A Brush with Fame

So there's an entirely long back story to what I'm about to tell you, but I don't have the patience to write it, nor do you have the time to read it. So just accept some things without further detail. Last night J went to a movie with his dad, and I was waiting at the theater for his mom to pick me up. The boys were no more than 20 feet from the truck that I was still sitting in to keep warm. A car drove by, and I thought the passenger looked like Rich Franklin. I should mention I had quite a headache and was still trying to work through it, so my thought process was a little slow. After the car passed me, I realized it WAS Rich Franklin. I was floored. I turned to look at J, and banged on the window so he'd turn and look. He was already staring at the car, and turned back to me. Rich 'Ace' Franklin was going to the same movie theater as J, at the same time. I stared as he got out of his car with his wife, and made his way up to the theater. I tried to look for signs of injury from his recent fight. I thought he walked with a slight limp, but I could have been reading into his walk.
My phone was dead. I couldn't call or text anybody. When my mother-in-law showed up, I tried to tell her about the 'sighting.' She doesn't watch very many sports, and of course had no idea who he was. When we met up with my sister-in-law, I tried to tell her. She is into a lot of sports, but not fighting. So she had no idea who he was. Now granted, he lives in the area of town where we were at (same area my in-laws live in) so it wasn't a HUGE shock to see him there. But in a city with a million citizens, it's rare to run into people you know, let alone people you know *of*. So it was cool.
Later after J's movie was over, I texted him to see if Rich had been in their movie. He said no, but he shook his hand. I thought he was a little geeky at first, but then he explained that they'd been standing in line for snacks, and Rich and his wife walked up. J couldn't resist telling him that he's a huge fan. He left it at that, though. We'd heard rumors that his nose was broken, or ribs, possibly. J said his face showed no signs of any breakage, and that Rich said he was doing all right since the fight. I can tell you that Rich is a hell of a fighter with an amazing record, but he lost his title to Anderson Silva on Oct 14, and rightly so. Anderson Silva is a scary fighter! But we're still on the Rich Franklin bandwagon so we're thinking he'll spend the next six months recuping, and training harder than ever to get his title back.

This 'celebrity sighting' was far more exciting than the time I saw Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson working out at a gym in Florida. I guess because I'm a fan of Rich Franklin? I also wasn't very impressed when I saw Chad Johnson at Hooters a year or two ago. But I got his autograph anyway, mostly because our waitress talked me into it. I'd have to say it was also more exciting than seeing Efren Ramirez (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite), although seeing him was the most 'celebrity' like encounter. All the other times, I was seeing celebrities be normal people. Going to the movies, getting some wings, running the treadmill. Efren and his brother and their little 'posse' came in looking very much like they expected to be recognized. I blogged about it before. You have to respect when they are just being normal people. Let them be normal, right?

I still hold to the fact that if I ever saw Brad Pitt in person, I'd probably end up committed for making a fool of myself. Especially if he was with Angelina! Kind of sad to admit that, but I'm all for honesty.

Any of you guys ever have a celebrity sighting? Local or National, doesn't really matter. I'm considering it a celebrity sighting if you knew this person from TV or movies and then saw them in person.