Fair warning, I got the title for this blog entry from a tweet I saw on a billboard tonight. Every night after a Thunder playoff game, I drive by this billboard that always has a tweet from someone about the game. This was too good not to share, and if it's yours, let me know so I can give you proper credit! Maybe you'll consider giving my blog a plug? And now back to your regularly scheduled blog entry. While I was in line, I collected some intel when I talked with the family standing to the left of me in line. They had come down from St. Louis, and the dad of the group started it all when he noticed my Curry jersey and thought it was a good idea that I had it rubber-banded on a board and pulled taut so that whenever Curry came by, it would be ready to go. One of the ladies later told me that the other lady in their group had seen Draymond Green (BOOOOO!!!!!) at the hotel (but instead of saying "the hotel," she revealed to me specifically which hotel they were staying at). She knew I was a 'grapher and said, "Don't worry, nobody was signing." Well, that's somewhat of a relief. I knew the visiting teams had recently changed hotels, but I never knew where they had moved to. Nobody on 101 will tell you what players stay at which hotel, and you're considered a dud if you ask or if you accidentally or purposefully give it away. Don't worry, you guys aren't duds, and thank you for the information. For the rest of you, if you want to know the hotel that the players stay at, you'll have to get to know me or find me at the arena. No Thunder players have signed since their last loss to San Antonio, at least as far as I can tell, so this seems to be something they're doing until further notice. Knowing that the Thunder are probably not going to sign, and with a two-time, back-to-back MVP winner in town, the decision to graph the Warriors was a no-brainer. Once in my section, I overheard someone behind me say that KD wasn't out (and he knew because he'd gone over there when the doors opened). I noticed Kyle Singler didn't sign, so that pretty much confirmed their game plan to "stay focused." Anderson Varejao was the first one off the court, but he ran past everybody. Someone around me commented that he would fit in well with the Lakers. I would say more like the Cavaliers -- the Lakers might be a little better about signing now that Kobe's not around to attract gigantic crowds. Remember, Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson, and Anthony Brown are still pretty much "gimmes" in LA. Most of the Warriors opted not to sign which was not a surprise given their behavior the last time they came to town. The guys I saw that didn't sign included: Draymond Green (BOOOO!!!!!), Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala (hoodie and all), Andrew Bogut, Klay Thompson, and Festus Ezeli/Ian Clark, who I must confess I wasn't sure who he was. Someone said it was Ezeli, but it didn't really look like him. He looked a bit too short to be someone (Ezeli) whose listed height is 6'11", which is why I thought he was Ian Clark. No one said anything else and I wasn't about to announce my presence as a "dud grapher" and ask who that was. I have my pride. Also, whoever he was, didn't bother to sign anyway so any potential embarrassment was saved for another day. Between Draymond Green (BOOOOOO!!!!!) and Shaun Livingston walking off the court, we saw Shaquille (Shaq) O'Neal walk over and for a moment, it looked like he would stop to sign for the usuals calling out to him, but he decided to just keep going -- it looked like his handlers were pushing him to go. The TNT booth was right above the autographing section of the stands. but they were facing towards the crowd. Looking up, I could see Shaq and Kenny Smith, but no one else. It seemed like there were more people interested in getting pictures with Shaq than getting autographs (and I can understand that to a degree). Oh well, that means more standing room for the rest of us! It wasn't anywhere near as crowded downstairs as the February game vs. the Warriors, but when Stephen Curry came out, I definitely felt the crowd push me forward a bit when I was standing on the front row. There was a massive crowd of cameras following him and I thought, maybe I'll find myself on Getty Images later tonight (nope -- I looked). He signed for the section across from me, and we were told he would double back, but when he did, he started at The Turn and went forward from there. I was on the front row and subsequently missed him. That could have been pretty disappointing, but I did get him back in February on a white Swingman so I'm not too terribly bummed. I will be trying again next game as well, so it's not like I don't have options. The next two guys to come off the court were the only other guys who signed at the February game (Brandon Rush and Marreese Speights). I only had one photo for Rush and he signed it back in February, so my only other item for him to sign was the team logo. He signed that and moved on. If I see him next game (and I probably will), I'll ask him for a photo op/selfie. When Speights came to me, it looked like he was going to scribble across his face, but he hesitated, looked at it, and then signed a neatly-placed "MSpts" across his shoulder. For a Speights signature, that was a pretty neat one and it was certainly a lot nicer than the one he signed for me in February. Nice guy; I wish the other guys were like him. Bogut 0/1 Curry 0/1 Ezeli/Clark? 0/1 Green 0/1 Iguodala 0/1 Livingston 0/1 O'Neal 0/1 Rush 1/1 Speights 1/1 Thompson 0/1 Varejao 0/1 The Thunder blew out the Dubs tonight and I'll be seeing them again for Game 4 at home. I'm hoping Curry will sign my jersey this time; I paid full price for it and even though I don't plan to return it if it stays unsigned, I'd really like to see that "SCy" on it (hopefully on the number this time)! Until next time, J.R.
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