That Time I Told Off Bo Jackson
Normally when 10-year-olds meet professional athletes, they ask for autographs ... me ... I told off Bo Jackson and he nearly killed me.
It was the summer of 1995 and the baseball's All-Star game was being held at The Ballpark in Arlington which had opened the previous year. As part of the promotion for the game, Dr. Pepper ran a contest where local kids would be able to be on the field during the opening ceremonies of the game. They received some 50,000 entries and they selected 150 kids to be on the field. I was one of them.
I remember how awesome if felt to win something like that. I was at day care when I found out I won and I do remember saying something to the effect of "lata suckas" though at 10 I probably had no idea what it even meant and just picked it off MTV somehow.
My mom received four tickets to the game and my dad flew in from Florida to see me. I felt special and its honestly one of those childhood moments that you can look back on and still feel good about 14 years later.
Anyways, the experience consisted of two days of fun. The first involved hanging out at the smaller ballpark nearby and practicing relaying a baseball from it to the main stadium to be for the telecast before the first pitch.
One really cool thing was all of the MLB'ers that were hanging out and as a result everyone got an autographed ball full of signatures (mine has Ozzie Smith, Mike Jeffcoat, the immortal Darren Oliver and 15 other people I can't remember because it isn't in front of me).
The second day involved playing a pick-up game with other kids my age at the field. Our team's coach was Bo Jackson. YES BO JACKSON! The man who in my opinion would be considered one of the best NFL players of all time had it not been for his hip injury. Bo had retired in 1994 (fact check?) after playing with the Angels in his final season and I'm guessing he was at the game to hang out and just be a positive influence to young people.
Not me.
I've always been known as a man who says what he thinks when he thinks it. This can lead to great jokes or uncomfortable pauses if I lose my train of thought.
Bo was standing at the edge of the dugout when he began to say his trademark phrase, "Bo knows ..."
"Bo knows" was part of a major ad campaign used to promote his personal Nike shoe and it has become Bo Jackson's enduring trademark. As he was about to roll another word from his lips I replied "Bo doesn't know Jack!"
Bo Jackson then approached me and proceeded to pick up my bat and probably for a split second thought about swinging it at me but then playfully put it down. However it was really awkward for the rest of the game and later when I found out why Bo wasn't playing baseball anymore I felt really bad about it. Honestly Bo, if you ever read this, I'd like to buy you a steak dinner sometime, my treat.
The pickup game ended (I have a copy of my at bat on VHS) and then we did the relay thing before going onto the field. That was the coolest moment ever. Before going onto the field we were hanging out in the tunnel between the locker room and the dugout and all of these NL All-Star players are walking past us shaking hands and giving high fives and it was an amazing moment.
The two players I remember the most from this experience were Hideo Nomo and Reggie Sanders (both of whom recently ended long successful careers).
We got onto the field and being 10 and looking at 50,000+ people surrounding you and cheering you on is something amazing. It was as if I was standing at the center of the universe. Then it was time for the game to start and the experience ended shortly after Jeff Conine was presented with the MVP award following the end of the game.
I look back on my childhood and that moment still brings me joy to this day.