I've never met G-Man, but been listening to him since I was 14 when the KINGS first arrived in town. The old Dave Grosby days.
I do follow G-Man on Twitter and he often takes time to acknowledge and like my tweets/replies. I don't find that to be all that common either. He definitely strikes me as you say.
You need to meet G-Man at some point soon. He's one of the nicest people that I have met in my entire life. Very humble and super cool.
Tangentially, I found local beat writers Joe Davidson and and the late great Marty McNeal to be very down-to-earth and cool too. I was granted access to the KINGS practice facility for media days back when the KINGS faced the Mavs during the 2004 playoffs. Both those guys took time to help me out, as I was new to the process. And Marty actually agreed to do an interview with me that I still have recorded but never actually wrote up and published.
Joe Davidson is an excellent writer and reporter. A pro's pro. Marty McNeal is hilarious. He keeps it real with you. No sugar coating anything from him. That's cool that they both took the time to help you out and answer any questions you had.
Marty once followed me on Twitter because I tweeted a picture of us with Webber from media day so long ago. Marty said he loved that picture of himself and he followed me.
I'll throw in Gregg Bell and Mark Kreidler as two more professional writers and reporters. They do awesome work and I was able to do a job shadow with Gregg for an A's vs Giants game. He also allowed an opportunity for a friend to join me as we were given press passes, introduced to others, sat in the press box, had some lunch (hot dog, popcorn and soda) and went into both locker rooms. It was an experience I will never forget but what Mark told me was the best advice and that was if this sports writing gig became a job to me and took the fun out of being a fan then it was time to get out and move on. I took his advice to heart and half way through my internship with KHTK I knew this was not the correct career path for me. I earned my second bachelor's in journalism but decided to try out a career in law enforcement but was also taking prerequisites in graduate school. I decided to continue with graduate school and left the police academy.
I'm much happier now as my career allows me the freedom to do my work, I'm a professional, make a positive difference in so many lives, give back to the community, and live my best life.
Sam Amick is another pro's pro, an awesome writer and reporter and dude has so many sources. In the past I have asked him on a few occasions to speak to college students and that was so cool of him to do that.
Interesting side note was meeting Al Michaels and Doc Rivers who were covering the game, and Mark Cuban who was standing next to me fiddling with his new smartphone (which I actually helped him out with) during the Mavs practice in the actual Arena. Marty Mac walked me in with him past security, as I don't think I was actually supposed to go in there.
Very cool and memorable time.
That's hilarious Marty got you in. That's the kind of street cred he has. Or is that arena cred? Either way good on him for helping you along the way.
That's how life should be. Helping each other and being kind to one another.