On April 3, 2016, I wrote a letter of request, picked out two 8x10 photos, and prepared a SASE and two fiberboards for a TTM request to my NBA hero, Dirk Nowitzki. I mailed the envelopes the next business day. All of this was before the playoff teams had been announced and I thought that I wouldn't have another chance at seeing Dirk in person until next season. I wrote to him describing my experience from the November 2015 game and how much he meant to me as a player and how disappointed I was when I didn't get to meet him after the shootaround.
I had put Delivery Confirmation (tracking number) on the return envelope just so I could follow it if it ever came back to me, and I had been checking USPS.com semi-religiously to see if anything ever popped up. As far as I could tell, nothing happened. The success rate is pretty good (100% according to SportsCardForum), but there are always requests that slip through the cracks for whatever reason and I hoped I wouldn't be one of them. To my surprise, the envelope came back today, and it was sandwiched in between my Priority Mail boxes that I order for work. Had I not rifled through them to inspect for "quality control purposes," I would have inadvertently carried my envelope to work and not known for a very long time! Looking at the tracking number now, it has magically updated. The letter went out in the mail on April 28, 2016, and the postage was not canceled out by the post office (good because I put a crap-ton of stamps on it -- fiberboards are heavy). The back of the envelope has a single strip of slightly wrinkled packing tape on it to seal it -- it may have Nowitzki DNA on it! Hmm... Of the two 8x10s I sent, there was one I wanted more so I put that one on top. He chose to sign the other one instead, but sent both photos back and I'm very happy with this return! All of the reports I have read indicate Dirk is a one-per kind of guy, and that's definitely true. From my experience, his one-per means one autograph or one selfie per person. The autograph itself is a very nice, full signature, signed boldly in blue Sharpie and placed perfectly in the center. He even added his jersey number! It's a lot better than the autographed photo I got in person (sloppy), and slightly better than my jersey (no # and signed in black). He didn't write anything back but did enclose one of the pieces of cardboard to protect the photo from getting bent. Sent 4/4/16 via USPS First Class Mail - 2 photos Received 4/30/16 via USPS First Class Mail - received both photos back but only one signed Turnaround time was roughly 26 days. That's pretty amazing for an NBA star! In case you were wondering, none of this is FS/FT, I PC Dirk Nowitzki. Thank you for signing my photo Mr. Nowitzki!!! Until next time, J.R.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
|