Memory Lane

I was going through pictures and some of my old memories bubbled up.

Here they are...

I met Beyonce before she was a wife, before she was a mother, and before she was Beyonce. She was in Destiny's Child and they seemed to be everywhere.

The first time we talked was in the bowels of an arena somewhere. They were to perform that night. I went to the dressing room with my producer and crew and sitting at the door was her father, Matthew Knowles. I congratulated him on guarding the gate and I told him he was a good father.

When Beyonce and I talked she couldn't have been nicer, so bubbly, so real. The young ladies in Destiny's Child were great and eloquent as well. There was a rumor going around that she and a rapper were an item. We know now it was her husband Jay Z. But then the rumor was it was Eminem. I asked her about it and she smiled and said there was no truth to that.

Wrong rapper.

Magic Johnson

First of all when you stand next to a guy who is six eight you realize just how tall that is. I can't imagine going my whole life as the tallest person in every room, I bet he can.

When I was younger, before ESPN, you rarely saw basketball outside your local teams. I'd heard about this kid from Michigan State and when March Madness announced he was going to be on I plopped down in front of the television and watched.

What I saw was this, a player who only scored four points and dominated the entire game. Players that tall were centers, he was a guard, and Magic changed the game as we knew it.

He was that good.

You've heard that when he smiles, Magic lights up the whole room, he does. Also when he talks to you, he looks you right in the eyes and makes you feel like you are the only person in that room.

I have a friend, Mohsen, who believes Magic is the GOAT, the greatest of all time.

Hard to argue with that.

I covered three Winter Olympics, this is from the second one, Lillehammer, Norway. The land of snow, the land of ice, and the land of reindeer.

I'd heard of them forever, thanks to Santa and Rudolph, but I thought they were imaginary, not real.

They're real alright.

In person they're smaller than you would think but they're strong and fast, which I learned the hard way.

On national television one took off with me on a sled. Well, the sled tipped over and I fell off into the snow. It was a reindeer wipeout. Can you say embarrassing? I think you can.

What you see is a confident Mark. A happy Mark. A this is kinda nice Mark.

That reindeer changed all that.

I limped for almost six months.


#MarkMcEwen
Subscribe to my blog: Mark McEwen's World
Follow me on twitter: @mcewenmark
Like my page on facebook: www.facebook.com/markmcewensworld
And also visit my website: www.markmcewen.com