Golfing With Celebs

Sort of. Spiral Stairs, our friend P and I went golfing this morning at Langston Golf Course in Northeast D.C. We were matched up with this guy who introduced himself as "Bob." Turns out "Bob" was Bobby Dandridge, one of the key players on the fantastic Washington Bullets teams of the late 1970s (won the title in 1977-78). I had never heard of him before today (not a huge basketball fan or basketball history buff), but apparently he was a really good player, known for his scoring and sweet jump shot. He averaged 18.5 points per game in a 13 year career and was a 4 time all-star. To give you some idea how good that is, I averaged 0.0 points per game and have no all star appearances in my NBA non-career.

Had it not been for the starter telling us who he was, we would have had no idea. He was incredibly nice, humble and unpretentious. He also had this ability to talk just about anything with us, complete strangers. It is a skill I totally lack. I always think people will have zero interest in any topic I might bring up other than the weather. So I talk about the weather a lot.

But, everything he brought up seemed interesting, or at least he made it sound interesting. Whether he was talking about his wife and kids, or his job, or women. At one point, he mentioned that he was going to the Tyson fight tonight and how he was more interested in a the undercard which features a Laila Ali bout. He said, "Man, I am looking to that fight. She's tough and fine. So fine that I hope whoever she's boxing doesn't get her in the face. In fact, if it looks like the other boxer is about to bruise up her face, I might have to jump in and stop the fight." I asked him,"You got close enough seats?" He said,"Close enough. I've still got some quickness."

On the par 3 4th hole, I stuck the green off the tee. Bobby said,"Nice shot." This guy has probably heard the same two words a thousand times. This may be the fourth time in my short golf career that I'd actually earned the accolade. Of course, we were constantly saying that to him because he was a pretty good golfer.

He only played 9 holes with us, then headed to the club house to have some breakfast and go hang with some old friends. All in all, a nice time. Almost as fun as when I played cribbage with Michael J. Fox (I let him win).