Have you ever met any famous sports figures?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
When I was a VERY young lad, I had the wonderful opportunity to be personally acquainted with most of the 1985 Chicago Bears--Walter Payton, William Perry, Willie Gault, Richard Dent, Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, Gary Fencik, etc.

In my quaint, little, middle-class subdivision, there is a lone mansion; in the mansion lived, quite literally, the man who owned almost all of the land in the town. Well, he was pretty rich. Growing up, my mother babysat for him, so our families were reasonably close. As a result, we were allowed to hang out at his place when he had parties with the Bears...which was often, when the team was so great in the mid-'80s.

Otis Wilson and Walter Payton actually once briefly accompanied my then-little self and my mother on a stroll around the block. Though I don't remember it, I was also apparently around to witness Walter Payton fall off of a horse and onto his head...

Oh, and my late grandfather walked in on Mike Singletary's wife in the bathroom. THAT is a great story...!
 
ok you are not telling me what they play.. :mad:

i am not going to google the names and find out..i am too lazy for that

since most of you are american... its either basketball or american football or baseball.

or does some guys play baseball and others basketball and rest american football..

i mean they play some ball game ..and i think they are good at that :up:

- too lazy to google

Acrobat(Dont let the bastards grind you down)
 
OK, for Acroman, here's what Headache's friends play/played/do:
joe dimaggio: Baseball, also Mr. Coffee and married to Marylin Monroe (you should at least know of him)
karl malone: basketball
patrick ewing (twice):basketball
sue bird (multiple times):basketball
speedy claxton (worked with):basketball
jeff van gundy (multiple times):basketball coach
marcus camby:basketball
anthony mason:basketball and general thuggery
john starks: basketball and throwing game 7 of finals
mike milbury: hockey
mark messier: hockey
wayne gretzky: hockey
david wells: baseball
tommy lasorda: baseball manager
dick vitale (three times): former basketball coach, best known as TV announcer
herm edwards: football former player, now coach
bill parcells: football coach
other various current and former jets: football
boomer essiason: football
wesley walker (worked with): football
marv albert: basketball announcer, TV and radio, also bites women while wearing bad toupee and women's undergarments...YESSS!
mike lupica (twice): sportswriter/radio talk show host
pat riley: basketball coach
rick barry:baketball
stephon marbury: baskeball
stephen boyd (multiple times): football
pat lafontaine: hockey
mick foley: "Professional" wrestling
jalen rose: basketball
various D1 basketball coaches (jay wright, tom pecora, bob mckillop, joe jones, mike jarvis): basketball (duh)
craig biggio (multiple times): baseball
 
Last edited:
thanks hewson...i know Marylin :)

I would assume

when you say football you mean american football and not football

and when you say hockey, you mean ice hockey.

wow..so many sports persons...

I would have listed the cricket personalities I have met....and I bet you wont have a clue..just like I didnt have a clue about anything...
 
Dennis Lillee (great fast bowler for Australia - cricket)
Adam Gilchrest (current Australian Cricket Captain)
Most of the Hockeyroos (a real hockey team)
Various AFL players, especially The Dockers, many of whom live nearby.
Jarred Mosley (golfer)

Go on Acrobatman, name names, we might surprise you:wink:
 
Last edited:
I met Jim Mora, ex Colts coach, by chance behind the dome after a game. I have autographs of several ex Colts from years ago you probably wouldn't know if I named them (Steve Emtman, Shaun Dawkins, Tony Siragusa, the punter, I forgot his name)
 
I know all 3 you mentioned, Emtmann was supposed to be the next great NFL lineman when he came out of UWash, didn't pan out... Dawkins was a receiver (out of Cal I believe), had the weird blueish eyes, I think he spent a camp with the Pats if I recall, and everyone knows the Goose...funny guy, cracks me up on the sidelines all the time.
 
ozzie smith- shea stadium
brian jordan- shea stadium
brian jordans sister- shea stadium
mark mcgwire- shea stadium (see any pattern here?)
walt jocketty- shea stadium
david ortiz- fenway paaak, my god this guy is huge. ok so is mcgwire, but i expected mac to be a giant. ortiz is a tank.
joe mauer- new britian (aa game)
matt morris- yankmee stadium
i got albert pujols to wave to me last year but he didn't speak or sign any autographs at...shea stadium.

and i met the dewitts (cardinals hierarchy) awhile back...at shea stadium...sitting a row in front of us. nice people.
 
I have met

Sunil Gavaskar (talked with him, got his picture with me )

at oval - sometime in 2002...it was the 4th day of test match

Michael Vaughan ( got his autograph )

at lord - 13th july ( think it was 13th) 2002 ( natwest final)

Nick Knight ( got his autograph )

at lord - 13th july 2002 ( natwest final)

Sachin Tendulkar ( got his autograph)

at lord - 13th july 2002 ( natwest final)

And quite a few more international cricketers more :) but I am sure even an Aussie cricket fan wont know them..unless u are a HUUGEE cricket fan.
 
When I was a teenager in Alabama one of my friends Dad was big wig with Auburn University. So we went down to a basketball game one time and got to go back to the athletic dorm afterwards. Whose room were we in? Bo Jackson's. Bo was there and Charles Barkely stopped by after the game. It was pretty incredible really looking back. Hanging out with Bo and Charles in their dorm room.

I have also met a ton of football players that played for Michigan. Too many to list them all. Tom Brady would probebly the biggest of those currently playing.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:


this could take a while...

Alrighty... when my sister was a grad assistant for the Sports Faciliites department at Hofstra University... they have many conventions, card shows, etc. there, as well as being the practice home of the New York Jets... thus she used to get me "backstage" and into a lot of these things, sometimes as a worker, sometimes just hangin' out... thus where i met these people...

joe dimaggio (twas a mean old shit)
pat riley
herm edwards
bill parcells
other various current and former jets


karl malone- met outside the nassau coliseum at a knicks preseason game

patrick ewing- met, ironicly, outside the fleet center in boston when i was in college, and was the guest speaker at a dinner i went to once

sue bird- born and raised on long island... graduated from high school in 1998... same year i did... used to run into her all the time at various aau things, basketball dinners, etc. etc.

speedy claxton (golden state warriors), drew nicholas (u of maryland), jay wright (head coach at villanova), tom pecora (head coach at hofstra), bob mckillop (head coach at davidson) all, at one time or another, have worked for LuHi summer programs on long island, where i work.

vinny testaverde's daughter was a camper @ LuHi and used to come and pick his daughter up after camp every day. i used to let him in and out the backdoor so that he wouldn't get swamped with autograph requests.

jeff van gundy- met at an nba summer league thing, used to stop by a lot of camps that i was a player at, then coach at, throughout the nyc area when he was an assistant coach, was born and raised in brockport, ny, and went to SUNY Brockport, where i went to school before i transfered... was a former brockport basketball player thus showed up at practice and events from time to time

mike jarvis- a good friend of mine, tim doyle, plays basketball for Northwestern... before he transfered to NW, he played a year for St. John's... the year they won the pre-season NIT. so i hung out with the entire team a few times, jarvis obviously being one of 'em. on a side note, half of that team is in jail now :shrug:

marcus camby, anthony mason, john starks- met at hoop it up tournament in manhattan

mike milbury- ran into at the coliseum when i was looking for a bathroom while tailgating for a pearl jam concert

mark messier, wayne gretzky- outside the ed sullivan theatre when they were both on letterman together a few years back

david wells- airport

tommy lasorda- italian resturant

dick vitale- once at the garden, once in boston, once at a lecture he gave at brockport when i was still a student there

boomer essiason- the former AD at the school i coach basketball, kings park, runs the "Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge," a football game between the high school senior all stars from long island and new york city. the game is set up by the Boomer Essiason Foundation... thus boomer used to stop by the high school from time to time to go over details. i actually have boomer's cell phone number... i saw it in the AD's roladex and copied it down. i've only called it once... i was quite drunk and it was about 3 in the morning. i don't think i actually said anything though.

wesley walker is a teacher now in the kings park school district... the former all-pro now teaches elemntary phys ed.

marv albert- ran into him at the sheraton in manhattan.

mike lupica- ran into him at the same time i ran into marv, and ran into him another time when he was a speaker at a dinner

rick barry, stephon marbury- when i went to the pre-season NIT at the garden years back, georgia tech's team sat in the same section as me and my friends did... drew barry, jon and brent's brother who isn't in the nba, played for g-tech at the time and rick was there to see the game and came over to our section with drew

stephen boyd- former all-pro linebacker for the Lions... lives in long beach, ny now... where i go a drinkin' quite often. used to live down the the street from my sister's apartment.

pat lafontaine- i forget where i met him it was so long ago... all i know is that i have his autograph.

mick foley- lives a town over from me, and is a regular patron at the Gold's Gym in Smithtown, NY

jalen rose- met at the NBA store in manhattan

craig biggio- born and raised in kings park, ny... same as yours truely. met him many times over the year when he's come back for a visit.

whew... i think that's about it.

Great memory, Headache...

How could I forget this, the LA Raiders training camp was in our little town of El Segundo...as a motorcop, I met nearly 3/4 of the team and gathered their signatures...."I promise to appear at the above date and time....."

Most gentlemenly of the crew, the late Lyle Alzado...:up:
 
Last edited:
Highlights (rather than all of them):

Kirby Puckett - my first "big league" interview as a sports journalist. This lead to a number of interviews with sports folks - that I wouldn't add to my highlights.

Daryl Strawberry - lighting a cigarette for him in the locker room after he hit two home runs after he returned to baseball from his first bout with drugs

Nolan Ryan - as a child, I met him at a hotel as he slurped some soup.
 
Mr. BAW said:


Most gentlemenly of the crew, the late Lyle Alzado...:up:

I met Lyle when I lived in Colorado. I was probebly about 7 years old but I still remember it very well. He played for the Bronco's then and he was super nice. My Dad took my brother and I to the open practice for the Broncos during their training camp in Ft Collins CO (The Broncos went to the Super Bowl that year). He was a pretty popular player then so alot of fans were hovering around him. He said, hey let the kid through there (talking about yours truly) and he signed an autograph for me.
 
AcrobatMan said:

And quite a few more international cricketers more :) but I am sure even an Aussie cricket fan wont know them..unless u are a HUUGEE cricket fan.

Did you ask any of them when they'll start beating us? ;)

I'm really counting on you guys to bring back the competition!
 
Guess the common thread for these NFL stars:

Tony Boselli
Mark Boyer
Mark Carrier
Chris Claiborne
Curtis Conway
Anthony Davis
Ricky Ervins
Mike Garret
Rob Johnson
Keyshawn Johnson
Brian Kelly
Sammy Knight
Daylon McCutcheon
Willie McGinest
Johnny McWilliams
Billy Miller
Chad Morton
Johnnie Morton
Carson Palmer
Rodney Peete
Junior Seau
Jason Sehorn
Dennis Thurman
Brian Williams
 
Exqueeze me, but Rodney Peete and Rob Johnson are not NFL "stars", and Jason Sehorn was a "star" but never really deserved to have such status conferred upon him.
 
speedracer said:
Exqueeze me, but Rodney Peete and Rob Johnson are not NFL "stars", and Jason Sehorn was a "star" but never really deserved to have such status conferred upon him.

Just cause there are underrated doesn't take away their star status.....



Keyshawn is an impressive guy. I've met him a couple of times. He actually remembered my name among the crowd of fans at one event.
 
I'd say Peete and Fumbleitis Johnson are bigger stars than several others on that list.
Besides Rodney married Holly Robinson, that in itself earns him star status.
 
I know one nba player. Strait out of Creighton; You can find him standing behind the 3 point line in Philadelphia (usually on offense and after being burned on defense). His name is Kyle Korver. But I might not classify him as a "star."
 
I once sold some shoes to Mike Tyson, was quite an odd occurance as he asked if he could buy the shoes off my feet. (new Jordans, which were out of stock)
However, Mike wears a size 13.....:ohmy:
 
Tony Boselli's wife once called me at home (she was an SC song girl (we don't call them cheerleaders)). I was taking pictures at a practice, noticed she was trying to take pictures with a little instamatic camera and offered to send her copies of any good pictures I got.

My wife got the call. :ohmy:

Fortunately, I was able to explain the situation. :yikes:
 
Got Philk? said:
I know one nba player. Strait out of Creighton; You can find him standing behind the 3 point line in Philadelphia (usually on offense and after being burned on defense). His name is Kyle Korver. But I might not classify him as a "star."

as long as he puts up points for my fantasy team, he's a star in my book
 
Back
Top Bottom