ACC Country

I was in the Triangle this week.  Saw some friends, played some golf, drank some beer… good times.  But I never thought I’d run into one of the greatest players in hockey history along the way.

My Caniac peeps – and gracious party hosts for the week – Katy and Heather took me to The Eye on Thursday afternoon.  Now keep in mind that The Eye (the Hurricanes official team store) is located at the RBC Center, and unless you have other business at the RBC Center, it is so far out of the way that there really isn’t a reason to stop by there unless you are specifically shopping for ‘Canes gear.  Which is what we were doing.  So… being middle of the day in August, the three of us and the girl running the register were the only ones in the place.  Not having the ability to get to The Eye routinely, I took my sweet time going thru the place, making sure I didn’t miss anything.  After probably 20 minutes of browsing, I finally settled on everything I was gonna get, and we made our way to the register.

As we made it to the counter, a middle aged fellow walked in the door and asked the cashier how to get to the offices.  She told him to go out the side doors adjacent to the arena concourse and sent him in that direction.  Katy’s at the register, and I watch the guy leave.  As he leaves out those doors, another fellow walks in, and he looks REALLY familiar.  Heather sees my face, turns around to investigate, and she quickly turns around with the same look on her face.

It’s RON FRANCIS!!

He walks over into the kids’ section like any other customer… except for the fact that he’s RON FREAKING FRANCIS, Hockey Hall of Famer and the greatest Hurricane to ever lace up the skates.  Dude, grab whatever you want and leave.  You’re RONNIE FRANCHISE!!  But no, he walks back around the corner toward us with this innocent “Yeah, I’m Ron Freaking Francis” smirk on his face, and while the three of us are totally starstruck, I somehow manage to spit out an “Afternoon, Mister Francis.”  He smiles and says, “Hi, how are you guys?”

We all answer at the same time, probably like 12 year old girls, and I know I stuttered that we were “good” probably three times.  Ronnie shakes my hand, pats Heather on the shoulder, and says, “Thank you for supporting the Canes.”  And he walked off toward the back of the store, as we stood there in total shock.  Most random and awesome brush with greatness ever.  I’m still giddy about it.