This was probably the most up-and-down graphing event to date, or at least so it seems. I met a guy outside who was from Atlanta who was looking for info (what side to stand on for the Thunder). We chatted a bit about graphing habits and you know it's for real when you are both on 101! He was looking to get Collison and hoping to have him sign his jersey and/or selfie that he printed out (I later learned his name was Zach). To start things off, I got the idea from Josh (from 101) and Shane to take a peek at the Thunder side to get KD if he was out and then quickly run to the opposing team's side to graph everyone else. Going in, I knew that Tony Parker and Tim Duncan would be resting (and therefore not playing tonight). Kawhi Leonard was hurt, so the best I could hope for was a Manu Ginobili. I looked out on the court and saw what looked like KD from behind so I got excited and decided to wait it out. On the Spurs side, only Kyle Anderson was out and I figured it would be safe to wait for KD. It turned out that it wasn't actually KD but Serge Ibaka, and to be fair, I only identified him from behind (how many other guys are that tall and look similar from behind?) He comes off rather quickly and I'm scrambling, but he signs for the guy in front of me who rips off his sunset jersey for him to sign. I wait for him to get to me next so I can ask him for a pic, but he goes to the other side and doesn't quite come back. He loops around after getting the opposite side, but stops a few people short of coming back to me and another opportunity is lost. I scan the court again and I think it's only Nazr Mohammed out there so I rush back to the Spurs side and find a decent, but not prime spot. Kyle Anderson is coming off now so I'm scrambling again, but by the time I pull his photo out, he's long gone. Rats! Kevin Martin came by next and signed one for everyone although his signature is pretty much chicken scratch. Behind Nemanja Bjelica, Martin's signature leaves much to be desired. I can't complain though, I kind of like him as a player. A lady in a Spurs jacket came by next and I guess people recognized her because she stopped to sign for people. The older lady behind me recognized my deer-in-the-headlights look and told me it was the "lady coach," the first female coach in the NBA (Becky Hammon). Okay, cool, a free autograph, why not? She signed all the Spurs stuff that people presented, but I noticed she skipped the kid to my right who only had a program (also, no pen). Did she skip him because of the lack of pen, or that he was holding a program? Remember my shoot-around question (#1)? Here's another piece of damning evidence for the casebook. I was wondering when it would happen again considering it had been a while, but Anthony Morrow stopped by and signed for us. I thought about asking him for a pic, but the angle I was standing at was weird (and I hadn't yet thought about crouching down to adjust that angle discrepancy). I also didn't really want to ask the Asian girl to my left to do it for me, though in retrospect she may have been a better option than the older lady behind me that I did end up asking. Speaking of Asian girls, or Asian fans in general, there were a crap ton of them there. There are no Asian Spurs players so far as I can tell, so I really don't know how to explain it. The girl also kept asking me (pointing to pictures in the program) if the player signing was the one she was pointing to. She was probably from out of town. Nick Collison came by next, and honestly I was thinking to myself, I wanted to mentally will Collison to come by our side (since every so often the Thunder are actually shooting on the visitor's side of the court, as they were today). He must have felt my Jedi powers because he did come by (and I secretly felt bad for Zach!) Karma was not kind to me however, and I really should have held out a photo so that I wouldn't go away empty-handed. Collison was nice enough to oblige my request for a pic, but the older lady didn't know how to use my camera (push the button hard, and hold it until you hear the shutter) and the photo didn't take! I'm definitely going to buy playoff tickets now, if only to graph the Thunder and get some selfies. Also, it's probably time to buy a new camera. Nothing wrong with my current one, it's just not bueno for taking selfies. Am I even in focus? Is the angle right? I can't tell. My iPhone (4!!!) is so old that the app loads slowly and the picture quality is meh. I don't want to bring a guest anymore, but I also don't want to ask a stranger to take my pic again. Even though she was kind enough to take pics on her phone and let me email them to myself, some of them didn't come out very well. The whole bottom of my face is cut off on one of them! I knew Boris Diaw would be super nice so I decided to ask him for a pic in addition to him signing my photo. I also didn't want a repeat of what happened with Collison (getting nothing). This is the selfie that is missing the bottom of my face. Oh well! David West was next and he came off about the same time as Patty Mills (I mean, one right behind the other) so I had both of my photos out, one on each side of my foam board. David was seriously looking like he would skip me, and given his questionable signing habits, he might have, had the kid next to me actually had a pen. David had stepped from the girls to my left directly to the kid to my right. Realizing the kid didnt have a Sharpie, he saw mine and signed it first before signing for the kid, using my pen. Score one for me! Every so often it pays off when the kids don't have a Sharpie and you're sandwiched in between them! Patty Mills was next and signed one for everyone. I'm glad he used my gold Staedtler, because the photo I printed for him was pretty nice but was really dark. Andre Miller was last but he didn't sign for anyone. He didn't have to because he ran out of time and I think he might have pulled a Novak anyway if we hadn't gotten kicked out of the section due to time constraints. Anderson 0/1 Collison 0/0 tried for a selfie but not his fault the pic didn't take Diaw 1/1 + half selfie Hammon 1/1 Ibaka 0/1 Miller 0/1 Mills 1/1 Morrow 1/1 West 1/1 All in all, this was not a bad game but there were things about it that could have gone better. Not having any of the big name players come out puts a damper on the whole outing, but I'll take that over them coming out and declining or skipping me any day. The next game on the docket is the Lakers game next month. There is sure to be a gigantic crowd so I won't be attempting the Thunder because I need to secure a good spot to wait for Kobe to not come out. If he signs, I'd be surprised, but I'm tempering my expectations as usual. Until next time, J.R.
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