Drew Brees at Target in Metairie
Shoot you would probably have the biggest smile ever seeing *my* reaction then.
My fiancée very quickly met Zack Strief about 4-5 years ago in one of the various French Quarter Irish-Italian parades going on. He was grand marshall, sitting on a convertible drinking a beer. She ran over to get a picture, shook his hand and talked for maybe 10 seconds. She still talks about this. He's not even her favorite player. She still talks about this.
To be fair, I saw Drew Brees come out of the elevator next to me at the Ritz and just gave him a head nod (I was coming from the Hornets game looking like a hot mess and his wife was with him and very pregnant with their first... didn't seem like the time to stop him for anything) and I still bring that up.
I've met Mike McKenzie twice down here. Once at a Heat game and once at the Shuck 'n Dive in Ft. Lauderdale where many of us gather to watch the games. I was more excited the first time, because he had just retired (it was before we re-signed him for a few games in 2009), so he was still in shape, and not exactly used to being retired. And, he was like the first guy I met and talked to like that, so I was just shocked to have the opportunity. We chatted for like 20 minutes both times. He's pretty chill. But as I'm sitting court side 2nd row, thanks to my friend's old company, and I see Mike sitting at the baseline floor like 20 seats from Dan Marino, I was shocked, I just blurted out "Mike McKenzie, what are you doing here?" and he's like "I live here, gotta watch my Hornets play" (back when that was us).
So, TL;DR, I totally understand the reaction.