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We arrive Wednesday night around 7pm. Grab dinner and decide to get some drinks. If you don't know Vegas has tons of places that sell a yard (48 oz) of Margherita in a plastic bong. We were staying at Caesar's Palace and there's a Fat Tuesday there. There's 5 of us (4 guys and my wife). All the guys buy a bong of something. We're walking around looking at decor and slowly getting into our "good guy" moods. As we're walking, I notice this white haired guy that was walking in front of us. I only got a short glimpse of him from the side. We were all walking back towards the casino and then I lost him. My buddy wanted to get some souvenir cards so we headed to the gift shop. Lo and behold, the white haired guy. He turns around and we make eye contact.
I say, "you look familiar"
He responds, "I get that sometimes"
I ask, "Are you a hockey player?"
He says, "I used to be."
I rack my brain searching for a name and then blurt out..."Borje Salming??"
"Ummm...No."
Now I feel like a total dork when I realize who it is...
"MIKE BOSSY!!!"
We shake his hand and are totally star struck. I brought a bunch of cards with me to Vegas, but couldn't remember if I had his. We ask if he's here for the NHL Awards and he asks why we're here. And then notices that we're all holding bongs and says "I guess you guys have been partying." Probably fearing that we're a bunch of drunk idiots, he waves and says "maybe I'll see you guys tomorrow".
We're all in shock because we got to meet and shake the hand of MIKE FREAKING BOSSY!
But I feel like a total DUMBASS for calling him Borje Salming. LOL. Before you judge, look at pictures of both of them.
After my wife says, "why didn't you guys ask for an autograph?" And we all respond, "DUH, I don't know." She says, "Didn't you guys hear me say that to you?"
"Umm....no". "Awww Man! We're idiots!! We meet one of the most prolific goal scorers ever and we look like a bunch of drunk idiots!" "Ok, Ok, next time we'll be prepared!"
We are all giddy and head over to the Venetian where our other buddy is staying. We're talking pretty loud now and some other guys ask us where we're from. We tell them Vancouver, and they said them too (well, Victoria). They tell us they were at the Mirage because they heard the Pens were supposed to be partying there, but they didn't see any of them. Then we see this huge black guy talking outside, and it's George Laraques!! We all scream for him, and he totally snubs us!! Didn't even look over. There was no mistaking it was him. What a snob!!! But he's huge, so we weren't going to make it an issue.
We wait inside by the poker tables for our buddy, who is supposed to meet us. Then one of the guys with us looks up the escalator next to us and says, "Hey, it's Mats Sundin!"
Mats responds, "hey, how's it going?" He's with 3 other friends and they walk by and then turn back because they're not sure which direction they're supposed to head.
My buddy quickly asks him, "Can I shake your hand?"
Mats extends his hand and says, "sure"
My buddy tells him, "Thanks for playing for the Canucks!"
We wave to him. Then we realize that we didn't ask him for his autograph. "what is wrong with us??!!!" My buddy says, "Aww crap, I should have had him sign the Canucks cap I was wearing!!" "We're idiots!!" "ok, ok, next time we'll be ready". I had brought 3 sharpies with me too.
Then our buddy that we were waiting for comes down and we tell him everything that he missed, and he can't believe it.
Next day (Thursday). Since it's the day of the awards, I decide to wear my vintage Canucks T-shirt. My buddy sees mine, and says that he brought his Nordiques one and changes into it.
We have lunch at Serendipity 3 (outside Caeser's) and I order the Breakfast steak sandwich special that comes with a free tower of onion rings (all for $17.50). The sandwich comes and it's huge. There are TWO 8oz steaks, with 3 sunny side eggs, 8 slices of bacon and cheese, on a baguette.
After lunch we're walking back to the hotel and some old guy stops my buddy.
He asks, "where did you get that T-shirt?"
My buddy sheepishly answers, "my girlfriend got it for me in Montreal"
He says, "I used to own that team."
?!?!??!
I ask him his name and he says "Marcel Aubut". He's here for the NHL Awards.
We weren't sure if this guy is telling the truth, but later on we did see him on the red carpet and re-introduce himself to Stan Mikita.
We take a taxi to the Palms hotel and the red carpet intros have already started. We get inside just to see Luongo and Mike Bossy pass by. We pull out our cameras and I pull out a pad and sharpie. There's a lounge curtained off beside the bar and I see Chara through the opening. He's too far to take any pictures and there's a bunch of people in the way. I wiggle my way to get closer and manage to get autographs of Stan Mikita and Jarome Iginla. I was able to dig out 2 cards for Messier to sign, but we missed him. There were a lot of NHL legends and a lot of people were asking "who's that guy?". Even for Jean Beliveau.
Then I notice this guy in a suit walking around behind me. I ask him, "Hey, are you Nathan Lafayette?" He says, "yeah, good memory". I say, "of course, Stanley Cup Finals", and point to my shirt. I ask for an autograph and we chit chat for about 10 minutes. He was there on business and he asked his friend to hook him up with tickets to the Awards. I missed a bunch of players coming in, but it was worth it to me.
I then notice at the bar, Brian Burke. He sees me waiting around, and when he was done his drink he comes over.
I say, "I'm from Vancouver!"
He says, "I sort of figured that", pointing to my T-shirt. "I'm pretty sharp that way."
I shake his hand and get an autograph. I also ask if he's looking forward to the draft, and he responds, "definately".
Datsyuk and Ovechkin are the last guys to come in and we're right next to the rope waiting for him to come by. My friend's girlfriend tried to grab Datsyuk for a picture, but he pulled away and rushed down.
However...she grabbed Ovechkin and asked for a picture. And he stopped and posed with her. I was standing right next to her and one of our buddies was behind them. I tried to get an autograph after but he rushed off. I guess I don't have the cleavage that my friend's girlfriend was showing. LOL.
We watch a bit of the awards on the TVs outside and then head back for dinner. Our friend saw Wade Belak, and then Alex Auld and Bryan Allen later.
The next day (Friday), we walk the strip and do some shopping. We get back to the hotel and our other buddy who stayed behind says that he met Ovechkin and shook his hand. We say BS because he does BS from time to time as a joke. He says, "No, serious. Gordie Howe too!". Okay, now we totally don't believe him and tell him we smell his BS a mile away. He says he was walking around the shops and saw Ovechkin sitting at table inside a sports memorabilia store. He went in an shook his hand and Gordie Howe was there too. They were signing autographs there (for a fee). We told him the he should have taken pictures, but he said that he wasn't sure if he was allowed. He did say that guys who paid for autographs for Gordie Howe got to sit beside him and chit chat for awhile. Crap! Our dumb luck! We missed them!
My wife and I walk by after dinner looking for the shop and it's "Field of Dreams". They had a sign up that said Gordie Howe and Pete Rose will be back tomorrow for photos and autographs! We asked him how the signings with Ovechkin went. He sort of shook his head and said that Ovie wasn't that friendly. Apparently, you couldn't get up close beside him for pictures, and he scribble permanent marker all over their tables, eventhough there was a pad of paper for him (to keep the ink flowing for better autographs).
I'll tell my wife that I'm coming back and going to try and get a long sit down session with Gordie Howe. I started to plan out what questions to ask and no be too starstruck. I could barely sleep that night as my head was flowing with questions. I wrote notes down on a pad so I wouldn't forget.
Next day (Saturday), Gordie Howe and Pete Rose are signing from 1-3:30pm. There's a crowd and lineup, so my wife and I decide to walk around a bit and come back. There are crowds taking pictures outside the store, and the employees said you could come in and get closer pictures. I take a few pictures of Gordie Howe and Pete Rose from about 10 ft away.
I decide to buy a Howe Jersey, which was already autographed by him, limited to 500. It has additional stitching on it with some of his stats. It was signed "Gordie Howe", "Mr. Hockey", "HOF 72" on it the '9'. I manage to get #32 of 500. I asked if 9 (Howe's #), 23 (# of All Star selections), 26 (# of NHL seasons) were available, but they were gone. I asked for 32 for the # of professional seasons he played in the NHL and WHA. If you bought the jersey, you got a free 8x10 picture with Gordie and he'd sign it to you personally. I waited until the lineup was short and mainly consisted of guys waiting for Pete Rose. I shook Pete Rose's hand and my wife took a picture of us.
While I was waiting, I talked to the staff a bit and they told us that Ovechkin and Howe were talking about the curves on their sticks, how the league has changed, etc., which I thought was cool. One of the employees also told me that Howe was drafted by the Rangers at age 14, but Lester Patrick didn't like him for some reason and held onto his rights for 3 years until he traded them to the Red Wings at age 17. He also said the best fan interaction he's seen is between NHL players and their fans, especially the older players. He says the older baseball, basketball and football legends are good too, but the worst are the new MLB players. He says their heads get too big and forget about the fans.
Finally, I got my chance to sit down with Gordie. He saw my wife taking pictures of us and called her over to sit beside him. My wife declined because she knew how much I wanted to meet and talk to him. But Gordie kept asking, and I said, "whatever Gordie wants, he gets." So we posed for a picture, and got to talk for about 15 minutes. The picture came for him to sign, and my wife is 1/4 blinking.
Looks like she's falling asleep but trying to keep her eyes open. Gordie asks who to make it out to, and my wife adds that we're expecting a baby. So Gordie puts down our names and "?" for our unborn baby.
I ask about his nickname "Mr Hockey" and how he got it. He told me that Howie Morenz was actually called Mr.Hockey. When he passed away, Gordie's wife, Colleen suggest that he take it. He told her that it's not that simple and you can't just take over a nickname. They wrote a letter to the Morenz family asking for permission to have the nickname and they agreed. The Howe's also sent a letter to the league formally taking the nickname. I asked, "what was your nickname before you got Mr. Hockey, because it came later." He pondered and said, "my nickname before...I don't know...sonuva*****?".
I asked him about the famous picture with him and Gretzky as a kid ("the Hook"). He asked if I knew where it was taken? I said no. "It was taken in my basement." He then told me how he taught Gretzky how to golf and how they still meet up.
We know that he owns part of the Vancouver Giants (WHL) team, so we told him that we were from Vancouver. He said he love fishing in British Columbia. He told us about his fishing trip recently when he caught a fish over 50 lbs! It was pretty heavy and slippery, and he couldn't get a good grip on it. My wife told him to come and visit more often.
I asked about his sons, Mark and Marty. He told me that Mark a pro scout with the Detroit Red Wings. And that Marty helps him.
I asked why he never got into coaching or management. He said, "Nobody asked me. @$$holes." LOL. too funny. My wife said that he should coach the Giants!
Eventually we had to move along since another group was waiting.
Gordie was super nice, faily soft spoken now. He is 81 years old!! He still has a great sense of humor and would pose with fans for pictures with an elbow to their head or a fist to their chin.
I asked one of the employees how often does Gordie do this. He said he comes around 4 times a year to their location but wasn't sure how many other places. He said this guy could probably tell you better, and pointed to a guy beside him who looked to be in his mid twenties. The younger guy said that Gordie does about 5-6 apparences a month. He asked me where I was from and introduced himself as Travis. I asked if he was with Gordie and he said that he is his grandson. I asked who his dad is, and he said Mark. I asked if his dad was here too, but Travis said that he's probably on his boat vacationing after a long season with the Wings. I asked Travis if he's involved in hockey and he said that he runs a player development school. He said he wasn't good enough to make it as a player. He is probably only 5'8", but had pretty big arms. Super nice guy and we shook hands, waved goodbye, and said, "it was a pleasure meeting you". Then he said, "this way grampa, as he led Gordie towards the exit."
I shook Gordie's hand again when he left.
Classy family through and through.
Another story that one of the employees told me about Gordie and Ovechkin. Ovechkin was signing an autograph and Gordie leans over and looks at the scribble of a signature, and says, "What's that say? You can't even read that."
While I was waiting for Gordie Howe, my buddy and his girlfriend (the one who got a picture with Ovie...Note: we met her for the 1st time this trip) come to the store. She decides to get a 8x10 picture with Gordie and get it signed. She waits in front of Pete Rose for Gordie Howe (although you're supposed to wait outside of the store for autos). They start talking. He asks where she's from and what nationality she is. She says California and Chinese. He says, "how old are you? you must be 16". She giggles and says she's 20. She says she's from Fresno, California. He says that he's going to be there next month. He pulls up his I-phone and goes through his calendar. He says, "you want to see pictures of my girlfriend? She's 40, but looks much younger. She's Asian". They look at the pictures and then my buddy's girlfriend is totally working it. She says, "I'll look for you when you're signing in Fresno. Do you want to come to my friend's birthday party? It's around that time too!" He then asks for her name, and he mis-hears it. She writes it down on the pad of paper for him and puts a smilie face for him (how about that, Pete Rose getting her autograph...LOL.) Gordie is free now and she goes for her picture with him. Meanwhile, Pete Rose signals the girl helping take photos. She comes back with a baseball for him, and he personally autographs it for her and puts "A great fan". She got a FREE AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALL!! I think it was $60 to get it. We asked our buddy what she knows about baseball. He says absolutely nothing! Same with hockey (until they started dating). When she gets the baseball, she has the shakes. Don't know why, but I guess it's her brush with fame (although she's probably never heard of him prior to that day!)
She gets a kiss on the cheek from Gordie. Man, the attention women get from the players. It was the same at the red carpet. Young and old.
We see Pete Rose with his asian girlfriend the next day during lunch at Planet Hollywood. Pete's got some serious yellow fever going on! LOL.
I say, "you look familiar"
He responds, "I get that sometimes"
I ask, "Are you a hockey player?"
He says, "I used to be."
I rack my brain searching for a name and then blurt out..."Borje Salming??"
"Ummm...No."
Now I feel like a total dork when I realize who it is...
"MIKE BOSSY!!!"
We shake his hand and are totally star struck. I brought a bunch of cards with me to Vegas, but couldn't remember if I had his. We ask if he's here for the NHL Awards and he asks why we're here. And then notices that we're all holding bongs and says "I guess you guys have been partying." Probably fearing that we're a bunch of drunk idiots, he waves and says "maybe I'll see you guys tomorrow".
We're all in shock because we got to meet and shake the hand of MIKE FREAKING BOSSY!
But I feel like a total DUMBASS for calling him Borje Salming. LOL. Before you judge, look at pictures of both of them.
After my wife says, "why didn't you guys ask for an autograph?" And we all respond, "DUH, I don't know." She says, "Didn't you guys hear me say that to you?"
"Umm....no". "Awww Man! We're idiots!! We meet one of the most prolific goal scorers ever and we look like a bunch of drunk idiots!" "Ok, Ok, next time we'll be prepared!"
We are all giddy and head over to the Venetian where our other buddy is staying. We're talking pretty loud now and some other guys ask us where we're from. We tell them Vancouver, and they said them too (well, Victoria). They tell us they were at the Mirage because they heard the Pens were supposed to be partying there, but they didn't see any of them. Then we see this huge black guy talking outside, and it's George Laraques!! We all scream for him, and he totally snubs us!! Didn't even look over. There was no mistaking it was him. What a snob!!! But he's huge, so we weren't going to make it an issue.
We wait inside by the poker tables for our buddy, who is supposed to meet us. Then one of the guys with us looks up the escalator next to us and says, "Hey, it's Mats Sundin!"
Mats responds, "hey, how's it going?" He's with 3 other friends and they walk by and then turn back because they're not sure which direction they're supposed to head.
My buddy quickly asks him, "Can I shake your hand?"
Mats extends his hand and says, "sure"
My buddy tells him, "Thanks for playing for the Canucks!"
We wave to him. Then we realize that we didn't ask him for his autograph. "what is wrong with us??!!!" My buddy says, "Aww crap, I should have had him sign the Canucks cap I was wearing!!" "We're idiots!!" "ok, ok, next time we'll be ready". I had brought 3 sharpies with me too.
Then our buddy that we were waiting for comes down and we tell him everything that he missed, and he can't believe it.
Next day (Thursday). Since it's the day of the awards, I decide to wear my vintage Canucks T-shirt. My buddy sees mine, and says that he brought his Nordiques one and changes into it.
We have lunch at Serendipity 3 (outside Caeser's) and I order the Breakfast steak sandwich special that comes with a free tower of onion rings (all for $17.50). The sandwich comes and it's huge. There are TWO 8oz steaks, with 3 sunny side eggs, 8 slices of bacon and cheese, on a baguette.
After lunch we're walking back to the hotel and some old guy stops my buddy.
He asks, "where did you get that T-shirt?"
My buddy sheepishly answers, "my girlfriend got it for me in Montreal"
He says, "I used to own that team."
?!?!??!
I ask him his name and he says "Marcel Aubut". He's here for the NHL Awards.
We weren't sure if this guy is telling the truth, but later on we did see him on the red carpet and re-introduce himself to Stan Mikita.
We take a taxi to the Palms hotel and the red carpet intros have already started. We get inside just to see Luongo and Mike Bossy pass by. We pull out our cameras and I pull out a pad and sharpie. There's a lounge curtained off beside the bar and I see Chara through the opening. He's too far to take any pictures and there's a bunch of people in the way. I wiggle my way to get closer and manage to get autographs of Stan Mikita and Jarome Iginla. I was able to dig out 2 cards for Messier to sign, but we missed him. There were a lot of NHL legends and a lot of people were asking "who's that guy?". Even for Jean Beliveau.
Then I notice this guy in a suit walking around behind me. I ask him, "Hey, are you Nathan Lafayette?" He says, "yeah, good memory". I say, "of course, Stanley Cup Finals", and point to my shirt. I ask for an autograph and we chit chat for about 10 minutes. He was there on business and he asked his friend to hook him up with tickets to the Awards. I missed a bunch of players coming in, but it was worth it to me.
I then notice at the bar, Brian Burke. He sees me waiting around, and when he was done his drink he comes over.
I say, "I'm from Vancouver!"
He says, "I sort of figured that", pointing to my T-shirt. "I'm pretty sharp that way."
I shake his hand and get an autograph. I also ask if he's looking forward to the draft, and he responds, "definately".
Datsyuk and Ovechkin are the last guys to come in and we're right next to the rope waiting for him to come by. My friend's girlfriend tried to grab Datsyuk for a picture, but he pulled away and rushed down.
However...she grabbed Ovechkin and asked for a picture. And he stopped and posed with her. I was standing right next to her and one of our buddies was behind them. I tried to get an autograph after but he rushed off. I guess I don't have the cleavage that my friend's girlfriend was showing. LOL.
We watch a bit of the awards on the TVs outside and then head back for dinner. Our friend saw Wade Belak, and then Alex Auld and Bryan Allen later.
The next day (Friday), we walk the strip and do some shopping. We get back to the hotel and our other buddy who stayed behind says that he met Ovechkin and shook his hand. We say BS because he does BS from time to time as a joke. He says, "No, serious. Gordie Howe too!". Okay, now we totally don't believe him and tell him we smell his BS a mile away. He says he was walking around the shops and saw Ovechkin sitting at table inside a sports memorabilia store. He went in an shook his hand and Gordie Howe was there too. They were signing autographs there (for a fee). We told him the he should have taken pictures, but he said that he wasn't sure if he was allowed. He did say that guys who paid for autographs for Gordie Howe got to sit beside him and chit chat for awhile. Crap! Our dumb luck! We missed them!
My wife and I walk by after dinner looking for the shop and it's "Field of Dreams". They had a sign up that said Gordie Howe and Pete Rose will be back tomorrow for photos and autographs! We asked him how the signings with Ovechkin went. He sort of shook his head and said that Ovie wasn't that friendly. Apparently, you couldn't get up close beside him for pictures, and he scribble permanent marker all over their tables, eventhough there was a pad of paper for him (to keep the ink flowing for better autographs).
I'll tell my wife that I'm coming back and going to try and get a long sit down session with Gordie Howe. I started to plan out what questions to ask and no be too starstruck. I could barely sleep that night as my head was flowing with questions. I wrote notes down on a pad so I wouldn't forget.
Next day (Saturday), Gordie Howe and Pete Rose are signing from 1-3:30pm. There's a crowd and lineup, so my wife and I decide to walk around a bit and come back. There are crowds taking pictures outside the store, and the employees said you could come in and get closer pictures. I take a few pictures of Gordie Howe and Pete Rose from about 10 ft away.
I decide to buy a Howe Jersey, which was already autographed by him, limited to 500. It has additional stitching on it with some of his stats. It was signed "Gordie Howe", "Mr. Hockey", "HOF 72" on it the '9'. I manage to get #32 of 500. I asked if 9 (Howe's #), 23 (# of All Star selections), 26 (# of NHL seasons) were available, but they were gone. I asked for 32 for the # of professional seasons he played in the NHL and WHA. If you bought the jersey, you got a free 8x10 picture with Gordie and he'd sign it to you personally. I waited until the lineup was short and mainly consisted of guys waiting for Pete Rose. I shook Pete Rose's hand and my wife took a picture of us.
While I was waiting, I talked to the staff a bit and they told us that Ovechkin and Howe were talking about the curves on their sticks, how the league has changed, etc., which I thought was cool. One of the employees also told me that Howe was drafted by the Rangers at age 14, but Lester Patrick didn't like him for some reason and held onto his rights for 3 years until he traded them to the Red Wings at age 17. He also said the best fan interaction he's seen is between NHL players and their fans, especially the older players. He says the older baseball, basketball and football legends are good too, but the worst are the new MLB players. He says their heads get too big and forget about the fans.
Finally, I got my chance to sit down with Gordie. He saw my wife taking pictures of us and called her over to sit beside him. My wife declined because she knew how much I wanted to meet and talk to him. But Gordie kept asking, and I said, "whatever Gordie wants, he gets." So we posed for a picture, and got to talk for about 15 minutes. The picture came for him to sign, and my wife is 1/4 blinking.
Looks like she's falling asleep but trying to keep her eyes open. Gordie asks who to make it out to, and my wife adds that we're expecting a baby. So Gordie puts down our names and "?" for our unborn baby. I ask about his nickname "Mr Hockey" and how he got it. He told me that Howie Morenz was actually called Mr.Hockey. When he passed away, Gordie's wife, Colleen suggest that he take it. He told her that it's not that simple and you can't just take over a nickname. They wrote a letter to the Morenz family asking for permission to have the nickname and they agreed. The Howe's also sent a letter to the league formally taking the nickname. I asked, "what was your nickname before you got Mr. Hockey, because it came later." He pondered and said, "my nickname before...I don't know...sonuva*****?".
I asked him about the famous picture with him and Gretzky as a kid ("the Hook"). He asked if I knew where it was taken? I said no. "It was taken in my basement." He then told me how he taught Gretzky how to golf and how they still meet up.
We know that he owns part of the Vancouver Giants (WHL) team, so we told him that we were from Vancouver. He said he love fishing in British Columbia. He told us about his fishing trip recently when he caught a fish over 50 lbs! It was pretty heavy and slippery, and he couldn't get a good grip on it. My wife told him to come and visit more often.
I asked about his sons, Mark and Marty. He told me that Mark a pro scout with the Detroit Red Wings. And that Marty helps him.
I asked why he never got into coaching or management. He said, "Nobody asked me. @$$holes." LOL. too funny. My wife said that he should coach the Giants!
Eventually we had to move along since another group was waiting.
Gordie was super nice, faily soft spoken now. He is 81 years old!! He still has a great sense of humor and would pose with fans for pictures with an elbow to their head or a fist to their chin.
I asked one of the employees how often does Gordie do this. He said he comes around 4 times a year to their location but wasn't sure how many other places. He said this guy could probably tell you better, and pointed to a guy beside him who looked to be in his mid twenties. The younger guy said that Gordie does about 5-6 apparences a month. He asked me where I was from and introduced himself as Travis. I asked if he was with Gordie and he said that he is his grandson. I asked who his dad is, and he said Mark. I asked if his dad was here too, but Travis said that he's probably on his boat vacationing after a long season with the Wings. I asked Travis if he's involved in hockey and he said that he runs a player development school. He said he wasn't good enough to make it as a player. He is probably only 5'8", but had pretty big arms. Super nice guy and we shook hands, waved goodbye, and said, "it was a pleasure meeting you". Then he said, "this way grampa, as he led Gordie towards the exit."
I shook Gordie's hand again when he left.
Classy family through and through.
Another story that one of the employees told me about Gordie and Ovechkin. Ovechkin was signing an autograph and Gordie leans over and looks at the scribble of a signature, and says, "What's that say? You can't even read that."
While I was waiting for Gordie Howe, my buddy and his girlfriend (the one who got a picture with Ovie...Note: we met her for the 1st time this trip) come to the store. She decides to get a 8x10 picture with Gordie and get it signed. She waits in front of Pete Rose for Gordie Howe (although you're supposed to wait outside of the store for autos). They start talking. He asks where she's from and what nationality she is. She says California and Chinese. He says, "how old are you? you must be 16". She giggles and says she's 20. She says she's from Fresno, California. He says that he's going to be there next month. He pulls up his I-phone and goes through his calendar. He says, "you want to see pictures of my girlfriend? She's 40, but looks much younger. She's Asian". They look at the pictures and then my buddy's girlfriend is totally working it. She says, "I'll look for you when you're signing in Fresno. Do you want to come to my friend's birthday party? It's around that time too!" He then asks for her name, and he mis-hears it. She writes it down on the pad of paper for him and puts a smilie face for him (how about that, Pete Rose getting her autograph...LOL.) Gordie is free now and she goes for her picture with him. Meanwhile, Pete Rose signals the girl helping take photos. She comes back with a baseball for him, and he personally autographs it for her and puts "A great fan". She got a FREE AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALL!! I think it was $60 to get it. We asked our buddy what she knows about baseball. He says absolutely nothing! Same with hockey (until they started dating). When she gets the baseball, she has the shakes. Don't know why, but I guess it's her brush with fame (although she's probably never heard of him prior to that day!)
She gets a kiss on the cheek from Gordie. Man, the attention women get from the players. It was the same at the red carpet. Young and old.
We see Pete Rose with his asian girlfriend the next day during lunch at Planet Hollywood. Pete's got some serious yellow fever going on! LOL.
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