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Your brushes with greatness


cwsox
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Met D12 two weeks ago in an airport because of white sox logos

 

Met Tommy and Sally (I think it was Sally) John at the Methodist Church downtown Chicago (The Chicago Temple) in 1970; he asked me for a hymnal.

 

Met Mayor Daley and Senator George McGovern and Ted Kennedy at a political rally in the Daley Plaza in 1972

 

Have known Michigan Governors Blanchard and Granholm and Senators Riegle, Levin, and Stabenow, and in May sat at the same table with Stabenow, Grannholm, Levin, and Missour Representative Dick Gephart at a Democratic dinner.

 

Met Bob Archer, host of WGN's Barn dance and the first mayor of Schaumburg back in the 50s at a taping of Barn Dance

 

Met someone who claimed to be a member of Steppenwolf in 1968 while petitioning for Eugene McCarthy

 

Met John Dominic Crossan and Amy Jill Levine, he the greatest living Biblical scholar and she will be after Crossan leaves us, at several Biblical and theological conferences

 

Met Taryn Fisk, Carlton's cousin, when she worked for me at a Jimmy John's in Kalamazoo; also know Rocky Biddle's dad and step mom and have met John Buehrle and have Jason Buehrle's autograph (much harder to get than Mark's)

 

that may be it for me - others here have meet famous folks, lets share the stories. :bringit

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Well.

 

Met many White Sox players.

 

Saw Melton in the bathroom at soxfest, (how nice.)

 

Met Dave Wills' boss, Len Weiner, the program director at ESPN Radio 1000.

 

Met Dan Mcneil at the White Sox/Cubs game.

 

Met Ozzie Guillen in person and watched him and my brother face off in a traveling baseball game.

 

I knew a player by the name of John Lackaff who played in the White Sox organization for a couple of summers.

 

Met Rick Hahn at Soxfest, who led me to Kenny Williams after I wanted to ask questions about the White Sox.

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I'm interested to hear who people here have met.

 

cwsox - You've met quite a few political people...I'm a political junkie so I find that very cool.

 

I have met some famous people.

 

In 2003 I met Martin Sheen, Alison Janney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Dule Hill, Janel Maloney, Joshua Malina, Bradley Whitford, and Aaron Sorkin. All of them except for Aaron are actors on the West Wing. Aaron was the writer. They were filming in DC so my friends and I went down to the location. All really, really nice people.

 

Since I interned on the Hill for a semester I met some representatives. I met Congressmen Don Manzullo (IL - 16), Jerry Weller (IL - 11) (also who I worked for), Dennis Hastert walked past me. Bill Frist also walked past me.

 

I saw Joe and Lisa Crede in Denny's when I was in Kansas City last September. I did FujiFilm Day last year so I met a lot of players then. I've also met players from going to autograph sessions, but that's about it. I've also met Buerhle's mom and grandmother.

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I introduced myself to Johnny "Red" Kerr after a Bulls game here in Memphis. It's cool as hell when my dad gets tickets through work 'cause they're pretty good seats, but what makes it great is that around the 4th quarter when you know people aren't sitting in certain seats close to the court, you can sneakily move down and get about 2 rows from the court. I've done it 3 times, and man is it awesome to be almost courtside. Anway, after the game, I just went up and introduced myself to Kerr, but he was very non-talkative and just shook my hand and turned away without saying a damn thing. I asked how he was doing and he just nodded (whatever the hell that meant), so I kinda lost respect for that man after he did that to me. I was only 14 at the time. That's not cool to do to a 14-year-old, especially in front of friends 'cause they gave me s*** for what happened. :lol:

 

Oh, and some of you in Chicago who follow high school basketball might now my uncle, Steve Goers, who is the head basketball coach at Rockford Boylan.

 

Wow, I know jack s*** for famous people. That's sad the the most famous person I know is one of my uncles. :crying

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My friends parents are good friends with candace parker's parents and i have met her several times. For those of you who do not know who she is she was in the highschool slam dunk contest last year. She has also commited to tennessee. She is insanely good, here are her careers achievements.

http://www.bballx.com/g_high_school/career...ace&last=Parker

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I shook John Fogerty's hand when I was out in Vegas back in 1998. He was actually kind of shocked that I recognized him. I told him that "Proud Mary" was among my favorite tracks of all time. He was really cool.

 

I also saw Kevin Garnett at some arcade out in Schaumburg back in 1995, when he was still at Farragut. I didn't say anything to him, though.

 

I saw Ruben Sierra in his big white truck outside of Comiskey Park a day or two after he had been cut. He was just sitting there, right in front of the players entrance. I felt bad for the guy. :headshake

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i live in a smaller town and rarely go to a big enough city to see celebrities so no real "brushes with greatness"...

 

having said that i have seen/met some local people that have made it to the pros (albeit definitely not that big in the pros). they are bill sampen, kevin seitzer, brian cook--grew up 4 houses down from where my family used to live and went to the same grade school, tony semple...

 

have seen president bush, his wife and the cheney's up close when their train stopped in our town and he spoke for a few minutes while he was campaigning back in 2000...

 

that's it for me but just recently my parents won a trip to nashville from some national radio show and got to meet trace adkins and josh turner backstage at the grand ol' opry. that same night the also taped some crowd shots for alan jackson's new video so my parents might be in that which would be quite funny to see... :lol:

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wow... I'm not trying to be above anyone else... but this is a really good question... I've met so many people that are playing in the major league sports, I can't even list them all. Some of these I continue to work with today.

 

Met a LOT of music groups by either being a stage hand or backstage passes.

 

I've been very fortunate in this regard...

 

I wish though that I could meet some political people - so I can ask why government is the way it is straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.

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My brushes with greatness are relatively underwhelming….

 

As a kid I met White Sox pitching “legend” Bart Johnson at a little league banquet.

 

Selling hotdogs at a Buckingham Fountain concession stand in high school I had Ron Howard, Casey Kasim (sp?) and his wife (who played Nick Tortelli’s wife on Cheers), Kathleen Turner, and the drummer for long-forgotten 80s band Art of Noise (who got me and my girlfriend onto the guest list for a show that evening at the Meto which was kind of cool).

 

I met a teenaged Joan Cusack at a Christmas party in Evanston in the mid-80s.

 

I got to be pretty friendly with Terri Hemmert (“Auntie Terri”) at various Beatlefests over the years.

 

I met Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg, and Doane Perry of Jethro Tull at a record store appearance. I met Andy Partridge, Colin Molding, and Dave Gregory of xtc. at the XRT studios after a live on-air deal. I met Adrian Belew at several solo ao Belew and he Bears shows at Mabels in Champaign. I met, beat at pool, and got pretty hammered with the replacement drummer for Flock of Seagulls in the early 90s. I met Dweezil Zappa and FZ bassist Scot Thunes at a music clinic in Champaign. I met Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham at a music clinic in Chicago.

 

I met number one Beer Hunter Michael Jackson (not the singer/pedophile or over-the-hill reliever) at a beer tasting dinner at a Jacksonville brewpub.

 

I met Hendrix pal and Band of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles at a Florida performance.

 

I participated in a rehabbed dolphin release with popular marine artist Wyland. Jacques Cousteau’s daughter-in-law and grandson Phillipe worked on in the same building as me for several years.

 

I met the last EPA head worth a damn, Carol Browner, at a signing ceremony granting protected status to the marine system in my ceck of the woods. She presented me and my group a commendation signed by her and Al Gore for an educational software title we developed on that ecosystem.

 

I met then 10-year old slide guitar phenom Derrick Trucks and his uncle Butch Trucks (now both in the Almann’s lineup) and took him to my lab to see a bunch of freaky fish when I was in grad school.

 

And the crowning brush with greatness: I me and got my Fender Telecaster signed by Stevie Ray Vaughan after a 1987 Foellinger (sp?) Auditorium concert in Campaign.

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Probably the biggest was Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn--that was really amazing.

 

I also got to talk with bell hooks--she's a big hero of mine so that was really cool.

 

John Mahoney outside the Steppenwolf.

 

J. Dennis Hastert went to my old church before he got super high up and my fam knows his. I've also met him at more than a few area functions.

 

And some Senator from Iowa I think is name is Harkins or something like that--he was dull so I don't remember too much.

 

And I saw a Wild game a few seats down from MN governor Tim Pawlenty and his lovely wife.

 

And I had a brief introduction to Paul Wellstone before his really untimely passing.

 

I think those are all the big ones.

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Trying to remember some of these...

 

I think the most impressive one was getting thrown out of the Indiana capital building by then Governor and now Senator Evan Bayh.

 

I have had many different contacts with Bryce and Homer Drew

 

Met Bobby Knight on a recruiting visit to my HS

 

As a kid I met one of the scientists who was working on the Space Shuttle heat tiles when they were still having big problems with them early on. Also went to school with some kids of astronauts, and met their dads, but didn't know at the time they would be going to space.

 

Had a now Stanley Cup champion goon want to kick the s*** out of me.

 

I know there is more, but I'll edit later if so...

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Oh crap! Two other--Dennis Kucinish (the same weekend as Jimmy Carter).

 

And Frank "Angela's Ashes" McCourt. That was cool--I just sort of stuttered and faltered and stuff with meeting him.

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When my family went to New York for vacation we stayed in the Trump Hotel... we got there at like 1 AM and when we were standing in the Lobby Adam Sandler walked in the door of the hotel, walked past me, patted me on the back and said "Whats up Buddy".. I think I was like 13 when this happened but it was cool as s***..

 

ALSO! The 3 bedroom room we stayed in.. the maid told us the Backstreet Boys had stayed there before..... you do the math on that one :huh:

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Met Brian Anderson and Kris Honel in Zona at spring training.

 

Interviewed and met Brandon McCarthy, Sean Tracey, Tyler Lumsden, Ryan Sweeney, Daniel Haigwood, Micah Schnurstein, Gary Majewski, Bryant Nelson and Ryan Hankins.

 

My family knows Dan Castalanetta, the voice of Homer on The Simpsons.

 

My Uncle is an actor, lives in Hollywood and knows a ton of people. If you have seen the commercial for Chevy with the guy with the coffee at that stop light and the driver keeps jerking the car when the other guy tries to sip his coffee.....my Uncle is the guy trying to drink the coffee. My Uncle knows Andy Dick, all of the Cusacks and a bunch of other people.

 

My Mom has met John Kerry.

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Frank Thomas and many other White Sox players over the past 10 years.......

 

Torii Hunter, Matt Lawton, LaTroy Hawkins, Koskie, etc....(I know, I know...) They all played on the Fort Wayne Wizards, an A Ball team here when they were affiliated with the Twins....Sean Burroughs is probably the biggest name that's been here that's now playing for SD.

 

Mike Davis, Bobby Knight, Calbert Cheaney, Tom Coverdale, Damon Bailey.....

 

Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson, Lamar Smith, Jason Fabini.....

 

Evan Bayh, Tom Wyss...

 

My uncle is also Marc Summers (my mom's brother), of the Nickelodeon fame in the 90s.....

 

I've met a few others, but I'm having trouble thinking of them now. I'll add others in an edit later if I can remember.

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