At the last FIU basketball game we went to, we met Antwan Barnes. He's the guy that was the 4th draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens that came from FIU (duh). We had never met him before when he was still playing football at FIU. We went to see him play the Dolphins and we took tons of pics of him on the field and then later on, he added us on MySpace and we saw that he has our pics in his page. Then, at the basketball game, he noticed us, said, "You guys!" He said hi to us and we took pictures. He was such a sweetheart. We were just talking about football stuff.

 

Hmmmm....I wonder who took that picture......

 

 

Pitbull, Miggy, Zo, Hammer, Olivo, and Borchard. I've also met D. Wade, A-Rod, Zach Thomas

and several others that i dont have pics of.

 

I used to DJ at a club that Pitbull frequented and he also did an unexpected performance at one night because he was a little bit drunk.

 

 

I kinda know Mike B. the Voice of the Heat. He announced a couple of basketball games at FIU. I would talk to him about the Heat and stuff. He's a really nice guy.

 

 

I wonder who introduced you to Mike B.....hmmmmm.......

I have met the following players/personalities at autograph signings:

 

Baseball

-Greg Colbrunn

-Robb Nen (my favorite Marlin of all time)

-John Cangelosi

-Alex Fernandez

-Livan Hernandez

-Warren Spahn (RIP)

-Andre Dawson (lives in my part of Miami, I have run into him several times at various places like malls, and my brother works out where he does)

-Bob Feller

-Pete Rose

-D-Train (also met him at a UM baseball game once)

-Mike Lowell

-Miguel Cabrera

-Ivan Rodriguez

-Josh Beckett

-Earl Weaver

-Willie McCovey

-Juan Marichal

-Dan Uggla

-Scott Olsen

 

Football

-Chris Chambers

-Junior Seau

-Jim Langer

-Paul Hornung

 

Met these players/managers at this past summer's MLB Draft in Orlando: Tommy Lasorda, Frank Howard, Darryl Strawberry, Dave Winfield, Barry Larkin (probably the nicest guy there), Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson (probably the worst guy there personality wise, although at least he was nice to the younger kids), Phillippe Aumont (one of the draft picks, came to Florida from Quebec).

 

Saw James Posey leaving a Best Buy in South Miami during the 06 Playoffs.

 

I have also run into countless players at baseball games before the games started, or afterwards.

I met Bruce Willis and Demi Moore back when Planet Hollywood opened up in in the Grove.

I met Bruce Willis and Demi Moore back when Planet Hollywood opened up in in the Grove.

 

That was like a hundred years ago, lol. That place was terrible...

At the last FIU basketball game we went to, we met Antwan Barnes. He's the guy that was the 4th draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens that came from FIU (duh). We had never met him before when he was still playing football at FIU. We went to see him play the Dolphins and we took tons of pics of him on the field and then later on, he added us on MySpace and we saw that he has our pics in his page. Then, at the basketball game, he noticed us, said, "You guys!" He said hi to us and we took pictures. He was such a sweetheart. We were just talking about football stuff.

 

Hmmmm....I wonder who took that picture......

 

 

I kinda know Mike B. the Voice of the Heat. He announced a couple of basketball games at FIU. I would talk to him about the Heat and stuff. He's a really nice guy.

 

 

I wonder who introduced you to Mike B.....hmmmmm.......

 

:lol Yea yea

 

 

We met Tommy Lasorda once too. He was at a FIU baseball game once for some reason. It was pretty random.

 

I've met Dan Marino. And obviously, being a FIU fan, I've met Don Strock a few times. Nice guy.

 

I met Gabriel Iglesias when he was just here for a comedy show at FIU.

 

Willy Chirino

Smash Mouth (weird and funny guys all at the same time)

 

This doesn't involve me, but it's still cool. My brother is teaching fashion design in an Atlanta high school. He has this thing where he and his students made shirts for EDIN, an eating disorder charity, and those shirts made it to Los Angeles boutiques and other boutiques around. He had a launch party in LA and Paris Hilton showed up. He chatted with her and has a picture with her. I never liked her, but after that, she gained some brownie points from me.

I met Bruce Willis and Demi Moore back when Planet Hollywood opened up in in the Grove.

 

That was like a hundred years ago, lol. That place was terrible...

 

now I feel old. And yes they pretty much sucked.

 

I'd won tickets to the opening night from a radio station, when all the celebs showed up.

Why not add to this:

 

 

Yup, that's me with Alex Trebek during my appearance on Jeopardy! We taped the show in December of 2000 and it aired in April 2001.

 

 

2004 Democratic Party Presidential Candidate, Former Governor of Vermont, and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean and me during the 2003 Florida Democratic Party Convention. I had also met and worked with Gov. Dean (or "Governor Ho Ho" as we called him back in the day) while I worked as a Legal Intern with the Vermont Legislature back in 1997.

 

 

Senator John Kerry and me during the 2003 Florida Democratic Party Convention where I was a delegate.

 

 

Governor Bill Richardson during a lunch with him in Boynton Beach. I have met and spoken numerous times with Governor Richardson due to my position as Executive Director of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party Caucus.

 

 

That would be former Virginia Governor (and very likely U.S. Senate candidate) Mark Warner and I during a meeting I had with him in West Palm Beach. He is an amazing man and it is a shame that he pulled his name out of the presidential race so early!

 

Other encounters of which I have no pictures (and I don't count athletes in this mix -- for that, just go read my Spring Training Road Trip Thread from last season), back in college my best friend went to UM and one of his good friends was this guy who was kind of funny and played football. My buddy and I were hanging with him at a party and my buddy says, "Hey, Mike, did you know that _________'s cousin was Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka?" I tell this guy, "No kidding? Really?" Yeah, that "guy" was Duane Johnson ("The Rock"). Also, Gloria Estefan on numerous occasions, only because her mother and my mother were both teachers at the same elementary school in Hialeah. "KC" of KC and the Sunshine Band and my uncle were colleagues together back in the day hanging out at TK Studios. My uncle was the drummer for George McCrae ("Rock Your Baby") and was offered a slot to play drums for KC and the Sunshine Band during their latest tour, but declined due to his age and health.

 

Finally, there is the greatest story of them all, but it doesn't necessarily qualify as a celebrity encounter on my part, though. My great-grandfather was a painter and artist in Spain and Cuba. He was pretty well-reknown and his landscapes and sketches of Santiago de Cuba are still being sold on postcards in Cuba and Spain (with absolutely no royalties going to my family, but that's another story for another time). He studied in Rome and while a student, he and a classmate snuck into the Vatican gardens to paint landscapes. They were captured by the Swiss Guards while the Pope was strolling. The Pope (I don't recall which one now, but you're going to have to calculate this happened between 1890-1910) confronted them and said that he'd let them go if they painted his portrait -- which they did, but this is not the "punchline." One of my great-grandfather's colleagues and friends back in the day was none other than Walt Disney. Walt offered my great-grandfather a job as an animator and collaborator back in the day, to which my great-grandfather graciously replied, "Why in the world would I want to spend the rest of my life drawing a rat?" The rest is history.