Catching up with John Danks
So I find myself standing across the blackjack table from a dude that looks exactly like John Danks. I show my friends and they agree that yup, that guy looks like the guy in the picture on my phone. Buuuuuuuut I live in Grand Forks, North Dakota so there’s no chance it’s John Danks.
Nobody is sitting next to this doppelgänger so I pulled up and played a few hands – I had been drinking for a bit so I’m not going to pretend I was cool – I just flat out asked him. Turns out John Danks is a closet UND Fighting Hawks, formerly the Fighting Sioux, hockey fan. We had both just been at the game.
John is currently living in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife (country music singer Ashley Monroe) and 2.5 year old son.
I asked him what he is keeping busy with and he said he’s “Mr Mom”. He also sits just below those crazy sons of bitches on the Titans OLine that drink beer out of catfish at the Preds games. He told me at least 3 times that he couldn’t throw a baseball through the tv hanging about the table. I could tell that definitely still bothered him and didn’t pry any further.
I live in Twins territory so we talked about game 163 and how much he loved Jim Thome. We also talked Mark Buehrle and Chris Sale. He was big fans of both – mentioned they were the only teammates that came to his wedding. We also relived the jersey incident. He told all of his and my friends the story briefly and we all laughed about it. Danks said they fined him a stupid low amount that was the cost of the jerseys and that Sale had told everyone multiple times he couldn’t wear that on the mound for a real game – made suggestions for some alternative times they could wear them that didn’t go anywhere. Sale was excited to get out in the trade. Danks also loves Coop and had just talked to him the week before. I asked about Hahn and Kenny. He was very respectful and appreciated Hahn’s professionalism. Said he was always good talking contracts. As for Kenny he said, “Kenny is Kenny”. He was not a fan but wouldn’t say anything negative. He said Jordan is back home selling real estate and loving it. Their family are big UT fans. His dad was also there – met him as well.
I was having a blast and offered to buy him a beer – he said hell no and said he would get me one. I figured there was no chance he was coming back but he did and came back 20 minutes later with my coors light. He was really down to earth and a blast to hang out with. Really nice guy – went out of his way to talk to my wife who was having fun but not loving life as much as I was. Nobody else recognized him which he seemed to be good with, but he also didn’t mind that I did and was picking his brain.
Really fun and really random evening.
This is a cool story! Glad to hear he doesn’t seem TOO bitter about how things ended. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing! He was fun to root for. Game 163 is unforgettable.
Great story! Thanks for sharing
Very cool! I’m from a *very* small town—population 2,000—in Western Kentucky, but it’s actually where John’s Dad grew up and played basketball (and was very good, I’m told, but that was before my time). John’s cousin (who is my age) and grandfather were still in area, so I heard all about John (and Jordan) before they were in the bigs. So I was thrilled when John came over from the Rangers.
One offseason, they were back in the area visiting family, and my friend who worked at the local gym tipped me off to them being there playing basketball and racquetball. I didn’t have quite the experience you did, but I did get to talk to them for a bit and they were both the nicest guys. It’s a lot easier to root for guys like that.
Awesome story. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us!
It’s wonderful when you find out the players you root for are just good, friendly people. Thanks for sharing with us.
I love this! Thanks so much for sharing!
Great story. Love hearing stuff like this. Reminds me of a similar experience I had running into Konerko at a bar in ’03. He could not have been nicer, telling stories over a few beers.
163 is and may forever be the best damn game I’ve ever and will ever attend. John Danks can do no wrong in my eyes, but hearing this account just makes him twice as great. I loved this story! Thank you for sharing.
Did you find out how he ended up following UND hockey?
Yes – it’s a small world. There is a country music duo(Tigirlily) from a small town in ND. Jared is married to one of them. John and Jared met through their wives music endeavors and got to be friends. Coincidently, a buddy I lived with in college for a summer is a classmate of Jared’s brother and one my brother’s friend’s mother used to babysit Jared. Apparently Danks came up last year for a weekend series and has made it into an annual event since he had so much fun.