pseudo-celeb at the grocery store

[fflo]

This evening in Busch's I noticed that the young dude talking boisterously on his cell phone in aisle 4 had the old Orioles cap on---this one , with the cartoon bird. It crossed my mind briefly to make a stab at a little Baltimore connection with the kid, but he was on the phone, and anyway there was something about him that suggested he might not be as receptive to such a thing as the average wearer of the old logo. He got his Cinnamon Toast Crunch and I got whatever I was in that aisle for (the wheat germ? check it out next time you buy: Made with Pride in Manhattan, Kansas), and we went our separate ways---only to be reunited, such as it was, another two rows down.

He was still on the phone, even louder now, and there seemed to be something about it that suggested his audience might be broader than just the party on the other end of the satellite signal. Then he said, "Yeah, I'm swimming pretty good," and went on to reference his training schedule and goals for the immediate future (oddly enough involving Super Bowl Sunday as some sort of demarcation). That's when I knew who he was, and another look at him confirmed it. Yep, it was the recent Olympic celebrity who used to frequent Pete's Grille, too, but after H & I beat it outta town.

So do you think he was trying to get recognized in the grocery store, walking around talking loudly about his swimming?

Comments

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

Ewww. That's really tacky.

I can't remember whether I told you this, but in my freshman year of college, I was in a sociology class with a guy who would incessantly brag about how he'd been in the Olympics as an ice dancer. He'd drop that factoid into every damn discussion we had. So finally, for some reason, our professor allowed him to bring in the tape of his Olympic performance for us all to sit through... and after about ten seconds of ice dancing, he and his partner both fell down and went sliding across the ice for a ridiculously long amount of time. It was a hilarious and utter failure, and none of us could believe that he'd been bragging about that for an entire semester. Of course it's a great accomplishment to be in the Olympics at all, but... it struck me as a little like Bill Buckner bragging, "Yeah, I was in the World Series once!"

[groovesinorbit]

Dude. Buckner was a good player doomed to history by one error. All has been forgiven now. He can come back from Idaho anytime.

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

Heh- yeah, I know. It's just one of those instances where the hatred for him seemed so disproportionate to what he actually did that I can't resist making fun of him from time to time. I kid because I love. :)

[groovesinorbit]

I kid because I love. :)

Me, too. : )

I wasn't a Sox fan at the time, so I missed the whole Buckner thing. Sox fans do get a bit het up about things like that. But then, I have a never dying hatred for Kirk Gibson thanks to what he did to the As back in '88. Kirk Fucking Gibson doesn't quite scan, but it should. : D

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Ha! You mean the Bill Buckner who now goes by Frank Anderson?

The videotape story is hilarious. Did you all laugh out loud, or was there a stunned and oddly polite silence?

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

As I recall, there was mostly silence. I happened to be sitting next to the kid, so I had to try my hardest not to register my amusement. I think a few people laughed a little, but mostly, the room was just filled with that wonderful vibrating energy that comes from a few dozen people pursing their lips in an effort to control their tittering. I thought it was much funnier that way, because we were all obviously thinking it. :)

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the suppression of exuberant energy like that is delightful, I agree. Collectively, too.