Brushes with Greatness
I'll start with my stories - I've got quite a few, actually. During Euro 96, the Gooner, Dad and I went to six matches, including all of the Wembley matches and two outside London. During a trip up to Anfield for Italy v. Russia, we happened upon Liverpool and BBC great Alan Hanson outside the ground holding court. I seem to remember that he was a bit bemused by how excited this group of Americans was to see him.
A few years later, I bumped into Joe Max-Moore at National Airport on the day that he scored a winning goal for the US against Argentina in a friendly. I got a chance to buy him a capuccino at Starbucks and pick his brain. Around the same time, I lined up to get John Harkes' signature on a copy of his biog for the Gooner. When I told him that it was intended for a DC United fan, he shot back - "well, that dynasty is over." Not sure Gooner would disagree with that assessment.
Best, though, was the meeting of the minds that you see above. It happened during the days just before the start of the 2002 World Cup in Japanorea. The Swedish side was holed up in a hotel in a seaside town (Aoshima) near where I was living in at the time. Karen and I were headed for our favorite beach that day and turned a corner to see a group of very un-Japanese looking men playing keepy-uppy in the surf (I seem to remember that Henrik Larsson had a very flash gold Speedo on). After settling on a patch a discreet distance away from them, I doubled back to have a chat with Freddie Ljungberg and Karen snapped a quick shot. Great memories!
How about you lot?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 1:12 PM
3 Comments:
First, you forgot one. When we went to that mad Brazilian churrascoria for with Paolo and his brother, we saw both Marco Etcheverry and Mario Gori turned away because the fire marshall's maximum occupancy was already way over.
I've run into Jeff Agoos with his family at Summers in Arlington, but the best was also at Summers, Jaime Moreno with his British wife and adorable kids watching 'Boro during that really unlikely tilt they had at the Europa Cup. He's a super nice guy and really charming to his kids and apologised and excused himself when his phone rang during the match. When he came back, he said, "that was Juninho (Paulista)" who was his friend from his 'Boro days.
Oh, and Sammy Nelson signed a long since lost Arsenal scarf for me outside Highbury.
Oh, also, at lunch one day, the La Masia Academy were in town and were headed into Jose Andres' restaurant here. It was in the era before Messi debuted for the full team, so it's possible he was there in amongst that track-suited mob of 14 year-olds.
I have a few stories, but none as interesting. I have told several LOBERS about the time we went to the Old Wembley in February 1982 to see England vs Northern Ireland. I took the wrong turn and happened to run into Phil Thompson. I asked him to autograph my program and he did not want to. A friend persuaded him and he finally gave in. Due to that incident I get a great deal of satisfaction whenever he errs on the Gillette Soccer Saturday show and he does that on a regular basis.
Another story is when Yellows and I went to Carrow Road to do some filming for a project for our cinematography class with Mr. Albert. Yellows arranged for us to film behind the goal. Prior to kickoff we ran into former Norwich defender, Greg Downs , just outside the dressing room. He was the nicest guy and held a lengthy conversation with us, wishing us the best with our film.
Finally, A not so famous player, but he counts, IMHO. Former Cambridge United defender, Derrick Christie , was the guest speaker at an end of season AYA awards banquet. He signed an autograph at the end of the banquet.
Well, I know I shared this story before . . . but, James, Phil, Mark Enderle and I had a mini-reunion in 1981 and went to Giants Stadium to watch the consolation and final game of the Trans-Atlantic Cup. Southamption played Glasgow Celtic in the consolation game and after it, we went in search of the players for autgraphs. We came up empty, but then heard a rumour that the Southampton team had showered, changed and were watching the final in the stadium. Somehow we found at where they were and got to get autographs from various, Southampton players, including the great Kevin Keegan, who was then playing for them. I felt bad about disturbing Kevin and asking for an autograph so I remarked, "It's tough at the top, eh, Kevin." Kevin signed my program and said, "It's much tougher at the bottom."
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