I remember when Preki first came up to MISL, Tacoma Stars if I am not mistaken. He was great back then, always willing to give an autograph and that was in Chicago after games against the Sting. Tatu was another great fan friendly guy, always would throw his jersey into the stands after a goal, home or away. I met Frank Klopas when he was with the Sting as a player and got his autograph, then when he was with the Fire I got one from him again. Now I need to get one from him while he is with the Storm. Here is a link to a Picture of Preki with the Stars http://www.soundercentral.com/museum/StarsCards/1987-88TacomaStarsCards.htm
Once I was in a bar in Dallas and Cuahtemoc Blanco attacked me because he thought I was imitating his running style (I have a hunchback). So I sued him. We have been unable to serve him with the lawsuit because he won't come north of the border. Not even for a World Cup qualifier! This didn't happen to me, in all honesty. But it did happen to some Mexican futbol fan who had an encounter with Blanco in Dallas. Look it up.
cant remember what year it was, but it was at the ncaa tournament in richmond at the big thing that they had on saturday between the games, cant believe i cant remember the name of it, but anyways, i got john harkes autograph and a picture with him, for a kid it doesnt get any better than a picture and autograph with you favorite player on your favorite team. back in 92 when bruce arena was still at uva one of my friends dad was a friend of bruce and we got his autograph and talked to him for a few minutes.
A woman my friend works with says she slept with one of the Rapids players about 5 years ago. She won't tell us who it was, so we like to think it was Carlos Valderrama.
Hey guys, last saturday i went to go see the US guys train at the HDC. Also the Monday after that. They are pretty cool cats once you got them alone and calm. Took pictures with almost all of them (the ones i thought were good players and the guys i liked) Well anyways for all of you people in LA who want to see them today might be the last chance. They might train at 5 pm sojust ckeck it out if ur curious. Man you would be amazed how most of those guys would love to play here in LA. Frankie tod me, Clint told me, and some oher cats as well but it was a cool experience. The only thing that sucked was that CRAP USA, i mean CHIVAS USA was having a free party the Saturday i went so i hope all teams in MLS beat the Crap out of these guys!!!!!!
My wife and I met Chris Carrieri at a Rapids season ticket holder's picnic 2 days before 9/11. I talked to all the players there and got them to sign the team poster and took pictures with them, but Carrieri surprisingly seemed to be the most down to earth and talked with us like he's known us forever. He immediately became one of my favorite Rapids and backed it up with his play the following year. Two years later my wife and I took my kids to the park across the street from my house and he walks out from his house with his wife and two dogs. He didn't remember me but I really didn't think he would, but we talked for about 15 min. We introduced each other's family. He asked where I sat and told me he'd try to come by and say hi. He did every single game. He came up to me at Blockbuster and we stood in line together and talked. We also saw him at the park several times after that until that jerk Hankinson cut him. Anyways, I also got to talk to Balboa at the initial picnic. When my wife was pregnant with my oldest daughter, somehow we learned that the midwife we went to was the midwife that delivered Balboa's kids, Ross Paulie's kid, and Steve Trittschuh's kid, not to mention the kids of several other Rapids which I can't remember. Apparently she was jokingly referred to as the official midwife of the Colorado Rapids. Balboa held my daughter and we got a picture, then he introduced me to a bunch of other people whose kids were delivered by the same midwife. Five months ago, she was there when I delivered my second daughter. Hopefully, she'll be there to help deliver my second son in September. Oh yeah, and Carlos Valderramma flipped me the bird in a Costco parking lot in Westminster.
Yesteday I went to see the Galaxy practice. After the practice i took pictures with almost everyone on the team. (Kirovski left before I could talk to him, and Donovan and Umana were with their National teams) After I took a picture with Hartman, he said"I love my fans" It was nice to know that the fans are appreciated. The guys were really easy to talk to and were willing to take pictures and sign autographs for the few fans that went to the practice.
I honestly can't remember the last time I met a player and he wasn't anything but a class act. (Same goes for women players, which is outside the scope of this thread but oh well). We're lucky we're fans now before they get all spoiled and rich. In other words, I never met Roy Lassiter.
Al of my "encounters" with players have been very good. But I guess that without us(the fans) they wouldnt really have a job(or would they?...) I guess they would still have a job because (for now) there is still a team in San Jose (kidding, of course )
I got autographs from nearly every quakes player. I saw Chris Brown all the time at Chipotle (a mexican resturant) back when he was at San Jose. I saw Ricardo Clark there once aswell.
When New England was plkaying Chicago a few weeks ago, I saw Joe Franchino and Matt Reis in the food court in O'hare airport. Both were freindly and seemed to appreciate me saying hello.
Does no one else have a Meet The Team Social like we do in Chicago? It's mostly for kids but any season ticket holder can go and meet the whole team and get pictures with them and autographs and play skee ball (it's usually at a place like Enchanted Castle) and buy old jerseys and stuff at discounted prices. If you don't....that's really a shame. Thank you Peter Wilt!!!
I had a few beers with the Earthquakes at their Columbus hotel last weekend. All pure class. Spoke with Ray Hudson, an absolute stitch, Dominic Kinnear, not much of a drinker, John Doyle, Pat Onsted, Wade Barrett, and my personal favorite, Kit Man Malcolm Phillips. In DC a few years ago, ran into Meola and Donovan. My girlfriend got all giddy and I forced her to go sit with them-- good guys. Harkes is always class. I've never had a bad experience with any of them. My favorite ,though, was in 1983 for my HS graduation gift, I went to DC for Team America v Cosmos and stayed at the Cosmos' hotel. I have the entire 1983 Cosmos media guide signed and Beckenbauer went out of his way for me. A truly great guy.
Had beers with the Wizards in Columbus last year the weekend of the US vs. Grenada qualifier. The Wizards played saturday night before the sunday US game. we stayed in teh same hotel as the Wizards and we drank in the bar the night after the game. Most of the KC fans that travelled to LA for last years Cup were invited to the Wizards after party at their hotel. It was cool. A couple of the players bought us beers and we talked about the season. Our section in KC is right next to where the players enter and leave the field. We talk to most of the players and coachs every home game.
I met Cobi Jones after an LA Galaxy game during the first season of MLS - a bunch of Hispanic kids were standing by waiting for Jorge Campos to come out. It was funny because when Cobi showed, there was a slight hesitation - like, "Oh, we know who he is, but we don't want to miss Jorge." Then they rushed him for autographs anyway. He was very nice about signing for everyone.
Not MLS players, but I had a chance encounter with Real Madrid yesterday. I was getting drinks with my girlfriend at Sky Bar on the 33rd floor of the W Hotel down the street from work. Apparently, the lobby bar/restaurant was a mess due to them staying there. After ten minutes a group of players came up and sat down in the lounge next to us: Ronaldo, Figo, Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Raul, Guti, and a couple of others. They apparently were sick of the zoo downstairs too. Chatted w/ Figo and Beckham briefly. The bar was basically my girlfriend and I, 9 other patrons, and most of the RM XI.
I was playing a game with my varsity high school soccer team and Dema Kovalenko just walked up and sat down on one of the benches and started watching us. That was back when he played for the Chicago Fire and the Fire had Peter Nowak, Hristo Stoitchkov and they were even much more exciting to watch. Anyways, Kovalenko was really nice,,,signing stuff and all that. I asked him numerously to sign a piece of paper and i kept harassing the guy. When he was leaving for his car he called me up and I went over to his car and he signed three official player cards and one of them said "To Peter (that's me)ALL the Best, Dema Kovalenko" quite unforgettable. Another time, CJ Brown just showed up to our game as well and he was signing autographs. I guess one of our coaches knows him or something so he came around to watch our game and sign stuff for us.
A little over a month ago, I was driving around town here in Utah and my roommate called to tell me that the U.S. Men's National Team was training on BYU's soccer field, literally across the street from my apartment. I raced home and went to check it out, and got there right when they were finishing up. There were only about five fans there. It was incredible. I took pictures with Brian Mcbride, Frankie Hejduk, Josh Wolff, and Damarcus Beasley, and I literally chatted with almost all the rest. They were all awesome guys, really classy and gracious. I watched them all three days they were here in Provo. Had good chats after training with 'Dolo, Pat Noonan, and Greg Vanney. I could tell Clyde Simms was kind of pumped that I knew who he was. Believe it or not, four days later I went to the U.S.-Costa Rica match, and through some sweet circumstances, got tickets in a luxury box. At halftime I went out to find some food, right as John O' Brien, Eddie Johnson, Cory Gibbs, and Oguchi Onyewu passed by in the hall. They hadn't dressed for the game. So I went to get food with them and shot the breeze while we waited in line. EJ and Gibbs were a little quiet, but Gooch and JOB were really friendly. They seemed a little touched to find an American fan who knew who they were (I thought it was great how were sitting in line at their own team's game and no one in the food line knew who they were). We just kicked it for about twenty minutes, talking about Utah, California, Holland, and soccer. They were great guys, really normal and laid-back. I've got the pictures to prove it, I still can't believe the whole experience.
I was in Charlottesville, VA (Surprise) in Mincer's (UVA Apparel Store) with my family on the weekend of the Duke vs. UVA game. Let me preface this by saying that you WILL run into Famous people here (Dave Matthews, Frmr. Gov. Gilmore, Sissy Spacek, Howie Long, Gov. Mark Warner, The Barber brothers, etc.). I look up and suddenly see this guy that looks really familar. And it hits me. It's John Harkes. Went over and chatted with him for a minute. He signed a ball for my brother and told us to try and catch up with him at the game that night (couldn't though b/c of dinner plans). Also, have seen Alecko Eskandarian out at Bars in Cville on the Corner.
I have a few stories because I've played with or against several former MLS'ers and generally hang out with folks in that crowd every so often. Although it's not my general area of employment, I've even worked with Eric Wynalda on an ESPN2 broadcast of a DC United-Dallas game from last season, doing stats for him in the broadcast booth. But the Harkes story reminds me of the one of the better encounters, when I was at Dante Washington's wedding 3 years ago and was about to order a drink at the bar but was cut off by a guy stepping in front of me to give his order -- it was Harkes. Before I could even give him a dirty look, I realized who it was and he was already apologizing in realizing I was next. The fact that we were both ordering the same drink smoothed it over pretty nicely too as he just offered to "buy" (open bar) my vodka tonic and then we had a short conversation about the fact that I played club ball with his brother in law. Nice guy.
When I interned in Washington, DC, I met Mike Petke when he was with DCU at a reception after work for the US Soccer Foundation. We got around to talking about how I was a Chicago fan and how the team was looking this year. A real great guy to talk to. Said the Fire were looking up this year because "Razov is off the team and that guy needed to go." I heartily agreed, and we've both been proven right.