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.
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