With respect to Homer Simpson (and his writers) Twitter has been considered by some (well, by me at least) to be the answer to and cause of all of life's problems, and with good reason. In this case, it has allowed me to initiate, learn of, and also uncover the precise details of real life meetups of some of our CSC friends and family this summer.
First, in mid-July, I stumbled across a tweet from Ralph Malbrough mentioning that he was in Seattle.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Live <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/saints?src=hash">#saints</a> podcast from Seattle discussing Jimmy Graham contract, & Twitter questions.send them now <a href="http://t.co/oiclxcKW3U">http://t.co/oiclxcKW3U</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PodcastSaints">@PodcastSaints</a></p>— Ralph Malbrough (@SaintsForecast) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast/statuses/489211783026974721">July 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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My first thought was of how cool it would be if he could get together with JamMaster Rick:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues">@BornInBlues</a> Hey, JR!! Ralph's in Seattle on vacation. You should tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> and meet up!</p>— Hans Petersen (@hansdat) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat/statuses/489555370075885568">July 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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and here's the ball, beginning to roll:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues">@BornInBlues</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat">@hansdat</a> until Saturday morning. Spend day at conference then party at night</p>— Ralph Malbrough (@SaintsForecast) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast/statuses/489600476023775232">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues">@BornInBlues</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat">@hansdat</a> just partying w/. <a href="https://twitter.com/CMonsivaiz">@CMonsivaiz</a></p>— Ralph Malbrough (@SaintsForecast) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast/statuses/489602767397203969">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
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And then, my hopes for their meetup seemed dead in the water...
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat">@hansdat</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CMonsivaiz">@CMonsivaiz</a> Oooh sounds like I better stay on the sidelines on that one! ☺</p>— JR Ella (@BornInBlues) <a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues/statuses/489603489643769856">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
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...so I resolved myself to hoping for future possibilities.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues">@BornInBlues</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> Yeah, maybe next time, JR! Saints @ Seattle NFCCG 2015, on most unseasonably warm/dry Jan. in history!????</p>— Hans Petersen (@hansdat) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat/statuses/489938144473526273">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Then I got a great surprise turnaround!!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat">@hansdat</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> We're actually about to hang out Hans. You'll be responsible if we get booted from the bar screaming Who Dat! </p>— JR Ella (@BornInBlues) <a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues/statuses/489938784377520128">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
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...And I wanted MOAR!!!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hansdat">@hansdat</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> Hans catch up on this Twitter thing already! There's a picture on my profile, from Thursday! ☺ Meeting was awesome!</p>— JR Ella (@BornInBlues) <a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues/statuses/490567268728717312">July 19, 2014</a></blockquote>
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After getting schooled by JR, I dug into his Twitterfeed and found what I was looking for.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just had a great evening with <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsForecast">@SaintsForecast</a> at Ruth's Chris in Seattle! And yeah the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saints?src=hash">#Saints</a> were represented! <a href="http://t.co/YYzTLGMLbe">pic.twitter.com/YYzTLGMLbe</a></p>— JR Ella (@BornInBlues) <a href="https://twitter.com/BornInBlues/statuses/489997879260356610">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Then I checked in with them individually for more details about how it went and got permission to share their thoughts and words.
From my Twitter DMs with JR:
HansDat: Hey, Ralph! Hope you and JR had fun at your meet-up this weekend. What's he like in person? What did you have to drink? What did HE have to drink? What did y'all talk about?
Ralph: What's up Hans, JR was really cool. He had a Hoegarden to drink. It's a white Belgium beer. I had SoCo and Coke.
...Boom! I feel like Cupid and Chuck Woolery (making a Love Connection) all at once. Doesn't it warm your heart?
So with this success fresh in mind, when I learned of Jon Oliver and Andrew Juge's time @ The Greenbrier for the start of Saints Training Camp overlapping,
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>How cool to meet fellow twitter Saints fans and now friends <a href="https://twitter.com/WhoDatNOLA1025">@WhoDatNOLA1025</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/TheNobleJon">@thenoblejon</a>. Awesome guys.</p>— Saints Nation Blog (@SaintsNationBlg) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintsNationBlg/statuses/495684789417287680">August 2, 2014</a></blockquote>
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...of course, I had to try again:
From my Twitter DMs with Jon:
HansDat: Say, tell me what it was like meeting Juge!! I've got notes from JR's meeting up with Ralph in Seattle, and if I can get notes from you and Andrew, then I've got two blogger meetups I can write up on CSC - what did you drink, what was he like, what did y'all talk about...where did you meet up, etc.?
NobleJon: I recognized him when we passed in the hall. I was in a hurry when I passed him this morning, and he was with his family. So that's about it. He was loaded down with two or three rolling suitcases, a couple of gallon jugs, and some bags. I offered to help, but he said he was fine. We only chatted for five minutes. He seemed very cool, and I thought we might hang out. He asked me for insider info about how camp was going, mostly. He also said that he books bands for a living, and had booked a band at the casino for last night. Invited me to join him. Obviously, though, after running into Victor outside of the casino (**HansDat Note: see below), I did not meet up with Andrew and his wife.
And from my Twitter DMs with Andrew:
HansDat: Hey, Andrew! Jon said y'all met in WVA...how was that? I'd love to write it up for a CSC post (I've got notes from Ralph and JR in Seattle).
Andrew: Great! Super nice guy. Just cool to meet twitter buddies in real life. We met at Greenbrier hotel. He recognized me from my twitter pic. We just talked about camp and being there. He was super friendly. Cool guy.
HansDat: How's your family enjoying the Greenbrier?
Andrew: Oh man. Trip of a lifetime. Seriously. Definitely doing it again next year.
* * *
And that's what I've got for you on this episode of CSC Real Life Encounters. Pretty cool stuff. Have you had any CSC Real Life Encounters with folks from our community that you'd like to share? I know Cathy (aka N_O_1saintfan) was at training camp, too, but I don't think she met up with any CSCers in person.
** Note: here are the details of Jon's Saints player meetup mentioned above (as posted by Jon in the HOF game thread):
I met Butler at a tapas bar outside of the casino at the Greenbrier.
He came down looking for some juice, and the closest thing they had (in his estimation) was orange Fanta or Sprite. As he paid for a bottle of each, I looked over and asked him if he wanted to hang out with us for a little while. He was actually very glad to, having had a pretty bad day.
They aren't really allowed to talk about their injuries, but I am surprised nobody has reported at least this much (since anyone watching the scrimmage and now seeing him at the hotel could put it out there): He was playing in the scrimmage, went down during a big collision, limped off and immediately went inside to the training facility. Yesterday and today, he's been wearing a boot around the hotel.
I don't know much else, but I would not be surprised to see Butler on the field before preseason is over.
Anyway, we ended up hanging out for a few hours, and added Lofton and Hicks for the last hour or so. He really is a great guy, very nice and genuine from our interactions. And as far as his quality as a Saint: he took a huge pay cut from what Pittsburgh, Philly, and Cleveland were offering him when he chose to come play for a team that he knew could win the Super Bowl. Cleveland also pulled some shady scat trying to keep him from getting on a plane to Philly, hehe.