I wish I could've found a more incriminating picture...
Yesterday, a couple of my co-workers and myself are strolling back from our daily lunch break in Bryant Park (great spot to scope out the ladies) when we pass by a relatively large man on 42nd Street. One of my co-workers, Henry, says to us, “Dude I think that’s Garret Anderson.” Me and Joe, my other co-worker, stare blankly at each other, obviously not knowing what the hell Garret Anderson looks like. We then see the supposed Garret Anderson walk into some suit store (I forget the name of the store but once I remember I’ll update the post) and we had nothing better to do so we followed him in. We notice “Garret” sitting in the corner just clicking away on his phone when Henry says again, “Dude that’s him.” Joe and I are still clueless and we try to get a good look at him before one of the workers begins trying to sell us some clothes, some of which are okay and some of which are just ridiculous. After strolling around for about three minutes we decide to head back to work, still not sure if the dude was really Garret Anderson. Outside, Henry says one last time, “I’m pretty sure that’s him.” At this point Joe and I want confirmation ourselves so we urge Henry to just go up to him and ask him if he’s Garret Anderson. So he does and here’s how the conversation goes:
H: Hey are you Garret Anderson?
G: (Clicking away on his phone.) Yeah.
H: Oh it’s nice to meet you.
G: (Still clicking away on his phone and not even looking up.) Nice to meet you too.
And that’s it. He couldn’t even take the time to look up and at least pretend he was happy to see a fan. Dude, you are on the road and strolling the streets of an opposing team’s city and you couldn’t take five minutes from your “busy” day to talk to some fans? I could understand if fans were pestering you for crap and being completely obnoxious but Henry was very professional. (After all, we were in our business casual outfits.) No one asked you for anything. No one was heckling you. And who the hell else would recognize you? Your own team’s fans don’t even like you. I bet Henry was the only one who knew it was you and you couldn’t even appreciate that. It was an incredible pull on Henry’s part and even guys back at the office were like, “You were able to recognize Garret Anderson? That’s pretty good.”
At 37 years old, you’d think a professional athlete would handle himself a little better when approached by some fans. Maybe he just isn’t used to being approached by fans because no one knows who he is. I know the last time I cared about him was when I used to use the Angels in Hardball 6. Hey Garret, as a professional athlete and public figure (and I use that term loosely) it’s also part of your job to be congenial to fans when they come up to you. Or at least pretend to be. It comes with the millions of dollars in salary you earn. So I just have one last thing to say:
GARRET ANDERSON – HOW DARE YOU SIR (for being a complete douche)
September 24th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
If it wasn’t for my friends convincing me to go back to say hi to this guy, I would be sitting here thinking, Garret Anderson, what a humble dude. Guy makes millions and here he is shopping at a store that the guy on the corner in a cardboard apron is handing out discount flyers for. But no, now I have to roast this man because he didn’t find the need to look up and acknowledge a “fan” in a visiting city. I swear this guy could’ve been in the middle of Bryant Park, fully decked out in his old Angels uniform, taking soft toss from Vlad, with Chipper Jones, Bobby Cox, and circa 1993 Greg Maddux watching and I bet NO ONE would’ve recognized this dude. I did a double-take at first because I thought he was Denzel Washington or even Brian McKnight (that’s not a compliment you douche), and then I had to think for a good 5 min. before I even remembered the name Garret Anderson. Word of advice, Garret “Just For Men” Anderson, remain humble, homie. You’ve had a fine career, but you ain’t Tim LIncecum. HOW DARE YOU SIR?
September 30th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Evidently, neither of you bozo's know anything about the man. I have known him for about 15 years since I did some carpentry work in his home. Garrett is just a shy individual who prefers to be un-noticed. I have seen him with team mates and friends and he is still the quite one, so you shouldn't be putting a label on this person. Just let him be himself.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:23 am
Hey Chris, I never said that I knew anything about him, I merely said he didn't feel the need to acknowledge a baseball fan who said hi which is what a douche would do. And by no means was I badgering him. I said probably 10 words total to him. So explain to me how I wasn't letting him be himself? If "himself" is not looking up to acknowledge fans and "himself" has made millions of dollars to play baseball then "himself," regardless of how shy he is, is a douche for not taking 10 seconds of his precious time to look up to a baseball fan and possibly shaking his hand. Or is it that I have to do carpentry for him and know him for 15 years before I say hi to the guy?
October 31st, 2009 at 6:27 pm
if it took you a number of minutes to figure out who he was, then you weren't a fan. The guy has always been very quiet and reserved.
"I can't preted a stranger is a long awaited friend" Rush-Limelight