Ndudi44Ebi
Bench Warmer
Well finally my NBA season is here and it's back to tracking down players for autographs!! I went to the Spurs @ Pacers game (although played at Indiana University's Assembly Hall) and didn't have much success in terms of autographs. The security was horrible pregame and I didn't bother staying after for the players, especially since I had several other people with me this time including my grandma. I did get 3 IU men's basketball players to sign and I didn't bother hunting down any others there as most of them, considering IU's recent troubles that have taken away good recruits, are players you will never hear of again in a couple of years from now. I did get one of IU's top players though in Maurice Creek (I believe was ranked #56 in the country by Rivals.com). Here's the 3 autographs I got at the Pacers/Spurs @ IU game:
Kory Barnett, Bobby Capobianco, and Maurice Creek all on index cards.
I also got this TTM yesterday, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it, too:
Jason Terry TTM auto'ed card plus a business card-sized ad to remind me to vote him into the NBA All-Star Game
.
And now for the Pacers Fan Jam. As soon as everybody was let in, autograph sessions with former Pacers players, the TV crew, a couple of Fever players, etc started and I got everybody that I wanted:
Chris Denari (TV) and Quinn Buckner (TV, former IU player)
Tully Bevilaqua, Fever (WNBA) player (I got this from a local shoe store in Indy advertising a future signing of hers that I was not able to make it for...but I still wound up getting her).
Jessica Davenport, Fever (WNBA) player on a piece of photo paper
Bill "Fig" Newton (former Pacers player)
Bobby "Slick" Leonard (Radio, former Pacers coaching great), Mark Boyle (Radio), Chris Denari (TV), Bill "Fig" Newton (former Pacer), and Stacy Paetz (TV) autos all on a piece of photo paper
I also got a Quinn Buckner card signed as well as some Austin Croshere autographs, which are below mixed in with the Pacers players autographs.
Now during the activities on the court (you can check out the NBA.com video...Hansbrough and Price are horrible signers lol), my mom and I were chosen to participate in an on-court activity, which turned out to be Simon Says with other fans and the Pacers players. It was cool to be a few feet away from all the Pacers players standing looking right at you in the face (especially having Roy Hibbert directly across from you, a foot and then some taller than you lol). But Granger came over and my mom called out to him and he came and stood by her and he shook hands with her and me and we got to talk to him a little bit. Then Tyler Hansbrough was put on our side and my mom called out to him too and he stood between my mom and me. We got a handshake from him and I got to talk to Tyler for a long time. He was really really cool then, but as you'll see below that sure did change lol.
And now onto the autographs from the Pacers players...I'll save the first table I went to for last, so here's the others players and notes about them as you all like to hear from me lol. I didn't get Foster, Solomon Jones, Granger, or Luther Head to sign as I ran out of time + Foster wasn't there because of an injury that he's getting looked at by a doctor in (I think) Boston right now. And just so everybody knows, even though some players were 1 per, I also had my mom and sister with me helping out with getting other things signed, so that's why I have multiples of "1 per" players in case you're wondering. And the security there this year wouldn't allow people to take pictures with the players, but I still loaded up with 86 total autographs here at this event.
Austin Croshere was really really nice as well as Tully Bevilaqua (above...Tully is actually one of the nicest sports players I've ever met)...A.J. Price is real cool, too. T.J. Ford was doing just 1 per and leaned over to A.J. who was signing everything and said "Man you're doing them all?!?!?!" and A.J. said "Yup I sure am!!" lol...T.J. can definitely be a jerk, but I'm glad that didn't stop A.J. from signing multiples.
T.J. Ford: Was asking each person which 1 you wanted him to sign if you had multiple things laid out for him, but at least I got the one card I REALLY wanted him on (the SPA card in Pacers uni). Oh, I also asked him if he could switch to a blue pen for the 1 card I laid out for him and he got this FML look on his face LOL. I'm surprised he took the pen after that, though. He did see a 05-06 Finest base card of mine and he said "NIIIICCCCEEEEE" but he said I could keep it as it was my card anyway when I offered it to him to keep.
Travis Diener: Was probably the coolest to the fans that I've seen him...he didn't mind doing a card and the Pacers game program...he didn't see the card, so I asked him and he said "Sure I can sign it, too." He was at the first table with Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, and Earl Watson. This Pacers employee that oversees signings that yells "1 per!!!!!!" was watching over the players, mainly Tyler which you'll hear about below lol.
Mike Dunleavy and Roy Hibbert: Both were nice as usual, especially Roy...The more you talk to Mike the happier he gets lol. By the time I got to this table, the security was telling them just 1 per, so I'm not sure if they did multiples or not at all at this event.
Josh McRoberts: Not all that talkative, and I was surprised he only did 1 per, especially since the maximum amount of cards I had was just 2 per person (my mom, sister, and me).
Brandon Rush: Even nicer than last year...I forgot about having cards to give out to the players to keep, but I remembered when I got to Brandon and Troy (at the same table). Rush was surprised by the cards and was really appreciative. Troy was surprised by the cards, too. I'm not sure if the cards had anything to do with it, but Brandon signed everything we had!
I finished this card off finally...Mario has already signed this:
Troy Murphy: Real nice as always with the fans...and as always he signed everything! I'm glad to see that even after his huge season this past year, his signing habits haven't changed.
And now for that first table I went to featuring Diener (already above), Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, and Earl Watson.
Dahntay Jones: Talked to him while he was walking to the practice court, which is where these guys were signing at. He's pretty shy and not all that talkative, which I don't understand after all the talking he does on the court to Kobe lol. Didn't have a problem with signings lots of cards, though.
Earl Watson: Sort of quiet, but not afraid to talk to people. I told him congratulations on his newborn child (he's married to Claire from the sitcom "My Wife and Kids"), and he told me "Thanks a lot." From what I hear, he's usually just 1 per, but I'm not sure if it had anything to do with my comment, but he signed everything we had.
And now to Tyler Hansbrough...
The Pacers employee that oversees some of the signings throughout the year was asking everybody over and over who had cards "Do you have any Panini cards?? Panini cards only! Panini! Panini!!! Only Panini!" It was so annoying...It is funny because Travis Diener was sitting next to him shaking his head in disbelief saying it was BS and who cares, and he didn't understand why only a certain brand of cards lol. It was funny seeing Travis's emotions towards the whole ordeal lol. He did switch pens for me though, but was 1 per. As he can only do Panini cards, I only got 2 items (below) signed and my 2 Topps brand cards came home unsigned lol. My mom asked him if she could take a picture of him (again, not with him) and he hesitated, but said sure...but he has this horrible face on him while he's signing autographs...hmm I wonder why lol. If you didn't know, Hansbrough was a very hard to get college player in terms of getting autographs from players. Anyway, here's what I came away with from "Psycho T"
I almost didn't bring the ESPN magazine article and I almost just threw it away, but I'm glad I didn't as it turned out I really needed it or I would have just got 1 autograph from Tyler, but it came out really good! The magazine is just awesome as well.
Well there's my experience from this event. My next game to go to is Celtics @ Pacers in mid-November. Please leave any comments you may have and sorry for the long read!! Thanks!!!!
Kory Barnett, Bobby Capobianco, and Maurice Creek all on index cards.
I also got this TTM yesterday, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it, too:
Jason Terry TTM auto'ed card plus a business card-sized ad to remind me to vote him into the NBA All-Star Game
.And now for the Pacers Fan Jam. As soon as everybody was let in, autograph sessions with former Pacers players, the TV crew, a couple of Fever players, etc started and I got everybody that I wanted:
Chris Denari (TV) and Quinn Buckner (TV, former IU player)
Tully Bevilaqua, Fever (WNBA) player (I got this from a local shoe store in Indy advertising a future signing of hers that I was not able to make it for...but I still wound up getting her
).
Jessica Davenport, Fever (WNBA) player on a piece of photo paper
Bill "Fig" Newton (former Pacers player)
Bobby "Slick" Leonard (Radio, former Pacers coaching great), Mark Boyle (Radio), Chris Denari (TV), Bill "Fig" Newton (former Pacer), and Stacy Paetz (TV) autos all on a piece of photo paper
I also got a Quinn Buckner card signed as well as some Austin Croshere autographs, which are below mixed in with the Pacers players autographs.
Now during the activities on the court (you can check out the NBA.com video...Hansbrough and Price are horrible signers lol), my mom and I were chosen to participate in an on-court activity, which turned out to be Simon Says with other fans and the Pacers players. It was cool to be a few feet away from all the Pacers players standing looking right at you in the face (especially having Roy Hibbert directly across from you, a foot and then some taller than you lol). But Granger came over and my mom called out to him and he came and stood by her and he shook hands with her and me and we got to talk to him a little bit. Then Tyler Hansbrough was put on our side and my mom called out to him too and he stood between my mom and me. We got a handshake from him and I got to talk to Tyler for a long time. He was really really cool then, but as you'll see below that sure did change lol.
And now onto the autographs from the Pacers players...I'll save the first table I went to for last, so here's the others players and notes about them as you all like to hear from me lol. I didn't get Foster, Solomon Jones, Granger, or Luther Head to sign as I ran out of time + Foster wasn't there because of an injury that he's getting looked at by a doctor in (I think) Boston right now. And just so everybody knows, even though some players were 1 per, I also had my mom and sister with me helping out with getting other things signed, so that's why I have multiples of "1 per" players in case you're wondering. And the security there this year wouldn't allow people to take pictures with the players, but I still loaded up with 86 total autographs here at this event.
Austin Croshere was really really nice as well as Tully Bevilaqua (above...Tully is actually one of the nicest sports players I've ever met)...A.J. Price is real cool, too. T.J. Ford was doing just 1 per and leaned over to A.J. who was signing everything and said "Man you're doing them all?!?!?!" and A.J. said "Yup I sure am!!" lol...T.J. can definitely be a jerk, but I'm glad that didn't stop A.J. from signing multiples.
T.J. Ford: Was asking each person which 1 you wanted him to sign if you had multiple things laid out for him, but at least I got the one card I REALLY wanted him on (the SPA card in Pacers uni). Oh, I also asked him if he could switch to a blue pen for the 1 card I laid out for him and he got this FML look on his face LOL. I'm surprised he took the pen after that, though. He did see a 05-06 Finest base card of mine and he said "NIIIICCCCEEEEE" but he said I could keep it as it was my card anyway when I offered it to him to keep.
Travis Diener: Was probably the coolest to the fans that I've seen him...he didn't mind doing a card and the Pacers game program...he didn't see the card, so I asked him and he said "Sure I can sign it, too." He was at the first table with Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, and Earl Watson. This Pacers employee that oversees signings that yells "1 per!!!!!!" was watching over the players, mainly Tyler which you'll hear about below lol.
Mike Dunleavy and Roy Hibbert: Both were nice as usual, especially Roy...The more you talk to Mike the happier he gets lol. By the time I got to this table, the security was telling them just 1 per, so I'm not sure if they did multiples or not at all at this event.
Josh McRoberts: Not all that talkative, and I was surprised he only did 1 per, especially since the maximum amount of cards I had was just 2 per person (my mom, sister, and me).
Brandon Rush: Even nicer than last year...I forgot about having cards to give out to the players to keep, but I remembered when I got to Brandon and Troy (at the same table). Rush was surprised by the cards and was really appreciative. Troy was surprised by the cards, too. I'm not sure if the cards had anything to do with it, but Brandon signed everything we had!
I finished this card off finally...Mario has already signed this:
Troy Murphy: Real nice as always with the fans...and as always he signed everything!
I'm glad to see that even after his huge season this past year, his signing habits haven't changed.
And now for that first table I went to featuring Diener (already above), Hansbrough, Dahntay Jones, and Earl Watson.
Dahntay Jones: Talked to him while he was walking to the practice court, which is where these guys were signing at. He's pretty shy and not all that talkative, which I don't understand after all the talking he does on the court to Kobe lol.
Didn't have a problem with signings lots of cards, though.
Earl Watson: Sort of quiet, but not afraid to talk to people. I told him congratulations on his newborn child (he's married to Claire from the sitcom "My Wife and Kids"), and he told me "Thanks a lot." From what I hear, he's usually just 1 per, but I'm not sure if it had anything to do with my comment, but he signed everything we had.
And now to Tyler Hansbrough...
The Pacers employee that oversees some of the signings throughout the year was asking everybody over and over who had cards "Do you have any Panini cards?? Panini cards only! Panini! Panini!!! Only Panini!" It was so annoying...It is funny because Travis Diener was sitting next to him shaking his head in disbelief saying it was BS and who cares, and he didn't understand why only a certain brand of cards lol. It was funny seeing Travis's emotions towards the whole ordeal lol. He did switch pens for me though, but was 1 per. As he can only do Panini cards, I only got 2 items (below) signed and my 2 Topps brand cards came home unsigned lol. My mom asked him if she could take a picture of him (again, not with him) and he hesitated, but said sure...but he has this horrible face on him while he's signing autographs...hmm I wonder why lol. If you didn't know, Hansbrough was a very hard to get college player in terms of getting autographs from players. Anyway, here's what I came away with from "Psycho T"
I almost didn't bring the ESPN magazine article and I almost just threw it away, but I'm glad I didn't as it turned out I really needed it or I would have just got 1 autograph from Tyler, but it came out really good! The magazine is just awesome as well.
Well there's my experience from this event. My next game to go to is Celtics @ Pacers in mid-November. Please leave any comments you may have and sorry for the long read!! Thanks!!!!
