My lunch with Andrew McCutchen

As you all know from following this blog, I'm super cool. So it's no big deal for me to call up my main man Andrew McCutchen, star CF for the Pittsburgh Pirates and have a nice lunch in the Strip District.....

All right...I know. I'm a big techno-nerd. I'm not fooling anyone.

I took a vacation day today (much needed, in my opinion) and DB~ and I went down to the Strip District to do some shopping of various ethnic food nationalities. But first we stopped for breakfast/lunch at Pamela's. It was a great meal, as it is usually is at Pamela's. DB~ had strawberry crepes and I had a pork BBQ sandwich with onion rings and cole slaw.

Now...I always prefer to sit with my back to the wall. Part of it is so that I can sit and people watch, but a lot of it is my irrational fear of wanting to see if someone is going to come charging at me with a knife or something. Just go with it.

So I have my pork BBQ sandwich going head-long into the ol' cake cruncher and in walks an African-American gentleman with his dreadlocks pulled back in a bunch behind his head.

It's Andrew Stefan McCutchen. Cutch-22. The Face of the Franchise. The guy who was the impetus for me joining OnlyBucs (my version of Facebook, since I'm not on the real one) and a guy I have written about numerous times on this blog (check the sidebar for "Andrew McCutchen" and "Cutch-22" tags).

I sat there with my pork BBQ raised up in my hand...totally dumbfounded. DB~ half-turned to check he and his girlfriend out. I instantly starting having all these thoughts flash through my head...

"Should I talk to him?" "Should I give him a head nod on the way out?" "Should I give him the fist of solidarity?" "Do I tell him about OnlyBucs?" "Am I going to get a protection from abuse order placed against me?"

Andrew was with a beautiful girl. I was with a beautiful girl. Maybe the four of us could go out for dinner sometime. I could cook dinner for the 4 of us, Andrew could read some of his original poetry. It would be just lovely....

"Don't embarass yourself." Ahhhh...nothing like DB~ to snap me back into reality.

He still didn't have his food yet and we were done, so DB~ agreed to go pay the check and I would go over and "just say hi". I decided to wing it on what I was going to say.

Now...I've met a lot of local celebrities and a few national celebrities. I'm not starstruck. Except now. This is my favorite Pirate. The guy who I hope against hope is a Pirate his whole career.

I cautiously approached him and said, "Hi there..." He looked up surprised. "A lot of people are pulling for you guys. You'll turn it around soon. Good luck." And then I pretty much did a 180 and walk-sprinted out of the restaurant.

What a dork I was. I got the impression he sort of wanted to be left alone, so I pulled the ripcord early, like Goose in Top Gun.

BTW, the picture above is one that I surrepetitiously took through the table of 4 sitting next to us. Cutch-22 is in the background with his head down. He's the black guy.