Your brush with Greatness?

[Screwball]

I think my funniest story was when I was in St. Louis about to leave on my way back to Cincinnati sometime around '06. I had to stop off for gas and when I went inside to pay, who else was in there but Joe Buck. The funny part is that this was when he had the commercials going for Holiday Inn where the three dude fans got him to say "Swing and a miss" while they felt his voice. So, of course, there's two other customers in the gas station trying to do the same thing. Joe politely declined and as he was leaving I think he noticed the (crap)-eating grin on my face, so he said to me, "It was a good idea at the time."

I also met Gary Coleman at a Hard Rock Cafe when I was out in California some years back. Nick Lachey (and a few Bengals) two seperate times, both at Cadillac Ranch dowtown. Bengals owner Mike Brown at a Reds game while just walking up the steps to our seats. Angels owner Arte Moreno while at school out in St. Louis - his son was in my fraternity.

Oh, and does Bootsy Collins count? Def. met him at Bootsy's one night (shocking, right?).

[redsmetz]

Someone mentioned being at the airport, my mom was waiting for a flight back from California. She sat by a man there and at some point, she told the guy he resembled the singer Mel Torme. Turns out he was Mel Torme's cousin. He and my mom sat there waiting for their flight showing each other pictures of their grandkids.

My mom used to do variety type shows in the 40's. I think I shared this here, but in my mom's last show, she did an act with the guy, Jimmy, who later hosted the first Mickey Mouse Club and a chimp. Mom always said, "The chimp was a gentleman." Her sister finished second to a Doris Day and her cousin in a song and dance competition. I asked my aunt near the end of her life about that and said I'd heard she'd beaten her. My aunt said, no she'd lost, but it took two of 'em to beat me!

[Joseph]

From local lore;

I sat next to Doc Kremchek at a Reds game a couple years ago. Nice guy. Not sure he counts.

Was a row in front of Jay Bruce the day he signed, nice kid.

Was a row behind Bootsy at a Bengals game also. Man simply couldn't be more accommodating to fans. He signed and posed everytime anyone wanted him to do so.

Met C. Trent last year at the Reds caravan. He wasn't rude, but he also acted like he didn't want to be talking to me either. In retrospect I guess he was technically working though.

From the horror realm;
I know the gal from Night of the Living Dead [the little girl] too, super sweet lady.

[15fan]

Mrs. fan & I used to have a condo in downtown Atlanta. We'd run along the path next to the Freedom Parkway before work. For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, the MLK memorial is just a block or two away, and the parkway goes right by the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

One winter weekday morning about 8-9 years ago, in the dark, I saw an older man trudging up a hill towards us. Was about 5:45 am. Guy in a hoodie was about 20 feet behind him. As the old man passed us, he said "good morning". It was Jimmy Carter. The guy behind him was Secret Service. He was running with one hand in the pocket of his hoodie, undoubtedly armed. Rosalyn was also out. She was taking a walk along the path with her own SS escort.

Then there was the time that Mrs. fan & I went to a Hawks game. Andre Rison sat in the row in front of us. Mrs. fan said something and inadvertantly spit all over Rison. Fortunately, he didn't notice.

Saw Dikembe Mutombo in Publix once. Prior to his resurgence as a reality TV star, Mrs. fan saw Flavor Flav at the CVS at the corner of Boulevard and North Avenue.

Mrs. fan travels a lot for work. This past basketball season, she pissed off Lamar Odom while in a hotel in PDX. Lakers were trying to make an entrance (or exit). Mrs. fan was tired from work and didn't give a rip who they were. She didn't wait for them, cut off Odom and continued on about her business. She's been on flights with Andre 3000 from Outkast, George Clinton (he spent most of the cross country flight in the lavatory) as well as a variety of NBA players.

Back in the day when Christina Abernathy from the Weather Channel was the ultimate weather babe, she was on my list of 5. We were at a fundraiser for an art school here in Atlanta. I went to the bar to get a couple of drinks. When I got to the bar to get the drinks, you know who was immediately in front of me at the bar? Christina Abernathy.

I was standing at a bar next to one of my 5. This was the greatest opportunity that any normal guy ever had.

And I blew it. She turned around, a million thoughts raced through my mind, I opened my mouth...and nothing came out. She walked back to her group of friends & I was left to drown my sorrows in an overpriced beer.

Oh, and if I had a nickel for every time I saw a gangly unknown college freshman named Tim Duncan walking to class, the library, or cafeteria, I'd be a wealthy man.

[Homer Bailey]

I went to middle school and played basketball with Brady Quinn and Nedu Ndukwe (Bengals safety).

I once wrote in blue sharpie on Tiger Woods' white golf shirt in 2000.

I played cornhole with Eric Chavez, Jermaine Dye, Frank Thomas, and Nick Swisher at the 2007 National Championship game in Glendale.

I played pool with 2004 British Open champ Todd Hamilton.

I used to be friends with Kent Mercker, as he played golf where I worked, and we talked baseball allllll the time.

Met Tom Watson at the U.S. Open this year and talked to him for about 10 minutes.

I was the 2004 Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic MVP. The 2003 MVP was LeBron James.

I like to brag.

[Scrap Irony]

When I went to school at Berea, one the jobs I had was to take visiting "dignitaries" on tours of the school. Among those I met and toured were Bernie Bickerstaff (former NBA coach and GM), Grandpa Jones, and (best of all) Alex Haley.

After leaving Berea, I've met many NCAA coaches from both the basketball and football worlds-- some good people, some... notsomuch.

Rick Pitino spent about ten minutes telling me how stupid my question was in a post-game interview rather than answer. Later in the same year, he simply stared me down without saying a thing. Withering.

Bill Curry is a geniune, Christian man with an amazing gift for patience (but a fairly pedestrian coach). He also tells incredible stories, especially about his playing days.

Denny Cum is really nice. Bobby Knight is not. (Though he is hilarious. I mean, side-splitting, mean-as-all-Hades funny.) Joe B. Hall seemed lost at all times.

Buddy Ryan is funny, but not as smart as he thinks he is. William Shatner is funny, self-deprecating, and really "gets it". Tom Petty was either high or completely spaced out when I talked to him.

[marcshoe]

Hung out with Max Lucado a bit before he became famous. Really good guy.

When I lived in Texas I played for the same baseball club as cricket great Ian Chappel, who also broadcast playoff/WS baseball games there. He was on a higher level team than I was, but we shared a practice field. He drove a nice Bentley.

Talked to a lot of famous people on the phone when I worked airline reservations. Sheryl Crow, Christopher Guest, Marc (beastmaster) Singer, Seth McFarland (about what you'd expect), Gena Rowlands, Carlton Cuse, Karen Grassle (mother from Little House), Susan Harris (Soap/Golden Girls creator--very nice and gregarious, talked to her much longer than I should have), Maureen Dowd (very rude), Annette O'Toole, Fred Barnes, Henry Ellard, and many I've forgotten. I still hated the job.

I also met classic fiddle player Robert C. Byrd, who performed in our gym when I was in junior high.

[757690]

Years ago, I went out to LA with a bunch of friends. Immediately, they all ran into somebody famous, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Shue, Jim Belushi, Christine Taylor, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, every time while I was doing something else. They all had pics to prove it, and I had nothing, I met no one famous the whole time. On the last day, I met my only celebrity... kinda... Carrot Top. I was so depressed on the flight home, I felt like a complete loser.

[RFS62]

I took a recorded statement from Cheryl Tiegs in her living room. I sat down on the couch and started the recorder, and she said "Here, let me cozy up to you" as she sat down right beside me.

I said "humanahumanahumana".

She played me like a fiddle. Incredibly beautiful in real life, not just when she's in a fashion shoot.

[RedFanAlways1966]

I took a recorded statement from Cheryl Tiegs in her living room.

I said "humanahumanahumana".

Me as a youngster. SI and the swimsuit issue. Cheryl Tiegs and the famous white swimsuit with the "new-fangled" top part of it. It made me realize that girls did not have cooties. I have never been the same.

[Screwball]

I was the 2004 Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic MVP. The 2003 MVP was LeBron James.

I like to brag.

A scratch golfer with some hoops game? I'd be bragging too.

I played pool with 2004 British Open champ Todd Hamilton.

I once wrote in blue sharpie on Tiger Woods' white golf shirt in 2000.

I'd like to hear the back story to these.

[Roy Tucker]

Locally....

- Anthony Munoz lives about a mile from us and we see him all the time in restaurants, stores, etc.

- Sean Casey and Jason Larue lived a couple streets over from us when they were with the Reds and we'd see them regularly.

- Kevin Mitchell's mom lived a street over from us. When he was in town, his massively tricked-up pickup truck would be parked out front and there would be about 50 kids around the house that he was playing ball and generally holding court with. Great guy.

- David Fulcher's son plays HS football for Mason and we sit by Fulcher at ball games sometimes. His son was in marching band as a freshman and Fulcher Sr. and I hauled ice for football games. Nice guy.

- When the ATP tennis tournament is on, we see tennis players all over the place. My son cooked lunch for an Andy Roddick/Terrell Owens and posses lunch at Carraba's. My daughter checked out Serena Williams at Whole Foods. She sees all kinds of Bengals and Reds at Whole Foods.

[GIK]

I was a passenger in a '07 Shelby GT500 and Shelby GT on Ford's test track when they had a few of their race drivers in town filming for a TV segment: Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and even John Force. Edwards drove it closest to the limit. Force almost went the wrong way down the track. Ragan was the most personable. I later went to a Funny Car weekend and hung out in Force's "pit" where I spent a few minutes with him and his daughter Ashley.

[SunDeck]

Jack Billingham lived around the corner from us and his son played on my knothole teams. Jack was a very cool guy- he taught me the proper way to throw a fastball, he hung out with our dads, cooked out with the neighbors when the Reds were in town. There was not an ounce of pretentiousness in the guy.

[Homer Bailey]

A scratch golfer with some hoops game? I'd be bragging too.

I was an above average high school hooper, but far from great. I averaged around 14 a game in high school, but my teammates and coaches always gave me a hard time about the fact that I played in 3 games that gave away trophies to MVP's, and those 3 games were the best games I played all year. One was a shootout in Akron when I was coming off a zero point game, and I scored like 27, and the other was coming off a zero point game in my final career game in the playoffs, in the Central District All Star game, where I was literally the last man on the team (I was an alternate, somehow got on the team), and came off the bench and hit like 3 three's. Basketball is a funny game.

I'd like to hear the back story to these.

I'll start with the Tiger one, as it may be the best story I have.

I do have to correct the year, because I believe it was actually in 1999, as I remember being in 7th grade.

I'm at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, OH during a practice round on a Wednesday. I'm waiting in between holes 10 and 11 trying to get an autograph on my program of the illustrious Tiger Woods. I had just gotten a brand new Nike hat, had it on with my Tiger T-shirt, and waited for about 30-45 minutes for him to come through. This was the beginning of Tiger-mania, when the crowds were absolutely gigantic around Tiger, and you had to go 2-3 holes ahead to try and catch a glimpse of him.

Strict rule for practice rounds: Put your own pens and markers away, the players have their own. I'm guessing this rule is in place to prevent exactly what happened that day. As Tiger comes walking by, it gets crazy. People start pushing and shoving, trying to get to the front line at the ropes. I've got my blue sharpie and my program out, ready for him to sign. People are reaching over me, beside me, around me, under my arms, just desparately trying to get Tiger to grab their item next. As this happens, my hat falls off, and my arms get stuck fully extended out into the walkway right as Tiger walks by. I can't explain the level of helplessness. One of the most claustraphobic experiences of my life. I lose my hat in the fray. I can't see ANYTHING. But I felt something. Something brush against my hand.

After he passes through, and heads to the 11th tee, I walk back up to the top of a hill behind the tee boxes to meet back up with my friends. "Did you get it Did you get it Did you get it?!?!?"

"No, but guys.... I think I gave him my autographs."

We look at the tee box, and Tiger and Butch Harmon (his swing coach at the time) are looking at the left side of his shirt, and as clear as day, there's a blue sharpie mark going from his left pectoral all the way down his left sleeve.

If I didn't have two eyewitnesses, the story probably wouldn't be that believable. I went home that night and told my parents about it, and they kind of brushed it off and didn't really believe me. Lo and behold, they show a clip on the news of Tiger bending down and getting the ball out of the 18th hole, stands up, and right there on the TV screen is the infamous 6-8 inch blue sharpie mark down his chest and sleeve.


The Todd Hamilton story is decent as well. Me and three of my buddies are at a local establishment during the 2006 or 2007 Memorial. Fil3232 was one of these guys, maybe he remembers what year. Anyways, not important.

Several players frequent this bar during the week, and we happen to see Todd Hamilton across the bar. One of my friends sends him a shot, and we go over and talk to him. Yes, we were doing this to an obscure professional golfer, and not one of the many attractive women in the bar.

We talk to him for awhile, and eventually start playing some pool. Long story short, I beat him I think 3 times (Fil, if I'm exaggerating, call me out, because the story is still a bit hazy to me). Anyways, we meet up with him during his round the next day, and spots me and calls out... "HEYYYYY pool shark!" We chatted it up, and he told me he wanted a rematch that night. For whatever reason, we didn't end up going back to that bar the next night.

The next year, we all hunt him down as he's making the turn at the Memorial, and I get his attention and ask him if he still wants that rematch. He tells me he was at that bar the night before and was looking for me, and that he was going back tonight, and drinks were on him if we went. Again for whatever reason, we didn't end up going back.

Couldn't be a nicer guy. I will forever root for him whenever I see him near the top of the leaderboard.