OT - Your "fan-girl" moment

I've never run into a famous person.

Not sports related, but I met my musical hero, Phil Anselmo (lead singer of the band Pantera) when I was in my early 20's.  I couldn't form words and just kind of let out a series of squeaks.  It bothered me for years.  Luckily I got a redo a couple years ago at one of his solo shows and did much better.

Im not a celebrity woshiper.  But about a decade ago at this little dive bar in the middle of nowhere (log cabin bar and grill, freeland, mi) some huge dude came in.  Build like a truck.  No LGBTQLR here, but i could not stop peeking over at this guy and wondering if he ever played football.  Anyway, i heard within a week people talking about Robert Gallery coming into the bar.  

This has less to do with fan girl moment, and more to do with just how fucking huge some of these athletes are.  He was a damn mountain.

UM: rec center pick up game (not to show my age) matched up with UM linebacker Alex Marshall: completely destroyed my illusion that I was a "physical" basketball player. 

Literally ran into someone famous: drunk as a skunk in New Orleans, sidestepped one big guy only to chest bump into another big dude, apologized and moved along. Finally caught up with my friends who informed me I had just "met" Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman. 

Ran into Desmond Howard when I was I guess about 7? at DQ on Stadium. Was completely awestruck.

By chance I met the band Queen (and their manager) in an elevator at a Hyatt Regency in Brussels in 1979.  I was with my mom (born and raised in NYC) who asked them "are you the Queens" (she wasn't trying to be funny, she got the name wrong) and one of them (maybe Brian May) said "yeah, sort of" and then they proceeded to ask their manager about how many women were in the lobby waiting for them.  I was ~12 yo at the time and in a full length cast on my left leg.  Their manager asked if I wanted to go to the concert that night, and to my enduring life long shame I said "no" mostly because I didn't think the logistics of the crutches would work out.

In 2005 I was leaving my hotel room in Atlanta .  I saw a guy standing by himself waiting for the elevator.  It was Michael Jordan.  I almost peed my pants.

The door opened up and here I am, in an elevator by myself with MJ.  I had to say something so we briefly chatted about UNC hoops.

We got down to around the 5th floor, and this little old Asian woman got on, looked at MJ, and said “has anyone ever told you you look like Michael Jordan”?  He looked at me and smiled, then replied “yeah, I get that a lot”.

I never got to see him play, so this was a great consolation prize.

1) Accidnetally walked through Bo Schembechler's entourage at Michigan Stadium once.

2) Shook John Beilein's hand when the team still sucked (but I was always a Beilein truther).  Stumbled over my words complementing the direction of the program (circa 2011).

3) Went to Christian Laettner's house in the twin cities as a kid (a family friend caddied for him).  He had a pet shark and signed a rookie card for me.

It wasn't a fan-girl moment but it was kind of funny.  I was playing golf at a pretty nice course in Washington State with my brother and hit a bad drive under some trees close to another fairway.  I went to play what I thought was my ball before I was stopped from doing so by...... Matt Damon?  Yes, it was Matt Damon. 

He said "is that a Titleist?"  It was a Titleist. 

So I was like "yes... Matt Damon, this is a Titleist." 

I was playing a Callaway.  Then I looked for my ball and it was about 25 feet away from his. 

So I said "Sorry.... Matt Damon, mine is over here."

Then we each played our shot and went our separate ways.  I think we really bonded though.

Had the occasion to meet Jon Anderson (country singer) on a duck hunting trip in Stuttgart, AR.  The couple of times he was able to slip away from his Nashville handlers he was pretty cool and very conversive.  He just wanted to sit with regular people, have a beer, and shoot the shit at a hunting lodge.  His handlers mostly kept him isolated from the other guests and only let him occasionally mingle with the lodge owners.

FWIW, the handlers were very clearly stiff, no-fun city boys on a duck hunting trip outside city lines for the first time in their lives.

About 12 years ago, I saw Matthew Stafford and Dominic Raiola at Little River Casino.  They had just come from playing golf at Arcadia Bluffs.  My brother and I were too embarrassed to ask for an autograph, so my sister-in-law approached them and initiated the conversation.  They were cool and patient and signed for us.

I had a small round-table discussion class (American Culture) with Tom Brady and about a dozen others.  Lots of interaction, but nobody was fan girling over QB#3(?) at the time.

HOWEVA!  I was once riding an elevator in the Book Cadillac in Detroit (ahead of the MSU "@" FAU game with my Spartan-in-Laws) with Wallace Shawn.  It took all I had not to say, "INCONCEIVABLE!"

I met Drew Brees once while getting my hair cut in West Lafayette because he forgot his hat at the barber shop. It wasn't really a "fan girl" moment though as I wasn't really a fan of Purdue sports. I just went to school there. I said hello and shook his hand and that was about it. 

Only thing really notable about it was how short he was. I'm 6'2 and he was noticeably shorter... probably 5'10 or so. 

I don't really count arranged meetings (like a brief backstage thing or a photo or an autograph signing) as really "meeting" a celebrity. 

So, I'll share a few random ones.

Pete Townsend walked in between my wife and I in the lobby at the Royalton Hotel in NYC.  It was just him.  No entourage.  Definitely felt his presence as he walked past us.  This was about 25 years ago.  

Ran in to Jerry Seinfeld on the corner across from Caesars in Vegas. Went up to him to let him know we were seeing him that night and asked for a photo with my wife.  He politely declined the photo but stuck out his hand, said it was nice to meet us, and thanked us for coming to his show that night. I thought it was a pretty good way to decline the photo.  This was about ten years ago.  

Saw Zack Novak on an escalator in the airport after the 2013 game (the block was clean!) in Atlanta.  I kind of hustled to catch up to him and snagged a photo with him and my then 12 year old.  Tweeted the picture to him after that now 21 year old graduated from Michigan this past April.  He responded with a nice comment and congratulations.

Was in the Apple store at Somerset (Troy, MI), and there's JV and Kate Upton standing at the next table.  I did snap a photo of them...while they were both looking at a phone or something.

Also, at the aforementioned Somerset.  Was there with my wife and daughter (three or four at the time; now a sophomore at Michigan).  There was a crowd of people outside of the Sunglass Hut.  We went over to see what was going on and Miley Cyrus was in there by herself with some employees. They came out and started letting fans in one at a time...and somehow my wife and daughter ended up in there.  The resulting photo - with my daughter shyly clinging on to my wife and not looking at the camera - is hilarious. 

Living in Birmingham (MI), we see quite a few people around town.  Have seen Sheed, Matt Stafford, Grant Hill, Dennis Rodman.  

I was in a small elevator in an LA hotel with Richard Dreyfuss and a woman in February 2010.  They spent the entire time bickering with one another.

Was standing on the sidewalk at the Beverly Hills Hotel...and all of a sudden everyone near us stopped talking.  Looked over, and there's Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel walking down the sidewalk.  They ended up being seated for lunch at the table next to my group.  We spent the entire lunch discussing whether we should go over and briefly let them know we appreciated their work.  Ultimately decided not to do so.

None of these are fan girl moments, but the topic caused me to jangle around in the recesses of my brain to try to remember them.

EDIT:  Upon further review, this is a weird, random list of celebrity encounters.  

Not mine, but a friend's:

He was attending a fund raiser for Penn Charter (Philly prep school) in 2017.  He had a few too many drinks as the evening went on.  Matt Ryan happened to be at the fund raiser as well, being a Penn Charter alum...   At one point they ended up in the same group of people talking and someone introduced them.    My buddy says, "dude, what the hell happened in the Super Bowl?" 

His friends quickly moved him out of that group and headed for the exit....  LOL

In the 1980’s me, my Dad, and my grandfather were walking through the airport after picking up Gramps when we see Billy Sims. My grandfather yells “Hey Billy!” and introduces himself. Billy was really cool from what I remember.

Later in the 80’s me and my Dad went to visit my Uncle in Dallas in July(bad idea). We all went to a Rangers-Tigers game at Arlington. We sat beyond the Tigers dugout. Jack Morris stood up and looked right at me and made a circle with his fingers and placed it over his eye. (I went glasses) A very cool moment.

In the early 90’s I saw Webber, Rose, Riley at Recordtown in Briarwood. Gosh, they were so tall. I was too timid to walk up to them.

Saw Mo Taylor at the 1995 Magic Roundball’s Classic. Sat right behind him. My dad got his autograph for him.

Saw Desmond Howard at a video store in the winter of 1991. Awestruck.

Saw Lloyd Carr at UMHS and at Kroger’s on Maple Road.

I was sitting in a hot tub when I was visiting my brother in Montana.  He was the executive chef for a resort centered on a hotspring.  Many celebs had ranches nearby and hung out at the resort when they were in town.  I saw Meg Ryan and pointed her out to the guy sitting next to me in the hot tub.  He was a huge dude and I didn't realize that he was Steven Seagal until after I had gushed like an idiot.  Alas, to be young.

Kate Upton.

I work in an area where I see (and occasionally interact) with a good amount of celebs, so seeing a celeb barely registers any more. But in this case, I was just having a convo in a circle of friends, and didn't notice that she joined right next to me. I heard someone make a comment, i turned, it dawned on me who had been standing next to me. I think I played it cool. I may not have. I don't know. My only thought was "maintain eye contact". Maybe I should have asked her out so that I could at least say I got turned down by a SI model.

#2 was I took a long haul flight where I was next to Daryl Strawberry in the security line, in the customs line, in the lounge, getting on and off the plane, and I didn't say a word to him. Finally, we both got to the luggage carousel before anyone else, and I just had to say something, so we had a nice quick convo, and talked about him being on the Simpsons.

Several years ago I was in Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in Chicago and was walking in to the bar to meet up with some co-workers.  Walking directly toward me is....Michael Jordan.  I went to shake his hand but before I could do so, his security pushed me up against the bar so Michael could pass.  He then went into a private room to have dinner.  

Also, this past May I was at Baha Mar in the Bahamas at the same time Derek Jeter was hosting a golf tournament there.  On that Saturday evening, I'm at the rooftop bar with my girlfriend when in walks Jeter and his wife.  Then Chris Tucker, Ken Griffey Jr, Tiki Barber, CC Sabathia, Charles Oakley, Busta Rhymes as well as a few other former athletes & celebs.   Last but not least, in walks Rob Gronkowski.  We partied till 4AM with that crew.  Just a legendary evening.  

Jane Fonda.

Not a fan but well aware of her throughout my lifetime. I had a red eye flight from San Fran to LA and then on to Detroit back in 1984 or thereabouts. No one else at the gate except me as I am usually early (an hour in this case). I am reading a magazine as I become aware of an elegantly dressed woman coming into the gate waiting area and sits 15 feet away right across from me.

No attendant is in the area so just the two of us. I peak over my magazine and notice she is in all black so likely funeral attire so I stay behind my magazine but seem to recognize this elegant person. She is wearing sunglasses at this hour so definitely not looking to make friends at this hour. As we get within the 1/2 hour window where an attendant will arrive and set up for pre-boarding I sneak another peak as she also pulls down the newspaper she was now hiding behind and I am totally busted and now know who this is. 10 minutes later an attendant arrives and Jane jumps up and whispers what I assume is her desire to be ensconced into First class and away from this Muggle. The wish is granted and I don't see her again until I board much later and she again is buried behind the newspaper.

Same circumstances with Wayne Rogers ten years later and he was welcoming to everyone recognizing him and all I saw left him alone with a pleasant nod. Undoubtedly different circumstances but kinda cool to be around people I have watched on TV and film my whole life (On Golden Pond/Cool Hand Luke anyone?)

At a golf course clubhouse, I watched breaking news on ESPN with Chris Webber that Drew Gooden was being traded to the Cavs.

I have met band members from various bands over the years either at a bar before the show, or after a show outside the venue walking back to my truck, so I won’t count those. I also and went to the UM summer hockey camps all the time. Steve Shields took a bunch of the goalies out for lunch and shakes and just hung out with us. So I have met a ton of UM hockey players, many went on to play in NHL. I have also seen various famous people in public here and there but I never approach them. Kinda weird to me to approach random regular people, so why approach random famous people?

An odd one of mine. I was in line at Meijer in Mishawaka, IN at 1am about 26 years ago. One lane open, store almost empty, and there was this huge dude in line in front of me with a couple of friends and they reeked of weed. It was Shawn Kemp (he grew up in Elkhart, IN).

My brother saw Joey Kocur and Bob Probert walking through the Briarwood Mall and totally fan-boy’d out. Got their autographs on his HS letterman jacket 

I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of famous and not as famous people. Shook the hands of Bill Clinton and spent 15 mins in a private group talking to the current President. Have met Carly Simon and John Dean (of Watergate fame) at book signings. Took my kids backstage at an event to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy. Interviewed Timothy Leary on campus for an hour. Took a pic with Kramer aka Michael Richards at a trade show. I know Mark Cuban really well from business. And finally, I caught Jane Fonda checking me out as I was riding down the escalator and she was riding up it to her penthouse at CNN Center back in the day.

As for sports, my family ran into Russell Wilson and his more famous wife Ciara at a Shake Shack and my youngest daughter took a pic with Russell.

But I've never gone full gaga on anyone. When you live in LA, that's a very uncool thing to do.