Positive/Negative experiences interacting with players

Ambrose · Post #181 » by **Ambrose** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:59 pm

All my celeb stories:

NBA-Royce White
He wasn't in the NBA yet, I think he was a high school senior or a freshman at the U of M. He was shooting with a friend at the gym and I asked if he was Royce White. His friend mean mugged me and Royce never acknowledged me.

NFL-Adrian Peterson
He'd come into Aldi every once in a while. The first time he came by I joked "Oh hey, you're not that recognizable," and he laughed. The second time I saw him there I told him "Sorry man, I'm a Packers fan," and he laughed again and said "That's cool."

WWE-Daniel Bryan
I saw him walk past at an airport and did a double take. Walked up to him and asked if he was who I thought he was. He said yes, extended his hand to shake mine and asked my name. I was significantly more starstruck here than the other instances and after I told him my name I awkwardly said "That's awesome, I'll let you go now."

While in college my neighbor banged a married Vikings player, and the girl I had a fling with saw her friend bang a married Timberwolves player.

Clay Davis · Post #182 » by **Clay Davis** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 5:03 pm

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the co-pilot on a plane I was on in the 70's

hauntedcomputer · Post #183 » by **hauntedcomputer** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:30 pm

Sam Perkins was in several of my classes but he quit going like two weeks into the semester and probably still got better grades than I did.

I wrote Dean Smith a parking ticket outside Carmichael Gym and he showed me his pass that allowed him to park anywhere in the known universe. Like, literally, it was the only "U" sticker I saw in three years as a traffic monitor.
I'd see Michael Jordan around campus and he was always pretty quiet and serious, usually with a single female at a time, never in a crowd.

I smoked dope with James Worthy, he was hilarious.

matt6715 · Post #184 » by **matt6715** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:33 pm

Met Dikembe Mutombo in the TSA precheck line at 6am leaving NYC. He is a truly gigantic human being. He had an insane amount of stuff in the pockets of his suit and was eventually pulled out of the x-ray line and taken into a room to empty his suit pockets fully

babyjax13 · Post #185 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:37 pm

Played horse with Kyrylo Fesenko when I was 14. He was absolutely hilarious, told me "if you win you are best player in world." I was up HORS to nothing and missed and he just started doing trick shots and kicked my ass. It was honestly so cool to get on a court with an NBA player and feel like I had a shot at going somewhere with basketball (spoiler: that did not happen).

babyjax13 · Post #186 » by **babyjax13** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 6:45 pm

Beethoven wrote:I think I mentioned this already in another thread long ago, but I met Mike Bibby back in 2009? at a McDonalds in Costa Mesa CA. He came with his family (not sure) There was another dude that looked like a relative of his, a couple of women (wives or gfs not sure) and several young children and young teenagers (about eight kids in total).
I came up to his table and asked if I can take a picture (not sure why I was not thoughtful of his time as he was in the middle of eating with his family, but that was just how I was back then not thinking clearly in the moment upon seeing a celebrity I guess). He slightly frowned at me and politely told me that he cant sorry, so I said no worries and went back to my table to eat with my wife.

Ten minutes later, a child comes up to our table and told us if we are ready, we can go to see Mike Bibby for a picture.
So I go to his table with my wife and I shake his hand, he signed a scribble on a napkin, and then took a picture with me that my wife took w her iphone that had a very noticeable no24 Kobe yellow iphone cover on it.
I still have that picture.

The guy is really tall, I thought he was short, but he at least was 6'3 , when he was standing in line at the mcdonalds he stood out immediately. He is really polite and his family seemed really nice as well.

Bibby did some kind of Make-a-Wish foundation thing (or something similar) with a kid in my elementary school. I don't remember the exact circumstances, just that every day was "Mike Bibby is the best point guard in the league." We lived in Utah but he had moved from Sacramento.

Beethoven · Post #187 » by **Beethoven** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:36 pm

babyjax13 wrote:
Beethoven wrote:I think I mentioned this already in another thread long ago, but I met Mike Bibby back in 2009? at a McDonalds in Costa Mesa CA. He came with his family (not sure) There was another dude that looked like a relative of his, a couple of women (wives or gfs not sure) and several young children and young teenagers (about eight kids in total).
I came up to his table and asked if I can take a picture (not sure why I was not thoughtful of his time as he was in the middle of eating with his family, but that was just how I was back then not thinking clearly in the moment upon seeing a celebrity I guess). He slightly frowned at me and politely told me that he cant sorry, so I said no worries and went back to my table to eat with my wife.

Ten minutes later, a child comes up to our table and told us if we are ready, we can go to see Mike Bibby for a picture.
So I go to his table with my wife and I shake his hand, he signed a scribble on a napkin, and then took a picture with me that my wife took w her iphone that had a very noticeable no24 Kobe yellow iphone cover on it.
I still have that picture.

The guy is really tall, I thought he was short, but he at least was 6'3 , when he was standing in line at the mcdonalds he stood out immediately. He is really polite and his family seemed really nice as well.

Bibby did some kind of Make-a-Wish foundation thing (or something similar) with a kid in my elementary school. I don't remember the exact circumstances, just that every day was "Mike Bibby is the best point guard in the league." We lived in Utah but he had moved from Sacramento.

Nice, that does not surprise me. The guy looked like he genuinely loved being around kids.

Beethoven · Post #188 » by **Beethoven** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 7:39 pm

Clay Davis wrote:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the co-pilot on a plane I was on in the 70's

There were other celebrities on that flight too I remember.

ankle420breaker · Post #189 » by **ankle420breaker** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:45 pm

Met Adonal Foyle at Orlando INTL Airport. He was sitting at a table by himself in a food court area and gave up his spot to two women he noticed looking for an open table. Stud.

My wife and I sat next to Stackhouse at a pub in NYC. He couldn't have been more cordial and polite.

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kwsqd · Post #190 » by **kwsqd** » Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:55 pm

Donyell Marshall grew up in the same town as me. I went to his basketball camp a few summers in a row when I was around 8-10 years old. A couple years later, I still must have only been about 12 or 13, I was at a KFC. I'm inside with my friend and his Dad, ordering at the register. I hear someone yelling "hey! Hey!" I look up and around, and then I see him. Donyell is at the drive-thru window and he's recognized me from his camp. He's pointing at me, clearly unable to remember my name, but once he sees that I see him, he gives me a big smile and a wave, and then took off with his food. It was surreal.

That's really the only story I have of meeting an NBA player, aside of getting some jerseys signed. He's an incredibly nice person.

Tim Kempton · Post #191 » by **Tim Kempton** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 8:00 am

Mike lorenzo wrote:What fighters? Any known ... I am practically from MMA, I joined Yal Cabral, who had some fights in the UFC and my coach, I trained with Werdum many years ago in Madrid

Dominick Cruz, Mark Coleman, Jim Miller, Pat Barry, and some others. Those four were definitely the nicest.

What's Werdum like? Seems jokey, but I can see him being a bit annoying also.

Fencer reregistered · Post #192 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:23 am

I've interacted with some athletes, but not hoopsters. The longest was when my mother and I were seated at a banquet on opposite sides of former world heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmeling, and she made it clear that it was MY job to talk with him. This was when he was in his early 80s, but he was quite sharp. (Strong, too.)

Indeed, at one point he had a great comeback. My father complained that as a boy he'd been beaten up by classmates who were venting their disappointment at Schmeling's loss to Joe Louis. Schmeling replied that he was very sorry to hear this, but he himself had been beaten up worse.

The other cool thing was actually his one slight senior moment that I noticed. We talked about American football, and he mentioned meeting a coach of Notre Dame whose name he was now forgetting. I guessed then-recent names like Ara Parseghian, but they weren't correct. I thought for a moment, and nailed my final guess. It seems good old Knute Rockne had been a very nice guy.

Fencer reregistered · Post #193 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:33 am

DavidSterned wrote:
Golden Knight wrote:
collidingNeurons wrote:only one I ever met and had an interaction with besides asking for an autograph before games was Don Ameche when he played at Penn State, used to come into the gym and play pickup games with us occasionally and would agree to not shoot anything in the paint since all of us were like 5'10'' to 6 foot tall and he was 6'10, he never took it very seriously but was a good sport and seemed genuinely nice , remember being shocked he had a British accent

John Amaechi?

I was like I didn't know the old dude from Cocoon played basketball.

I thought he played football, but I probably was mixing him up with his cousin Alan Ameche.

Mike lorenzo · Post #194 » by **Mike lorenzo** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:12 pm

Tim Kempton wrote:
Mike lorenzo wrote:What fighters? Any known ... I am practically from MMA, I joined Yal Cabral, who had some fights in the UFC and my coach, I trained with Werdum many years ago in Madrid

Dominick Cruz, Mark Coleman, Jim Miller, Pat Barry, and some others. Those four were definitely the nicest.

What's Werdum like? Seems jokey, but I can see him being a bit annoying also.

About 20 years ago, (I would be 15/16 years old) Werdum (20/22) was a really dangerous guy outside of the gym, I remember that he offered 6000 € who defeated him, in an illegal fight ... At that time, Brazilian Jiu jitsu was unknown in Spain ... and we already know how effective it can be ... Big names you met, I specifically like Cruz ... Coleman hated him, since he defeated my childhood idol Shogun Rua, especially because of how it happened

Mike lorenzo · Post #195 » by **Mike lorenzo** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:12 pm

Tim Kempton wrote:
Mike lorenzo wrote:What fighters? Any known ... I am practically from MMA, I joined Yal Cabral, who had some fights in the UFC and my coach, I trained with Werdum many years ago in Madrid

Dominick Cruz, Mark Coleman, Jim Miller, Pat Barry, and some others. Those four were definitely the nicest.

What's Werdum like? Seems jokey, but I can see him being a bit annoying also.

About 20 years ago, (I would be 15/16 years old) Werdum (20/22) was a really dangerous guy outside of the gym, I remember that he offered 6000 € who defeated him, in an illegal fight ... At that time, Brazilian Jiu jitsu was unknown in Spain ... and we already know how effective it can be ... Big names you met, I specifically like Cruz ... Coleman hated him, since he defeated my childhood idol Shogun Rua, especially because of how it happened

Saul Goodman · Post #196 » by **Saul Goodman** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:26 pm

When I was a media studies student I was covering this minor league basketball game in Brampton Ontario for the Canadian NBL and James Johnson showed up. Super personable and down to earth guy.

GSWFan1994 · Post #197 » by **GSWFan1994** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:12 pm

Clay Davis wrote:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the co-pilot on a plane I was on in the 70's

Let me guess: was it the same plane in which the doctor was someone named Shirley?

MPM · Post #198 » by **MPM** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 2:36 pm

Have lived in Orlando for the last four years and have had the chance to meet and chat with Aaron Gordon, Bismack Biyombo and Jonathan Isaac. All were extremely low-key nice guys. I told Isaac that I just traded for him in 2K and if he plays his cards right I might start him. Got a giggle. Spoke with Biz about Hornets and Clifford.

On a different-sport note. For those who remember the wrestler Goldberg - I was attending UGA when he was playing football there (I'm old) - he was bouncing at a bar in town and had just been suspended from the team for smoking weed. Some friends and I were milling around next to him outside said bar, and one my guys slurringly asks Goldberg where we can buy some weed (while miming a toke). Shoving ensued, eventually resulting in Goldberg taking a swing at my idiot friend. Another guy grabbed a hold of Goldberg's arm as he was swinging and literally rode the punch (pulled it down) so it landed on my friend's chest (rather than his face). The force of that punch was so strong that it launched my friend into me and we both were laid sprawled in the parking lot. Good times, good times.

tsirigoj · Post #199 » by **tsirigoj** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:06 pm

One more athlete story I forgot to mention:

I was a summer camp counselor at the Manning's high school (Newman in New Orleans). I was in the gym with a group of kids, when this tall guy with perfect posture was kind of pacing around in the gym while on the phone. I thought it was weird that he was allowed to just be there, unannounced, but I kept staring at him because he looked important. He saw me staring, kind of just smiled and nodded, and that was that.

Someone told me later on that this person was Eli Manning.

One of the cool things about being at this camp was that a LOT of celebrities that are based in New Orleans send their kids there (we were trained to treat celebs just like any other parent). Drew Brees kids were at the camp, and I was hoping to see him, but no such luck.

New Orleans is the perfect city for celeb sightings as it's small enough and well traveled through that you're bound to see someone eventually. My co-counselor told me she was serving Mary J Blige one night during camp and didn't even know it. One of my roommates was doing a Whole Foods run and was standing behind Chappelle and Chris Rock in the checkout line. Just so many celeb run-in stories.

DoctorX · Post #200 » by **DoctorX** » Fri Jun 11, 2021 3:14 pm

Bruce Bowen - I met during all-star weekend in Charlotte a few years ago. I met him randomly. I entered a bar and some woman approached me and said "We have an NBA legend in here and he's willing to take pictures and sign autographs." I look around wondering who it is and I see it's Bowen and as a Spurs fan I get excited. I go up to him and tell him I have been a Spurs fan my whole entire life and he's actually shocked and says "Really?" and I said "Yeah since '94." He responds and says "That's pretty cool." We take a picture together and talk for a few minutes. It was a great experience meeting him.

Michael Jordan - Met him as a teenager way back in '98 at the Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament. He was a complete douchebag. I remember approaching him for an autograph and then he tells me after he hit's this put that he would give it. After he hit's the put I then ask him for the autograph and he laughs in my face and says "I'll give it to you after the next put." He pulls this **** on me for a few more rounds and then I realize he's just playing around. I wasn't the only one he did this to but to a bunch of other kids that kept running after his golf cart after every round.

Patrick Ewing - Met him a few hours before a Hornets game. He was at the black barbershop right next to Spectrum where the Hornets play. Waited for him to get out of the barber shop. I approached him and he seemed startled and aggressively got up in my face and said "Hey brother you got something to say." I responded calmly and said "I wish my younger brother was here instead of me because you were his favorite player growing up." He then smiled and shook my hand went on his way.

Charles Barkley- I met him a few times at Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament. He gave me his autograph. Not much really memorable to say about him other than he was respectful.

Christian Laettner- Met him at Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament. He was very nice and friendly.

Spudd Webb- I met him at the Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament and told him as a 13 year old I wanted to go to the NBA. He was taller than me and actually said "Hey kid you are too small and don't waste your time pursuing this. You have no chance of making it." I responded and said "Well you are small and made it." He responded and said "I was just lucky, Highly unlikely you will get lucky like I did it." I did end up growing to 6'2 but he was right unfortunately.

Vinny Del Negro- Met him at Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament as a teenager. He was done golfing and I saw him. I came up to him and he was kind of pissed off but it was funny. He said to me "God damn't kid why the hell do you want my autograph? I'm not special. I'm not a star you shouldn't want my autograph." He signed it anyways but shook his head in disbelief.

Klay Thompson- Met him at all-star weekend in Charlotte randomly at midnight. He was giving autographs in front of a crowd of people. I stuck my hand out to shake his. He looks at me and snubs me. I wasn't offended but just found it funny.

James Worthy- Met him at Jimmy V golf celebrity tournament as a teenager. He was very nice. I would say too nice because there was this young black kid that called him gay to his his face but James still gave him an autograph.