Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous

Since coming to the Sunshine State, I've spent my fair share of time rubbing elbows with sports celebrities. Most of the time, I'm interviewing them (See "Manny being Manny" below), but every now and then, I just stumble across somebody quasi-famous. And now and again, I completely miss them (Like the day I was at a high school basketball game when Mike Ditka stopped by the station.)

A few months ago, I got to interview Jack McKeon, who coached the Marlins to the World Series a few years back. He was a guest speaker at a "senior living community" in the area (as you may have guessed, there are a lot of "senior living communities" around these parts). McKeon had a great sense of humor-- his performance was more of a stand-up comedy routine than a speech. And he was pretty friendly afterwards. He tolerated my stupid questions with a smile, which was nice. By the way, if you've ever heard him called "Trader Jack," it's because he once traded away his son-in-law.

Speaking of championship coaches, a few weeks ago, I was shooting a minor league hockey game from the press box, turned around, and Scotty Bowman was standing there. As one fan who also spotted him said, "it's like seeing the Pope!" Bowman was shooting the breeze with some of the local print media guys, but I was too chicken-shit to go over and meet him. Later, during the game, I was kicking myself for not at least saying hi. Well, I got my chance when the game was over... I walked to the elevator, and he was standing there, waiting for the elevator, all by himself. No, I didn't ask him for an interview, or stick a microphone in his face. I didn't want to interview him... I just wanted to meet him. So I introduced myself, and told him I grew up in Detroit and was a big Red Wings fan... and he didn't say one damn thing back to me. He just turned around and stared at the elevator doors, waited for it to arrive, and walked inside, where he continued to ignore me. So either he hates television media, or he hates women. Either way, I'm not a fan of his any more.

This last week, there was a Champions Cup tennis event nearby, and I headed over to interview Michael Chang and Jim Courier. They were both really nice. Chang, by the way, looks exactly the same as he did when he was 17 and won the French Open. Unfortunately, he got injured while I was there covering the event. Courier was not only one of the nicest "celebrities" I ever met, he was seriously one of the nicest people that I've ever met. He must have thanked me for being there four times (I usually only get thanked for interviewing someone by parents, when I put their kids on TV). Since then, I've jokingly been referring to him as "my boyfriend Jim Courier" around the newsroom. Last night, my actual boyfriend fiance, Cory, went with me to watch Courier play Pat Cash in the tournament finals. Fortunately, Cory isn't easily threatened. (By the way, Courier won, 6-4, 7-6).

Finally, my most recent brush with celebrity came this weekend at the Twins game. They were playing the Detroit Tigers, and as I walked down the hallway by the press box, I spotted an old man wearing a Tigers cap. Is that Ernie Harwell? I couldn't tell for sure, since I haven't seen him on TV in about fifteen years. Then, just as I passed him in the hallway, he turned and said something to someone else, and I heard his voice. It was, indeed, Ernie Harwell... no doubt about it. I couldn't believe it. No, I didn't go over to meet him. He was talking with a few people at the time, and I didn't want to interrupt. I'd like to think that he's a nice guy.

So, there you have it... my brushes with so-called "greatness." So, who have you met? Were they weenies, or were they pretty cool? Discuss.