This guy has two thumbs and 12 years ago I sat right in front of Scottie Pippen from Chicago to Memphis. I don't recall having a camera phone and I'm not an autograph seeker so I wanted to say something. As he slowed down as he approached his seat I just sorta did a wink/head nod and said "Sup Scottie" and he replied, "Sup man" with his own nod.
Now to make this story go full circle, about 9 months later I was in the office scanning espn on my computer during some "down time". An article caught my attention titled something like Top 10 ways pro athletes go broke within 5-10 years of retiring. Down the list was was "buying a private jet". It told how costly fuel, insurance, pilot are all and that was before anything broke down. It then told that SP had bought a jet but it was finally grounded and repossessed as he couldn't afford to replace the windshield. The final line of that particular way to go broke was "See you in coach Scottie!" Which isexactly where I had saw him the prior summer as I was sitting in the first row of coach and Scottie, the 2nd.
On a related note sitting next to me was Gayle Wicker, Roger's wife. We had gone up there for a future business leaders convention and she was our sponsor.