Friday, September 21, 2007

I'm Not Majerus

One morning a couple of months ago I got to talking with a young fellow at the pool. (I swim every morning; got started in January and love it!) He was recovering from a foot injury and said that he had run long distance at Marquette as an undergraduate. While mentioning Marquette he referred to its location in Milwaukee. A few days later we were talking again and he apologized for thinking that I might not know where Marquette was, "You know, what with basketball," he said. This was after he had greeted me as I stepped up to the edge of the pool the morning before with a wave and what I was certain I had misheard as, "Hey coach!"

Realization began to dawn with his apology and I asked with a smile and look of confusion, "Who do you think I am?"

"Why, the new basketball coach, aren't you?"
I introduced myself, he introduced himself, we both laughed, and he made a hasty and embarassed exit. A few days later he apologized for the mistaken identity saying that he had heard the new coach swam at the pool. I told him it was fine because even though I thought I had a few less pounds than Majerus I knew I had a lot more hair.
So, an amusing anecdote particularly for the Utah relatives who know Majerus from his Ute exploits. Well, last week it happened again. A young woman who lifeguards at the pool and has seen me for the past 9 months asks if I am "Coach Majerus". I start to laugh and tell her no. She says, "I didn't think so but my friend said I should have seen him because he swims here and you look the most like. . .uh, I thought you might be him."

Okay, enough is enough, I am not Majerus. He's a great coach, I'm sure he is a wonderful person. As a basketball fan and a fellow swimmer I hope I do get to meet him. But really, we don't look at all alike; do we? I don't think so but maybe there is a basis for the confusion. Now, if I could just get the payroll department to make the same mistake.

Separated at birth?
You decide

2 comments:

  1. FINALLY! I was so excited to see you finally wrote on your blog. And no you don't look like him dad. but i do think you need to take a picture by that statue. Ha! sly jake

    ReplyDelete
  2. so...i'm not up with my college basketball enough to know what majerus looks like, so after all this great story and now the blog account of them, i had to google search him! dad, you don't look anything like him, but the stories are still funny! maybe we should start calling you coach! just kidding. you will always be our buddha! sly

    ReplyDelete