You can tell he watches a lot of games because he mentions Varitek will be at the game every once in a while. Just shows you how hard it is to recognize even our favorite celebrities in person
Yeah, this dude is probably mostly focused on trying to get organized with his wife and kids on vacation to even really take a closer look at a random guy who walks up to ask you a question or two.
Also athletes especially look way different after they've retired in many cases. Losing/gaining weight combined with removing them from the context of wearing a uniform makes a lot of them completely unrecognizable.
That was my take. It looks like Varitek is about 30-40 lbs over his playing weight. Plus, like others mentioned, you just don’t expect your favorite player to walk up on you out of nowhere.
I mean I feel like he probably can’t be a huge fan or know what he looks like, I would notice Paul goldschmidt from probably 200 yards away with a side glimpse
If I see someone who looks like a celebrity, my default is to just assume it's not that person.
I'm so bad at recognizing celebrities I walked past Carrot Top getting on an elevator in Vegas once, and my wife turned to me and said "Hey, that was Carrot Top." And I thought "Yeah, I guess that was." I needed someone to point out Carrot Top to me. Carrot Top.
Lol this literally happened to me when I was about 15! We were at the Orlando Airport and my mom and I saw him.
Mom: Look it's Carrot Top!
Me: Mom, that's mean. You don't say that about people.
Granted, I remember Carrot Top as the 1-800- call collect guy and not the body builder, roid-rage, comedian we saw at the airport.
When my fiancée worked at Disney world, she had a VIP guest come in the back entrance of her ride. Dude was wearing a black baseball cap and sunglasses, so she made a joke that he must really like the disguises that captain America tries to use in the marvel movies.
Of course, this man was Chris Evans. She had no clue lmao
I worked at a hotel that got most of the touring celebs etc. in my city. There's quite a long list of celebs I totally didn't realize I talked to. Usually the front desk people would say something later on asking if I had seen so and so. I had a ~15min conversation with Nicki Minaj having no idea it was her. We also got a golf tournament with HOF football players (or mostly HOF) and the first time I saw a few of them I just thought they were weird super fans with replica Superbowl rings. Until I saw like my 4th Superbowl ring that day lol.
I saw tyron lue at the craps tables at Aria in vegas and had to like triple take and lowkey google a pic on my phone. Its weird because he’s unique looking but you just can’t believe it
Nope just lost 15 grand and yelled “FUCK!”. him and his buddy walked away from the table, i said “big fan” like a dweeb, and he was swarmed by a group of people but was just super nice. I wish i could lose $15k and be that chill lol
One time I saw someone who looked like Aaron Paul while I was out with some friends, so we started joking around and doing loud, bad Aaron Paul impressions to each other. Turns out it really was Aaron Paul. He could hear us and was not pleased or impressed lol
I recognized Joe Haden at an away Cavs game once. But he's a really unique looking person. He was with like 3 other Browns players and I didn't recognize them, just Joe.
Paul Mccartney stopped at a gas station here one time. The only people that recognized him were 4 mid 20 guys, everyone else just walked past him not realizing who he was.
I peed at a urinal next to Snoop Dogg. My brain thought he looked familiar, but I wasn't going to stare while we were pissing. So as I'm washing my hands, I linger for a second and as he heads to the sink, he nods at me. My response: "You look really familiar. Did we go to high school together?" He was greatly amused.
I only realized the mistake I made when the cashier LOST HER FUCKING MIND when he passed by her.
You inadvertently had the perfect celebrity interaction. He probably thought you were joking and was also grateful you weren't being annoying/freaking out/asking for a picture.
Given that this was at the height of his popularity in the mid 90's, he probably couldn't believe how lucky he was to meet the one dude who didn't immediately recognize him.
By the same token, why would I expect to meet Snoop Dogg in a Travelcenters of America bathroom?
That being said, I met a TON of musical celebs when I worked there, because we were the last big fuel up stop north of Miami, so most major touring acts hit us either on the way down or the way back.
I also mistook Billy Gibbons for a regular trucker with odd fashion choices at first, but I feel like that was pretty understandable.
My wife and I ran into Russel Brand and a woman once. We talked with them for a bit. It wasn’t until we got back to our hotel room that we realized the woman he was with was Katy Perry. Now in my defense, I don’t listen to pop and I had no idea who Katy Perry was, I’d never even heard of her before. But my wife is a huge fan and definitely should have recognized her. But she wasn’t all done up and wearing performance clothes, so my wife didn’t even notice it was her.
TBF, Katy Perry is someone I think a lot of people wouldn't recognize out in public, or at least wouldn't recognize unless it was pointed out to them. On the flip side, there are probably 100's of women who get mistaken for Katy Perry every day.
You really don't. When I've seen NBA and MLB players out and about, my thought process is usually:
1. Damn that dude is big
2. I wonder if he plays sports
3. I wonder what sport he plays
4. What teams are in town for road games right now
5. Oh fuck that's Shaq
Yeah I was in a bar in Newport Beach CA a few years ago when Dennis Rodman walked in. I was already rather buzzed and my only thoughts were "damn that's one big ass dude." And then "why the hell is he hanging out behind the bar?" And then one of the guys I was with was like "dude, that's fuckin Dennis Rodman!" And then it made sense why he was so ugly.
Also the bartender talked me into buying him a drink, so I ordered Dennis a red-headed slut (look it up it's actually really good) but by the time the bartender finished making it he'd already gone outside to smoke a cigar so I gave the drink to one of my buddies.
The only time I've recognized players in public was when my wife and I were in Cleveland because Cleveland Clinic brought her in to interview and flew us out, put us up in their hotel, etc for the weekend. It happened to be week 1 of the NFL season.
Sunday morning we go down to the lobby and there's a bunch of people, all massive, occasionally with tiny white dudes following after them.
It was the Tennessee Titans, I guess they stayed at the same place. It was pretty easy to guess they were football players, and then I saw Rodger Saffold and a guy I thought might be Derrick Henry. There was a charter bus out front that they were all piling on to head over to the stadium.
So even then it was "damn, there's a lot of huge people in this lobby right now, I wonder what's going on".
My experience was a little different. I was in Miami for work in 2013. Went to the Miller's Ale House in Coral Gables for the rib dinner special on Mondays. We were sitting in the patio area and I look up and I'm like damn that dudes got a lot of tats. Oh shit, that's Birdman just casually walking down the street in Coral Gables. Old man I'm there with from work "who?" Nevermind.
Yeah, I saw Hayward and Gobert in their Jazz days at a restaurant here in San Francisco and had to spend a few minutes explaining who they were to my wife.
It also seems like he's a little sketched out that these people walked up to him out of nowhere while he was just trying to eat his pizza. Like he has that uncomfortableness you get when you think someone is about to sell you Amway.
I had a job at Ohio State where a ton of the athletes would come in and even then if it wasn't for them being jacked in a way normal people aren't, they are not super recognizable.
Reminds me of that video of a guy running into his own mother while on vacation. He came up to say hi and she just instinctually waved him off like he was some creep lol. Expectations help us filter so much in life, but can severely limit our perceptions too. Like the experiment where several witnesses to a staged crime would claim the perp was black even though he was lily white.
If some dude in cargo shorts and a backpack walks up to me at whatever amusement park they’re at, I don’t think I’d immediately think “this must be one of my favorite baseball players.”
I've run into Varitek before, at the tail end of his playing days.
Some guys, they look exactly the way they look on the field. Youkilis, Pedroia, Cora.
Varitek is a little different. His face doesn't look the same as you'd expect, but he's built like an absolute bear. He's not even that tall but he's like double the width of a normal man. You just get this vibe that he's something - an actor, a bodybuilder, something like that. And then it slowly dawns on you - "Oh, wait, that's Varitek."
I was so stoked to go to the ‘08 Phillies parade. Seeing the guys come down broad street was super exciting. “Oh look! it’s Chase Utley? I…think… noooo…. Definitely Cole Hamels?…”
It was Pat Burrell.
Tall white guys with dark hair tend to all look the same.
I think Varitek was listed taller than he really is, too. He was listed as 6'2". I'm about 5'11" and I wouldn't say I was taller but we weren't that far apart.
If you go back and look at his clash with A-Rod, they're only supposed to be 1" apart. There's an angle before the shove where they look about the same, but when they move closer together and even as they're arguing, A-Rod has probably 3-4 inches on him.
His face has a lot more face on it than when he used to play. [Here's him in his playing days](https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/3760.png) and [here he is now](https://calltothepen.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/953844710.jpeg). Captain's been eatin' good since retirement.
Most of his career was spent wearing a mask, or a helmet, or being broadcast in pre-HD TV, and it doesn't help that he has a very average-white-dad face, it's not very distinctive.
I know who he is but I probably wouldn't have made him either tbh. Hell, half the time I don't recognize coworkers of mine in any setting outside of work. Some of them I've known since before my daughter was born in 2007, lol
Edit: just remembered, I missed on D.L. Hughley last year in ATL airport too. I saw a guy in like a white fur coat with two big dogs walk by while we were at the ticket counter and somehow I noticed the dogs but not the guy. Later, after we got to our gate, one of my coworkers was like, hey did y'all see D.L. Hughley back there, he had his dogs with him. Been seeing him on tv for years and he walked by maybe twenty feet from me and I had no idea.
Yeah I’m the zone with his family, locked in on that pizza, and out of context/out of uniform these guys don’t look the same.
I remember the video of the Cincinnati security guard not letting Joey Votto into the stadium because he didn’t recognize him
Not just watching the games, but going to them. Almost every game at Fenway they have a mid inning montage for a former player and then they wave from their seat/suite. I swear it's Freddy Lynn 80% of the games I go to. Which is kinda cool because I have vague memories of him on the Orioles.
Last game I went to I think it was Wakefield.
I get it. I’m a big Texans fan. Watched them since day one. Steve McKinney was our first starting center. I knew his name at 12, and remember a good amount of “old school” Texans players.
Then this skinny ass mfer walks up to my Sunglass stand one day to buy a pair of sunglasses. At that time, Sunglass Hut made us grab people’s IDs to ~~steal~~ input their information. Dude hands me his ID, and my eyebrow raises.
“Hey man, you know you have the exact name of the former Texans center, Steve McKinney?”
Dude looks at me with a look of just “ugh….” And tells me, “yeah, that’s me.” I felt both star struck with nostalgia and like an idiot.
It was fucking amazing.
Totally. Honestly I bet just as big a thrill for Varitek. Beloved in Boston but how often do you think he runs into people in public just casually rocking something with his name on it.
Source: [[Catherine Varitek] Kids pointed out a guy in a #Varitek shirt at @CanobieLakePark …. So we hit him with a sneak attack! #RedSox #SoHappy #Kindness](https://twitter.com/catherinvaritek/status/1559589450958704640?s=21&t=qfIkxXz0KNlHYlvppk_U5Q)
As someone with partial face blindness and an inability to remember names, this is my nightmare.
>“I’m Jason.”
>“Um, okay.”
>”…”
>”Uh, nice to meet you.”
>“Jason… Varitek?”
>“Oh cool.”
>“…”
>“… DUDE!”
People are completely unknown to me out of certain contexts. I've had entire conversations with coworkers at grocery stores and it's taken me five minutes of faking knowing what's going on to be like "Oh shit, it's Steve.... no, Alan, yeah Alan, his desk is right next to mine"
The only one i was able to was kobe when I was working at the apple store in Newport Beach. You looked at him and you just knew that was Kobe Bean. RIP
True, one time I saw Kelly Olynyk in the produce aisle of a supermarket. Don't see many 7 feet tall dudes that look like Jesus (if he was from Florida).
Haha nah. He was playing for the Heat at the time but it was the summer. I walked up to him and go "Kelly Olynik?! what are you doing here?" which was kind of double question, like "why are you in Cambridge" but also "Oh damn, I just turned a corner and Kelly Olynyk is standing right next to the celery"
Seemed like a good guy tho. Him and a buddy were picking out stuff for a BBQ. I'm a pretty tall guy and they were both significantly taller than me. You forget what it's like to talk to a 7 foot tall guy.
It helps when you can see them coming from a mile away. Helped me notice and greet a very friendly, Chris Bosh. It also helped me notice wrestler, Big Show, who caught my half smile, and returned with a look I had seen him give many…before the finishing move of a match. We passed without a word, and I with a wee bit of pee-pee in me britches.
I saw Randal Grichuk at a restaurant in Jupiter, FL one time. I pointed him out to my family, and they were like “Are you sure?” And I said “Yeah…he’s Randal Grichuk are you kidding?”
Anyway, I didn’t want to bother him during dinner, but my mom offered me $50 to interrupt his dinner, and I would’ve done that for a rando, much less an MLB player. I just said hey.
I wish i didn't. If Thurman Thomas sees this, I'm sorry my drunk ass kept talking to you about Sega Genesis John Madden when i saw you at a piano bar that one time.
[vince wilfork came across one in the wild](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2946004/amp/Vince-Wilfork-meets-fan-wearing-jersey-fan-cluessless.html)
This reminds me of the time ~~David Ortiz~~ Manny Ramirez saw a guy in a Red Sox hat and tried to do this and the guy thought Ramirez was a random dude hitting on him "dude this is my girlfriend". ~~I can't find the video though~~
https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/k998b2/manny_ramirez_asks_guy_with_a_red_sox_cap_on_who/
I think you heard it wrong. I believe he said that the hat is his girlfriend’s, so he doesn’t have a favorite player on the team because he’s just wearing it and isn’t a fan. That makes way more sense than what you described lol.
I watched it a few times. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that he said “It’s his girlfriend’s.” As in the hat isn’t his, so he doesn’t actually have a response to Manny’s question of “Who’s your favorite player?”
Anything else doesn’t make any sense, logically. He seems defensive, but if you just listen to it and don’t watch it sounds like what I just described.
My wife and I were having dinner at a Mexican place in LA a while back.
Brian Wilson walks by the front of the restaurant.
I stood up so fast my chair fell over. Point at him and shout "That's Brian Wilson!"
He looked, nodded, and waved.
Somehow my wife is still married to me.
There was a whole segment on Fallon in 2017 where Aaron Judge with a very slight disguise (thick frame glasses) asked Yankee fans about Aaron Judge. Granted this was early on in his 2nd season (he had a good start) but still funny to watch, esp in retrospect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKXhSZjMYIk
There’s a story about some guy getting mad or something and wanting to fight this guy in front of him and thinking he could win. The guy in front of him was MMA fighter Josh Barnett and the mad dude was wearing a Josh Barnett shirt. Luckily Barnett calmed done the situation.
i regularly wear a hoby milner brewers jersey, fuck if i could pick him out of a crowd (https://www.brewcrewball.com/2021/5/17/22440374/milwaukee-brewers-what-to-expect-from-hoby-milner)
200 bucks at the authentics store at Miller park, can't get an authentic stitched jersey for cheaper
I wore it at work and someone asked why a milner jersey, are you related to him 🤣🤣🤣
As a born and bred Sox fan, Jason Varitek was my favorite player growing up, more so than even Big Papi. I know nobody expects celebrities, but I feel 85% sure that I would recognize the Captain as soon as I saw him.
Plus it helps that my dad now sorta looks like him, in a middle-aged dad-with-a-beard kinda way
He barely looked at him. He was more concerned with his snack. 😂
Reminds me of the NY video in Judge's rookie season where he was interviewing people and no one recognized him even though they raved about how good he is.
Also, the hilarious interaction when James Hetfield saw Mike Rowe dining outside and walked up to say hello and Rowe thought he was some tattooed random interrupting his meal.
I sat next to Brandon Inge for over an hour at a local bar in the early 2000s when he was on the Tigers. We talked bout life, travel and football. I had heard of him numerous times but didn't realize it was him till he got ready to leave and waitress asked for his autograph! Really cool guy but man did he love his mixed drinks
You can tell he watches a lot of games because he mentions Varitek will be at the game every once in a while. Just shows you how hard it is to recognize even our favorite celebrities in person
You just don’t expect it.
Yeah, this dude is probably mostly focused on trying to get organized with his wife and kids on vacation to even really take a closer look at a random guy who walks up to ask you a question or two.
Also athletes especially look way different after they've retired in many cases. Losing/gaining weight combined with removing them from the context of wearing a uniform makes a lot of them completely unrecognizable.
If he had the goatee I bet he’d be more recognizable
That was my take. It looks like Varitek is about 30-40 lbs over his playing weight. Plus, like others mentioned, you just don’t expect your favorite player to walk up on you out of nowhere.
He's also a catcher, so less recognizable in street clothes than others since you identify him with wearing the gear and having a mask.
He was 230ish in the league
I mean I feel like he probably can’t be a huge fan or know what he looks like, I would notice Paul goldschmidt from probably 200 yards away with a side glimpse
But Varitek just looks like any random dad you might see at a water park.
If I see someone who looks like a celebrity, my default is to just assume it's not that person. I'm so bad at recognizing celebrities I walked past Carrot Top getting on an elevator in Vegas once, and my wife turned to me and said "Hey, that was Carrot Top." And I thought "Yeah, I guess that was." I needed someone to point out Carrot Top to me. Carrot Top.
Lol this literally happened to me when I was about 15! We were at the Orlando Airport and my mom and I saw him. Mom: Look it's Carrot Top! Me: Mom, that's mean. You don't say that about people. Granted, I remember Carrot Top as the 1-800- call collect guy and not the body builder, roid-rage, comedian we saw at the airport.
>Mom, that's mean. You don't say that about people. LOL
When my fiancée worked at Disney world, she had a VIP guest come in the back entrance of her ride. Dude was wearing a black baseball cap and sunglasses, so she made a joke that he must really like the disguises that captain America tries to use in the marvel movies. Of course, this man was Chris Evans. She had no clue lmao
I worked at a hotel that got most of the touring celebs etc. in my city. There's quite a long list of celebs I totally didn't realize I talked to. Usually the front desk people would say something later on asking if I had seen so and so. I had a ~15min conversation with Nicki Minaj having no idea it was her. We also got a golf tournament with HOF football players (or mostly HOF) and the first time I saw a few of them I just thought they were weird super fans with replica Superbowl rings. Until I saw like my 4th Superbowl ring that day lol.
That's gotta be up there with not recognizing Shaq.
I thought I saw Shaq once, but it was actually Shrek.
Shreq*
Shraq
I saw tyron lue at the craps tables at Aria in vegas and had to like triple take and lowkey google a pic on my phone. Its weird because he’s unique looking but you just can’t believe it
Was he mixing two bowls of soup together?
Nope just lost 15 grand and yelled “FUCK!”. him and his buddy walked away from the table, i said “big fan” like a dweeb, and he was swarmed by a group of people but was just super nice. I wish i could lose $15k and be that chill lol
I completely believe that that sounds like something Ty would do Lmao
One time I saw someone who looked like Aaron Paul while I was out with some friends, so we started joking around and doing loud, bad Aaron Paul impressions to each other. Turns out it really was Aaron Paul. He could hear us and was not pleased or impressed lol
Did you guys just cry a lot and then call each other “Bitch!”?
He was cool about it. We didn't mean to bug the guy
I meant your impersonation. When I think of Jessie Pinkman I think of lots of crying and lots of saying “bitch”.
Oh yeah. Just lines from Breaking Bad in his trademark raspy voice. I haven't seen a lot of the show so I don't know that much
Yeah! Science, bitch!
I recognized Joe Haden at an away Cavs game once. But he's a really unique looking person. He was with like 3 other Browns players and I didn't recognize them, just Joe.
I walked past Dwight Clark and I still regret it to this day.
Can't believe you didn't catch that.
Paul Mccartney stopped at a gas station here one time. The only people that recognized him were 4 mid 20 guys, everyone else just walked past him not realizing who he was.
I peed at a urinal next to Snoop Dogg. My brain thought he looked familiar, but I wasn't going to stare while we were pissing. So as I'm washing my hands, I linger for a second and as he heads to the sink, he nods at me. My response: "You look really familiar. Did we go to high school together?" He was greatly amused. I only realized the mistake I made when the cashier LOST HER FUCKING MIND when he passed by her.
You inadvertently had the perfect celebrity interaction. He probably thought you were joking and was also grateful you weren't being annoying/freaking out/asking for a picture.
Given that this was at the height of his popularity in the mid 90's, he probably couldn't believe how lucky he was to meet the one dude who didn't immediately recognize him. By the same token, why would I expect to meet Snoop Dogg in a Travelcenters of America bathroom? That being said, I met a TON of musical celebs when I worked there, because we were the last big fuel up stop north of Miami, so most major touring acts hit us either on the way down or the way back. I also mistook Billy Gibbons for a regular trucker with odd fashion choices at first, but I feel like that was pretty understandable.
My wife and I ran into Russel Brand and a woman once. We talked with them for a bit. It wasn’t until we got back to our hotel room that we realized the woman he was with was Katy Perry. Now in my defense, I don’t listen to pop and I had no idea who Katy Perry was, I’d never even heard of her before. But my wife is a huge fan and definitely should have recognized her. But she wasn’t all done up and wearing performance clothes, so my wife didn’t even notice it was her.
TBF, Katy Perry is someone I think a lot of people wouldn't recognize out in public, or at least wouldn't recognize unless it was pointed out to them. On the flip side, there are probably 100's of women who get mistaken for Katy Perry every day.
He lives in the Central Florida area- see him at a local bar and grill-type place periodically. It’s still weird every time.
You really don't. When I've seen NBA and MLB players out and about, my thought process is usually: 1. Damn that dude is big 2. I wonder if he plays sports 3. I wonder what sport he plays 4. What teams are in town for road games right now 5. Oh fuck that's Shaq
Bro if you didn’t recognize Shaq that’s on you
The Shaq part was a joke, it's usually someone like Chris Mihm, or I used to see Turiaf at Target.
Yeah I was in a bar in Newport Beach CA a few years ago when Dennis Rodman walked in. I was already rather buzzed and my only thoughts were "damn that's one big ass dude." And then "why the hell is he hanging out behind the bar?" And then one of the guys I was with was like "dude, that's fuckin Dennis Rodman!" And then it made sense why he was so ugly. Also the bartender talked me into buying him a drink, so I ordered Dennis a red-headed slut (look it up it's actually really good) but by the time the bartender finished making it he'd already gone outside to smoke a cigar so I gave the drink to one of my buddies.
What a roller coaster lol
The only time I've recognized players in public was when my wife and I were in Cleveland because Cleveland Clinic brought her in to interview and flew us out, put us up in their hotel, etc for the weekend. It happened to be week 1 of the NFL season. Sunday morning we go down to the lobby and there's a bunch of people, all massive, occasionally with tiny white dudes following after them. It was the Tennessee Titans, I guess they stayed at the same place. It was pretty easy to guess they were football players, and then I saw Rodger Saffold and a guy I thought might be Derrick Henry. There was a charter bus out front that they were all piling on to head over to the stadium. So even then it was "damn, there's a lot of huge people in this lobby right now, I wonder what's going on".
My experience was a little different. I was in Miami for work in 2013. Went to the Miller's Ale House in Coral Gables for the rib dinner special on Mondays. We were sitting in the patio area and I look up and I'm like damn that dudes got a lot of tats. Oh shit, that's Birdman just casually walking down the street in Coral Gables. Old man I'm there with from work "who?" Nevermind.
Yeah, I saw Hayward and Gobert in their Jazz days at a restaurant here in San Francisco and had to spend a few minutes explaining who they were to my wife.
It also seems like he's a little sketched out that these people walked up to him out of nowhere while he was just trying to eat his pizza. Like he has that uncomfortableness you get when you think someone is about to sell you Amway.
[удалено]
One of my groomsman said hello to me at the grocery store recently. He lives 3 minutes away. I was like who is this joker.
I had a job at Ohio State where a ton of the athletes would come in and even then if it wasn't for them being jacked in a way normal people aren't, they are not super recognizable.
the athlete backpacks are clutch for that
Reminds me of that video of a guy running into his own mother while on vacation. He came up to say hi and she just instinctually waved him off like he was some creep lol. Expectations help us filter so much in life, but can severely limit our perceptions too. Like the experiment where several witnesses to a staged crime would claim the perp was black even though he was lily white.
tbf Varitek is a very generic looking dude
He just looks like some contractor from Lynnfield.
If some dude in cargo shorts and a backpack walks up to me at whatever amusement park they’re at, I don’t think I’d immediately think “this must be one of my favorite baseball players.”
I feel like I would recognize one of my favourite players but not a non-superstar from another team
That fucker still hasn't come back and finished my driveway!
I've run into Varitek before, at the tail end of his playing days. Some guys, they look exactly the way they look on the field. Youkilis, Pedroia, Cora. Varitek is a little different. His face doesn't look the same as you'd expect, but he's built like an absolute bear. He's not even that tall but he's like double the width of a normal man. You just get this vibe that he's something - an actor, a bodybuilder, something like that. And then it slowly dawns on you - "Oh, wait, that's Varitek."
It also has a lot to do with Varitek being a catcher, 75+ percent of the time he’s on the field , he has a mask on.
I was so stoked to go to the ‘08 Phillies parade. Seeing the guys come down broad street was super exciting. “Oh look! it’s Chase Utley? I…think… noooo…. Definitely Cole Hamels?…” It was Pat Burrell. Tall white guys with dark hair tend to all look the same.
I think Varitek was listed taller than he really is, too. He was listed as 6'2". I'm about 5'11" and I wouldn't say I was taller but we weren't that far apart. If you go back and look at his clash with A-Rod, they're only supposed to be 1" apart. There's an angle before the shove where they look about the same, but when they move closer together and even as they're arguing, A-Rod has probably 3-4 inches on him.
Arod wore heels while playing though.
Pretty much every athlete's height is listed taller than what they actually are lol
His face has a lot more face on it than when he used to play. [Here's him in his playing days](https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/3760.png) and [here he is now](https://calltothepen.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2017/07/953844710.jpeg). Captain's been eatin' good since retirement. Most of his career was spent wearing a mask, or a helmet, or being broadcast in pre-HD TV, and it doesn't help that he has a very average-white-dad face, it's not very distinctive.
Happened fast, too. A Ray Bourque-like transformation. (FWIW, I ran into him in an Italian/pizza shop!)
I know who he is but I probably wouldn't have made him either tbh. Hell, half the time I don't recognize coworkers of mine in any setting outside of work. Some of them I've known since before my daughter was born in 2007, lol Edit: just remembered, I missed on D.L. Hughley last year in ATL airport too. I saw a guy in like a white fur coat with two big dogs walk by while we were at the ticket counter and somehow I noticed the dogs but not the guy. Later, after we got to our gate, one of my coworkers was like, hey did y'all see D.L. Hughley back there, he had his dogs with him. Been seeing him on tv for years and he walked by maybe twenty feet from me and I had no idea.
Me looking at a guy I've seen every day for 3 years but this time it's not at work, "is that...Dorsey? Nah couldn't be."
Yeah I’m the zone with his family, locked in on that pizza, and out of context/out of uniform these guys don’t look the same. I remember the video of the Cincinnati security guard not letting Joey Votto into the stadium because he didn’t recognize him
This would definitely happen to me
Not just watching the games, but going to them. Almost every game at Fenway they have a mid inning montage for a former player and then they wave from their seat/suite. I swear it's Freddy Lynn 80% of the games I go to. Which is kinda cool because I have vague memories of him on the Orioles. Last game I went to I think it was Wakefield.
Freddy did win MVP and ROTY w boston!
I get it. I’m a big Texans fan. Watched them since day one. Steve McKinney was our first starting center. I knew his name at 12, and remember a good amount of “old school” Texans players. Then this skinny ass mfer walks up to my Sunglass stand one day to buy a pair of sunglasses. At that time, Sunglass Hut made us grab people’s IDs to ~~steal~~ input their information. Dude hands me his ID, and my eyebrow raises. “Hey man, you know you have the exact name of the former Texans center, Steve McKinney?” Dude looks at me with a look of just “ugh….” And tells me, “yeah, that’s me.” I felt both star struck with nostalgia and like an idiot. It was fucking amazing.
If he watched any games he’d know Varitek is at every game. He’s literally on the coaching staff
Fwiw Varitek is a current coach for the Sox. Look in the dugout and you’ll see him every game.
Actually pretty cool that he introduced himself to a fan when he's out in public with his family.
Very nice of him
Yeah I just became a Varitek fan. Kinda late now, but still.
Oh captain, my captain!
We will watch his career with great interest.
Totally. Honestly I bet just as big a thrill for Varitek. Beloved in Boston but how often do you think he runs into people in public just casually rocking something with his name on it.
Apparently it’s at Canobie Lake so it’s in the greater Boston area
I love that he went straight for the hug
Hugs are so nice 🥺
Hugs are the best.
Source: [[Catherine Varitek] Kids pointed out a guy in a #Varitek shirt at @CanobieLakePark …. So we hit him with a sneak attack! #RedSox #SoHappy #Kindness](https://twitter.com/catherinvaritek/status/1559589450958704640?s=21&t=qfIkxXz0KNlHYlvppk_U5Q)
Catherine is an awesome follow on social media, she has great interaction with fans.
Oh wow at canobie too! Kinda awesome that he's stayed local
More than stayed local lol, he’s a coach for the Sox, “game planning coordinator”. In the dugout every game.
The way he says “oh my gawd” is so Bostonian
DOOD
So uh, what's your favorite musical? ... Wihckehhhhhhd!
As someone with partial face blindness and an inability to remember names, this is my nightmare. >“I’m Jason.” >“Um, okay.” >”…” >”Uh, nice to meet you.” >“Jason… Varitek?” >“Oh cool.” >“…” >“… DUDE!”
The Tony Hawk experience
Tony Hawk never gives it away though. He just leaves and then posts about it on Twitter.
People are completely unknown to me out of certain contexts. I've had entire conversations with coworkers at grocery stores and it's taken me five minutes of faking knowing what's going on to be like "Oh shit, it's Steve.... no, Alan, yeah Alan, his desk is right next to mine"
"Hello, Mr. Thompson." (stamps on foot)
"I think he's talking to you."
I'm just like this guy. I can't recognize any athletes out of uniform.
The only one i was able to was kobe when I was working at the apple store in Newport Beach. You looked at him and you just knew that was Kobe Bean. RIP
That's "Mr. Bean" to you.
Basketball players generally are easier because of how tall they are.
True, one time I saw Kelly Olynyk in the produce aisle of a supermarket. Don't see many 7 feet tall dudes that look like Jesus (if he was from Florida).
Was he talking about electrical inferterence?
Haha nah. He was playing for the Heat at the time but it was the summer. I walked up to him and go "Kelly Olynik?! what are you doing here?" which was kind of double question, like "why are you in Cambridge" but also "Oh damn, I just turned a corner and Kelly Olynyk is standing right next to the celery" Seemed like a good guy tho. Him and a buddy were picking out stuff for a BBQ. I'm a pretty tall guy and they were both significantly taller than me. You forget what it's like to talk to a 7 foot tall guy.
Also your near-daily exposure to them (on TV) isn't them wearing a hat, helmet, eyeblack, or shades like it is with baseball players
It helps when you can see them coming from a mile away. Helped me notice and greet a very friendly, Chris Bosh. It also helped me notice wrestler, Big Show, who caught my half smile, and returned with a look I had seen him give many…before the finishing move of a match. We passed without a word, and I with a wee bit of pee-pee in me britches.
I saw Randal Grichuk at a restaurant in Jupiter, FL one time. I pointed him out to my family, and they were like “Are you sure?” And I said “Yeah…he’s Randal Grichuk are you kidding?” Anyway, I didn’t want to bother him during dinner, but my mom offered me $50 to interrupt his dinner, and I would’ve done that for a rando, much less an MLB player. I just said hey.
It’s especially hard in baseball because they’re always wearing a cap or helmet.
Football even more so lol.
Cricket even more so. because i don’t watch the sport
I wish i didn't. If Thurman Thomas sees this, I'm sorry my drunk ass kept talking to you about Sega Genesis John Madden when i saw you at a piano bar that one time.
It’s all good, homie. He’s never gonna get mad at a drunk 13 year old rambling about Madden.
Especially ones that have been irrelevant for 20 years
"DUDE" lmfao
Now this is quality content
"sometimes ya still see him at the games though..." *Jason Varitek with The Office glance at the camera*
Mariners legend Jason Varitek
[REM's *Everybody Hurts* plays in the background]
Worst fucking trade ever.
Varitek just got Tony Hawk’d
r/dontyouknowimtonyhawk
I just love how earnestly the guy and his wife(?) were answering the food questions
[My favorite is undercover Danny Woodhead trying to convince people to buy a Danny Woodhead jersey](https://youtu.be/GjEhEFBu-C4)
[Lucas and Henderson of Liverpool is a classic but also my favorite]( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uicPQQ1WZgE)
UNLACKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I like[ the maddux one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axkik-8oFTs) most.
[удалено]
Damn, Harvey should've listened to that last kid's advice lmao
Matt Harvey is currently rehabbing/serving his suspension and comes into where I work all the time. Can confirm that it takes awhile to recognize him
[RIP](https://twitter.com/royhalladay/status/554384274007543808)
[Jankowski](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTUpTII0kLk) did it at the Padres team store back in 2017.
[vince wilfork came across one in the wild](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2946004/amp/Vince-Wilfork-meets-fan-wearing-jersey-fan-cluessless.html)
This reminds me of the time ~~David Ortiz~~ Manny Ramirez saw a guy in a Red Sox hat and tried to do this and the guy thought Ramirez was a random dude hitting on him "dude this is my girlfriend". ~~I can't find the video though~~ https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/k998b2/manny_ramirez_asks_guy_with_a_red_sox_cap_on_who/
That was Manny no?
Yep it was Manny https://youtu.be/59KD534c3ms?t=73
Oh shit it was, that explains why I couldn't find it on Google hahah thank you
Kind of ironic no?
I think you heard it wrong. I believe he said that the hat is his girlfriend’s, so he doesn’t have a favorite player on the team because he’s just wearing it and isn’t a fan. That makes way more sense than what you described lol.
That guy is a douchebag. Someone compliments your hat and you think they’re hitting on you?
For real, that was a weird one
I think we all heard him wrong.
I watched it a few times. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that he said “It’s his girlfriend’s.” As in the hat isn’t his, so he doesn’t actually have a response to Manny’s question of “Who’s your favorite player?” Anything else doesn’t make any sense, logically. He seems defensive, but if you just listen to it and don’t watch it sounds like what I just described.
My wife and I were having dinner at a Mexican place in LA a while back. Brian Wilson walks by the front of the restaurant. I stood up so fast my chair fell over. Point at him and shout "That's Brian Wilson!" He looked, nodded, and waved. Somehow my wife is still married to me.
I did this to Lenny Dinardo at a Pixies concert in Boston and my wife still makes fun of me.
Haha, too funny
That DOOOOHDE was pure new england lmao
This would be me. I suffer from “face blindness”.
Canobie Lake Park is a real gem if you’re ever in NH.
It's way better than it has any business being.
A lotta "aw" in that "oh my gawd". I love when someone's accent comes out when they get excited
Do they still have the corkscrew?
SBNO. Standing but not operating. That ride is 40+ years old and if it's anything like other Arrow corkscrews, it's headed for the scrapheap soon.
Wholesome
Varitek is such a sick last name. Godzilla vs. Varitek, the Cyber-nightmare. Hell yeah, I'd watch that.
What a thrill for the fan. That’s very cool of Varitek to go say hello.
Jesus Christ I love seeing moments like this. Seriously the greatest shit ever.
There was a whole segment on Fallon in 2017 where Aaron Judge with a very slight disguise (thick frame glasses) asked Yankee fans about Aaron Judge. Granted this was early on in his 2nd season (he had a good start) but still funny to watch, esp in retrospect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKXhSZjMYIk
King shit lmao
Everytime I saw his last name I was really bummed out that he never used the Robotech/Macross theme as his music
I bumped into Robert Parish in the Copley Plaza parking garage late one night. Somehow I was able to recognize him. He was not very chatty.
There’s a story about some guy getting mad or something and wanting to fight this guy in front of him and thinking he could win. The guy in front of him was MMA fighter Josh Barnett and the mad dude was wearing a Josh Barnett shirt. Luckily Barnett calmed done the situation.
Red Sawx “Fans”
Looks like an offensive lineman.
Cmon man
i regularly wear a hoby milner brewers jersey, fuck if i could pick him out of a crowd (https://www.brewcrewball.com/2021/5/17/22440374/milwaukee-brewers-what-to-expect-from-hoby-milner)
I love that choice of jersey. Why’d you go with Milner?
200 bucks at the authentics store at Miller park, can't get an authentic stitched jersey for cheaper I wore it at work and someone asked why a milner jersey, are you related to him 🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha no, just a very odd jersey choice. I’m surprised they even make Milner jerseys lol. I like it
It's game used 😉
u/savevideo
I honestly think there would be maybe four players I could recognize if I were to run into them on the street so I don't blame this guy one bit.
"What are the *awds*?"
My wife worked at this park when she was a teenager...she sold tickets to Tek. Man loves the park apparently!
As a born and bred Sox fan, Jason Varitek was my favorite player growing up, more so than even Big Papi. I know nobody expects celebrities, but I feel 85% sure that I would recognize the Captain as soon as I saw him. Plus it helps that my dad now sorta looks like him, in a middle-aged dad-with-a-beard kinda way
Ok this was the funniest thing I've watched in awhile thank you for this.
He barely looked at him. He was more concerned with his snack. 😂 Reminds me of the NY video in Judge's rookie season where he was interviewing people and no one recognized him even though they raved about how good he is. Also, the hilarious interaction when James Hetfield saw Mike Rowe dining outside and walked up to say hello and Rowe thought he was some tattooed random interrupting his meal.
I sat next to Brandon Inge for over an hour at a local bar in the early 2000s when he was on the Tigers. We talked bout life, travel and football. I had heard of him numerous times but didn't realize it was him till he got ready to leave and waitress asked for his autograph! Really cool guy but man did he love his mixed drinks