When the Sonics were still here in Seattle, I knew a few autograph collectors who would always hang out outside the hotel of the visiting team and wait for them to board the bus heading to practice/the game. I went a few times... once when Indiana was in town and Bird was still a coach. Bird snubbed me for an autograph. That stunk. Then I went a couple times when Boston was in town, because I was going to the game that night anyways... I got autographs from Walker, Pierce, Payton (who was super-friendly to all the Seattle folks), big al and the rest of the squad at the time.
It was kinda funny, because there were maybe 5 other people outside (Boston stunk) and they were all autograph collectors. I vividly remember them getting super excited when they saw Marcus Banks coming out of the hotel (I think he was a rookie that year), but at one point a couple old guys came outside and I chatted with them with 15 minutes while the bigger guy caught a smoke. I got them to sign a piece of paper and after they had boarded the bus the autograph collectors were like, "Who were the old dudes?..." and I go... "Uh... Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn... Should I hold it against you for losing your crap when Marcus Banks walks by, but not having any idea when a freakin hall of famer 10 time NBA champion is catching a smoke in front of you...?"
Other funny thing... this was pre-Big 3 and Pierce was obviously the "main guy" for the autograph collectors when Boston was in town. He made a point to sign an autograph for everyone who was there, but had a rule that he would only sign 1 card (whereas Payton went out of his way to sign as many as his Seattle fans had). But a couple of the autograph collectors were super aggressive and they'd camp out before practice and the game hoping to get extra cards signed. I was was only out there before the game, but Pierce actually told a couple of the collectors, "I remember you... I signed for you already before practice" and wouldn't sign a second card for them. And then for whatever reason, I later heard that a couple of the collectors actually ended up following a couple of the Celtics to a dance club thinking maybe they could get more cards signed (seriously, don't lump me in with these weirdos... this stuff is straight out of that Patton Oswald movie)... as the Celtics were in line to get into the club, these idiot collectors walked up to them hoping to get some more autographs. Unfortunately for them, Pierce was there... and he apparently lost his crap and went off on them. Something along the lines of, "Oh my god, I'm tripping... I'm tripping... I can't believe you guys followed us here... I'm tripping". I really can't blame Pierce there... following them to the club was pretty creepy stalkerish... especially considering he had already signed for them.
Another story:
Just a couple months ago, my girlfriend and I decided to go hang out in Portland for a weekend. She picked some random hotel. As we were checking in, I noticed that there were a couple rather tall guys hanging out in the lobby, but I didn't think much of it... then after we checked in, I went outside to look around and walked by some scary looking white guy who looked like he had gigantism. His face looked familiar... it took me about 15 seconds for it to sink in that it was Zaza Pachulia... then I was rather impressed that I actually remembered his name. I posted on facebook, "Should I be embarrassed that I just walked by Zaza Pachulia and I actually remembered his name?... In my defense, it's not that hard to spot a 7 foot 280 pound Georgian when you see one...". I texted my buddy about it and his response was, "Too bad it wasn't Joe Johnson or Josh Smith"... and then literally a minute after getting that text, I stepped into the elevator heading back to my room... and Joe Johnson walks on in. It was just me and him in the elevator and I just so happened to be holding a Celtics knit cap in my hand (it was cold outside). So I go:
Me: "Joe Johnson, right?"
Him: "Yup"
Me: (Holding up the Celtic knit cap) "Hah... sorry man... I'm actually a massive Celtic fan... too bad you aren't still playing for us"
He laughed. I thought that was pretty cool. When I got back to the room I tried explaining to my girlfriend how cool that had been, but she just looked at me like I was special needs. I'm like, "No but seriously... I thought it was cool I bump into Zaza Pachulia... and then I end up saying hello to their star player"... she's just like "... ok" ... So I go, "... but... he just signed a contract making like 120 million dollars..." and she just goes, "... nice".
So anyhow... I figured that was it for the NBA excitement in Portland. Later that day my girlfriend and I were walking down the street and walked by Dominique Wilkins and Damien Wilkins (his nephew?)... I didn't even bother explaining to her what had just happened. She wouldn't get it. I just said to her, "You just walked by the human highlight machine" and she gave me that same look. Oh well...
Topic: Where do the Celtics stay in Miami? / Celtics late night habits (Read 18491 times)