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Permalink Reply by DB on October 2, 2012 at 5:08pm

One of the kids was out at a lounge near Gillette stadium.  Drew Bledsoe & Troy Brown were there but when they asked if they could get their autographs the "bouncers" and "handles" said no, "they are having a private outting and need to be left alone".

Problem is - when someone sees one getting one it opens up the flood gates.

I may have commented on this... Was coming back from FSDO review in Whicita KS and on the flight was one of McMahons WWE Traveling Teams.  In the 1st Class Section was King Kong BUndy and the Ultimate Warrior with the rest of them back in the cabin.  Jimmy Valentine was right next to me.  

So this young kid maybe 11 or 12 goes running up to the 1st class with book in hand.  5 minutes later he's walking back in near tears.  Across from us was Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri who many know as the Iron Sheik.  Now the Sheik is cast as a notorious bad guy.  He watched the kid go by then gets out of his seat goes into his overhead bin and pulls a WWE promotional item out and goes toward the back of the plane.  A few seconds late this kid and the Sheik walk toward the 1st class section.  A few minutes later this kid is running down the aisle going "mummy, mummy, they signed it for me".

But speaking of the replacement referees I was really impressed with the one they got from the lingerie league.  Incidently, Troy Brown had just been elected by the Fans to the Patriots Hall of Fame with the presentation the next day.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on October 2, 2012 at 7:27pm

Not a football story but a baseball one I saw that I thought was funny.

I was at a Diamondbacks game when Randy Johnson came out. In my experience Randy was a very hard signer and usually not very pleasant. He was a big name and always had crowds trying to get him. This day he seemed like he was in a good mood and actually signed for some kids above the dugout. He would point at them and have them toss him whatever they had and he signed it and tossed it back.

There was a guy that kept calling his name and almost begging him to sign. Randy was ignoring him. You could tell he was almost done signing. The guy kept getting louder and finally tossed his ball out there to Randy. He gave the guy a stare like he does. He picked up the ball, ran out and handed it to the coach who was tossing batting practice. The coach had no idea where the ball came from but pitched it to Chad Tracy who smacked it into the outfield. I dont remember who the outfielder was who caught it but the ball got thrown back in and tossed in a batting practice bucket. All happened in about a minute. Was so funny. I laughed about it the whole game.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on October 2, 2012 at 8:57pm

Yeah, as a huge Packers fan, I was really hoping that Rodgers would be better at autographs than his ass of a predecessor Favre.  He's been tough, since even before the SB 45 win.  I remember trying to find an authentic autograph anywhere in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.  Almost everything on ebay was fake, since you could probably count the number of public/private signings he'd done on one hand.

I haven't tried to do the Lambeau training camp thing for years, but I remember that being a blast of a time.  It was so cool to be getting all those larger than life players sigs, even the ones who were a few days away from being cut :)

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 3, 2012 at 3:01am

they should both take a page out of Bart Starr's playbook.  One of the nicest people you can meet at shows especially those attendees who remember the NFL/AFL days.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on October 3, 2012 at 5:51am

Absolutely.  I still have to meet Starr.  Unfortunately, he's charging a tad bit more that the $35 he charged in the 90's .. . .

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Permalink Reply by DB on October 3, 2012 at 6:01am

They all are...from them days they are probably making more than they did in salary.  When I was a Kid I was a big fan of the Packers & the Giants hated the cowboys & browns.  The AFL was for sissies in 1960...   how that has changed since SB3.

If you ever get a chance to meet Magic Johnson (pricey) as he is another amicable individual.

I was at a Tri-Star show and took a break to catch some fresh air.  Was sitting where the limos and private cars park and one of the limo drivers was for Mike Schmidt (I may have to go back and confirm this).  So we strike up a conversation as Schmidt is in signing for the $$ 'er fans and he was wondering if it would be ok for him to have him sign a ball he had.  I didn't think it would be a problem.

So out comes Schmidt getting ready to take off and a girl (maybe 15 - 16) comes running his way with a ball and politely asks for his signature.  Since we are both within hearing distance he says, "now that just wouldn't be fair now, would it" and rolls up the window.  Public paid Signing or no signing that is what I call HOF classless.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on October 3, 2012 at 6:48am

I've heard that Schmidt is quite surly and not at all pleasant.  I'll pass on meeting him.  Pete Rose was just about my grouch threshold.

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Permalink Reply by Steel on October 3, 2012 at 5:47am

Back in the early/mid 90's I was out to dinner with my parents when we were seated in a booth next to Cal Ripken and his family.  Once I realized he was there, I left and went to my house to get a baseball (I lived only 5 minutes away).  Upon returning, my Dad said that several people were turned down for autographs while I was gone, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyways.  So I waited til they were done eating and politely asked.  He explained that he has a deal with his wife that while they are out as a family, he wouldn't sign any autographs.  I was disappointed, but he was courteous about it.  So I sat back down with my parents.  A minute later he turned back around just to apologize again and proceeded to talk to us for about 10 minutes.  He was very polite and sincere.  So even though I didn't get an autograph I got a very pleasant memory of my favorite player growing up.  I understand that athletes get tired of dealing with things like this, It just seems that there is a right and wrong way to turn people down.

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