June 30 (UPI) -- An Illinois with a similar phone number to NBA player Jimmy Butler was flooded with phone calls meant for the Minnesota Timberwolves star.
Michael Byrne of Evanston was inundated with misguided calls after Butler, who formerly played for the Chicago Bulls, encouraged critics to contact him at his personal phone number during a press conference on Thursday.
"At first I heard my phone going off a bunch. When I checked it, I already had 37 missed calls," Byrne said. "I got calls from Arkansas, Florida, New York City and all over the country. I got voice mails and text messages all saying how much they supported me."
Byrne isn't an NBA fan, so he was forced to do some research to decipher the meaning of the 100 voicemails and more than 150 text messages of support he had received.
"I don't follow sports, so I didn't know who Jimmy Butler was," he said. "I had to Google his name, and then I saw that he had shared his number."
Byrne added that the majority of the calls and texts meant for Butler were positive, offering praise and inviting him out for activities.
"One guy wanted to play darts and have a drink together," he said. "If I'm ever in Minneapolis, I guess I have a lot of offers."
While somewhat amusing, Byrne said he is between jobs and the massive surge of calls and texts has made it difficult for him to receive calls from potential employers.
"I can't ignore the phone because I have to leave the phone open if a job calls," he said. "I used to work in DVD and CD replication for student films and office films, so I'm still having to check my phone to see if I get any leads for that."
Byrne said he attempted to reach out to Butler, but like many fans was unable to reach the NBA star.
"I would just tell him that his fans need to dial more carefully," he said.
