Recent celebrity sighting (here's mine, add yours) ...

Was Bill Simmons following him?

 

Was on a plane with Justin Leonard, the golfer, once. (Hold off on the mile-high club comments, please.)

I used to see Thomas Haden Church (the mechanic from the TV show "Wings") quite a bit at one of the local bars I used to frequent in the deep south.

Jerry Springer outside of Fenway Park during the 2004 DNC.

I literally ran into Mario Lemieux walking down a street in Annapolis in the spring of 1994. Being a Penguins fan, that was akin to a religious experience.

 

Back in the day, I loved me some Justin.

 

I once met Hakeem Olajuwon at a mosque. Very very very nice guy.

 

I met Mr. Myagi on the sidelines of a Packers game...as NFL Films documented, Brett Favre met him that day, too.

My first celebrity encouter came in sixth grade when I saw Emo Philips at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago...it was a big deal for me at the time. :-\

 

while he was probably loving him some Ben Hogan.

My best celebrity experience came when I was 13-years-old when we went on a seven day cruise that had some mouthy Eye-talian on it. Real smartass, this guy. As cruises are apt to do, they offered a beach tour where you take a bus from the port and kick it in the waves all afternoon. On the ride back, we had a real character as a bus driver.

He had an intercom on the bus and tells everyone that there's too much anger in the world and , on the count of three, he wants everyone to look at the person sitting next to them and say "I care about you." Got it? Great. One...two...three. A split second after we all acted like school kids, this mouthy smartass pipes up and says "I DONT EVEN KNOW THIS GUY?" We all crack up.

Rans into him a few more times on the ship and he was a pretty nice guy. When I got back, like dorky teenage sports fans do, I sent him a letter telling him how much fun he was. WITHIN A WEEK, I got a letter back.

Helluva cool guy. I think his name was "Valvano" or something

 

One trip to NYC, I nearly ran over Spike Lee and then saw Diana Ross leaving the airport (just after leaving jail). Unfortunately, Matt M. keeps popping up at ballgames (with Jake Gyllenhaal, which is NOT unfortunate).

 

For some of us, that's as recent as it gets. Define "recent." One man says within a month. ANother says within a year. It's ambiguous. Like Bill Clinton with "is."

 

Sat behind Michael Rapaport at a Knicks game at the Garden earlier this season.

Day before walked past Joe Pesci in Times Square.

 

Leaving the Sugar Bowl, I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the glass doors of the Superdome.