Meet The Cleveland Man Who Inherited Mike Brown's Cell Phone Number

I've always wondered how cell phone companies handle this sort of thing. When people change their phone numbers... Do the phone companies just recycle old numbers? Like, if I end my service with AT&T this afternoon, will some random dude have my cell phone number by tomorrow morning?

I'm sure there are rational ways to answer this question, but it's far easier to leave it open-ended and wonder. What if you inherited a prostitute's cell phone? Or a drug dealer, fielding calls at all hours of the night? Or, say, a moderately-famous NBA coach, the very day he was fired from his high-profile job, prompting hundreds of phone calls and interview requests?

Oh, wait. That last one happened. To a man named Rajesh Kumar. (Yes, Kumar. Really.)

From Chris Tomasson and AOL Fanhouse:

"I have gotten over 150 phone calls since (Monday),'' Kumar said Tuesday afternoon in an interview with FanHouse from New York. "I took a nap and I woke up and I had 37 voice mail messages. I thought Mike Brown must have lost a big match.''

Pardon Kumar's terminology.

"I'm a fan of cricket,'' said Kumar, who later was able to find out Brown's firing was the reason for all the commotion. "It's a very exciting sport.''

"I only get one or two phone calls a day,'' Kumar said of the possibility of missing a message actually intended for him. "If it's important, they'll call back.''

But Kumar did say he got a call asking for Brown from somebody identified as being from the office of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The call ended after Kumar said it no longer is Brown's number.

Damn. One day you're an anonymous Indian man bemoaning the lack of cricket in Cleveland-area sports bars, and the next day, you're blowing off the Mayor of New York City... Crazy world, huh?