Encounters with Celebrities who were jerks (Athletes or not)

My father in law ran a fancy hotel in San Fran back in the 70's where a lot of celebs would go. One day, Johnny Cash walked in with his kid who was about 6 at the time. He just handed his kid off to my father in law and said "Take care of him. I'll be back in a few hours." and just left.

As a parent, I could never imagine doing that with my child. Crazy.

Biggest jerk - Phil Jackson, the NBA coach. I took a shuttle ride with him to the airport, and he was a total ass to everybody.

On the other side, the sister of a friend works in Hollywood, and I asked her once who were the nicest lead actors, male and female. She said Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore. Another friend who knows Brosnan confirmed that he's great, and I can easily believe that Moore is just as good.

It pains me to post this as I am such an admirer of hers, but Joan Benoit Samuelson. At the Boston Marathon expo in the mid-90's, she was signing copies of her latest book. I had already purchased the book beforehand, and had the copy with me. After waiting in line, she refused to sign my copy since it wasn't purchased at the table that day. Kinda disappointing.

Barabbas wrote:

It pains me to post this as I am such an admirer of hers, but Joan Benoit Samuelson. At the Boston Marathon expo in the mid-90's, she was signing copies of her latest book. I had already purchased the book beforehand, and had the copy with me. After waiting in line, she refused to sign my copy since it wasn't purchased at the table that day. Kinda disappointing.

Probably part of her agreement with the retailer. Standard terms. You could have bought a 2nd copy. Then you could have given the unsigned copy as a gift. You blame her when you had options.

I met Joan Benoit Samuelson at my college convocation where she was along with her family, and Roger Bannister was the other guest. After I asked Bannister about why American distance running wasn't at the top (and how far from that point in the late 1980s did we fall!), Joanie's husband asked if I'd like to get her autograph as well, and I did and talked to her. She and her family were great, and decades later I found that my wife had also met her and gotten an autographed picture at a xc meet in NH, where she sometimes competed during her base season.

I've shared this on this site before but it is worth another shout.

A good friend of mine was responsible for picking up celebrities at the airport and driving them to/from the state fair held in August. She was 17-18 at the time and about to start her senior year of high school. She picked up Bob Hope. This indicates how long ago this was. He talked to her and treated her like she was his best friend.

It was all forgotten, but the day prior to graduation, she received a large package in the mail. It was a large picture frame with 10 $100 dollar bills pressed under the glass and a hand written note from Bob Hope wishing her a happy graduation and future.

Saw Mark Wahlberg at The Nike Employee Store in Beaverton. He had three bodyguards, and employees were told not to approach or stare at him. Bodyguards stopped anyone trying to take a photo of him. Walked around like he was God. On the other hand, athletes like Centrowitz, Kipchoge, Allison Felix, Ashton Eaton, etc. were approachable and very friendly.

TMADDDHASFNE wrote:

Met Flea at a 10k race in South Pasadena several years ago. He signed up with his real name and was low key normal dude, not a rock star. I was much faster than him.

I have some limited online interaction with a semi-famous fellow from Edmonton, Canada.

Seems normal until he disagrees with you and has a real nasty disposition.

Was just about to ask if this was Gretzky, McDavid, or that poster whose name I forget, as a joke.

Then I realized your joke.

John Fluevog, of his own shoes, was pretty awesome.

https://www.fluevog.com/

"Saw Mark Wahlberg at The Nike Employee Store in Beaverton. He had three bodyguards, and employees were told not to approach or stare at him. Bodyguards stopped anyone trying to take a photo of him. Walked around like he was God."

Wouldn't know him if I saw him, but wouldn't want to going by that, seems like a real cünt.

I live south of Nashville and see music people a fair amount. Several years ago, Nicole Kidman and Kieth Urban brought their daughters to the local Labor Day road race kids fun run. They were on the side of the street watching the girls and didn’t make a big deal at all about anything—very nice and polite to everyone in the crowd. Nicole Kidman is stunning in person.

-also had very friendly encounters with Vince Gil, Amy Grant, Sheryl Crow, Judds, George Jones R.I.P. (sat next to us at Carrabba’s).

Elvin wrote:

LR at any other point in time: *sh!ts all over everyone and has nothing nice to say about anybody*

LR when specifically asked to share stories about people being jerks: *suddenly has nothing but positive things to say*

Y'all a buch of contrarians lol.

Maybe try to enjoy it and encourage it instead of being so negative?

it is time wrote:

Elvin wrote:

LR at any other point in time: *sh!ts all over everyone and has nothing nice to say about anybody*

LR when specifically asked to share stories about people being jerks: *suddenly has nothing but positive things to say*

Y'all a buch of contrarians lol.

Maybe try to enjoy it and encourage it instead of being so negative?

What did I say that was negative? I pointed out something that I thought was funny.

I literally said that I was laughing out loud. You understand what it means when someone laughs, no?

I saw Charlie Coyle, a relatively average player on the Boston Bruins, walking his dog in the seaport in Boston this summer. I was with my younger brother (who is a huge hockey fan) who was visiting for the weekend. We were probably 20 ft away, walking perpendicularly towards him at a corner, and I pretty quietly said to my brother, "Oh look it's Charlie Coyle". Coyle proceeded to turn and give me a look of complete disgust before walking off. Wasn't even going to say a word to the guy and bother him. Was not impressed.

No Walberg wrote:

Saw Mark Wahlberg at The Nike Employee Store in Beaverton. He had three bodyguards, and employees were told not to approach or stare at him. Bodyguards stopped anyone trying to take a photo of him. Walked around like he was God. On the other hand, athletes like Centrowitz, Kipchoge, Allison Felix, Ashton Eaton, etc. were approachable and very friendly.

I saw Mark Wahlberg heading out of his hotel, and body guard . What jumped out was he was wearing a track suit , but also air max high top sneakers with serious heal lifts inside . His ankles were above and outside of the shoe lol . The little guy must have a height issue .

Met Bill Belichek and he was very cool.

Seemed dry but not a phony bone in his body.

Offered and got me a sideline pass.

One of my sons lives in Kauai and does construction. He told me that on one of his lunch breaks he was paddling around in the surf and a guy comes down from his house and wades out and starts a conversation with my son while they are bobbing around in the waves. My son asks him what he does for a living and he says that he spends a lot of time off the island and does some acting. Said his name was Pierce Brosnan. I asked my son, "you mean 007?" and he said "yeah, I think that's him". My son had never seen any of his movies and didn't have a clue who he was. Said that he was a super nice guy.

I've said this many times before on the board

I met Frank Shorter 20 years ago and he gave me his autograph.

Kip Keino too.

I saw Forrest Whitaker in LA but did not talk to him.