The Autograph Connection: Random Thoughts October 2002

Random Thoughts & Autograph Experiences
October 2002

I’ve been interested in knowing who all the college football coaches are in the country (you’ll know more about this in upcoming weeks) and one story really intrigued me: Coach Bobby Johnson of Vanderbilt. In his first year as head coach at Vandy, Coach Johnson has implemented a profanity ban. The violation of that rule is to do ten “up-downs” which is brutal to the arms of any player. Coach Johnson decided to implement the rule to help the players learn how to be gentlemen and to keep the practices and games conducive to families. Why can’t more coaches realize that this is a noble endeavor? With athletics being viewed as a “cash cow” these days, most coaches and administrators are looking at athletics not as a training ground for building communities which they should be. Instead, they focus on the prestige a player will give their school if they make it to the NFL or NBA. Remind me again: how many of those players actually make it to the highest level?

On a side note to the above rant, I just heard how one prominent college football program has a 7% graduation rate. 7%??? Holy cow.

Patriotism Out the Door

I felt sick watching the Ryder Cup. I’ve never seen such shoddy play from professional golfers in my life, that is, AMERICAN professional golfers. What happened to our patriotism? I remember growing up that it was an honor to represent your country in the Olympics or other International Games. Instead, we have Tiger stating that the WGC American Express Championship was more important for 1 million reasons (think dollars). I have read the stories about how he was kidding and was trying to focus on the tournament at hand, but I don’t buy it especially after watching him play against Parnevik.

It’s all about money when we’re talking about these international events. USA Basketball should have never lost in the Goodwill Games but I applaud Paul Pierce, Reggie Miller et al for participating instead of “resting” in the event that they get hurt and ruin their career (sound of a cash register goes off in the background). Where was Shaq? Kobe? Tim Duncan? GP? Iverson? OK, Iverson was probably in jail but the rest don’t have entirely viable reasons for not participating. On the same token, I question Pierce's selfishness during the games and watching him made me think that he was trying to use the games to "elevate" his exposure...hence, more endorsements, etc.

The Davis Cup is the same way. Every year we hear that Sampras and Agassi will participate then…two weeks before the matches, the two best tennis players in the USA come up with some lame injury. Has is really been that long ago since 1995, when we last won a Davis Cup?

Should we pay these players to play in these events? Would that make them rethink about their decision to not participate?

Maybe that’s why I admired the Team USA baseball team in the 2000 Olympics and their determination and all-out blood and sweat mentality they demonstrated. I’ve been assembling the Team Victory set of those players and it has been a pleasure in talking to them about their experience at the Olympics.

In-Person Autographing

Took an early lunch and headed to the TD Waterhouse Center as the Magic were exiting from practice. Mike Miller was the first to leave and was pleasant as usual. Everyone stopped to sign with the notable exception of Grant Hill. One very encouraging note: Kemp was the last one to leave practice…hopefully in the gym working out and shedding some pounds. Shawn was not real friendly about signing but at least he stopped. He would only sign one per person and, when I put a Cavs picture and a Sonics card in front of him, he chose to sign the card. No big.

One discouraging note, again. I have a magazine with a picture of the Magic coaches from 2001 that is signed by every coach except Dave Wohl. He stiffed me at Doc’s golf tourney, wouldn’t stop to sign last season, and wouldn’t stop again today. I even ran after his car as he was turning out of the parking lot to no avail. I was hoping to get every Magic person early in the season so I wouldn’t have to come back but Dave leaves me no choice but to return later in the year. Here’s my haul for the day:

Darrell Armstrong: 1 card, magazine
Pat Burke: biz card
Peter Cornell: biz card
Andrew DeClercq: 2 cards
Obinna Ekezie: 1 card
Pat Garrity: magazine, 1 card
Horace Grant: 2 cards
Ryan Humphrey: 3 cards
Steven Hunter: magazine
Shawn Kemp: 1 card
T-Mac: magazine
Mike Miller: 1 card
Olumide Oyedeji: 1 card
Jeryl Sasser: 2 magazines
Jacque Vaughn: 1 card
Jermaine Walker: biz card
Doc Rivers: magazine

Before heading home, I walked across the street as the Hawks got on the bus for the game. I just missed Jason Terry, who was already on the bus. I was able to get Theo, Big Dog, Shareef, and Alan Henderson. I was happy to get Alan's autograph as he always seemed to be hurt when the Hawks came to Utah in recent years. Dan Dickau signed a printout that I made. Nazr Mohammed was the notable that refused to sign. Alex English was the last one on the bus and signed for only one person...and it was the worst Alex autograph I've ever seen.

One last note: Emanual Davis made me chuckle when I told him that I wished he was still in Seattle. He looked at me and said, "Hmm. No comment."

Shareef Abdur Rahim: 1 photo
Emanual Davis: printout
Dan Dickau: printout
Darvin Ham: printout
Alan Henderson: 1 card
Glenn Robinson: 1 card
Theo Ratliff: 1 card
Lon Kruger: printout
Steve Henson: printout
Pete Babcock (GM): printout

October 22: Walked across the street as the Grizzlies were boarding the bus for the game. Shane Battier, Pau Gasol, and Robert Archibald all wouldn't stop to sign. Robert Archibald not signing? Here's my haul:

Drew Gooden: printout
Coaches: Lowe, Roth, Hollins, Anderson all signed my coaches printout
Sidney Lowe: 1 card
Michael Dickerson: 1 card
Eddie Gill: printout
Gordan Giricek, Cezary Trybanski, and Chris Owens: printout
Brevin Knight: 2 cards
Tony Massenburg: 1 card
Stromile Swift: 1 card
Earl Watson: 1 card

Vanilla Chocolate, aka Jason Williams, Lorenzen Wright, and Wesley Person did not sign because they boarded the second bus fairly late.

October 29: I walked across the street on my lunch break as the Sixers bus came back from practice. No one stopped to sign coming off the bus. As we were waiting for anyone to come back out, Cheryl Miller, who was in town to work on the game for TNT, drove up to the hotel. She didn't stop to sign, as usual.

I went back to work and, with the last few minutes of my lunch break, put together a Cheryl Miller montage just in case.

After work, I went back across the street and got Brian Skinner, Mark Bryant, Rentzias, and John Salmons (can you tell that none of the "big" boys were signing?). We again saw Cheryl and one of the autographers yelled out to her and asked if she would take a picture with his two kids. She came over and I showed her the piece I made for her and she signed it. I was the only one she signed for. I've been trying to get her autograph since the inception of the WNBA.

So, eventhough I didn't get Iverson or Van Horn, I walked away with an autograph of the greatest female basketball player of all time. Not too shabby.

This month's mailbox

Mike Timlin: Mike has been a solid reliever in his career though oft-travelled (think Paul Quantrill). Mike made a stop in Seattle in the much bally-hooed trade of Jose Cruz Jr. (along with Paul Spoljaric) and though his ERA was low, the expectations were too high for Seattle fans. I sent him a Mariners card to the Phillies address shortly after his trade from St. Louis. He also included an unsigned bible card.

Raul Ibanez: Is he an outfielder? An infielder? A catcher? Raul has done it all in his career and should still be in Seattle. Raul has had some great years in Kansas City as he has found his home run stroke…something he didn’t have in Seattle. Signed via the Royals address. His autograph has definitely gotten more sloppy in recent years.

Mike Trujillo: Part of the infamous Spike Owen/Dave Henderson for Rey Quinones/Trujillo trade, Mike had a less than stellar run in Seattle as a reliever and spot starter. But, he was always a classy guy and signed three cards for me via his home address in Smallings.

Erik Plantenberg: A homegrown product for the Mariners. Pitched a total of 26 games for Seattle and recorded one save over the course of his career (with a 0-0 record). He got hurt in 1994 and bounced around until he rebounded to land a spot in the Phillies bullpen for the 1997 season. Signed one card via his home address in Smallings.

Rich Bordi: A decent pitcher in the 80s for the Orioles and Yankees, Rich made a few appearances as a Mariner. Signed two cards via his home address in Smallings.

Bobby Thigpen: Bobby's saves record in a season remains intact. Bobby finished his career in Seattle by making 7 less than stellar performances. Signed three cards via his home address.

Don James: Very glad for this success. Don James was the UW Huskies football coach when I was growing up in the Pacific Northwest. He signed two index cards and included a poorly copied sketch of himself which he also signed. I had been trying to find a photo or magazine with him on the cover for the last year and finally just decided to send him index cards since I wanted the autograph badly enough.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations to the Anaheim Angels and their fair weather, bandwagon fans. My best friend lives in Burbank and he told me that he tried to get tickets for the World Series for game 7. The scalpers were asking $300 for crappy tickets. Now, if I'm not mistaken, they were averaging about 18,000 a game during the regular season and now all of those people decided "Hey, that Angels team is pretty good. Maybe we should go to the World Series?!"

Just goes to show you what winning can do.