Amazing what the mind can conjure up while running on a treadmill at 5 a.m.
Especially when the wit and wisdom of ESPN West Coast sports anchors Stan Verrett and Neil Everett are filling your head with fascinating facts and witty one-liners each morning.
So as 55-year-old Doug Peters and his 30-year-old nephew Zack Peters were completing their daily pre-dawn workout at The Rock fitness center in Ringgold, Ga., a few months ago, Zack had a novel idea.
ESPN logo."Wouldn't it be great," he said to his uncle, "if we could convince Stan and Neil to have a beer with us?"
Said Doug: "We thought they were funny and very clever, the best 'SportsCenter' of all. So Zack decided to reach out to them through social media."
What happened next shows why being 30 and savvy to the ways of the Internet age isn't always overrated.
"I bought a domain name through GoDaddy.com," Zack explained. "We called it 'abeerwithstanandneil.com.'"
The ploy worked. Perhaps it was the website's intro, which began: "Welcome to our campaign to meet Stan Verrett and Neil Everett. Good drinks, good times, and all for a good cause. Some people want to meet Tom Cruise and Beyonce. We just want to have a beer with our boys."
Or maybe it was the conditions they put forth, which included, in order:
1) Stan and Neil pick the date, time and place.
2) One hour.
3) First round is on us.
4) We will donate money to the charity of Stan and Neil's choice. ?
5) If you have to bring Kenny Mayne, that is fine. But he has to buy a round.
6) Stan must tell us the story about how he met (Baltimore Orioles infielder) Manny Machado at the ESPYs a few years ago.
7) Lastly, Neil must order me a shot of Jack Daniel's by saying, "Bartender ... JACK."
Amazingly, a couple of weeks before Christmas, Verrett responded to Zack through social media.
"We like this," he wrote. "Let's make this happen after the first of the year."
It was on. At least as long as Doug and Zack could make it to Los Angeles, which they did on Feb. 5, the day the Southern sports world sort of returned to normal following national signing day.
"We were originally supposed to fly out on Thursday, watch them do their show on Friday night, go out for a beer, then fly home Saturday," Doug said. "But Stan and Neil had to change the plan a little bit. We ended up watching them tape and go out for a beer the day we got there."
Added Zack: "I was working out at The Rock at 5:30 on Thursday morning and I finally got to bed about 5:30 (EST) on Friday morning. But it may have been the coolest thing I've ever done. Stan and Neil couldn't have been nicer or more generous with their time."
Indeed, with Doug bringing along his middle daughter, Rachel, and Zack arriving with his wife, Kristen, the quartet was treated to a tour of ESPN's Los Angeles studios before the West Coast version of "SportsCenter" began around 1:30 a.m. Eastern time.
"Stan actually met us at the reception desk," Doug said. "Such a gregarious guy. Then we got to see a segment with (former NBA player and ESPN analyst) Avery Johnson. Afterward, Johnson introduced himself to us, and when he left he called us by name. What a nice guy."
Verrett and Everett also gave the group a shout-out on the air, mentioning Chattanooga and Lynchburg Lemonade, a reference to Jack Daniel's.
"When we got there, Neil asked me where his Jack Daniel's was," Zack said. "They were just so cool."
When the show ended, their night got even cooler, the group retiring to a nearby watering hole to have that beer (or two, or three) with their boys.
"We'd been promised an hour," Doug said, "but they stayed for almost three hours. And the only reason it ended then was that we looked around and realized we were the last people in the place."
While there, Verrett told them the story behind his near-nightly line about Machado during baseball season, how they'd really met for the first time at the ESPYs and how Machado had called him "Mr. Verrett."
According to Doug, that's pretty much the whole reason why Verrett always says, "Manny Machado, good kid, nice kid, met him at the ESPYs," each time he does a Machado highlight.
They also learned why Everett, while reading the Top 10 plays of the day, often begins play No. 9 with, "She's a beauty, that No. 9."
"It's a shout-out to his wife," Doug said. "It's from the Tubes' big hit, 'She's a Beauty.'"
They additionally found out that Johnson and Verrett went to the same New Orleans high school (St. Augustine) and that Verrett and Everett have to be careful about which catch-phrases they use on the air, since some -- such as Michael Buffer's trademarked "Let's get ready to rumble" -- could cost the network thousands of dollars if mistakenly uttered.
And as they said goodbye, Everett told the group, "I'll grant you 'Friend of the Show" status. Any time you come back out, we'll do this again.'"
That was not all the Peters clan did during their 48-trip to the Left Coast. They took in the Santa Monica Pier. They made good on their charitable contribution to the Jimmy V Foundation. As a trade-off for Kristen putting up with ESPN, Zack took her to the Beverly Hills eatery owned by "Real Housewives of Bevery Hills" star Lisa Vanderpump: Villa Blanca.
Then it was back to Ringgold and the daily return to The Rock and its workout equipment.
"Stan and I have communicated a couple of times since we've been back," Zack said. "This was a one-time deal, but I'm sure our paths will cross again."
Added Doug: "Obviously, it's not as important as the birth of your children. But just to touch their world for a few minutes -- the only thing I can think of that could be better would be Jack Nicklaus calling me up and saying, 'I'll give you a lesson while we play 18.'"
Never say never. Last time we checked, Nicklaus had a Twitter account, and the domain "www.18holeswiththegoldenbear.com" was still available.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.