas he was traveling with. He was much smaller then I thought he'd be. Briefly met Harry Carson and Jessie Armstead and got their autograph. Around a lot of others, but never got to interact with them. Why was Steve Zahn traveling with WWE Divas?

USO tour

Both were really friendly. Wells is a HUGE dude. He seemed to dwarf Cone.

I met Zion Williamson the day of the NBA Draft, but he seemed to be in a big rush and barely stopped to take pics or sign autographs. He's not tall but man oh man is he thick.

I met Bill Cowher twice. He's a pretty cool guy. I even told him that I wished the Giants would hire him as the HC.

I've met a few Rangers as well. Adam Graves, Dave Maloney, Arron Asham, Michael Del Zotto...all nice dudes. Dan Girardi was great, but very shy. His wife took the photo of the both of us. Ryan Callahan was friendly, but he was in a rush.

Mark Jackson in HS ... 1 of the best guards in the city in the early 80s.
Lou Holtz on a plane to Hawaii ... a funny guy all the time
Ron Francis and his family having lunch at a local Atlanta Bread Co
Marty Gelinas lived in our neighborhood and played street hockey with our kids, the year the Canes won the Cup.
Roy Williams in the parking lot at RDU ... it was in the middle of UNCs academic investigations and he wasn’t very friendly.

Best one... Standing in an airport line at DFW behind Bobby Murcer. He was an announcer for the Yankees at the time and it was during the all star break. I thanked him for many great memories as a fan growing up and he gave me a legitimate thank you and hand shake.

years ago. Mostly when I was regularly going out with a group of friends in the entertainment business, and most probably forgot who I was 10 seconds after meeting me

Ashton Kutcher stood out from the crowd as being very nice and genuine, enjoyed chatting with him for a while one night at a party

Met Craig Ferguson once, he had me cracking up within a couple minutes, one of those guys who's funny without even trying to be

Tara Reade stood out as being even bitchier than I expected

I once staggered drunk over to a seat at a table at some restaurant, crashing into and spilling my drink all over a guy sitting close by. Looked up and realized it was Charlie Sheen. I was utterly embarrassed, he was remarkable polite about it, patted me on the back and told me not to worry

Cool story bro!

I do know several in the recovery community now, being sober several years myself, but it's not appropriate to name-drop who you run into in that world

He's a Carnegie Mellon alum, graduating from a program that became the MBA and donated CMU more money that I'll ever make in my life and now it was named after him.

He came to speak at the school a couple of times and had a great sense of humor and was very down to earth. I also met him at a Steelers game when I was in the owners' box that I shared with a Rooney and Paul Tagliabue (he was a partial owner). All I could think was telling Tepper "Mr. Tepper, I got to your school" and shaking his hand. He told me that he was there recently. But what was really cool when I came back to my one year reunion he was there on his 35 year reunion and he really blended in with a polo and jeans. You're have no idea he was worth 10 billion dollars. I root now a little bit for the Panthers because David Tepper seems like a cool dude.

...had a nice talk with him, we were in concurrence that the Giants would likely win big.

Got pictures with him, Chris Berman held Allie's bag while we took the pix. We didn't know who he was til' years later. He's in the background of one of the shots - sadly, I lost those pictures years ago.

So I met a bunch of retired players and commentators (and went to tons of games including Super Bowl XXI for free).

I was a teacher at the time and when my sister introduced me to Terry Bradshaw he said "you're not going to make me spell anything, are you?" Nice guy.

After game 3 Mets/Astros 1986 NLCS, I drove back into the city in the back of a limo with Johnny Bench (great guy) and Brent Musburger, who my sister was in a relationship with (yes, he was married) We went out for beers, he was an asshole.

Leslie Visser and Dick Stockton hung out at my sister's a few times when I was there, both were awesome. Leslie was beautiful, smart, funny, and kind, Dick really down to earth but had a bit of an out-of-control lifestyle-I'll leave it at that.

Played high school soccer with John McEnroe (Trinity School, NYC). He was aloof, but perfectly friendly and, go figure, a really good left wing. He begged out of a huge post season game with a "bruised" knee in 1975, and we never forgave him for it, but probably a smart move considering...he used to give his opponents a game when he played high school tennis.

and I use met loosely.

First one was Tom Landry. I was at a restaurant with work colleagues in Greenwich, CT.

I was looking around the restaurant and taking in the scene and I said, "that guy looks like Tom Landry". The waiter overheard me and said "that's because it is".

So, I am never a person to approach anyone in a setting like that and I wasn't going to change my rules for Landry, but both our parties were exiting the restaurant at the same time and I was shoulder to shoulder with him walking out we made eye contact and I stuck out my hand (I had about 6 drinks at dinner) and I said "Mr Landry, I think you're a great coach, but I do want you to know I'm a Giants fan" and he shook my hand and said "thank you, so am I"

Second one, was at a bar in New Haven, called Rudy's. It was mostly a Yale bar, but we'd hang out there sometimes, cozy atmosphere, great bartender, pop a shot, nice memorabilia, etc. One of my buddies said to me "that's David Cone" and I said no it isn't and the bartender said "yeah, it is, you guys never met Coney? Let me introduce you"

this was after the 1995 (?) season when Cone and Black Jack were both free agents I guess from the Yankees. My buddy was a big Yankee fan and was saying he hoped the Yankees resigned him - and he basically said it would be one of he or McDowell. I lobbied for a Mets reunion and he said he'd love that too, he loved his time with the Mets. Just basically hung out all night with him. End of the night he says "you guys want autographs?" - none of us were/are autograph people and none of us had anything for him to sign, but we felt like we should say yes. I had $20 bill and that's all I had to my name but pulled out the $20 and gave it to him to sign and Cone said - no way you're wasting a $20 bill on me and opened his wallet and pulled out a dollar and signed it. signed the bill of my buddies Yankees hat, and maybe something else. I used the $1 across the street from the bar for pizza. but great guy. great stories, and fit right in with my group.

The third is why I put met in quotes. Bunch of my college buddies maybe 4 or 5 years after college said let's all get together in NYC and rip it up. 10 - 12 of us from the quad state area. The MA/CT crew (including me) took the train from New Haven, drank all the way, met at McSorley's drank for a few hours and had reservations at Sparks for dinner. Get to Sparks and one of my buddies can barely open his mouth without dropping f-bombs and he's staggering every step he takes.

The host seats us and we look over and the table maybe right next to us or one over from that (very close to us) was Nicolas Cage. Con Air had just come out not too long before this. And my drunk friend keeps yelling "Nick Cage - you're the best" - "Cameron Poe is a hero" and "where is Cyrus the Virus" and annoying/embarrassing shit like that. The maitre de comes over and warns us and that infuriates drunk guy. He starts turning on Cage. "Nicky Coppolla you suck" he's basically heckling Cage during dinner at an upscale steakhouse. Finally he gets the boot, the maitre de says we can stay - he cannot - so I walked him outside put him in a cab and told the cab driver where we were staying (my buddies apartment in midtown).

We finished dinner and walked back and he wasn't at the apartment - the story of what happened after he left us is a story that should be made into a movie, part hangover, part bridesmaids, part American pie - just hilarious and it was pieced together over several months - some of it even years.

but the moral is Cage took it all in stride, laughed even about how drunk our buddy was. Not like he was cool with it, he obviously wasn't, but he also wasn't an asshole either.

In comment 15274758 BestFeature said:

Quote:

He's a Carnegie Mellon alum, graduating from a program that became the MBA and donated CMU more money that I'll ever make in my life and now it was named after him. He came to speak at the school a couple of times and had a great sense of humor and was very down to earth. I also met him at a Steelers game when I was in the owners' box that I shared with a Rooney and Paul Tagliabue (he was a partial owner). All I could think was telling Tepper "Mr. Tepper, I got to your school" and shaking his hand. He told me that he was there recently. But what was really cool when I came back to my one year reunion he was there on his 35 year reunion and he really blended in with a polo and jeans. You're have no idea he was worth 10 billion dollars. I root now a little bit for the Panthers because David Tepper seems like a cool dude.

I've read that he's a really cool guy, total self-made man.

In comment 15274780 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

and I use met loosely. First one was Tom Landry. I was at a restaurant with work colleagues in Greenwich, CT. I was looking around the restaurant and taking in the scene and I said, "that guy looks like Tom Landry". The waiter overheard me and said "that's because it is". So, I am never a person to approach anyone in a setting like that and I wasn't going to change my rules for Landry, but both our parties were exiting the restaurant at the same time and I was shoulder to shoulder with him walking out we made eye contact and I stuck out my hand (I had about 6 drinks at dinner) and I said "Mr Landry, I think you're a great coach, but I do want you to know I'm a Giants fan" and he shook my hand and said "thank you, so am I" Second one, was at a bar in New Haven, called Rudy's. It was mostly a Yale bar, but we'd hang out there sometimes, cozy atmosphere, great bartender, pop a shot, nice memorabilia, etc. One of my buddies said to me "that's David Cone" and I said no it isn't and the bartender said "yeah, it is, you guys never met Coney? Let me introduce you" this was after the 1995 (?) season when Cone and Black Jack were both free agents I guess from the Yankees. My buddy was a big Yankee fan and was saying he hoped the Yankees resigned him - and he basically said it would be one of he or McDowell. I lobbied for a Mets reunion and he said he'd love that too, he loved his time with the Mets. Just basically hung out all night with him. End of the night he says "you guys want autographs?" - none of us were/are autograph people and none of us had anything for him to sign, but we felt like we should say yes. I had $20 bill and that's all I had to my name but pulled out the $20 and gave it to him to sign and Cone said - no way you're wasting a $20 bill on me and opened his wallet and pulled out a dollar and signed it. signed the bill of my buddies Yankees hat, and maybe something else. I used the $1 across the street from the bar for pizza. but great guy. great stories, and fit right in with my group. The third is why I put met in quotes. Bunch of my college buddies maybe 4 or 5 years after college said let's all get together in NYC and rip it up. 10 - 12 of us from the quad state area. The MA/CT crew (including me) took the train from New Haven, drank all the way, met at McSorley's drank for a few hours and had reservations at Sparks for dinner. Get to Sparks and one of my buddies can barely open his mouth without dropping f-bombs and he's staggering every step he takes. The host seats us and we look over and the table maybe right next to us or one over from that (very close to us) was Nicolas Cage. Con Air had just come out not too long before this. And my drunk friend keeps yelling "Nick Cage - you're the best" - "Cameron Poe is a hero" and "where is Cyrus the Virus" and annoying/embarrassing shit like that. The maitre de comes over and warns us and that infuriates drunk guy. He starts turning on Cage. "Nicky Coppolla you suck" he's basically heckling Cage during dinner at an upscale steakhouse. Finally he gets the boot, the maitre de says we can stay - he cannot - so I walked him outside put him in a cab and told the cab driver where we were staying (my buddies apartment in midtown). We finished dinner and walked back and he wasn't at the apartment - the story of what happened after he left us is a story that should be made into a movie, part hangover, part bridesmaids, part American pie - just hilarious and it was pieced together over several months - some of it even years. but the moral is Cage took it all in stride, laughed even about how drunk our buddy was. Not like he was cool with it, he obviously wasn't, but he also wasn't an asshole either.

Great story about Cone. He married a girl from New Haven area who went to my high school. A few years older than me, I never met him, but a couple friends older brothers/sisters have and have some good stories like that

I killed a few brain cells at Rudy’s in my younger days:)

One friends older brother found himself in a poker game with Cone and Greg Maddux several years back, and swears to this day they spent part of the time talking about the different ways they loaded up the ball with foreign substances before each pitch without getting caught. Apparently Maddux said his move was to put junk on the side of his right pant leg, and swipe between pitches as if he was wiping his hand, when really he was loading up for the next pitch.

Sounds crazy...but watch vids of him pitching, you can often see him doing it

before they closed.

Art Shamsky used to shop there and is a nice guy. I still have his phone number.

I helped out Terry Collins with a golf set and he gave me tickets behind the dugout as a thank you.

Mayor Bloomberg would come in, buy items and then ask if we had any eligible coupons to put towards his purchases. He used to buy alot of putters.

Guliani used to come in and talk for hours with us about sports. This was before he went nuts. You could see why people liked him, pretty charismatic dude.

Met Arnold Palmer there, that was awesome.

JR Smith would come in alot. He would come in to get his clubs regripped and ask where the best places to play 20 minutes from Manhattan. Pretty sure he'd take a cab to Pelham/Split Rock to play.

Marshall Faulk was an asshole.

Helped out David Cone buy a few clubs when he clearly had half a bottle of booze at PJ Clarkes. He threw me a 50 for helping him. Great guy.

Henrik Lundqvist would come in for coolers so he could bring back Budweiser to his buddies in Sweden, which was apparently super expensive there. Nicest guy I ever met there.

Geno Smith came in once.

Alice Cooper is a hurricane of a human but good guy. He came into the store during the winter and said "when I lived here, if it wasn't snowing I was playing!!"

Got my picture with Michael Strahan, that was nice even thought he was having a rough day.

Met a few PGA golfers like Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer.

Action Bronson in the entrance to the suite area at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Khabbib UFC fight a few years back. Went up to him and asked if he wanted to hit my weed pen, he did and took a pic with me and my friend.

Back in the very early 2000s (Pujols rookie year IIRC) my family stayed at the Hyatt in NYC when the Cardinals were playing a series vs. the Mets. We are Cardinal fans so this was awesome, as a 10 year old I waited inside the front entrance one night with my dad and in walked Mark McGwire. I asked him to sign my baseball, he said something to the effect of "by the time you're 18 you'll lose this baseball, so I'll shake your hand instead". Shook my hand and walked on. To this day every morning I wake up and think to myself, why didn't you just sign Mark? Why???

In comment 15274773 dannysection 313 said:

Quote:

After game 3 Mets/Astros 1986 NLCS, I drove back into the city in the back of a limo with Johnny Bench (great guy) and Brent Musburger, who my sister was in a relationship with (yes, he was married) We went out for beers, he was an asshole.

Wow!

In comment 15274780 pjcas18 said:

Quote:

this was after the 1995 (?) season when Cone and Black Jack were both free agents I guess from the Yankees. My buddy was a big Yankee fan and was saying he hoped the Yankees resigned him - and he basically said it would be one of he or McDowell. I lobbied for a Mets reunion and he said he'd love that too, he loved his time with the Mets. Just basically hung out all night with him. End of the night he says "you guys want autographs?" - none of us were/are autograph people and none of us had anything for him to sign, but we felt like we should say yes. I had $20 bill and that's all I had to my name but pulled out the $20 and gave it to him to sign and Cone said - no way you're wasting a $20 bill on me and opened his wallet and pulled out a dollar and signed it. signed the bill of my buddies Yankees hat, and maybe something else. I used the $1 across the street from the bar for pizza.

Love the pizza part, I dont give a shit about autographs either. The Cage story is great too.

John Elway sand Ray Floyd. Have NYG LB Brian Kelly an Uber ride from Trumps golf course to the airport. He told some cool stories about that linebacker group.

Morgan Freeman, who threw me at first because he had a shaved head to play Othello in Central Park. Jim Henson, Pepper Johnson, Tiki Barber, Earl Monroe (at Rosh Hashana dinner of all places, in addition to a few other times), Michelle Pfeiffer, Brendan Fraser, a lower tier NY sports celeb in Bill Mazer, Mantle, Berra, Guidry, Skowron, Bauer, Blanchard (that last group of Yankees all at one event and I got to actually talk and interact with all), a bunch of others, plus many more sightings.

My favorite was probably Tiki, because it was after LJs 4 point play. I was at that game and met my wife at the now closed Park Avenue Country Club. Tiki was there with his then fiancee (now ex-wfie) watching the game. I saw him while she went to the bathroom before they left. He talked to me for about 30 minutes very candidly about the Graham/Collins controversy going into camp. I shared it with my buddy (DavidinBMNY), who turned me on to this site to share the story. That is how I ended up here.

My next favorite is a story I've shared here before when I met John Sterling and pissed him off because I didn't want his autograph.

Had breakfast with Ken Norton in San Diego in the early '80s. He was dating a co-worker of my girlfriends and after we met up with them and had a few drinks, he took us to an exclusive late-night restaurant and bought us a meal. Really good guy and his hands were massive.

Got flipped off by Mike Ditka due to me having a brain fart and calling him Dick twice(he and Dick Butkiss look-alike) at an airport.

On my 30th Birthday, I was celebrating with a couple of friends at a club in Dallas when Emmit Smith and his entourage sat down at a table next to me. When he heard them wishing me a Happy Birthday he sent over a shot for all of us. Ended up sitting at his table for over an hour at his invite and was really nice even though I told him I was a Giants fan. Very humble guy but the people with him came across as really entitled assholes because they hung out with him.

My wife and I were working out at a gym in Montana and I noticed this guy with long hair sitting on an exercise bike singing away. As I went to go on a treadmill he asked me what were there to do in town. At that point, I realized it was Nick Nolte. We talked for a bit and I found out he was in the area to do the movie Northfork with Anthony Edwards. He is actually smaller than I thought he would have been. The funny part is that the next day he got done at the gym and while leaving he decided to take a piss outside the gym. Unfortunately he did it in front of the childcare room windows and got written a ticket for it.

I sold Michael Downs a vehicle while he played safety for the Cowboys. Decent guy and very much a family man. What makes this story unique is that this was during the players on strike season. To deliver the mini-van I had to drive it out to the Cowboys practice facility with the signs in it that they used on the picket line.

Bobby Moynihan was hilarious and very engaging. Andy Samberg and the two other Lonely Island guys were friendly. Fred Armisen was nice, but no one gave a shit about him at the time. He got no attention. Haha

and we hung out in same group. Had a different tanner back in the day.

back in the day.

Who banged Jennifer Love Hewitt? Said she was a screamer. That's probably the best celebrity encounter I've heard.

In comment 15274853 Bricktop said:

Quote:

Who banged Jennifer Love Hewitt? Said she was a screamer. That's probably the best celebrity encounter I've heard.

RB^2. Epic

Pictures or GTFO>

In comment 15274835 Matt M. said:

Quote:

My next favorite is a story I've shared here before when I met John Sterling and pissed him off because I didn't want his autograph.

Every story shared in this thread is vying for second place behind your Sterling story. I recall you sharing that before, and it's still gold!

One I remember was in October or November of 2001 was walking on a Manhattan street with my father and who happens to be walking next to us but Ben Stiller. Ended up we were going to the same restaurant and we had a nice conversation along the way. Get into the restaurant and hostess asks my father “<insert father’s name>, will Mr. Stiller be joining you for lunch today?” My father chuckled and said no that Mr. Stiller probably had more important people to have lunch with. Ben Stiller had a nice laugh with that one.

on a dirt road in Franklin Canyon (at the intersection of Mulholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon).

I was by myself walking my dog. He was by himself too. Shirtless, in shorts and sneakers and had been hiding in the bush off the side of the road, drinking a Kronenbourg beer and breaking sticks.

True story, honest to God.

We talked a little. I made a fool out of myself by declaring "you're Paul McCartney!" immediately upon seeing him and he eventually told me - our exchange totaled less than 5 minutes - he breaks sticks in the woods to make paths for animals when stressed out or needing to clear his head.

It's a hobby of his. He does it on his estate at home too.

It never occured to me while we talked, but he was going though a divorce with whats-her-name at the time. Probably having a bad day.

I met Forest Whitaker right as the pandemic was escalating. Really great guy - quiet and laidback.

Met Smoking Joe Frazier in an elevator at MSG, which was pretty astonishing.

On the baseball side, Dan Haren was the best encounter. My friend is related to him, and when he was in town with the A's we met him in midtown for beers. Loved fantasy football, talked it all night.

Football there's been plenty, but my wife and son ended up basically doing the same vacation with Amani Toomer and his family once - same flight, same hotel. Good guy.

Hockey players are generally the best, but drinking beers with Barry Melrose at Saratoga was hilarious.

In comment 15274869 mfsd said:

Quote:

In comment 15274835 Matt M. said: Quote: My next favorite is a story I've shared here before when I met John Sterling and pissed him off because I didn't want his autograph. Every story shared in this thread is vying for second place behind your Sterling story. I recall you sharing that before, and it's still gold!

My kids love that one because they really don't like him.

hits the clubhouse buffet where he eats with his fingers, licks them clean, then picks at more food. He's Fucking gross.

at a party in Vegas the night before the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, was with a buddy who works in the fight business and invited me.

He cut an impressive figure...immaculately tailored suit, fedora, and slowly walked around introducing himself to everyone there, shaking each hand, asking everyone’s name, chatting briefly and being a total gentleman. Was brief, but a memorable one

He ended up playing basketball with students at a Virginia Tech gym before his show. Really nice and down to earth.

I met John Rocker at a gym in Richmond while he was rehabbing with the R-Braves. Nice to me and cracked jokes with me while I was in high school.

Met most of the Braves when they were in Richmond. Ryan Klesko and Chipper to a lesser extent were pricks. Javy Lopez, Mike Kelly, Mark Lemke and John Smoltz were nice.

Dale Murphy was so nice to me when I talked to him during spring training.

I saw Jon Voight at a mall in LA. He waved and smiled but was weird looking in person.

I talked to Jadaveon Clowney for 10 minutes outside a Vegas buffet and then a taxi line. So nice and humble. Took a picture with a girl in our group who went to USC. He sensed she wanted a picture and initiated it. Been a fan of his ever since. Mountain of a man.

and continue to be friends with a few dozen former NFL players who were teammates of mine back in the 90's. Some who people here absolutely hate. Plus a ton of former pro basketball players.

Jim Brown was surprisingly pretty nice to me. I hung out with Mike Tyson and his crew a few times. Those were some crazy days. I actually met the woman who accused him of rape (Desiree Washington) when she lived in Providence and know for a fact that she perjured herself in court. I overheard her telling a friend of hers something that would have had the case thrown out. But it was "hearsay" and didn't help Mike.

walking out of Super Bowl XXXV. Only super bowl I've ever been to and the Giants got their asses kicked-- I was devastated. Going down the escalator I turned and there was Dicky V. I was 13 years old at the time and honestly I'd forgotten his name LOL. So I pointed at him like "Hey you're ... you're.... you're that guy who..." and he goes "Dick Vitale how ya doin'? Shakes my hand and shakes my dad's hand. My dad and him exchanged words a bit as we went down and the one thing I remember Dicky V saying was "Giants Giants-- not today!" in his classic Dicky V way. In other words, Dick Vitale is exactly in real life what he is like on television lmao.

Not sure if that counts.

lol

but our new neighbor across the street's son is the guy who plays Gavin in Silicon Valley.

In comment 15274713 Stan in LA said:

Quote:

Too many to mention. A better question would be, who you've had dinner with and played golf with.

Same. I used to have professional encounters with celebs almost daily. None are what I would call friends, even the ones whom I’m on good terms with. I don’t golf and I rarely socialize with these people.

I am friendly with one of the stars of Dark Shadows, Kathryn Leigh Scott. My wife and I met her at an event and we stayed in touch. Nice lady, has led a very interesting life. I used to play poker with the late Richard Herd and his buddies; we had mutual friends. But the A-list types, just interviews. There are a few I would feel comfortable approaching to say hello if I saw them in a restaurant: James Cameron in particular.

As somebody once said, it’s not whether you know them, it’s whether they know you. Most of them don’t know me at all.

(Tom Cruise was not a celebrity to me) was at Newark airport with guys from West Point. Curtis Sliwa was apparently in a light jog to catch a plane. One of my friends say there’s Curtis Sliwa and without missing a beat he stops short, turns towards us, comes to attention and gives us the best military salute that would make an upper classmate proud. We all jump up and salute him back. He say something like nice job guys and goes back into a jog to catch his plane. I never forgot that. He had a big smile on his face and I thought that was a fucking cool move when he was trying to catch a plane and had no reason to stop.

and her then husband whose name I can’t remember, the musician Eric something. As beautiful in person as on screen, but I was a little surprised at how tiny she was.

I met Stephen Bochko at Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s wedding (his wife is a friend of mine), he was really nice, actually walked up to me and introduced himself (as if he needed to). Elizabeth Berkeley was there as well' but I never spoke to her.

I met Bud Melman at a restaurant in NYC, told him I really liked his Melman Bus Lines skit, he chuckled and said “yeah, I really liked that bit”.

I want to a charity softball game at Yankee Stadium in 1994 that was held before a Yankee game, and featured a celeb team v a team of NYC police and firemen. CBS-FM was a sponsor, and I was friends with the marketing director and he got me into the dugout. I met Michael Rapaport, who seems like an a-hole nowadays, but was really cool. One of those brat pack dudes Andrew McCarthy (?) was kind of an asshole. Late in the game, a bunch of Yankees came out, Paul O’Neil, Wade Boggs, Jim Leyritz, and Willie Randolph (coach then), and he was trying to hit on the marketing manager.

Cater the Bill Cosby show. Was in Bill's dressing room every day. No funny business.
Pete Seeger attended a meeting in my living room.
Spike Lee
Al Sharpton
Bette Davis
Walter Matthau
Richard Butler from Psychedelic Furs
Joe Namath
Jorma Kaukonen
Ani DiFranco
Tiki
Strahan

Spent a night drinking and smoking cigs with Rick Danko

with Joe "Nathan" Lane. Ridiculously funny guy. Star of every play at school - no surprise.

Kirsten Dunst as a very little kid. Was good friends with her grandparents, her Mom, Dad and Uncle.

Met Monica Lewinsky. She was very nice. Again, no funny business.

In comment 15274710 cuty suzuki said:

Quote:

dozens of pro wrestlers, especially from Japan, ECW, and New Jersey indies. Joey, Dee Dee, and Marky Ramone on different occasions. Dee Dee was real friendly because he was drinking. I urinated next to him at two different shows. Plenty of old punk bands at bar shows or selling merch out of the back of the van.

In comment 15274667 Section331 said:

Quote:

In comment 15274663 MOOPS said: Quote: Whitey Ford. Actually took a ride in a car with Jackie O back in the day. Just the two of us. Truth be told, I was actually driving a cab at the time. What? That's crazy (Jackie O, not Billy Joel!), what was she like?

Sorry, out all day. It was a short ride on the UES. Her apt was on 5th Ave in vicinity of 86th. We exchanged a few pleasantries (somewhat surprised she actually spoke to me). She seemed genuinely nice in the short time she was in my cab and she was a good tipper. Really nothing eventful except Jackie O was in my cab.
This thread got me thinking about her and her life. I don't think anyone really focuses on her age and how young she actually was when she was in the limelight. She was all of 31 when she became First Lady and was a widow at 34. Married again to a business tycoon before 40 and buried her second husband within a decade. Had another long term relationship and eventually died at the young age of 64. Quite a life she packed into her too few years.

you are always sitting next to or bumping into someone

My favorites...

Hung with Hunter S. Thompson a few times...a group thing after him speaking

Was going pee at a concert...Paul Shaffer is next to me...'You enjoying the show?' in his Paul voice

Was in Austin Texas few months ago. I had just finished dinner and went out for a smoke...there is a concert venue next to where I ate...a guy walks out of the concert digging in his pack of cigarettes...he is out of smokes...he sees me smoking...I look and its Ron White...I hand him my smokes

He was a great guy...we shot the shit for 20 minutes

I assume hanging with HST came with a souvenir hangover? *grin*

Christina Aguilera. I used to deliver newspapers for a summer or two and I went to the coffee shop across from the SandPaper in Surf City, LBI. It was very early in the morning and I was bringing in the Asbury Park Press or whatever and this short woman was in front of me and she wouldn't get out of my way when I said excuse me. I then gave her a more nasty "move out of the way" sort of tone and she still wouldn't move.

Some guy walked up to me and I told him I'm just delivering papers and I told him to screw off. I look and the woman is very pretty... and it dawned on me who she was. Still didn't care. She should've gotten out of my way. Happened all too quickly.

The first time I saw him I was 22?

The place was going nuts...maybe 200 people

I was lucky and got to go hang with him after...

Eli actually has moved across town to another (+$6mm?) house but he's still around. My daughter ran absolute circles around one of his daughter's soccer team while we watched together so I felt pretty good about that. I would actually argue that his wife is more of an attention grabber than he is, as a pretty blonde turns heads relative to a gangly tall man.

Is Heather Graham who I don’t mind telling you is probably the dumbest person I’ve met in my entire life.

We were both involved with a charity and I kept suggesting someone write her a speech because while she’s good at reading other people’s words she is equally as terrible at coming up with her own.

after another. Doug Henning and Jerry Stiller - two very kind and gracious individuals.

would take up multiple pages here...

so have met plenty of touring pros, athletes and a few celebs. Have some good stories so will think of one or two of the better ones and will post later.

Generally enjoyed the company of the other sport athletes far more than the Pros/celebs.

during a flight from RSW to DFW. It was an early flight so I didn't want to bother them too much so I just engaged them in a brief conversation (they had an Oakland vs. Texas game that night). Tschida was friendly and very pleasant (he was also very polite to the flight attendant) while Dale Scott was the polar opposite.
Ran into Ron Gardenhire and his family a couple of times. I was a manager at a "big box" retailer in Fort Myers, FL and their training camp was literally a few miles up the road so he would stop in and pick up stuff for his place. Seemed like really decent people.

during a flight from RSW to DFW. It was an early flight so I didn't want to bother them too much so I just engaged them in a brief conversation (they had an Oakland vs. Texas game that night). Tschida was friendly and very pleasant (he was also very polite to the flight attendant) while Dale Scott was the polar opposite.
Ran into Ron Gardenhire and his family a couple of times. I was a manager at a "big box" retailer in Fort Myers, FL and their training camp was literally a few miles up the road so he would stop in and pick up stuff for his place. Seemed like really decent people.

Oddly two were in airport's that turned into dinner due to flight cancelations.

Nick Buoniconti, we were both on a flight that was delayed by hour's and got to talking ended up having dinner with him and shot the shit for a few hours really nice man but loved talking about his Dolphins. RIP.

Ted Nugent again a canceled flight in DFW while waiting for another flight got to talking and ended up grabbing a bite to eat and hung out for a few hours.

Chef Jet Tila, I invited him to be a guest chef in an account I was running and did a class for all of my staff. Went out for diner that evening with some of my team nice guy this was a little before he was on about every food network show known to man.

And back in the late 80's early 90's I used to be a manager for a Bennigans in Morristown NJ this is when the Giants had training camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University. A lot of the players I am guessing breaking curfew would come in on I believe it was Thursday nights lady's night. I met and became pretty friendly with a lot of the player, LT was always there broke one of our juke boxes because it ate his money. Hampton, Dorsey, Banks, Pepper, Meggett, Guyton, Ingram, a few others but it was always those guy's very seldom would you see the older player on the team but every once in awhile they would show. it was pretty neat other than the fact everyone and there mother would be trying to harass them for autographs and pictures.

In PSL. He was my favorite, ever so nice. Signed my ball and glove. It was perfect.

I think this was the late 80's and a good friend of mine who was/is an autograph collector asked me to go with him into NYC to see Mike Tyson. Mike had asked my friend to get him a copy of Time Magazine where Mike was on the cover. Oddly enough he did not have a copy.

So we go into the city and meet up with Mike at he Plaza hotel where he was there for an event. He comes out with Don King and he motions to us to follow them.

We end up at Don King's apartment on the east side of central park. He invites us in and gets us some beer from the fridge. We spent about 45 min there just drinking, talking and making fun of Robin Givens (they just broke up or divorced).

Don King ignored us and Mike kept looking over at him mouthing "asshole". We took some pictures and I asked Mike if I could get one of me putting him in a head lock. He said no because he was going back out and did not want me to mess his hair.

So we left 45 min later and I still have the pic of me and Mike with him holding the Time Magazine.

Was out on Upper East Side with DavidinBMNY and another friend in 1996 after the Yankees just won the WS. People are partying in the streets, jumping on cars, etc. We see a crowd outside Elaine's so we head over. Turns out the Yankees are having a party there that is either sponsored by FOX or they are their continuing coverage. They were promoting their shows by showing planted celebrities in the stands all Series and this will come into play.

We hung out a little while and saw some Melrose Place actors and a few Yankees before we took off to keep partying. A couple of hours later we are walking back and see David Cone stumbling out piss drunk. He can barely stand. We yell "Coney". He teeters over to us, jokes around a little. We try to put him in one of the limos hanging around outside. He peers in, sees William Shue (Billy from Melrose Place) and makes a face and slams the door shut. We helped him hail a cab. I guess he got home alright.

1993, right after I got home from my Jr. year of college. I just turned 21. My mom called home and asked if I wanted to go to a party at Mickey Mantle's. Her colleague couldn't go and a client was a partner in the restaurant and put her on the list. I'm all in.

We get there not knowing it was a reunion for the Mickey Mantle Fantasy Baseball Camp, which has since been absorbed as the Yankees camp. This is a party they have every year for campers. They all know about it, so they come prepared for the autograph session they have. It's set up almost like a card show, so these guys all have boxes of balls, cards, etc. I have nothing, so I buy a T-shirt from the party. They have 2 tables set up. The first is Skowron, Guidry, and Blanchard. The second is Mantle, Berra, and Bauer. We get in line and get to Skowron. He couldn't be nicer. Guidry's seat is empty, so we start to move on. He yells at me that Guidry's just taking a piss, don't go anywhere. He asks if we want a picture. This is before cell phones, so it was lucky we had a canera with us. I go to snap a picture and he says fuck that, come around. I go around the table, he slaps his arm around me and we snap a couple of amazing picture. However, old he was at the time, he was still about the most powerful person I ever met. His forearms were solid and his hands super strong. Just as we wrap up the photos, Guidry returns so I literally rub elbows with him and joke about how he's the only guy there who I saw play. Blanchard was uneventful.

Now we move on to the "A" table. Mantle looks at me funny, but signs. He barely says anything. This was shortly after he quit drinking and he was a sour SOB. Berra is next to him, but talking to some guy behind him over his shoulder. I wait a minute and Bauer takes the shirt and signs. I'm about to leave and he says, "Where you gouin' kid?" I didn't want to bother Berra and he says, "You want him to sign or not?" Sure. He taps Berra and shoulder and tells him to wrap it up. Berra kind of says yeah, but goes back to talking. Bauer then smacks him in the back of the head (remember Bauer is the old Marine who these guys revered) and yells at Berra, "Sign for the kid!" Berra signs and before we move on, my mom decides she has to have Mantle's autograph.

She had a postcard from the restaurant. He again looks at us weird when she hands it to him. The postcard is what first catches his eye,. Then he sees this 21 year old again and my mom. Clearly, neither of us have been to the fantasy baseball camp. He begrudgingly signs and then starts yelling for his partner. He did not hide his disdain and try to keep his complain private. He's yelling at the guy, who was standing next to my mom talking to her because, remember, she knows him through work. Mantle is bellowing, "Hey Bill, who let these people in here? Get them out of here!" As we start to inch away, the partner, Bill Lederman, just tells my mom to ignore him, he's grumpy since he stopped drinking.

A little while later, the signing period ends. While we are at the bar, I look up from my beer and next to me is Johnny Blanchard. He just starts talking to me. We talked baseball, and nothing about his career, for about 30 minutes. This was just an awesome night. That T-shirt is matted and framed and hanging over my son's bed. Every time I look at it I remember the night and then laugh because I'm the only one who knows why Berra's autograph is both out of the order they were sitting in and also off to the side, where the other 5 were stacked (just the way they signed). I love that shirt.

In comment 15274886 Bricktop said:

Quote:

hits the clubhouse buffet where he eats with his fingers, licks them clean, then picks at more food. He's Fucking gross.

That was a Hank Stram specialty too. He was a nice enough guy, but he was an outright slob. Matt Millen used to tell me the best Hank Stram stories, like the time he picked Hank up at his hotel, and Hank was wearing the hotel room bathrobe under his jacket. Matt said, “you know they’re just going to charge your card for that?” Hank was shocked, and wanted to bring it back.

In comment 15274783 sb from NYT Forum said:

Quote:

In comment 15274758 BestFeature said: Quote: He's a Carnegie Mellon alum, graduating from a program that became the MBA and donated CMU more money that I'll ever make in my life and now it was named after him. He came to speak at the school a couple of times and had a great sense of humor and was very down to earth. I also met him at a Steelers game when I was in the owners' box that I shared with a Rooney and Paul Tagliabue (he was a partial owner). All I could think was telling Tepper "Mr. Tepper, I got to your school" and shaking his hand. He told me that he was there recently. But what was really cool when I came back to my one year reunion he was there on his 35 year reunion and he really blended in with a polo and jeans. You're have no idea he was worth 10 billion dollars. I root now a little bit for the Panthers because David Tepper seems like a cool dude. I've read that he's a really cool guy, total self-made man.

Yeah, my friend was an editor of the school newspaper that we had. It was a lot of NSFW stuff but there were archives that went back to the 80s. Apparently the stuff we did in 2014-2016 pails into comparison. Anyway, Tepper was featured in some of those old newspapers, I don't know if he was an editor or not and apparently he was quite the prankster in his younger days.

In comment 15275342 NYGgolfer said:

Quote:

so have met plenty of touring pros, athletes and a few celebs. Have some good stories so will think of one or two of the better ones and will post later. Generally enjoyed the company of the other sport athletes far more than the Pros/celebs.

I played with Jerry Kelly twice in the Honda pro am. He and his caddy are the nicest 2 people I’ve ever met.

At an Arby’s in PSL. Nice dude. Chatted over beefs and cheddars.