What's your cool story bro?
Simple question...what's your favorite/most memorable "Cool Story Bro" moment in relation to sports?
My 3 favorite would be:
Beating Darrell Green (playing as the Raiders) in Super Tecmo Bowl on a last second pick six...by Darrell Green.
At football camp with my Michigan hat the year Desmond Howard was drafted, he signed it let me follow him around all day which for a 12 year old Michigan fan in 1992 was unreal.
Having a chance to tour the Michigan facilities and see what the experience is for visiting recruits...even experiencing it at other schools was pretty cool.
I was in Greenwich, CT for work 2 years ago and driving back to the hotel in my rental car. I pulled up to a red light and looked over at the Cadillac in the next lane - sitting shotgun was Warren Buffett eating a Dairy Queen Dilly bar. I put down my window and asked him through his window where Dairy Queen is. He then put the window down and asked me what I said, so I repeated it. He laughed then said he attended a function where they gave it to him. The light turned green and they drove off. I was kicking myself for asking such a stupid question but what was I really going to do at a stop light. Couldn't believe it was just him and a driver - didn't look like any security at all as the driver was an old man.
Played pickup basketball outside South Quad with Derrick Alexander and beat all comers.
Also got blocked on Twitter by Scott Baio
Preface I'm a lifelong UM fan from Northwest Ohio that went to tOSU in the early 90's. So my experiences were down there.
My neighbor was a basketball manager and some of their players would pop by on the weekends. Ended up getting to play drinking games at my apartment or his quite often with Rick Yudt and Carlos Davis. Rickey Dudley stopped by once as well. Rick went on to play overseas and has been an actor in a couple TV shows like Monk as a Security Guard. He was pretty fun except he hated I was a Michigan fan. You all might not remember those guys because OSU stunk at that time. Losing seasons for a stretch, which I loved.
Robert Smith lived across the street and next door to a female high school classmate. She had a party one time and he was there and we chatted briefly. Seemed like an ok guy.
Used to pass Andy Katzenmoyer all the time. When he blew out his knee he was on crutches for a long while. Talked to him briefly about how that must suck. He obviously agreed. He was always by himself, backpack on and going a mile on the crutches.
Ala Rosa Villa is a small club off on the east side of Columbus. Where Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed. I probably saw 50 shows there. Anyway, one time I'm there outside on the patio while the opening local band is planning and up walks Don Dokken to my circle of 4 friends. Stood there and talked to us for 30 minutes straight, only to leave as they went on about 15 minutes later. He was super nice.
Coolest experience for me is being friends with Uli Jon Roth from 70's Scorpions fame. A few years back I helped his band out a little bit and now anytime he's touring the US, and he's around where I'm at, I can email him and say, Uli, I'm coming! He puts me on a list to get in free and early to the show. Then we chit chat for however long he has time to spare. And if he's busy beforehand, he'll always tell me to stick around and we'll chat as he's doing a meet and greet. Super super down to earth guy and brilliant guitarist. Every show is something else.
One of his tours was with Andy Timmons and Jennifer Batten. So getting in early, I chatted a ton with Andy, whom I actually prefer as a guitarist to Uli. Andy let me play his guitar for a few minutes and we took pictures. Jennifer wasn't around but for after the show. She's the guitarist in Michael Jackson's old videos. That was a great concert!
While waiting for my flight back to Michigan the day after the 1998 Rose Bowl, ran into some of the players @ John Wayne International. Talked to Jon Jansen standing in line at the McDonald's. Super nice guy, great vacation.
On my trip to game vs Hawaii in 1998, met Charles Woodson's dad and Marcus Ray on Waikiki Beach. Charles dad was part of my tour group. Cool dude.
Tiger Fantasy Camp in 1992. Lots of drinks and stories with Mark Fidyrich, Dave Rozema, Ron LeFlore, Willie Horton. Had a nice chat with Mr. Ernie Harwell.
I did Fantasy Camp in '04. Rozema is a perpetual teenager. Jon Warden and Tom Brookens were the judges of Kangaroo Court, and are funny as hell. Horton was OK with me, although I've heard negatives from others. Jack Billingham and Milt Wilcox were our team's coaches. Wilcox told a not-so-funny story of a Tiger from that time who'd had some big years, got his big free-agent contract, and then his production tumbled. Wilcox: "He got off the juice after he got his money."
Alan Trammell was exactly like you'd expect: Personable, friendly, had time for everybody. One hell of a nice guy.
Got Larry Bird’s autograph many years ago. Our kids thought it was awesome. So did I. Still have it and just recently had it authenticated.
Ran into Derek Jeter in the Punta Cana airport a couple years ago. Would have tried to get an autograph but he had a pretty fierce contingent of security around him. He’s listed as 6’ 3” but he sure looked taller than that.
Along with those above, I have to say some of my best moments in sports have come in The Big House. Watching AC, Desmond Howard, Jabrill, others, - to name one would be tough. Love being there! Go Blue!
As a GSI in the 90s, I had Jon Runyan, Tony McGee, Trent Zenkewicz, and Eric Riley in my sections. I had another O lineman who was huge, but I don't remember his name (maybe Thomas Guynes). Juwan Howard was in another GSI's section of COM 417 so I saw him at lectures and talked to him a few times.
I was at the gas station on main near miller during art fair in 91 or 92, and three trciked out sports cars pulled in (which took up most of the little lot). A bunch of State of Michigan basketball players, including Glen Rice, Willie Burton, Mark Hughes and a couple of other guys (not sure who). Apparently, only one of the cars was filling up, but they were all standing around for a minute.
In non sports/non Michigan stories, I was peeing at a urinal in the Monte Carlo casino in Vegas, when James Brown (the Godfather of Soul, not the sportscaster) came in to take a whiz at the urinal next to me. I left before he did, and what was presumably his security was waiting outside for him.
I have a lot, especially related to U of M. I'll narrow down to a Best of
1) Best Story - Answering the home phone during high school (2000-2002ish) and hearing "Hi this is Bo Schembechler, can I speak to Bob?" My dad is/was a well connected athletic department and football booster.
2) Most Famous Encounter (and most stupid) - My brother's friend and I were black out level drunk at Rick's on a Saturday night during the Rich Rod era. I was in grad school at the time, so I was 23-24. Neither of us remember it very well, but we were both kicked out for trying to start a fight with Michael Phelps. Pretty sure he was the guest of honor at the football game earlier. I believe we were salty because he was monopolizing all the girls at Ricks (or at least their attention).
3 Most Recent
3) My brother and I sat first row at the 2013 Elite 8 game against Florida. We were on the same side as the media. I said Hello and shook hands with pre Warriors Steve Kerr and the late Craig Sager as they were walking by.
4) I was still living in Dallas during the fall of 2014. One of my best friends was in town visiting from Chicago, so we went out to the bars right near my apartment in Plano (Shops at Legacy). A group of 4 cougars/MILFs kind of picked my buddy and I up, so we started hanging out with them at their table. 1 of the 4 was married and she had her gigantic husband with her, who was super nice. We ended up learning he was Tyron Smith. He'd become All pro in the coming seasons. Interesting to note that this was a Friday night during the season.
5) My brother is friends with Jordan Morgan. J Mo took us 'backstage' after the Penn State game in January 2017. We were able to meet Beilein and interact with all the players on that roster. During the summer J Mo met up with my brother, his wife, and me at a large upscale party/ event in downtown Detroit. I walked around the event a bunch with J Mo, women thought I was someone famous. Those same women didn't exactly know who he was, just that he was a basketball player by his height (there were a lot of people there that did know who he was)
Hanging out with my family and the Michigan baseball team in Omaha a couple of months ago. Pretty cool to see my kids' eyes light up when they got high-fives from Jimmy Kerr and Coach Bakich.
August 1st, 2019 at 12:34 AM ^
In my professional cooking days, I traveled to Maui with a Chicago chef for a series of dinners at a very nice hotel. One of the guests was Dan Marino. I can say that Dan Marino ate my desserts. Michael Jordan, as well, who ate at the restaurant I worked at many years ago.
August 1st, 2019 at 12:59 AM ^
My dad was a mechanical engineer who worked for U of M and was heavily involved when they were building Schembechler Hall. He pulled me out of school during my 8th grade year to attend its dedication and I got to meet Bo, Mo and President Ford and shake their hands. Definitely a great memory.
August 2nd, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Waiting for a flight at O'Hare and walked into the Admirals Club. Only other person there was George Plimpton and he was just sitting rifling through papers and drinking a beer. I sat down nearby and started to do the same thing. At some point he said something innocuous to me, I replied and then walked over and sat down at his table.
We talked sports for over an hour. He told me some great, but unprintable, stories from his days with the Detroit Lions prepping to write Paper Lion.
Conversation died when I asked him what year he graduated from Yale. He replied, "Ahhhh, that would be Hahvahd."