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Every so often I have the opportunity at work to celebrity spot and sometimes even speak to them, and yesterday was not only one of those days, but one of the best of those days to date for me over at Soarin' at Disney World.
I had a manager tell me that he needed 2 full sections of the ride for some VIP's, so I brought all my guests inside, launched the ride, and came back out to the "boarding area" aka the gates. My gate, which has 3 rows of seats and can accomodate 27 people, had 16 people in it. 14 very tall people and 2 Disney tour guides. I was born in Springfield, MASS, birthplace of basketball, so accordingly, I can't stand the damn sport! It bores me to tears unless it is the Harlem Globe Trotters who are playing. So, all I could think was "these guys must play basketball!" Yeah I know it's a stereotype, but that is what I thought. I'm not talking about taller than me so they are tall, I'm talking about almost 7 feet tall!
Anyway, as I am about to bring them inside the theater to the ride, the first guy there , who is at least 6'5" says "I think I'm afraid?" as if he were asking a question. I asked him what he thought he was afraid of and he said: "heights"! Of course the only response I could make to him was to look all the way up into his eyes and say "Honey you shouldn't be!"
He followed me into the theater and down to his seat with everyone following. There were 10 of them in the 1st row, and 6 in the 2nd row. The first guy down the 2nd row was putting on his seat belt as I walked past, and I noticed that he was putting the belt through the loop in the center of the seat. This would have been fine, except that they are only for smaller children who don't reach the little red arrows on the seat backs. I told him he didn't need it, touched his shoulder and said he had to be under that tall to need the loop. He was about 6'12" (I kid you not!) and I told him that since he had 3 feet on that mark, it would be uncomfortable for him if he did wear it that way. Everyone around him started to laugh.
I move to row 1 where this super huge almost 7 foot behemoth who is afraid of heights (I think his name is Ronald Dupree) starts saying "help me...HELP ME!!!" He has already buckled the seat belt through the loop in the seat and is in some pain. I tell him I know he's afraid of heights, but he didn't have to take it that far and I will let him out. Everyone around him is now laughing.
For safety I have to ask everyone to pull up on these little yellow tabs on the right side of the seatbelt (to make sure they are all buckled), so I start down row 1 and the 3rd guy down (Jason Maxiell) turns to his left. I say: "the OTHER left, it's ok sweetie, I have more than enough blonde moments to share with you!" Now everyone is laughing at him.
Our middle gate (gate B) is full of their wives and children, and 2 more Disney tour guides. One of the kids starts to scream. He's about 5 years old and screaming, so I go and ask him what is wrong. A tour guide says she thinks he needs to go to the bathroom. Another woman says "get his daddy get his daddy" so I ask where his dad is. "Skeets is in the front over there. Skeets is over there.' So I go back to my first row to the guy between Ronald Dupree and Jason Maxiell. Skeets ( I think his real name is Lindsey Hunter. He has a great smile! A very sheepish smile. I let him out, I have his son with me, and I sit them together in my second row.
This is the really cute part! I have the kid pull on the yellow tag and he gives this little grunt as he does it. "Good job big boy", I say as I turn to his father and say: "your turn daddy pull on the yellow tag and make sure it is buckled securely." He pulls on it and, for his son's sake, gives a big grunt! "Good job big boy!" I tell him as his son starts to giggle. He was a very good sport about that. So, I go back to my first row and re-buckle the seat belt where he had been sitting. I tell the guys in the front row that I think it is so sweet, all he wanted was to sit near his daddy. A chorus goes up from my front row "See that Skeets, she thinks your sweet!!! Skeets is so sweet!" Now all the moms and everyone else around is laughing at them, and poor Skeets is blushing. I tell them to have a great flight and I'll see them when they return, and exit the theater.
So, when I leave the theater, my coworker Derek is standing there laughing saying "That was half of the Detroit Pistons basketball team that you were picking on!" The manager confirmed that the players were some of the most popular of the Pistons. Since I don't watch or like basketball, I have no idea. All I do know is that I had a lot of fun and they were all good sports, so I have decided that they are now some of my favorite basketball players. Since I don't have any other than "Dr.J" Julius Irving, (from UMASS Amherst) Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Clyde Drexler, ( from before they played in the Olympics because my sister made me watch basketball) these guys are the only ones I like that are actually playing now. So I guess that makes the Detroit Pistons my favorite team!
Anyway, I checked the team roster and looked at their pictures to see who these guys were, and this is the list of guys that I had on my ride:
Lindsey Hunter (Skeets) Chauncey Billups Kelvin Cato 6'11" Dale Davis 6’11" Tony Delk Ronald Dupree 6’7" (afraid of heights) Rick Hamilton Jason Maxiell 6’7" ( can't tell left from right- could be a problem if a coach says pass to the left don'tcha think?) Nazr Mohammed 6’10”
If anybody knows anything else about them, or likes them or whatever,please let me know. My friend Derek has already said he could kill me since his favorite player is Rick Hamilton as he used to play for UCONN and Derek is from Connecticut. He is quite jealous. Kwea, and another coworker of mine are from Detroit, as well as one of my best friends, so they all thought it was very cool.
Wow, since I very rarely post anything (Kwea hogs the computer for Hatrack stuff), and I think this is the 2nd thread that I actually started, I am amazed at how much I wrote! Seriously amazed that Kway didn't kick me off the computer already!
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Nazr just joined the team in the off season, must be a new team member bonding thing. Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton were always my favorites.
That's cool that you got to meet them, I see them in the restaurant where I work every so often, and all their wives came in every away game night during the Conference Finals to watch them play. They're mostly really nice guys, which I imagine has to be hard when you have so much visibility and so many people trying to get a piece of you so often.
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I had no idea who they were until afterwards, which is fine because I would have treated them exactly the same if I had known....I just like to have fun and pick on people. Not only did they make it easy, they made it a heck of a lot of fun!
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Sounds like you had a great time, JenniK. It's nice when famous people turn out to be gracious, too. 
