You don't know me. I've been a bigsoccer member for a few years now. I post every so often. But mostly I surf bigsoccer because I like to hear the rumors and the banter between fans. I watch pretty much every MLS game that comes on my television. I definitely watch every USMNT game. And I watch a lot of the ELP and Bundeslega action on FSW. I even go out to a game a few times a year. But I don't tend to follow the teams around, or go to the "Meet the team" events. Still, every so often I have a complete "fan" moment. This years moment came tonight (4/19/03) at the Rockbottom Brewery in Braintree, MA. I was out for a drink and a bite to eat with a few (non-soccer-watching) friends and half of the bar is taken up by members of the Columbus Crew and the Revs (well, at least Joe-Max). They were also out having a few drinks and a bite to eat. It was strange to look across the bar and see JMM and Brian McBride chatting away. Even more wierd to sit in a bar and know half of the faces there, but not actually know the people. The voyeur in me kicked in for a while. Anyway, it was exciting. I didn't even go bother them. I'm sure you've all probably had similar experiences.... I just thought I'd share. Not exactly the sort of moment that you get with MLB, NFL or NBA. Can you imagine going out one night and seeing the Cleveland Indians hanging out with Nomar at your local bar & grill?
A few months ago I was in my local neighborhood Safeway about 11 p.m. Apart from Mr. & Mrs. Chilistrider there was only one other customer milling about the store. For some reason there were two checkout lines open, and he took the other one, so his back was to us. I noticed he had on a really cool, very authentic-looking Colorado Rapids track suit. As he walked away with his groceries I realized it was Steve Herdsman. I turned to chilistriderspouse & said, "Oh my gosh! Did you see who that was?!" Whodathunkit. Steve Herdsman gets his late-night shopping done where I do. I think this story demonstrates a lot of soccer-dorkitude too, esp. because Herdsman isn't one of the team's illuminati. I wonder where Pablo & Spenny shop?
I'm right there with you. Be proud of your soccer-dorkitude! I did a shot with Jay Heaps and Leo Cullen one night. They were just hanging out and partying at a bar and I recognized Jay. I think they thought it was pretty cool to be recognized and they bought me a drink.
i work with a guy who had a conversation with a guy whose friend's cousin's girlfriend's sister's boyfriend ran into a guy in a mall whose son's friend's second-cousin once removed rode on a crosstown bus with a former MLS player. it's a small world.
Ditto on the Soccer Dork I live in North Va. Me and a few of my rec team members went to the Reston Town Center after practice a couple weeks back to grab some food and a few drinks a Ruby Tuesday. When we were seated I looked two tables in front of us and there's Ernie Stewart. I did a double take. It's was kind of weird because he sees me looking. I wasn't trying to stare but I wanted to make sure he was who I thought he was. I didn't bug him or anything because it looked like he was eating with his wife and kid. A definte fan moment.
They bought you a drink??? If you run into any pro baseball, football or basketball players and hold your breath until they buy you a drink, you will be dead faster than you can say "Cheap ........"
In '98 I was travelling around Europe before the WC and was catching a train from Rome to somewhere else. I was in the train station and on my way to get a ticket and I walked by this group of guys in white track warm-up suits. One of the guys looked like Garcia-Aspe. And then I looked at a couple of other guys and recognized Palacios and Jorge Campos! It was the Mexican National Team! I wanted to talk trash, but I did the polite thing and got my picture taken with Campos. It was a surreal moment, though.
This happened a year ago, me and my boys were in vegas we were a little drunk and it was like 1:00 am. so we decided to take a cab to the hotel and who do i see?! Kevin El Gato Hartman!!! he was also waiting for a cab i told him if he wanted to share? and he said sure we talked about The Galaxy and the new stadium he told me to give him my home address he said he would send me tickets for the opening game but the bastard never send me shet!
Definition of restraint: I was working at a resort called Tan-Tar-A in the Lake of the Ozarks region of Missouri. I was working with a number of Scots from Caledonia(n?) Uiversity in Glasgow who over on this side for a Hospitality Internship (as was I). Well, one of the Scots runs into Mo Johnston who is sitting at a table with a woman (his wife? I don't know) A Glaswegian running into Mo Johnston in Missouri. Yet, Dave never lot on he was more than a Scottish guy and didn't bug Mo because he thought it was unprofessional, other than a little Scottish small talk. If the roles were reversed and I ran into, say JOB in Amsterdam, no way I could maintain that level of professionality.
I met Donadoni sitting by himself at Newark International Airport. I spoke to him in broken Italian. He looked like he wished I'd left him alone. At Miami Int'l I met el Pibe, I carried his autograph i my wallet for years. But by far my favorite most important moment was when I ate in the booth next to Hamisi Amani-Dove in a Fudruckers! NOT!
Oh christ. Duck and cover......or you can find it yourself. Just search the boards for "brad seagull"
Speaking of Mathis.... My friends and I ran into him at bar on my friends 21st bday. He was there with Tim Howard. I saw the back of a tall blackish looking man and I'm like... that looks like Tim Howard to another friend there who doesn't know much about soccer and his response was...who? As I'm standing looking from a far behind someone in a playboy hat turns around and goes "Excuse me." My respose: "holy ************, you're clint mathis." He found out it was my friend's bday and bought us all a round of drinks... and then one extra later on for the bday boy. and then a week later he tears his ACL....
I have a good story, but perhaps a little odd. My family decided to come down to NYC right around Christmastime, so they could pick me up and do a little shopping in the city. So we're walking around Rockefeller Center, and there's a spot where you can get your photo taken. So my family looks at some of the pictures that had been taken recently (the reprints that they show to give you an idea of size and price), and one of them caught our eye. Apparently, Jay Heaps was there a few days before with his girlfriend (or wife?), and they had their picture taken. So, we see Jay, and our whole family is like, "Wow! It's Jay!" Meanwhile, all the New Yorkers around us are looking at us strangely. But here's the best part... My sisters decide that they want to get the picture of Heaps. So they go over to the lady at the table and ask, "How much for the picture?" "That size?" "No, we want that actual picture." The look on the lady's face was priceless. Sadly, we did not manage to get the picture, but it was still a pretty amusing experience.
Not really relevant to the topic, but a damn good story nonetheless, Kirby Puckett bought me a beer once. When I could still afford being a baseball fan, after Texas Ranger games, the best place to hang out and wait for traffic to die was/is a topless bar called Fantasy Ranch. I'm in there one night after a game against Oakland and run into none other than Ricky Henderson. Since Ricky was famous for being a jackass, I didn't want to bug him, but it was Ricky freakin' Henderson!!! So I bought him a beer and told him I didn't want an autograph or anything, but thought it would be cool to tell people I bought Ricky Henderson a beer. He drank it. The next season, I see Kirby in there after a game and try to pull the same stunt, explaining the Ricky incident. He looks at me and says, "Henderson's an a******. It's a better story if I buy YOU a drink." So he did. And he was right.
I've seen Patrick Kluivert on 'De Dam' at queensday once, several years ago. I saw Stanley Menzo getting a newspaper around the corner where I live once. I saw Youri Mulder in the subway after Arsenal-Ajax. 'Hi' - 'Hi' That's about it.
Not really MLS related but I was visiting a friend in a Glasgow suburb about 2 years ago (Feb 2001) and he and I are big Motherwell FC supporters so we paid the five pounds to take the stadium tour. We get shown around Fir Park by an employee of the club. We get to talking and he says "you're an American aren't you?" and I reply "yes." He says, "We've got a player headed over to America in a few weeks." and he takes me to the locker room where the team is getting ready for training and introduces me to John Spencer. Very nice guy as were all the players. As a Motherwell fan it was awesome. Unfortunately the team lost to Celtic when I went to watch them on a Moravcik goal in the 81st minute. Haven't run into many MLSers other than Chris Armas who stopped and said hello to a group of us after a Fire game.
i was at the overdraught in cambridge, MA for one of the US World Cup games, I think it was Poland. Anyway, I'm looking through the bar and I see this short dude wearing a Carlos LLamosa USA shirt. and i'm thinking to myself, who the f*** would have a carlos jersey all printed up. anyway, the dude turns around and it ended up being taylor twellman.
i was in chicago a few weeks back for the season opener against new england after the match we go out to dinner a few hours later head to our hotel as we walk thru the lobby i glance into the bar and sitting at a table is steve rolsten there are other people at his table and at several tables around him he is just kinda sitting back taking it all in so i decided to say hi he was mildly excited that i stopped by he asked where i was from and i said the twin cities he got more fired up then and says "oh, you must know leo" meaning leo cullen, as if every soccer dork from the twin cities knows leo cullen then i realized he was being a smart ass i had to admit that sadly i did not know leo but it was pretty funny anyway and we both chuckled nice dude left the bar and road up the elevator with douda kante i said hi to him to and he seemed kinda stunned the some guy in a suburban hotel knew who he was these are the things that i love about soccer in america its still so small that we all do have a sort of family vibe going on