1984 - A girl I was dating lived in the same condo complex as Rob Halford. I was a big Judas Priest fan, so we went and rang his doorbell. He's very nice. I didn't mention that I thought they peaked with their second album, "Sad Wings of Destiny."
1988 - I'm standing in line at a walkup pizzeria at Park Central with my friend, Shelly, behind Cotton Fitzsimmons. He ordered a slice of pepperoni and (if you've ever heard his Kansas accent on broadcasts) a daahuht coke. Shelley can't help herself, and mocks him, "diiaaahuht." Cotton turns, stares and laughs.
1989 - I'm doing business at a urinal after Hearns-Leonard fight at Caesars when a short intense guy in a tux files into the one next to me. I can now honestly say I had it out with Marvin Hagler for one round and held my own.
1989-1991 - I knew most of the players on the Arizona teams then(and the same when I was at ASU earlier), but I lived in the same neighborhood in Tucson as Sean Rooks and we'd always be at the store or whatever. During offseason most of the guys on the team would play on the A court at the student center along with whoever was bold enough to venture. One day I'm running a 3 on 1 break with Sean standing right in the paint defending. I wait til the last minute to dish, but too late -- he sticks a paw out to deflect, and in doing so misses and hits me square in the mouth. I'm flat on my back with blood everywhere. I stagger up and though I'm a little woozy, I finished the game. By the time it was over, my t-shirt was soaked in blood, but after that I always got picked up by anyone.
1992 - Stumbled onto some event once at a hotel whereat a bunch of young ladies in red and white Arizona Cardinals cheerleaders outfits are about to go in and entertain. The thing is, they were rather, um, plain looking. So I don't think it's really them. My friend says they are. I bet him $10. So I ask the nearest one, "are you really the Cards' cheerleaders?" "Why you don't think we are cuz we're ugly??" Never in my life have I wanted to beam off the planet as bad as I did right then.
1995 - Before she made the national spotlight, Jodi Applegate was the host of the most popular morning show in Phoenix. The Scrabble media machine always circulates hometown press releases during the big tournaments and after a particular one that summer(where I actually did quite poorly compared to my expectation), Jodi, an avid recreational Scrabble player, took the bait and had the producers get me on the show. I show up at like 4:30 in the morning (that was when I was self-unemployed pokerer, so that hour was particularly harsh) and just sit in the waiting room for several hours alone thinking that I have been forgotten. Around 8:00 or so, I get called in and we're on air and yukking it up. [Interlude: remember in the first Terminator when the robot encounters a situation and has like a dozen choices of how to reply and just generates a random number, and comes up with f*** you, a******. Well that's what happens to my brain sometimes, some kind of decision tree Tourette's Syndrome] Eventually the following rapid-fire exchange takes place:
"So, Jim, how did you learn all those words?"
"Well, while sitting in your waiting room the past few hours, I got a chance to go over most of the dictionary."
"Oooh, Jim slams us. Well, Jim, maybe next time you won't finish 29th"
"Yeah, maybe. And I won't be doing Good Morning Arizona with all of 12 people watching."
Anyway, Jodi and I really hit it off after that, and they had me on for three more segments. On air, viewers saw the overlaying graphic go from "Scrabble Cam" to "Slam Cam."
1996 - Met Dick Butkus while attending a live ESPN Superbowl Greats show being filmed in Phoenix. Got to ask Randy White a question on air. (We got there early and actually seated ourselves in the location that we deemed most likely to get picked by a strolling microphone.) My best friend Matt asked Marcus Allen some lame question. My wife said he blew his chance at entering the pantheon of live television notoriety had he only asked Marcus the topical, "so, with all this stuff coming out in the OJ trial, will you be sleeping with any more of your friends' wives?"
1996 - Bob Dole was at some campaign rally a day or so before the Texas primary the same day my girlfriend (now wife) and I were in San Antonio. So we stopped by. (I had already voted earlier in the Arizona primary for Phil Gramm). I shook hands with him. There was some weird guy carrying a boom box(think of the movie Bad Boys) who kept trying to push his way to the front saying "I must see Bob Dole." Ever the vigilant citizen, I repeatedly gave him a two-arm shove back into the throng. Could have been the Ambassador Hotel all over. This is 100% true, and my wife will attest word for word.
1999 - Promoting Scrabble as part of National Literacy Week on a different local morning TV show. After my bit, but while I was on the set still, Sean Young waltzes in to promo some arty movie she was doing. She was pleasant and made at least one self-referential comment about being crazy. My wife says I stared at her chest the whole time though I say the videotape evidence is "inconclusive."
2000 - (not a "real" celebrity, but it's poker related) Patri and I are checking out of Binion's midway through the Series, and Noel Furlong is talking to the clerk next to ours. I wasn't eavesdropping, but it became quickly apparent that Noel had had some package delivered and was trying to pick it up. But the clerk wouldn't let him have it without ID, which he didn't have on him. Without being boastful, he says to her in a hushed tone, "you know, I won the whole thing last year," but she looks at him like he's speaking bush people click-talk. For some reason, my impish nature took over, and I burst out, "Hey, I know you! You're Phil Hellmuth!" Perhaps shocked by the enthusiasm, she handed him the package without saying another word. He thanked me and walked on.
Last Modified 12/20/00