2 truths and a lie

The oranges are true. All occurred at ages under 10. I just really couldn't figure it out.

The Michael Jordan story was a lie. When he was in Birmingham, a bunch of us teenagers tried to get him to sign a Playboy because we'd seen him in his car the week before looking at a centerfold (presumably a photo of himself in some magazine). We caught him leaving the stadium and he just busted out laughing at a bunch of 15/16 year olds with a Playboy. Some other guy came over with his wife and signed it as his wife rolled her eyes.

 

Shawn Green?

 

Dr. J is the lie. The truth is, I was standing nearby while a kid was playing pinball during the league party at the NBA All-Star Game (I think it was the '88 game in Chicago). Then Dr. J walked over to tell his son it was time to go.

The Flutie story is true. I was working on a retrospective of the USFL on one of its anniversaries and had left a message for Flutie. He called and woke me up to tell me -- in very slurred speech -- that he would be calling me the next day to do the interview. It was very strange.

The Paul Newman thing happened while I was covering the Falcons' training camp, then in Suwanee, Ga. The team's regular headquarters shared a property with a motel, the Falcon Inn, that was owned by the team's owner. Road Atlanta is not far away, and Newman was in town for a race and apparently was staying there. It was 1987, and the big story was the likely players strike looming ahead. I was eating lunch at the Falcon Inn restaurant with a couple of other writers when Paul Newman came in to eat. He saw our notebooks and apparently overheard some of our conversation, so he walked over to our table and said, "Are you sportswriters?" When we said yes, he started asking us what was going on with the strike situation and if we thought the players were really going to walk out.

 

Big hitter, the Lama, long

 

You've got that going for you.

 

Which is nice.

 

BUMP.
1. I've blown my nose so hard on one occasion, I popped a pimple on the inside.
2. I've officiated 7 Kansas State High School Football Championship games in a row.
3. Friend of mine has 2 holes in one.......in the same round.

 

1 and 3 are true.

 

1. I've held a Grammy Award
2. I've lifted the Stanley Cup
3. I've put on a Masters winner's green jacket

 

Without shoes?