Glenn has a long history of meeting celebrities that he has no business getting to meet. Not long ago, he got to meet Albert Pujols while visiting St. Louis and at the time he had no idea who the baseball star was until Pat was nice enough to fill him in. Then he met Bono backstage at a preview of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, pretty much infuriating Stu who had been a U2 fan for years. And then there was the time he went to a NASCAR event and met Fergie and Michael Bay. And what do all of these people have in common? Glenn had pretty much no reason to meet these people while legitimate fans would have been way more impressed and excited. Well, we can now add one more name to the list: baseball legend Nolan Ryan!
That's right, yesterday Nolan Ryan was at the Texas studio complex and, conveniently after Pat had to run out for an appointment, Glenn and Stu got to meet him. Glenn, of course, showed off his astonishing lack of baseball knowledge leading to this awkward exchange:
STU: ... Glenn awkwardly had to stand there and try to act as if he knew what Nolan Ryan was talking about when he was talking, like inside detailed Texas Rangers baseball.GLENN: I never confirmed or denied I had any knowledge of what he was talking about.
STU: (Laughing.)
PAT: Now, what ‑‑ because Glenn said, "So how are things?" And he thought he was talking about things generally like in the country, right? But then he said ‑‑
GLENN: Well, he said ‑‑
STU: Like "how are you?"
PAT: But Ryan, Ryan started talking about things inside the organization, Texas Rangers.
STU: Yeah, like the latest moves they've made.
GLENN: No, no. First he said ‑‑ because I said, "So how are things going?" And he said, "I've been really concerned lately." I'm like, "Me, too." And he said, "Been really concerned. You know, some things have been really, you know, really tough and I've really been concerned in the direction that we've been headed." And I'm like, "Me, too." And he said, "But I think our pitching's coming back online," and he starts going in on ‑‑
PAT: And then you were lost.
GLENN: He was speaking Greek to me. And I stood there and it was so awkward because I stood there for a while and I'm like, "Yep. Yep. Yep." And I didn't even what to even ‑‑ how do you follow it up? I'm like, absolutely nothing in common here. And stood there for a while awkwardly and then he said, "I have to ask you something. That polar bear on your set." I said, yeah? And he said, "Why do you have that?" I said, "No."
STU: You said no to him?
GLENN: I said ‑‑ that's how I ‑‑
STU: Oh, his name. I forgot.
GLENN: He said usually my friends call me "Mr. Ryan." And I said, no, listen. I said, I don't know your politics at all but you are from Texas. So I'm just going to come out and say it. I got the polar bear mainly to piss off Al Gore. And he just smiled and he said, "Not only am I from Texas, I was born in Texas and I love that answer."
If only a dislike for Al Gore could lead to more common ground...
Anyway, Glenn was lucky to have Stu by his side to keep the conversation going.
"I was like the TARP of the conversation, constant bailouts," Stu joked.