Morning Look: Bearded Gilbert

(Photo courtesy Eric Young)

I always sort of figured that news of Gilbert’s next destination, if not broken on his blog, will be broken by some random Internet type who runs into Zero holding court in an Filipino sandwich shop, or playing shuffleboard in Miami, or sitting by himself in a Tysons Corner P.F. Chang’s.

Well, my prediction came close on Thursday night. Longtime Bog reader Eric Young was wandering out of the Tysons P.F. Chang’s, when he saw a man he believed to be former Redskin and WaPo.com contributor Ken Harvey sitting with a large group. Eric was getting ready to tell his girlfriend, Karin, about this D.C. sports celebrity sighting when he noticed something else:

This tall, bearded guy sitting in a booth by the door, surrounded by plates, all by himself. No one was even looking at him or taking notice. As I went by, something in me clicked and I realized: it was Gilbert! It being draft night, I figured he was probably at home playing Halo between picks 18 and 47, or off doing some other completely unrelated, random activity like learning how to ride a unicycle. But, no, there he was.

Whole Foods, P.F. Chang’s and the Cheesecake Factory: Gilbert’s sources of sustenance and future sponsorship deals. Eric, it goes without saying, did what any of you would do; approach Zero, get the handshake, make small talk, ask the most important athlete in D.C. whether he plans on staying here for the foreseeable future once free agency begins, etc. (”He sheepishly smiled and shrugged his shoulders,” Eric reported, which, frankly, is not the response I’d be looking for.) As for Eric, he seems to have blacked out during the experience, although luckily Karin was there to capture the image of bearded Gil.

“I don’t remember what exactly I said,” Eric wrote, “but it was some combination of:

* I’m your biggest fan (original);
* I thought about MySpace’ing you (seriously, what?); and, the kicker,
* I’ve got your shoes (I hate myself).”

All in all, a great story, a great e-mail and a great beard that could rival Baron Davis’s with enough patience and care. Also, I look forward to some Filipino sandwich shop correspondent breaking the next bit of Gilbert contract news. Or at least telling us that he’s sporting a ponytail and a Fu Man Chu.

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