2/25/12 ESPN College Gameday and Uconn Vs. Syracuse

I have been excited since last night to write this entry for many reasons. First, College Gameday was a very fun event to go to. Secondly, I definitely had my best basketball graphing night ever.

I got to Uconn at 8 am, for the 10:00 and 11:00 editions of College Gameday. Here are some pictures from the electric event:

Here is another photo that belongs to ESPN, of the crowd:

Digger Phelps was absolutely hilarious before the show and on commercial breaks and such. The Uconn band has this song they play that has some swagger to it and Digger kept going, "Yeah big daddy's in the house!" Hilarious to be there.

Graphing wise, after the show I saw the Uconn team walking out a back door and I asked Drummond to sign, to which he declined me 1 on 1. Not the first time so I wasn't shocked.

I had to work at 5 so I went home for that and came back around 11 or so to graph postgame. This was my view from outside:

After the game ended, I managed to get inside while everyone was leaving. That helped me get out of the freezing night, and it payed off. I spotted former Uconn player Charles Okwandu and got him to sign. He must be one of the tallest players I have ever met:

The next guy I got was(other than Calhoun) the coolest basketball graph I have gotten all year. Dickie V Baby!!!
It certainly wasn't easy, but I got it done. Me and the few guys I were with ran over to get him in the back of the arena where we saw him headed. When he walked out the back door, he said things like his usual, "It's cold out here you guys are crazy!" and, "Ahh you kidding me!????"
He was rushing really bad, and kept saying, "Last one guys, last one." and luckily, I was the second to last guy to get him. Someone gave him a shitty dried blue marker which pissed me off, but hey it's Dickie V so I was happy.:
Hall of Famer Dick Vitale!:

The photo makes the picture look grainy, it isn't. And believe it or not, yes, he did fingerprint the sh** out of the picture. Can't blame him, it was freezing.

I then rushed back around front, and got a picture with Ryan Boatright. He really is such a nice kid, he was happy to take it:

Jeremy Lamb came out soon after, and wouldn't sign. He was really polite about saying no though, it was kind of weird.

After that, I got a ton of Syracuse guys, including many stars.

Scoop Jardine:

He also stopped to take a picture:

Rakeem Christmas:

Fab Melo:

Former Syracuse star Gerry McNamarra is on the left.
Picture with Fab:

Baye Moussa Keita:

There were a few others on the ball but nobody too notable, except for star Dion Waiters who I had to run over to the bus for. Some guy who worked for Syracuse was being a complete tool, and kept telling him to get on the bus, he kept signing and the guy said, "Dion, you're not listening to me!"
Got him:

Jim Boeheim ignored everyone, but a few ran over to the bus and were able to get him. I wasn't able to.
Kris Joseph must have snuck out.
Unfortunately, I did miss NBA Star Rudy Gay as well, he was in a rush and only signed a few.

I did get a few guys on this team sheet as well including Rakeem Christmas and Fab Melo

 After Syracuse left, I went in and got Andre Drummond as he was leaving:

Here are a few more photos from the night:

 We found this sign outside of Gample, Uconn staying classy haha:

It was an amazingly cold, but very successful night. Some nice surprises, and I went home happy.

Total Autographs for 2012: 84

My next event is Providence Vs. Uconn Tuesday at the Dunk. Thanks for reading!