A little over a month ago, I get a somewhat cryptic voice mail from my Dad early on a Saturday afternoon. "Hey, Hans!! Dad here, and I've got something exciting to tell you, so call me when you get a chance."
My Dad doesn't usually call with messages like this, so do you know when I got that chance? The very moment I received that message, that's when.
Make the jump to go all Paul Harvey with me...
So I call him right back, "Hey Dad! What's the news?"
Dad: "Oh, hi Bub! Thanks for calling. Guess what? I met Joe Horn today!"
Me: "Cool! How'd that happen?"
Dad: "I'm going to put your mom on so she can tell you her part. Weese!!! It's Hans!! Come and tell him about Joe Horn being up at the IGA!!"
Mom: "Hi, Hans. Pretty exciting, hunh? Well, it started off this morning with me running up to the store just to get a couple of things, and as I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the lot was way full, and people were parking in lots of non-parking places as a result...next to the dumpster, along the ditch, etc., and I thought to myself, 'what's going on at my store, and why are all these people in my way?' So, I make my own parking space and go inside, and there's a huge crowd gathered at the front of the store, making it almost impossible to get past the registers and into the aisles. Amidst the big crowd, I see someone who looks a lot like Joe Horn, and I ask the guy next to me, 'Who is that, Joe Horn or something?' 'Um, yes, that is Joe Horn. He's here selling his barbecue sauce.' So I run back to the car and drive home, calling your father, telling him to get dressed and come to the store to see Joe Horn."
Dad: "How about that? I get the call from your Mom, get dressed, and we go back to the store. Everyone's in line holding bottles of his barbecue sauce, and he's autographing them and people are getting their pictures taken with him."
My Dad and Joe Horn (my dad's the one on the left)
"At one point, he takes a call on his cell phone, and someone from the crowd shouts out, 'Hey Joe! Is that the same phone from the Giants game?' and he smiles and everyone laughs. So, I bought three bottles - one for your sister, one for you, and one for us, and your Mom took my picture with him! I'll email it to you in a little while, ok? Pretty cool, right?"
Me: "Yeah, that's great!! Thanks for thinking of us! And hey, I was thinking I'd like to write this up for Canal Street Chronicles, are y'all ok with that?"
Them: (PAUSE) "Sure...as long as you don't make us look like goofballs or anything."
Me: "OK, I won't."
...and these are the bottles of the Bayou 87 BBQ sauce
(sorry about the orientation of this pic, I tried to get it right side up, but nothing worked)
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And now you know...the rest of the story. What do you think, pretty sweet, hunh?
I bet there are many of you out there who have had similar brushes with greatness. Dave got a slew of Saints pictures a couple of years ago when he scored a ticket to some preseason fundraiser, I met Archie Manning at Mardi Gras when I was a kid, and I know we have more out there in the CSC Community.
Let's take some time in the comment section to share tales of your own true encounters with Saints celebrities. Ready...GO!