I parked in a new parking lot for the Christmas Day game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, at the recommendation of my aunt, who has full-season tickets. It's much closer to the arena, but she said it wouldn't be scary walking to it in the dark because "there's people that walk that way also." No. That was freaking scary. It was incredibly sketchy and run-down. I'm pretty sure there was even a homeless guy camped out there. There are no street lights that lead up that way. Yes, there are people that walk that way, but not quite as many that trek to Bass Pro, and did I mention the whole no street lights thing? Stephanie was worried I'd get mugged at one of the games I went to (the last game vs. Atlanta) and I politely laughed her off on that but thanked her for her concern. No. This one, I legit feel like I could get mugged at some point. I probably won't park there again unless I'm flipping late or it's an early game on the weekend. Last season's Christmas Day game was against the Chicago Bulls and I only walked away with 2 autographs from that game. Readers of this blog and my Facebook will remember that as The Derrick Rose Fiasco. Hopefully this one wouldn't turn out to be like that. The giveaway item at last year's game was a blue candy cane (which, I still have, and which, upon retrospect, doesn't seem like something I should be proud of), but this year's giveaway was a special commemorative ornament. I walked in from the far right door, was immediately presented with an ornament, and then took two, maybe three steps before I was presented a second one. I couldn't believe my luck and hoped for a third as I continued walking, but it wasn't meant to be. If Stephanie and I are still friends AND in contact next Christmas, I think I'll send this to her. It would be a nice souvenir from my hometown. Plus, it's a nice heavy chunk of solid metal. Value!!! I remember Nemanja Bjelica from last season. Readers of this blog will recall I named the entry after his indiscreet ball scratch. Mr. Bjelica signed a much nicer (well, a nicer one for him, anyway) signature this year, offering his full graph this time around. He even asked me where I wanted him to sign it. Players don't usually ask me that. You would think it was just because it was Christmas, but probably not -- there was a guy to my left who only had his printed-out ticket and a program, offered the back of the ticket for signing, and got what I got last year. Mr. Bjelica was also taking selfies with people and I probably should have asked for one. Oh well. I think Adreian Payne stopped to sign for Charlie and the few kids around him, but he took off after that. Like straight up, Harry Potter-vanished. I was ready for him, but he was gone when I looked up. Kris Dunn did something similar, although I did actually see him walk off. Post-game, I'm hearing rumors that Dunn signs for kids only, and that something happened during his rookie season that turned him off signing for adults. Do we have Kevin Garnett to blame on this one? Tyus Jones and John Lucas III skipped around and I didn't get them. I get the feeling they were only signing for kids, because the guy to my left was definitely not a kid and he got passed over, too. They just bounced around from section to section looking for kids to sign for. Hey come on, adults want to have a merry Christmas, too! If you guys were star players, this would be The Derrick Rose Fiasco all over again! Good old Zach LaVine. I like this guy, he seems to be humble despite his somewhat recent success as a Slam Dunk Champion (though not much else at this point). He appeared to be in a big hurry, so he took the first marker he got (a giant black Sharpie) and just went right down the lines and scribbling. What I got from him last year was so much better than this year's. To be fair, my photo last year was better, too, but I don't think that played a significant role. He did come back around to make sure he didn't miss anybody, but I don't think he stopped to take many selfies. Andrew Wiggins had left the court earlier, but told a kid he would be back (the kid asked first; I doubt Wiggins started that conversation). And I thought to myself, where have I heard THAT line before? True to his word, Wiggins did come back out, but he DEFINITELY went down the Wiggins tunnel when he was done with practice because NO ONE saw him afterward. Shabazz Muhammad unintentionally skipped me last season, and I was hoping I could get him this time around. He was quiet, but signed his usual, smallish signature at the bottom of my photo. Man, Ricky Rubio -- he skipped me last season. I must have been in the front row last year, too, because he flat out skipped that whole side. I was hoping he wouldn't do it again, because he seemed so nice when he came out, saying he would sign when he was done. Guess what? He did it again. For many graphers, there's always that one (or maybe two) players that won't or don't sign for you. I don't think this was anything personal; I was just very surprised that he would skip me two years in a row. He's my new D.J. Augustin! I will be trying again next season, but hopefully with better results! At this point, only Brandon Rush and Gorgui Dieng were still out, and both of those guys signed for me last season so I was pretty sure I'd get them again. Nope. Rush was well, in a rush to get away and he jogged back to the lockers (presumably not signing for anybody), and Dieng walked off. I was really hoping Rush would stop. I printed out a nice photo of him from his Kansas Jayhawk days and he might have given me a nicer quality signature. Or inscribed it, "Rock Chalk Jayhawk". Next time! There was still some time left at this point, and Heather the usher was making a point to clear everyone out. I saw Semaj Christon and Cameron Payne practicing on the other side, so I high-tailed it through the bleachers to the other side to try for them. It was a bit crowded and I had to wait behind some kids (which was probably to my benefit because players like signing for kids), but the same thing happened as at the last game -- they kept practicing until the High-5 tunnel kids came out, but this time I saw Payne and Christon both run by. I probably shouldn't even bother next time, but you know what -- you can't get autographs if you never wait. A lot of this IS a waiting game. But sometimes it's worth it. Bjelica 1/1 Christon 0/1 Dieng 0/1 Dunn 0/1 Jones 0/1 LaVine 1/1 Lucas 0/1 Muhammad 1/1 A.Payne 0/1 C.Payne 0/1 Rubio 0/1 Rush 0/1 Wiggins 0/1 I got 3 autographs this Christmas, better than the two I got last year. Maybe next year I'll get 4! That's not sarcasm, is it??? Hope all of my readers had a great Christmas. The next game for me is on MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY, versus the Denver Nuggets. I hope it will be a good graphing experience. I'd feel horrible if it didn't go well. There's no one I'm really wanting, so I won't be making a giant sign, but I hope I don't get skipped. That would royally suck. But we'll see. This is my first time graphing Denver, so I don't know if they're good about signing or not. Fingers and toes crossed. Until next time, J.R.
0 Comments
I ended up not going to the Suns game on Saturday because it was supposed to snow during what would have been the second half of the game. I thought I was being smart, what with my car being 17 years old. It turns out that the snow wasn't as much as anticipated, and a lot of fans did end up attending. Oh well. There are only two teams that I've yet to see (Brooklyn, Phoenix) and won't be seeing later this year. Not wanting to miss two games in a row, I attended Monday's tilt against the Atlanta Hawks. I was hoping for Dwight Howard after hearing some favorable reports in previous seasons, but had my expectations tempered since he sometimes has trouble staying healthy. This ended up being a game of brain farts. Giant ones. I had photos printed out for many of the guys that I ended up getting on the logo photo. Which turned out nice, by the way. Dennis Schroder has a very unique haircut/color, and I recognized him right away and got him on my logo photo. He was like a machine, though -- if you weren't ready when he came by, he went right past you. It didn't matter if you were a kid or not. The kids on the tail end of the other side got skipped. It was sort of sad, really. I remember getting skipped by D-Rose last season in that same/similar spot. What bugs me afterwards about the Schroder signing is that I actually DID have a photo printed of him. I just forgot! Brain fart #1. Taurean Prince was next. His signature isn't much more than a "TP" followed by his jersey number, but he was polite and signed for those of us waiting. Tiago Splitter walked back and forth a bit right about this time, and he looked like he was about to head back to the locker room, but he told us he would be back. Yeah, where have I heard that one before? The next guy had a shorter haircut, and I wasn't sure if it was Ryan Kelly. I mean, I was probably 60% sure at this point, but rather than embarrass myself, I had him sign my logo photo instead, opting to figure out his identity later. Five minutes pass. Damn, that was definitely Ryan Kelly. Brain fart #2.
Andre Roberson was next, and I'd never seen him come by the visiting side before. I have a really dark background photo of him that I want him to sign, and when he's on the visiting side, he will use YOUR marker, instead of the crappy, dry black one that he's given on the home side. Alas, I fumbled a bit too long, COULDN'T FIND HIS PHOTO, and he had to go. Brain fart #4? Judges? We'll take it. When a guy is in the limelight for dating a celebrity, your expectations of him being a nice guy, posing for pictures, and signing autographs tends to get a bit...cloudy. Kris Humphries was one of those guys. I don't think he picked up a single pen, unless he signed for Charlie, but I believe he ran past everyone without making eye contact. Kyle Korver was the last guy off, and I don't know if he was just stressed or in a hurry, but he didn't really look too happy to be signing autographs. Or maybe it's just the way he looks. Either way, he took a black Sharpie and ran with it, but he signed the logo photo for me. I can't believe I didn't print a photo for him. I know I searched Google for some, but they just didn't make it into my order. Brain fart #5. Bazemore 1/1 Collison 0/1 Humphries 0/1 Kelly 1/1 Korver 1/1 Millsap 1/1 Morrow 1/1 Muscala 1/1 Prince 1/1 Roberson 0/1 Schroder 1/1 Scott 1/1 Splitter 1/1 This wasn't a terrible autograph outing. It could have been better had I remembered who was who, and whose pictures I had printed, but I walked away with quite a bit so I'm happy. Would I graph the Hawks again? If Mr. Superman would actually show, then perhaps. The next game on the docket is the Christmas Day game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. I've seen them before, and the only guy I want to get but haven't been able to get, is Ricky Rubio. We'll see. Until next time, J.R.
Tonight, my hometown Thunder take on the New Orleans Pelicans. I was surprised to see Enes Kanter out practicing again. This seems to be something new for him, coming out to practice every few games or so. He never came out last season, but hopefully he'll be out again when I decide to go over there. I didn't attend last season's Pelicans game, but I've read that Anthony Davis didn't come out for practice. This year, he did. Would he sign? Either way, a lot of people would leave the section afterwards if he did (or didn't). Most players that don't sign will trot or run off towards the lockers. Anthony Davis walked. Slowly. Or normally, who knows. I think he may have signed for Charlie and a few other kids at the front, but he skipped most all of us and *WALKED* back to the lockers. This is when Buddy Hield came out. I got a high-five from Buddy Hield! Stick your hand out to the monitor and YOU TOO can get a high-five from Buddy Hield! ...No? It doesn't work like that? Well... I guess you just had to be there. I thought E'Twuan Moore would be surprised if people knew his name, because my perception of him at the Christmas Day game last season when he was a member of the Chicago Bulls was that he would absolutely rack for anyone who know who he was. Ehh..I didn't really get that vibe this time around. He was quiet and I probably could have asked him for a selfie, but it just didn't feel right. He signed one for me, but I don't know if I'd go through the trouble to find and print out a photo for him next time. Nothing against him, I just didn't get that kind of a vibe from him. I didn't know who Terrence Jones was, but he looked vaguely familiar to me. He signed a few and then skipped most of the rest of us. It's just as well, seeing as how I didn't print anything for him and I also didn't know who he was. Turnabout is fair play. A guy came off the court, who I THOUGHT was Anthony Brown (but I was just going to hold my logo photo out for, because I wasn't 100%), but turned out to NOT be Anthony Brown. I don't know who he was. He also didn't sign when he got to my side. I think he may have signed for a few people up front, but that was it. What to say about Omer Asik? His name is pronounced like Dominik Hasek's last name except without the H. Sorry to all non-Canadians and non-hockey fans who didn't get the reference. The kid to my left had a bad black Sharpie, and though I can't be totally sure of this, I kind of get the feeling Asik would have passed me by if he didn't need my Sharpie. Nevertheless, he signed for all of us. He used my Sharpie to sign the kid's card and the programs and whatnot from the fans on my right. N00b tip -- don't be that guy who goes graphing without a Sharpie. All the other regular graphers carry multiples from what I've seen, and I'm one of them. You gotta have options. Jrue Holiday disappeared for a while and I wasn't sure if he was hidden off in a corner or if he'd snuck off down another tunnel. He appeared right about this point and I can't be sure if he signed for anyone, but if he did, it was for a few kids and the rest of us got skipped. I'm sensing a theme here. He always looks so happy in his Media Day team pictures, but it turns out that he's not so nice after all. J.J. Barea anyone? Alexis Ajinca came off right about the time Buddy Hield was making the rounds, so he was able to slip past all of us. I looked right at him as he walked by, and the kid next to me did as well. He didn't stop, we didn't ask, and no Ajinca autographs were given to either of us. Regrets? Nah. Buddy Hield signed normally at the beginning. He went to the far end of my section and signed there, got people on the section across from mine, and then things got a little crazy and he had to rush. He said he "had to go back to the lockers" and I really think he was telling the truth. He knows Oklahoma loves him. No lie. At the end there, he grabbed a black Sharpie and just ran with it, scribbling the best "Buddy Hield" he could on whatever he saw. I noticed he skipped the kids' programs on my left and possibly on my right. I know he hit my photo, and even though it didn't come out great, I'm still happy I got it. During the game, the crowd cheered whenever Hield came into the game and whenever he scored a basket. He shot a few 3s and probably an equal number of air balls. But a guy in my section yelled out in a raspy voice, "He plays for the wrong team, what's wrong with y'all?!" And then when Hield started draining a bunch of 3s and put the Pelicans within four points of us, he said, "Y'all gonna cheer for him now?" And there was none. Ajinca 0/1 Asik 1/1 Not Brown 0/1 Davis 0/1 Hield 1/1 Holiday 0/1 Jones 0/1 Moore 1/1 This wasn't a bad outing even though I have walked away from other games with more. I didn't get Anthony Davis, but most of us didn't and I didn't really have high expectations from him anyway. For those of you who would like to try your luck, Mr. Davis ONLY uses a black Sharpie. The next game on the docket for me is Sunday's game versus the Boston Celtics. I haven't seen them play before, and there's no one I *MUST* have, but hopefully the crowd will be small and I'll be able to get some selfies. Until next time, J.R. |
Welcome!If you've ever wanted to know the ins-and-outs of In-Person (IP) graphing, or if you've ever wanted to know what goes through a grapher's head, this is the place to be! Archives
December 2018
Categories
All
|