Big Time

I just want to tell you this story really quick. It involves a celebrity sighting, but it's not about how I saw Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert at The Cheesecake Factory, even though that was amazing and I'll tell you all about it later if you want to hear. Anyway, this is about Alec Baldwin.

Most of my family is in Orlando for the volleyball AAU Nationals. Kyle and Lindsay are coaching teams, my dad is recruiting and my mom is mostly laying by the pool. Apparently Alec Baldwin's daughter is playing in the tournament so he was down there watching. There was a rumor that Kim Basinger was also there, but that's not been confirmed. Unfortunately for my family this initial Alec sighting was grossly overshadowed by my Blake and Miranda sighting. Lucky for them, though, their story got better. Now this next part has already been retold enough times that I can't guarantee all of the facts as I heard it third- or fourth-hand. So one of my dad's players, Jaclyn Hart, was walking around the convention center wearing Purdue gear and Alec Baldwin and his buddy stopped her and asked if she played for Purdue. (She's tall and was wearing Purdue stuff so this part isn't that impressive.) Although it is cool that Jaclyn's just standing there talking to Alec Baldwin. So they ask her if Dave Shondell coaches at Purdue. Alec Baldwin and my father's name are now in the same conversation. And it's not like, "Hi, I'm Dave Shondell". Alec Baldwin has spoke my father's name. Or heard his buddy say it, but since I wasn't there I'm going to go with spoke it. So Jaclyn tells them yes and Alec's friend then tells her that his wife also played for my dad. We still don't know when or where that took place, but it was pretty cool. My dad said you know you've hit the big time when the celebrities start asking about you. So while we may be stretching this a little bit, I'd say we've hit the big time. Boiler up!

Update: I have now learned that the friend of Alec Baldwin was Alec's daughter's coach's husband. And the coach hadn't actually played for my dad, but was from Muncie and her parents ran a small volleyball club and therefore knew my dad. This is how the guy recognized Jaclyn Hart and why he knew my dad.