Monday, December 4, 2006

We Think He Ordered The Tuna

On Saturday night I was fortunate enough to dine at Le Cirque in New York City. This is a far cry from how I usually roll, but I was delighted to have the opportunity and motivation to shine my shoes and don the Required Jacket.

Dinner was excellent, and the service was surprisingly cordial and lighthearted. However, the evening's highlight was not the seared foie gras on tuna tartare, but rather the seating of Jerry Jones at the table next to me and Mrs. Fan. I was unusually excited by his presence as I am certainly not a Cowboys fan, and not a really big NFL guy. He was there with his wife and another couple, appeared to be very gracious, and eager to dine (and why not?). He pretty much fit the evening's general demographic to a tee, but presumably skewed the average bottom line a bit.

I believe that my enthusiasm over this sighting boils down to this: there are about 125 teams in our 4 major sports, and discounting owners of multiple clubs, I will guess that there are about 115 distinct owners. A very exclusive club. Of those 115, here are the ones that I could instantly recognize in a crowded restaurant, like I did with JJ:

  • Mike Illitch
  • Mark Cuban
  • Al Davis
  • George Steinbrenner

That really might be it. I'd like to think that I would be able to pick out a Maloof brother, Bill Davidson, Daniel Snyder, or a few others, but I really don't think that they would click. No real point here, just that it was fun to spot this rare beast in the wild, and quite unlikely that I will ever dine in such proximity to one ever again. Unless the Fords start expanding their horizons...

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