"Call me 'Smoke.'"

Joe Frazier is the Man.

OK, I've usually tried to avoid writing about work for a plethora of reasons... but I'm going to have to make an exception today.  Boxing Legend Joe Frazier came on Morning Joe this morning to promote his new documentary "Thrilla in Manila," which premieres on HBO on April 11.  It chronicles Frazier and Ali's third epic 15 round fight, famously known as the "Thrilla in Manila."  And guess who got to meet him???  You're like, 'WTF Mike, there's a picture right above this of you with Joe and his son Marvis..."

Let me just say this:  It. Was. AWESOME!!!!  I'll break it down for you...

So Joe, his current manager/agent, his son, and his old boxing manager come out of the elevator to a waiting and anxious Mikechop.  I introduce myself and shake everyone's hand, and when I get to Leslie (his old manager), he says, "My name's 'Les,' but you can call me 'Twinkletoes.'"  You probably had to be there for this one, but I definitely cracked up as he was on crutches with a huge knee brace on (apparently he fell the previous day/night and hurt his leg--not funny, but still funny that he could joke about it), and also, he was in his late 60's or 70's and the thought of this grizzled old boxing veteran manager calling himself "Twinkletoes" at 8:00 in the morning was almost too much to handle.

Joe, as you can tell from the picture, was pretty much decked out in a sick suit, black shirt and matching cowboy hat that you can only pull off if: a.) you were once the heavyweight champion of the world  b.) you took down the butterfly  c.) you wear a gold chain with the word "Smoke" hanging from it (amazing).  He also had a cane as his walking was pretty hampered, but he rocked it so hard.  (On a sidenote, when I walked them out to the elevators at the end, Joe picked up his cane for a moment and nimbly ran for about 10 feet to the elevator, which blew my mind and prompted me to remark, "Dang Smoke, you're ready to get in the ring later today!"  I felt really cool when I said this (seriously), so you can all hold back your cheap one-liners about me here...

So I get them all to the Green Room, and ask if anyone wants anything, etc.  When I come back with water, I say to Joe, "Hey Mr. Frazier I have to say--" at which point he cuts me off and says, "Call me 'Smoke'" and cracks a huge grin.  I nearly lost it.  I mean, how sick is that?!?!  I say, "OK Smoke, well I have to say I'm a huge fan of yours and I'm sure you hear that all the time, but I just wanted to tell you what a pleasure it is to meet you and my grandpa is a huge boxing fan and he wouldn't believe that I got to meet you."  He was incredibly nice and said thank you so much.  After I walked out of the room, his son Marvis (who was also a boxer) came out to catch me, handed me a signed little wallet sized picture of Joe and said, "Joe wanted you to have this."  AHHH!!!  So cool.

So then he did his segment smoothly and I have to say my favorite part came before the actual segment when he was talking to Courtney Hazlett and asked her if she had gotten a facelift.  Also up there would have to be his reaction when he met Mika...  Priceless.

As I walked them all out to the elevator I got up the courage to ask for a picture, and I couldn't be happier with how it came out.  It was absolutely incredible to meet my favorite boxer of all time and to see how nice a man he is.  This was surely a day I will never forget.  MikeCHOP!!!!