Somebody call Sam Jackson!

I was at RFK Stadium in the summer of 06. I saw Derrek Lee coming to the dugout, where I was standing with a ball and pen in my hand waiting for him to sign! I wanted him to get the ball so I rolled it across the dugout, but it went a completely different way. He looked at me and smiled, “that’s weak man.” Just when I got my ball back he had to leave which pissed me off (hey, I was 14 at the time!!). But I got Sean Marshall’s rookie autograph, so here’s to him being a dominating starter :D

Stories of Hendry encounters abound in Park Ridge. My personal favorite is of him at the annual Taste of Park Ridge where he was calmly talking on his cell oblivious to the world as a huge crowd gathered around. He by the way was very friendly and signed 1020239283938912821938290381 autographs.

Personally though if I’m the only one to recognize him I don’t call attention.

" You helped her ???"

…ive met a few current and former Cubs and I’ll share my experiences…

Carlos Marmol – Very awesome guy, very humble.
Angel Guzman – Jerk.
Matt Murton – (It was right after he was demoted once) Jerk.
Kerry Wood – Amazing. Awesome. Gets ‘it’.
Lee Smith – Genuine and nice.
Sean Marshall – Very numble, just a real nice guy.
Ronny Cedeno – Not baseball smart.
Greg Maddux – Patient with fans but not overly friendly.

I recently went to a suns game, most of the players are extremely friendly. Steve Kerr is super super cool. Bill Cartwright is a 1st class JackA……….! real jerk.

guy was a total megalomaniac

Walter Payton was the most grounded and personally extraordinary person, always held himself as being blessed and he was quite intelligent and perceptive. Knew him through a non profit board and business associations.

Michael Jordan was quite ambitious and willing to use his station in life to advance his personal agenda. He understood the score and could be the most focused person. I laughed that he loved playing at exclusive North Shore Country Clubs that were silently bigoted where he was often the only African-American outside the kitchen or valet attendants using his celebrity status to get in as a guest but knowing he was precluded from joining the clubs, he enjoyed taking member/friends $$ on golf bets.

Mike Ditka was an interesting and quite opinionated sort from a working class grounding.

Billy Williams is a genuinely affable regular guy where I have talked with him without reserve or pretension, where I first met him at the Western Open. Since then have run into him in various situations and his personality remains the same. Cubs never should have traded him.

Ron Santo, he is a real personable guy, his radio persona is what it is in person.

Tony LaRussa, he is a very serious competitor and his eyes can cut you like a laser. He is all about winning.

Bob Knight is probably the most competitive person I have ever met in or out of business or sports, extremely intelligent and learned, as opinionated as Ditka but holding to deeper basis of his opinion.

Have also met and talked to Larry Bowa, Ryne Sandburg, Scott Sanderson, Rick Wilkens, Kevin Tapani, Jim Riggleman , Jim Abbott, Milt Pappas, Doug Buffone, Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Quinn Buckner, Glen Grunwald, Steve Lazkowski, Isaiah Thomas, Doc Rivers, —I have known Billy McKinney, Larry Bird, Jerome Whitehead, Scott Stohoviak, Mike Wagner, Bob Svete, Gary Hallberg, Dave Ogrin, Steve Stricker, Jerry Kelly, among others…including Olympians and even a family member in that category

Here is my overall assessment. The anecdote with Mike Quade is interesting since Mike was playing off the point that most of the time he is an anonymous person and part of MLB’s fraternity where now he is a Cub and he noted that you must be a Cub fan in knowing him and mentioning the convention and then found it amusing you helped the rival fan.

Most athletes are competitive and are different. They possess a singular commitment that most regular souls don’t have towards life and their pursuit, they compete with themselves and the world of their sport. Murton is probably trying to figure out how to stick and succeed, out work, out improve where he has hit the wall. Often their minds are there and not here. So if someone is a jerk, they might not actually being a jerk but are distracted, preoccupied and because they don’t know you or have any business with you, it is like any stranger that might comes up to me. Now in public I can strike up a quick quip conversation with anyone, but if you are trying to sell me something and initiating that conversation in public by seeking something of me….I can be abrupt—if my wife is not there—-rude. Now I am nobody but if you are bothering me….touche.

In short I have found most athletes and celebrities no different than any neighbor, they are individuals with their own personality and if your worlds are coming parallel, they are like individuals just like anyone else. The one that gets the most surprise by others is Bob Knight. His public persona is so cemented into a caricature and my experience is that he is not the same person described by the media. His main problem is that he needs time to decompress after a highly competitive contest, but the business forces him to meet the press and he is not emotionally ready to do that. Oh sure he might have a temper or say something too honest for some but he was always nice and polite with me and those I was with.

One anecdote: I was being treated for a lung problem that was more serious than I knew and still a mystery to the doctors when I was his guest at a college game in Boulder. He gave me seats right behind the bench where my brother-in-law was my guest, he was a high school asst coach for a freshman team and this was a dream for him. Now he made certain I was given access to elevator even though he was supposed to be preparing for the game, but he made certain I was taken care of.

Now I didn’t think that we could be heard sitting behind the bench during the game as . TTU got behind early, 19 the first ten minutes and my brother-in-law was enthralled by seeing a HOF coach up front and manage a game, Knight started going down the bench to see who was willing to play the game his way. At a time out I bet my brother-in-law that TTU would have a chance to win the game before it was over. Knight eventually found a rotation of players who began to cut into the lead and the final minute they got it down by 6, and then with 4 sec remaining CU missed a FT when up by 2 and TTU’s star got the ball and got off a shot with a good look from 25 feet…it bounced off the back of the rim. Much later upon thanking Knight for the tics, he turned his attention to my health and then he joked if I had collected on my bet—-then he said I needed to get healthy.

My moral is that fans often view their sports teams and players like they are in a fish tank but they are human beings partaking in a profession or exercise that we dream about. My niece who is an Olympian hopeful has awoken at 4 AM most of her life to skate up to 6 hours a day. When I played golf in college few people respected that I had to wake at 6 AM and be at the course every weekend morning by 7 AM to compete or that I went to class and then had to be at practice by 1:30 PM through 6 PM every day.

The fact is the commitment to sustain and then improve one’s skills is immense. This commitment also involves mental preparation. Coaches or managers have the same issue so when I hear that Lou takes his shirt off in Nordstroms it is funny—-but I bet he was also pressed for time and had to buy something for some event.

… have come in to our station over the years for interviews, or when we used to do a Sunday late night sports show.

Years ago, Walter Payton came in every Sunday when the Bears were home. He was my size — but a zillion times more muscular. His handshake was crushing. He was friendly and personable to the crew.

Don Zimmer used to do the same during baseball season when the Cubs were home. He never, ever wore a tie and was always somewhat disheveled. But oh, did he have great baseball stories.

I met Warren Spahn once when he came in for an interview. He seemed friendly enough, though a bit distant (he was over 65 by this time).

and had the opportunity to meet a couple people. Glenallen Hill (anyone remember that bomb he hit a while back ? WOW!!) came in to open up an account with us and I was his personal banker.

He was a really nice, down-to-earth, friendly guy. Gave us some tix to a couple games. Funniest part is when the bank manager, who was an older woman who did’nt really follow sports, made me verify his employment. I had to call the front office to do so and felt like a moron. A few weeks later, we were in the break room and the Cubs were on with Glenallen at the plate, when I turned to the manager and asked her if that was verification enough.

I also worked met Wayne Messmer while at that job and he was a very nice guy as well.