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January 25, 2007
Fan: Watching Jeter In Bathroom Is Cool
From the St. Petersburg Times -
Stardom reached critical mass at the Hyde Park Cafe in Wednesday's early hours. Another celebrity and it might have collapsed in on itself, birthing an infinitely dense black hole of fame.
Mere mortals orbited outside the curtained-off VIP area. At thin gaps in the gauze, tube-topped women jostled for peeps at basketball legends Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, baseball stars Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield, golfer Tiger Woods and professional poker player Phil Ivey.
The beautiful people are in town for the fourth annual Derek Jeter Celebrity Golf Classic in Avila this Monday. Last year's event raised $600,000 for Tampa area schools.
Last weekend, Jeter played in Jordan's own charity golf tournament in the Bahamas. Jeter owns a house in Tampa, spring training city for his Yankees.
"The first time I met him, I wasn't nice because he's Jeter," said Boston-born, rival Red Sox fan Peter Hannouche, a co-owner of the nightclub. "But he's the kind of guy who wins you over. He's a class act."
So classy, in fact, that Jeter didn't even deck the young reporter who grabbed his bulky biceps and asked for an interview on Jeter's way out of the club.
"No, man, I ain't talking to no papers right now, man," Jeter said.
[Brett Coover's] friend and co-worker Matty VanHook, 26, saw Jeter in the restroom and witnessed him tipping an attendant.
"It wasn't going to change my outlook on life or anything, but it was definitely a cool happening," VanHook said.
Back in 1981, I had a chance to be a summer laborer at an oil shipping and refinery port. I was just a kid. One of the guys there was at least 40 years older than me and extremely wacky. In many ways, he was like Ernest T. from Mayberry - expect his first name was "Dickie." One day, Dickie comes up to me, out of nowhere, and says "Hey, kid, want a tip?" After I said sure, he said to me "Buy twins beds, you'll never get screwed."
While that information was useful, somehow I think that bathroom attendant got a better tip from Jeter.
When Jeter said "No, man, I ain't talking to no papers right now, man," how many Yankees fans out there thought of the first words Henderson spoke in the Yankee clubhouse back in April 1985? Remember when Rickey said "Don't need no press now, man" to the media?
Good thing Dickie wasn't as shy as Rickey and Jeter - or else I would have missed that great tip.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at January 25, 2007 09:23 AM