RealGM

Used to work at a restaurant in high school frequented by athletes including Raptor players and management:

MoPete - nice guy

Alex English - lady's man. Used to give free tix to women that flirted with him.

Sam Mitchell - I was young and stupid. Told him "we need more wins coach" to which he angrily replied "can you play? Can you play? Aight then" and walked off.

Rafer Alston - douche bag

Jalen Rose

Hakeem - Super humble

Chris Bosh - one day I walk into my barbershop in Scarborough I had been going to for 10 years and see him in there getting a cut. This is a shop on a busy street where everyone can see inside yet no one went up to bother Bosh. Dude ended up paying like $100 for a $20 haircut.

I’ve seen Lowry a couple times at that steakhouse south of the arena bistro something ....

Drove by Reggie freaking Miller on the gardener once. We were doing a hundred side by side staring at each other. Hard to miss his giant bulbous lightbulb of a head.

Anyways best story I have is josh Donaldson of the jays absolutely dummied me for making eye contact with his girl walking down the street in Wellington....one passing glance aaaand he rushed me... i assume he’s a giant frat boy douchebag on steroids. That is all.

I used to bartend at Baton Rouge at the Eaton Center back in 2003 to 2006. Bosh came in as did Joey Graham, and Snitch ordered a brownie for dessert and I smothered it with extra Kahlua and brought it directly to him lol. Then in 2015 I think it was I was living in small town BC and the Raps were in Vancouver for a preseason game so the wife got us tickets and I guess it was the day before the game we were downtown in Urban Planet and she was like ummm Chris look over there...and it was TRoss and James Johnson. She forced me to go talk to them lol. They were super nice. I have a photo with my short add in between them if anyone knows how to easily post it lol

Back in the Spring of 2001, I was at the Argos Day open practice at UofT Mississauga campus, and Vince Carter happened to be there watching the practice on the sidelines, because he was friends with someone trying out for the team. This was peak Vinsanity. Myself (11 years old) and a whole group of kids tried approaching to get an autograph, and he just blew everyone off. I also remember him making a nifty getaway to his car at the end of the practice lol.

Duffman100 wrote:Went to a Raptors dinner thing. Was served by Anthony Parker and he was absolutely the nicest person. So humble and cool.

Bumped into Calderon at Starbucks once. Said "Raptor forever man, hope you stay here" or something like that. He was pretty good and smiled and said he appreciated it.

Walked past Bargnani on the street. Such a huge human being. Didn't say anything though because ... it's Bargnani.

Met Jay Triano briefly, again super nice guy.

I've told the Babcock story so many times. But I emailed all the email addresses of variations of his name, asking for advice for someone looking to get into ball. He actually called me and we spoke for 5 minutes.

I was at that dinner and served by AP too, were we at the same table???

Ran into Andrew Wiggins a few years ago outside the real Canadian superstore on dufferin and steeles. I was coming back from a rec league soccer game, picking up a Gatorade. I was sweaty af and probably smelled like a hobo but as soon as I saw two tall dudes walking outta the store I knew one was AW. I was like "****, what's up Andrew?" As if I had known him for years. He laughed, we chatted about the raps for a bit (they were playing Cavs in the playoffs), and took a photo. Good guy. He's from my neighbourhood so I'm not super shocked I ran into him.

Went to the raps game in San Antonio this past year the day Kobe died. Chatted to TD before the game. He was super nice. I had just been in his hometown for work a few days before so we chatted about Southaven for a bit. Took a pic with OG too. Very stoic and just like how he is in general lol. Was definitely a strange game to go to. It was my very first time sitting behind the raptors bench so I got to see a few of their reactions as news of kobe's death trickled into the arena. I was gonna try to get Demar to sign my **** but I decided to not bug him that day. He didn't come out for warm-up at all from what I remember. Shout out to the raps fan from NY that sat next to me during the game. Not sure if you're on rgm but you were cool to talk to lol.

Not NBA but the first celeb I ran into was cujo like 10 years ago when I was a socially awkward teenager. My buddy and I decided to try Panera bread for some reason and he was in line in front of us. I immediately recognized him and started hitting my friend to look. He thought I was pointing to cujo's lady friend lmao. I told my buddy to run and get a piece of paper and pen from his car. Cujo started to leave the restaurant but I think he knew what was up so he was taking his sweet time. I ran up to him outside in the parking lot and said "excuse me, are you who I think you are?". He's like "who do you think I am?". I was so star struck all I could blurt out was "the greatest goalie of all time". Lmaooo. Very nice guy. His lady (I think his wife now) was having a blast too lol. Wish I got a photo with him but he offered to give us some autographs without us asking. My fav player growing up so it was cool that he was such a down to earth guy. Highly recommend his autobiography. Explains why he is the way he is.

DrCoach wrote:

Duffman100 wrote:Went to a Raptors dinner thing. Was served by Anthony Parker and he was absolutely the nicest person. So humble and cool.

Bumped into Calderon at Starbucks once. Said "Raptor forever man, hope you stay here" or something like that. He was pretty good and smiled and said he appreciated it.

Walked past Bargnani on the street. Such a huge human being. Didn't say anything though because ... it's Bargnani.

Met Jay Triano briefly, again super nice guy.

I've told the Babcock story so many times. But I emailed all the email addresses of variations of his name, asking for advice for someone looking to get into ball. He actually called me and we spoke for 5 minutes.

I was at that dinner and served by AP too, were we at the same table???

Maybe??? I forget which year it was. I was with my buddy and we were pretty young, teenagers at the time.

Duffman100 wrote:

DrCoach wrote:

Duffman100 wrote:Went to a Raptors dinner thing. Was served by Anthony Parker and he was absolutely the nicest person. So humble and cool.

Bumped into Calderon at Starbucks once. Said "Raptor forever man, hope you stay here" or something like that. He was pretty good and smiled and said he appreciated it.

Walked past Bargnani on the street. Such a huge human being. Didn't say anything though because ... it's Bargnani.

Met Jay Triano briefly, again super nice guy.

I've told the Babcock story so many times. But I emailed all the email addresses of variations of his name, asking for advice for someone looking to get into ball. He actually called me and we spoke for 5 minutes.

I was at that dinner and served by AP too, were we at the same table???

Maybe??? I forget which year it was. I was with my buddy and we were pretty young, teenagers at the time.

It was at a restaurant off of King street a think over 10 yrs ago

Ed Davis - Nice guy, bit of a goof at heart but a solid dude

Amir - Great guy

Jama Mahlalela - Maybe the nicest and most positive guy I have ever met but I can see him having a fiery side

Bruno - A d***

I've run into a bunch of NBA players over the years, but the best interaction I ever had with an NBA player was with Frank Ntilikina.

It was the summer of 2017, a day or two before the draft, I had just flown into Newark. I was making my way towards the the customs line when I saw what looked like Ntilikina and his mom coming up into the same line behind me. He ended up being about 15-20 people behind me in a customs line that was 60-75 minutes long. I was the only person who recognized him, and I could hear he and his mother (I believe) were talking French so I knew it was him.

Long story short, as the line snaked back and forth we kept passing each other. He knew that I knew who he was, so next time we passed each other I said, "Frank?". He nodded and he and his mom smiled and I shook his hand. My French isn't the best but I asked how they were doing and I think he and his mom appreciated that. He talked for a bit, I told him I'm from Toronto, said him I'd love to add him to our team but didn't think he'd be on the board at 23, and jokingly asked whether I thought he was going to the Knicks.

At this point everyone in line started to realize that I was talking to a potential Top 10 pick in the NBA draft. His mom (I'm assuming it was his mom) looked so proud of him it was actually awesome to see.

Little did I know the Knicks actually reached for him with the 8th pick.

Used to work for MLSE, my first day there was a day 905 game at the ACC, and I ended up talking with Siakam for a few minutes.

Ran into a bunch of other players Lowry, Demar, and a few others in passing.

Oh. What year was it? 2000? Ran into Antonio Davis and Mark Jackson in Ottawa near the Capitol buildings. Raps played a game there in preseason or had a training camp. They had in full purple warm up gear. Nobody was coming up to them. It was pretty funny watching them be tourists. Said Hi. They were both very nice. And Antonio was HUGE!

I continue to share this story every chance I get, but I was big on hiring Nurse during the 2018 off season. I bumped into him at Real Sports Bar and Grill during the 2015 Finals. I started engaging in conversation as we were both heading towards the restroom. He ended up waiting for me outside in the hallway and chatted with me for another minute or two.

Someone who respects casual fans like him are humble human beings. I believed Nurse would be respectful to all players, and if all reports are true that he changed our offence, then he deserved a chance to coach a great basketball team.

I always believed he would be our Brad Stevens or Quinn Synder.

Glad Masai didn't go with the conventional hire (in Bud).

I met Carlos Rogers way back in the day. I remember how thick his arms looked in real life compared to how skinny he looked on TV. NBA players are huge.

I also met Triano, Glen Grunwald, and Tolzman. Triano seemed annoyed (he was an assistant at the time). Glen was really nice and very friendly. Tolzman was also cool. I met him at a 905 game one a few years back. I also happened to be sitting next to Jack Sikma at the time, but I didn't notice until he stood up. I didn't recognize him and someone had to tell me who he was.

I also did some caricatures for Bosh's Christmas charity back in the day and I got to do a couple drawings of him which was cool.

The highlight was bumping into Wayne Embry randomly one day. I had just finished reading his book, and he was nice enough to reconnect and sign a copy for me one day. Inspiring guy.

Serge , Fred , took pics with me at the airport few years back when they were on their way to Washington for a playoff game.

Just deleted photo with Serge!!

Joking..

rocky_da_best wrote:Ran into Andrew Wiggins a few years ago outside the real Canadian superstore on dufferin and steeles. I was coming back from a rec league soccer game, picking up a Gatorade. I was sweaty af and probably smelled like a hobo but as soon as I saw two tall dudes walking outta the store I knew one was AW. I was like "****, what's up Andrew?" As if I had known him for years. He laughed, we chatted about the raps for a bit (they were playing Cavs in the playoffs), and took a photo. Good guy. He's from my neighbourhood so I'm not super shocked I ran into him.

Went to the raps game in San Antonio this past year the day Kobe died. Chatted to TD before the game. He was super nice. I had just been in his hometown for work a few days before so we chatted about Southaven for a bit. Took a pic with OG too. Very stoic and just like how he is in general lol. Was definitely a strange game to go to. It was my very first time sitting behind the raptors bench so I got to see a few of their reactions as news of kobe's death trickled into the arena. I was gonna try to get Demar to sign my **** but I decided to not bug him that day. He didn't come out for warm-up at all from what I remember. Shout out to the raps fan from NY that sat next to me during the game. Not sure if you're on rgm but you were cool to talk to lol.

Not NBA but the first celeb I ran into was cujo like 10 years ago when I was a socially awkward teenager. My buddy and I decided to try Panera bread for some reason and he was in line in front of us. I immediately recognized him and started hitting my friend to look. He thought I was pointing to cujo's lady friend lmao. I told my buddy to run and get a piece of paper and pen from his car. Cujo started to leave the restaurant but I think he knew what was up so he was taking his sweet time. I ran up to him outside in the parking lot and said "excuse me, are you who I think you are?". He's like "who do you think I am?". I was so star struck all I could blurt out was "the greatest goalie of all time". Lmaooo. Very nice guy. His lady (I think his wife now) was having a blast too lol. Wish I got a photo with him but he offered to give us some autographs without us asking. My fav player growing up so it was cool that he was such a down to earth guy. Highly recommend his autobiography. Explains why he is the way he is.

You reminded me, I ran into cujo as well back in 2019. I was in Scottsdale for a bach party and we went to top golf. We were waiting for our tee off spot and did a walk around and saw an Edmonton oilers alum event and instantly recognized cujo. We creeped for a few mins and I finally had the balls to go to the group and approach cujo and he was super nice. He actually introduced us to the guys he was with and took a pic with us and insisted that he take a pic of us with his pals - ex oilers staff. That moment was surreal, the star of the crew and he insisted in taking a pic of us with some assistant coaches none of us knew. Told him I was a huge fan, which i was as a kid, I had a massive poster in my room as a kid with him as a st Louis blue.

I met Jay Triano on the way back from Turkey when USA was in the olympics that year, made a thread back then and even posted a pic.

The 2nd time James Johnson came to Toronto I met both him and Nick Nurse after a Wizards game in real sports. Nick was alone and I got his attention by shouting "coach". My cousin sees him walking towards me and screams NICK NURSE in a drunked rampage, he turned around and walked the other way lol.

Went to a clippers game once in LA when Raps were in town, met Jamaal Magloire, and then Matt and Jack seperately after the game.

Also met Jack once in a Rabba downtown after a game, he was oddly enough buying a powerade at like 11:30 pm on a weeknight. Me and my friends were smoking a joint after the game not far from the ACC, he was with Leo but nobody in the crew cared to acknowledge him. This was during the Bosh era when Leo was a bully to Chuck constantly on the air.

Was eating chinese after clubbing one night downtown with 2 friends, we had to share tables for 6 at this busy spot, its like 1:30am and some cool guy with 2 scandalous girls end up sharing the table and dining with us. I for sure think he was a pimp. Sunny Weems and Amir Johnson come in with 2 very average looking girls lol. Me and my boys get excited as this place is mad small and they see us jumping up from our table to greet them. The pimp at our table told us not to celebrate or even acknowledge them because all they know how to do is lose, lol, no lies man, Weems and Amir even hear this guy yell it at us lol.

Went to game 4 of the finals in GSW in 2019. Met superfan at pearson on the way, and Kendrick Perkins outside the Oracle after the game 4 win. Met Lowry's wife after the game and made a video. Screamed Bobby! @ webster in game 4 and he looked at me but I could tell he was not impressed, I yelled his name like 4 times.

Met Michael Grange after the game 4 win when cheering on the seats and singing O Canada with fellow Canadians. I am the guy in the Blue Lowry Huskies jersey in those 3 epic pics of Superfan cheering in the stands with fans after the game 4 win in GS.. bucketlist...

I have pics of me with Matt and Jack, James Johnson, Triano and Perk.

I was driving and saw a Masserati in Vaughan with Minneapolis license plates, I pulled up beside and saw a guy who hard cornrolls, I yelled Wiggy. My wife was like wtf are you doing, he put down his windown and said hi. I wished him the best fir the upcoming season and said to have a break out year, he legit said thank you sir. I was 32 at the time lol.

I used to go out in Toronto a lot more when I was younger, the last few times I met anyone from NBA was when I was visiting Cali in 2019 and 2016.

Met a lot in the earlier years, not many recently though as I don't spend much time downtown anymore. Having a smoke outside ACC with Garbajosa asking him about good spots to check out in Spain. Met Oliver Miller at Marche (just recently closed), of course his table was stuffed, gave him some good restaurants to hit up.

saw jimmy butler in 2017 in san diego in club district,he was with a friend alone it was a may and weekday. i couldnt remember his name until he went in.

I spoke to Ralph Sampson on the phone for 30 minutes.