In the early ‘80s, my parents got me a subscription to a magazine called Basketball Digest. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread (side note: if bread never became sliced, what would be the thing we compare something really great to?)

As a basketball lover, I anxiously awaited its arrival each month. One month, they put all the addresses in of the various basketball teams. I was 12-years-old, and decided I’d write fan letters asking for autographs. Even at that young age, I knew it would be pointless to send letters to Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson (sorry, Donald…but I’m a huge fan). Yet I didn’t want to send letters to the players on the bench. So, I picked players that were all-stars, but not the biggest names. Players I always liked. I had about a 75% success rate, and I attribute that to my love of typing long letters, where I gushed over their style of play and why I was a fan.

I still have the autographed slips of paper (I didn’t think to send index cards or 8x10s), and many on basketball cards. Kelly Tripucka sent back a beautiful signature. George Gervin did as well, including his number and nickname (Ice Man). Many others wrote back, thanking me for a nice letter. One of the rare times I didn’t get one back I remember rather well. It was from rebounding stud Michael Cage. He was playing with the Seattle Super Sonics. And, he had played at San Diego State University. Since I was born and raised there, I thought he’d be glad to send something back to a hometown fan. I even had a summer basketball league that was at a gym in Balboa Park (one of the bigger tourist attractions in SD), and he showed up. We played a game with him there, but I was afraid to ask for a signature at that time. I felt like we were peers on the court at that moment…hahaha. I said all this in the letter, and got back nothing. I vowed that if I ever saw his black Mercedes with dark tinted windows in that Municipal Gym parking lot again, I'd leave an angry note for him.

Anyway, I thought of those childhood memories when I heard about a forward with two last names – Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors. On his Facebook page recently, he said he was going to create some rules for autograph collectors. He stated that they’d be free, but “Since I get so many requests for autographs, I bought a P.O. box for all of you to send items for me to sign during the offseason. Enclose a signed, handwritten letter stating why you want the item signed…you must enclose a picture of you with the item and you must enclose return envelope and postage. One item per person please.”

He added that he’ll only sign when his schedule permits, and that “My time is limited because of daily workouts, apperances, travel, ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘House of Cards’ and video games. Items will be sent back as soon as possible. So please be patient with me.”

Ya gotta love a guy that's got a great sense of humor. Also somebody that realizes there are fans out there, and there are ways to week out the eBay autograph dealers, and take care of the fans without trying to charge them outrages prices on a website.

Now…if more celebrities would take this approach, the world (for autograph collectors) would be a better place!