OT: Who is the biggest celebrity that you've met?
To keep OT season alive and well, I'd like to hear any humorous or intriguing stories from you all on who've you met, where, and how did it all go down.
For me, I have a few:
1. Pee'd next to Jeff Daniels at the Midland County Civic Arena when his son was on my counsin's Domino Farms hockey team. It was the mid-90's but even as a kid, all I could do is vision his scene in Dumb and Dumber when he was on the toilet. I really wanted him to reenact it.
2. Met Mr. T at a bar in Bay City when I was really young. Not sure why he was there, but he kept telling me to be respectful to my mother. Pretty sure he was drunk.
3. Wife and I met Joe Girardi outside Trump International in Chicago at a Starbucks. His daughter and my daughter played for like 3 minutes. I played it off like what was happening was competely normal.
Share away...
Aretha Franklin was probably pushing 270 when I met her.
2. Passed Gen. Colin Powell walking in DC
3. Posed for a picture with 4 of 5 Russian Red Wings (no Fedorov)
4. Met Rodney Dangerfield in the bathroom of his club in New York
I shook hands with Gerald Ford. I was 16 and our HS band played at the rally.
I had a short conversation at Washington-Dulles with Joe Biden and his wife (at the time).
Walked past the Stray Cats in an airport years ago. Was waiting outside an Atlanta hotel for a ride when the Lumineers got out of their car and walked in. I can believe how skinny rock stars are. Unless they are old - I had my picture taken last year with Jefferson Starship - featuring Mickey Thomas and they we mostly fat.
Talked with David Spade outside of a comedy club in Chicago. Was just behind Jeff Foxworthy at an Avis return counter returning from a ski trip in Steamboat. Watched him try to pay for his rental car with a signed copy of his picture (what a red neck thing to do).
....years or pounds???
/R-E-S-P-E-C-T
I got to shake his hand at a Toys-R-Us opening when I was in middle school. I could just barely get the tips of my fingers and thumb around the edges of his palm. Maybe he wasn't really 6'10" as he was listed, but close enough for someone who was 4'6".
Better known person would be Andre Agassi at a hotel in Rome in 2005. When we got off the elevator in the lobby, nobody was looking at me or my wife.
More relevant for this crowd and for slightly more substantive conversations, I have chatted personally with Lloyd Carr, Jamie Morris, and John Kolesar at alumni club events.
I met Kobe Bryant walking through the Wynn. Had his practice jersey on. This was during Olympic training and I guess the Wynn is where they stay.
Does shaking hands with President Obama after one of his speeches count as having met him?
I went to school with Manuel Noriega's pen pal. That would probably be the most famous person I've known or talked to for more than 10 seconds.
I was classmates with his less famous pen pal, Sarah York.
I got him and Hillary Clinton's autograph after a debate in DC one year.
Last summer in Ann Arbor. He's a celebrity to me. Was totally cool.
I feel like that's a separate category. Bigger deal to us, but a "big celebrity" is thought to be more widely known nationally (though Harbaugh fits into this category).
I spoke with Mark Hughes at my grandmother's funeral (a giant African American in a sea of short white senior citizens, unforgettable). I met Bo, Lloyd, and Red very briefly at different times. And I briefly spoke with Justin Fargas when I was working at Meijer. I grew up in Ann Arbor, seems like it's running into our neighbors.
Wayne Gretzky is married to my 2nd cousin Janet Jones Gretzky.
I met Fred Dryer and Gordie Howe at their wedding, as well as the beautiful Catherine Mary Stewart. Alan Thicke was the host at the reception. There were many Edmonton Oilers there.
I went to highschool with Shemy Schembechler at Greenhills.
My first cousin Jack Walker played DT under Bo in 1986.
I met Tom Monaghan while working at Domino's Farms.
I met James Doohan in a camera shop in Bellevue, WA.
I also met Tom Skerritt in that same camera shop in Bellevue, WA.
I stood next to Paul Allen waiting for an elevator in a restaurant in Bellevue, WA.
I ate lunch at the same table as Howard Schultz in a small deli restaurant in Seattle.
I recently met Cary Elwes at MCftA in Midland, MI.
McCarty is a pretty cool dude. I hung with him quite a bit around that same time because of the music scene. It was kind of shocking at first when seeing a professional athlete chain smoking at the bar.
Met Kid Rock and Jack White at the Magic Stick on different occasions.
Coolest celebrity meeting was a few summers ago when I went to Cedar Point and was waiting to get on the Magnum. We were waiting for the next train to pull up and I notice John Harbaugh is standing right next to me. He was cool and shook our hands and talked for a minute until we boarded, then ended up riding right in front of us.
I met Darren McCarty as well and hung out with him and Mike Knuble. I see Knuble on a regular basis around town.
Another good story but not mine...My wife was a flight attendant for years. Her friend was in town this weekend visiting us...she still flies. She was a flight attendant on one of the UM Football team flights to Rome. She is from Florida so didn't care much about Michigan. She said she was SO impressed with the team and the coaches. Said it was an awesome experience! She's a Michigan fan now.
Met Chuck Daly, Patrick Ewing and Bruce Willis.
And we are sworn to secrecy..... :/
Lol, are they afraid of people betting on the outcomes of Family Fued?
/s
Alternate thread title: What's your coolest story bro?
Touche! See below.
Also, I live in NH so by law every presidential candidate has to crash in our house during the primary campaign. Ted Cruz clogged my toilet.
/no politics
...I love that joke.
Met Chris Christie and his wife at Billy's in Manchester during primary season. His wife was awesome. She sat down with us and just chatted for 15 mins.
Was flying first class on a business trip, thought he was someone I met a few years previously on during an earlier business trip. About fell over when he told me who he was - really nice, down to earh kind of guy.
Kobe Bryant: I was attending Barcelona vs Manchester United at FedEx Field in 2011, my dad and I were sitting in the nosebleeds and ended up walking downstairs with people from the luxury boxes. We were spit out underneath the arena and being ushered out the gates when I saw Bryant, who was there on behalf of Turkish Airlines. I quickly ran up to him, shook his hand and got a picture before bolting the security guards who could clearly tell I didn't belong. The irony is, I trash Kobe Bryant, A LOT, but still a neat story.
Brad Pitt: I was in Vegas with family in the summer of 2006, we didn't know at the time but they were filiming scenes from Ocean's 13 at The Venetian. I walked into the men's room and who should I physically run into as the door swings open but Brad Pitt, while mildly speechless, I managed to put out a "hello, I'm a big fan" to which he replied "Thanks, I hope you hit the jackpot while you're here." and he slipped out.
I was at that game as well...also in a luxury box but I didn't see Kobe.
Jon Anderson when duck hunting in Stuttgart, AR. His Nashville handlers kept him segregated from the rest of us commoners as much as they could. But he manged to slip them a few times and have a beer with us for some fun, after hunt bullshitting. Cool guy, and a good singer!