Of course! And believe me, I have done my best in these regards. On many long trips up and down I-75 to Gainesville, I have opened their minds and ears to CSN&Y, TOM PETTY, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Eagles, Dire Straits, etc.
When I first came to UF Bernie Leadon, Sr was a colleague in my department. His more famous son junior would sometimes visit the department.
I also played Yardbirds, Steely Dan and Traffic for my kids. Also Grateful Dead. And when my wife wasn't around I played some Zappa. Also played old blues especially Howlin Wolf and jazz especially Miles Davis.
My daughter listened to oldies and enjoyed them growing up. She appreciates the music, if not necessarily knowing who they are. When she got to middle school, she was singing quite better (more power) than her weight class. She was getting used to listening to opera and whatnot. I was in conflict. I got some "Weird Al" songs together and began playing them. She began to gravitate away from "that stuff" and got the parodies of popular songs (especially her era's). Gotta develop a "this is crap" gene early or else bad habits form. Now she is a well adjusted woman, albeit kind of bewildered at her peers.
I think it was 1967 when I was 8 years old and lived in California. My mother said that a couple of Oakland Raiders were down at the local supermarket giving out signed pictures. I shrugged and rode my bike down there wondering if there was a line. I walked right up to Ben Davidson and got a signed portrait within seconds. I think the other guy was Richard Sligh but not sure. It wasn't long later that I was throwing darts at them on the dart board. Lol Probably Mickey Mantle too. Same shopping center years later, George Foreman lived nearby and used to practice and we could watch him through the glass. He walked right next to me at a Golden Gloves competition. He was like a whole different species next to me. I used to ski at Bear Valley in the 1980s and Robert Conrad was a volunteer at a nearby fire station I believe. I walked right by him several time. I was taller but I was NOT going to knock that energizer battery off his shoulder.
I sat on a panel next to bestselling author Karin Slaughter. Big crowd in attendance, all of them there to listen to her, not me.
On the court I have had so many great brushes with greatness. Dwayne Dixon was a regular at our pick-up games and played intramurals with us. Everyone knows that he was a great football player but he was a really good hoopster as well. One time I had downs at Florida Gym and John Pelphrey was shooting baskets one court over. I approached him and asked if he wanted to play the next game with me. He was then a regular at our noontime pickup games for several years. Shot baskets with JWill many times before his Ballroom Dance class in Florida Gym. Never got into a game with him, though. Willie Jackson, Jr played pickup with us during the off season. He was one of the football players that played hoops as well during the Sloan years. Clifford Lett played pickup with us after he had his NBA cup of coffee and was back to get his degree. Very classy guy. Played pick up with Steve Spurrier. But it was Steve Junior. LOL. Played a lot of pickup with Illinois players back in the day. Derek Harper was the best of them. Added in edit: Play intramural hoops against Emmitt Smith. Given that the refs were asking for autographs after the game you can guess what I thought about the officiating. Also played against Louis Oliver. He played basketball like he played football: very physical and intimidating.
Spent a good part of fall '93 at hotels in LA that were hosting NBA teams. Was in the breakfast buffet line with the entire Trailblazers team at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray. Later moved to the Shutters in Santa Monica, much cooler hotel. Got in an elevator with Jason Williams and Vlade Divac. Jason was excited to run into a Gator. Divac was a funny guy. Years later I saw Andrew DeClerk walking down Michigan Avenue with a teammate. I stopped and introduced myself and he introduced me to his friend Grant. Briefly sat at a table filled with Gator-Bears at a game watching party, Rex, Ian, Todd and Alex. The first three left early but I got to chat with Alex for a bit. Super charismatic guy. Think I've shared all these stories before but threads like these keep popping up.
Played with him once, early to mid-2000s, everyone on the court knew who he was and wanted to be the guy who stopped him, I ran with him on the fast break and got left all alone every single time. Easy passes for him, easy buckets for me. Good times.
One more true story. Early nineties, was on a Newark Tampa flight and I ended up sitting with the Boston Bruins. Mike Milbury was the coach and he was up in first while his players flew coach, which felt wrong. And Ray Borque just exuded class. I got a coach window seat with Adam Oates on the aisle, empty middle. Less than cheerful fellow, at least that day. Cursing the FA under his breath among other things. Flight takes a mechanical delay and they let us leave the plane for a bit. I get up to leave, Adam asks me if I am getting food and I say no. While I’m out there I change my mind and grab some McDonalds. When I brought it back to the plane he was legit mad because he was hungry. Didn’t talk to me the rest of the flight.
Chandler Parsons used to come watch me play . . . trumpet, that is. Turns out CP is a bit of a jazz fan. I met he and Adam shoot, forgot his last name. Great kid who got hurt as a freshman. When I was 12, I met Roger Craig on a flight. He signed my ticket. Just dug this up the other day:
Adam Allen? The autograph reminded me of my greatest brush with greatness. I was a kid in grade school and my dad and I went to a White Sox game and we had "grandstand" seats a few rows behind the box seats behind the first base visitors dugout. Back then NBC IIRC had a midweek game of the week and it was going to be that game. Who should appear out of the visitor's dugout but Sandy Koufax who had been recently hired as an NBC broadcaster. I ran down there with my program and got one of the few autographs that he gave out that night. Of course my mother threw that program away when I was in college. While she also threw out my much more valuable Clemente rookie card that I traded for when I was in first grade (I had to give up multiple Mantle cards and some other good ones to get it) I regret not having that autographed program much more. That one for me had a personal connection to greatness, Added in edit: Way back then us kids had no idea about rookie cards and eventual collector worth. I just loved Clemente as a player and my friend had a dad that had bought some cards for his son over the years. It just so happened that he had a 1955 Topps Clemente card and of course it had some wear on it. Kids back then were more into Mantle and Mays and not Clemente. I had some duplicate Mantle cards and some White Sox cards he wanted. I didn't have a Mays card to spare. And I loved Roberto as a player.
