Uconn Vs. Georgetown 2/27/13

I finished off the month of February tonight with a trip to Uconn to focus on Georgetown basketball. I have to say, I am disappointed after a 'graphing outing for the first time in a long time.

My main target was of course sure lottery draft pick, Otto Porter. When he came out, some people got him twice, and I didn't get him at all. I'm not going to complain about people getting two, but it sucks when you miss out on your biggest basketball target all year because people are getting two. Georgetown has a security guy who travels with them to push things along, and I was left out to dry even being the next one to get him. I guess I'll be more aggressive next time.

My first autograph of the night was from Jim Calhoun who came out very quickly. I tried to get 2, but he one per'ed which is obviously cool with me since he is a Hall of Famer.

 

I also got Omar Calhoun on 2 photos:

  

Ryan Boatright was cool as always:

 

Kind of funny, he signed tonight in the EXACT spot where that photo was taken.

After him, I met John Saunders of ESPN for the 3rd time this month:

 

 I got some guys on Georgetown, the best one being Markel Starks:

Moses Ayegba:

 

And, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera:

 

To salvage my night, I was able to get legendary head coach, John Thompson III twice:

 

He was pretty nice, I thought he was going to call me out on the dip, but he didn't.

This is probably the last entry for basketball season, unless I go to something unexpected.

Total Autographs for 2013:86

 Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Branford Marsalis 3)Jeff Bridges, 4)Jim Calhoun,  5)John Thompson III

Comedy Central & The Best Damn Sports Show Period's Rob Little 2/22/13

Tonight, my university brought in Rob Little who used to frequent on The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and also has appeared on Nick Swardson's show on Comedy Central.

I knew this would be pretty easy, but found out it would be even easier because he went to a table after the show and talked to fans.

He was happy to see I had photos, and was very accommodating with signing them all. I also got a picture with him, then he took one with him, my girlfriend, and I and said he would post it on his facebook, so I will have to look out for that.

I got to chat with him a little about Best Damn, and he said he has lost around 50 pounds in the past year, as you can tell in comparison between my photos and the pictures with him.

 Total Autographs for 2013:76

 Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Branford Marsalis 3)Jeff Bridges, 4)Chandler Jones,  5)Dick Groat

Throwback Thursday #5 Clay Buchholz

Date:2009
Place:McCoy Stadium Pawtucket, RI
Setting:Parking Lot

Well, it's about that time of the week again. Throwback Thursday is here and this week features the very last time I met Clay Buchholz. Over his time in AAA, I probably met him 5-6 times(all of which coincidentally were after his MLB no hitter).

I miss how McCoy stadium used to be, where you could walk up to players outside, and nobody would care. Now security acts like they are protecting world class diamonds, and you "have to" stay behind the barricade.

Anyways, I mentioned that because this autograph was obtained at Clay Buchholz' car.
As far as I can remember, it was a day game, and there were a number of people getting autographs that day.

Clay by this point, often parked in what is known as "the cage" but would drive out the main entrance, so if you flagged him down and he wanted to sign, you could still get him. That is pretty much what happened on this day. I was really excited when he pulled down the window to his black BMW, and took the card from me. Apparently I still thought it was okay to use black sharpies, because that is what it was signed in, but it came out very nice.

I have seen Clay MANY times since, and have never been successful. Kind of crazy seeing how this year will make 6 years since this day.

Aranda on Tour With Daughtry, & Daughtry Bassist Andy Waldeck 2/17/13

For months, I had been waiting in anticipation to go to this concert. Daughtry is my favorite band, and 3 Doors Down is basically on a greatest hits tour, so I knew that would make for a good concert. Then, a few weeks ago, I discovered the band Aranda who is on tour with them, and they are quite good. Their new album, "Stop the World." is incredible, and definitely worth a listen.

Aranda did a signing at the merch. booth after their set, and they racked. The guys were very nice, especially Gabe Aranda, and I got a cd and 13 dual photos signed(with my girlfriend's help), and none of them got smudged because they took their time:

It was nice to finally meet a band(generally I meet single performers, or rap artists).


CD(missing one member because he got up to use the phone):

 

 The lot of photos, then some close ups:

 

After the show, I waited around to see if any Daughtry/3DD members would come out into the casino, and I was lucky to spot new Daughtry bassist, Andy Waldeck, who was pretty cool:

Autographs at this event:29

Total Autographs for 2013:71

 Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Branford Marsalis 3)Jeff Bridges, 4)Chandler Jones,  5)Dick Groat

Throwback Thursday #4 Kasey Kahne

Date:July 21,2004
Place:Thompson Speedway, Thompson,CT
Setting:Concourse, Sit down signing

This week's Throwback features 14 time NSCS race winner, Kasey Kahne. As you read in my Michael Waltrip entry, Thompson Speedway used to bring in 1 or 2 Sprint Cup(at that time, Nextel Cup) drivers, to race and have an autograph session. Kasey made the appearance with a former champion(which will be next week's throwback)

The autograph itself was easy, all you had to do was buy a ticket and get in line, Kahne was a lot more shy than Waltrip was, but was still nice.

Kahne also was there with Tommy Baldwin his crew chief at the time, whose father  I saw in a very sad coincidence pass away at Thompson in a racing accident.

The pair used Thompson to test at before that weekend's race at Loudon, because Baldwin had done the same with Ward Burton years before, and went on to win the race.

I had both of them sign my photo, which is hanging in my room at home.

Comedian & Youtube Sensation GloZell 2/12/13

Uconn is in the midst of "social media" week, and  they are having different people who are famous from the internet, primarily youtube. The very famous GloZell who has amassed nearly 300,000,000 youtube views was their guest today, and I had finished my homework that was due tonight, so at the spur of the moment I got some pictures and headed over to the Student Union at Uconn. She was in the theatre, and I probably caught the last 25% of her Q&A, in which she was pretty funny.

GloZell stayed on stage when it finished, and took pictures with anyone who wanted them. She was THRILLED that I had brought photos of her, and took probably about a minute talking to me. The only other person that I saw getting something signed was some girl that got a piece of paper signed, but to each their own.

 

Total Autographs for 2013:42

Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Branford Marsalis 3)Jeff Bridges, 4)Chandler Jones,  5)Dick Groat

3x Grammy Winning Jazz Legend Branford Marsalis

Ahh. What a cold but worthwhile night. As most people were preparing for the blizzard tomorrow, I made the short drive over to Uconn to try and meet one of the best saxophonists ever, Branford Marsalis. Just to give a little background, Branford has won 3 Grammy awards, and was even in Sting's band for quite some time.

I was really looking forward to this  because I played saxophone when I was younger, and I had listened to a lot of his music when I was really into playing.

As I said earlier, it was bone chilling cold. This is what my phone showed when I arrived:

 

I arrived a little after 7, for the 7:30 show(which I did not attend, too much money). Because I had my stuff in my car, but still had to organize my bag and such. Anyways, I went in back of the venue around 8:15 in case he made a quick exit, but then I found out that the show was to go until 9:00(Not sure if this was planned or they started late). Anyways, I waited in my spot for quite some time, because I really didn't want to miss him.

His equipment had started to come out and was getting loaded so I knew he would be soon.  I believe he came out at about 9:55. So I spent a total of around an hour and  45 minutes outside give or take.

When he came out, here was the dialogue:

Me:"Mr. Marsalis, could you please sign?"

Marsalis:"Sure buddy, wow sorry you had to wait out here so long, you should have came in."

I was thinking well gee... if I didn't think I would get arrested maybe I would have.

But Marsalis was VERY genuine, moreso than anyone I've met in a great deal of time.

He loved that I had some old albums, and commented on almost every one.

I wish I had gotten a picture with him, and he would have done it, but it was just way too cold, and I had gotten what I wanted so I called it a night.

Record:

 

Just a full view of that whole record(Don't mind the bad phone image, you can't see the auto much in it, just wanted to get a picture of the album)

 

I would have gone with all records, but it's just way too expensive. I got the CDS very cheap online.

Total Autographs for 2013:38

Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Branford Marsalis 3)Jeff Bridges, 4)Chandler Jones,  5)Dick Groat

Throwback Thursday #3 Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Date:August 6, 2010
Place:McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, RI
Setting:Concourse, Team Poster/Autograph signing night

2010 was the first season in which I really became a " 'grapher". I had my license and a car for the first time, so I had a little more freedom in how much I could 'graph. Not that I hadn't gone to a lot of games in previous years, but with a new job and kind of just growing up, I could 'graph whenever.

So here we are, August 6,2010. My dad and I are on our way up to Pawtucket, or over I should say, and it starts POURING rain. We were actually stopped in traffic, and a lightning strike hit about 50 yards away. So the weather was certainly not ideal, which meant that the team autograph signing would be held on the concourse rather than on the field. McCoy's concourse isn't bad on a normal night, but it gets very packed during autograph signings if they are moved inside.(I think I have been to 3 of the indoors ones now).

Jarrod Saltalamacchia had recently been traded to Boston from Texas(literally a week before at the trade deadline), and sent down to AAA. For those who remember, he had been having some issues with throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

Nonetheless, I was excited because he was still a pretty big prospect, and he was expected to play in the majors again fairly soon.

Jarrod was really nice to us, I think he did 2 for each of us, so I got a ball and some other items.

Flashforward to this past season, and Jarrod had a monster year for the Sox, hitting 25 home runs.

 

 Does anyone else find it weird that he has the longest(literally) name in baseball, yet has such a short autograph?

VIDEO: Uconn Beats Providence in OT(Final Shot)

Hey guys! Once again, I am creating a new section of the blog where I will posts videos that I capture of games/events/people signing.

Hope you enjoy!

Providence Vs. Uconn 1/31/13(+Former Celtic, Ryan Gomes)

Wow. This was seriously one of the best basketball games I have ever been to.  Uconn had a huge lead early, but ended up giving it up, however they won in overtime.

I also can't believe it has already been about a year since this entry: Providence Vs. Uconn 2/28/12

I felt no need to push for a lot of Uconn guys, because as the regular readers know, I see them a lot.

Early in the game, I realized former Friar, and Boston Celtic, Ryan Gomes was at the game, but security was on him like a hawk. I attempted to go down at halftime, but security had where I had to go  pretty well blocked off.

I headed down again in the 4th quarter, and had to wait a bit longer when the game went to overtime.

After the game, I got down to him, and he was VERY nice. I actually got his autograph twice, and a photo with him.

In case you're wondering,"How did you randomly have pictures of Ryan Gomes?" The answer is simple. I used a trick where you get photo paper signed by someone, and print the photo on top later. It's very simple to do, and I recommend it over using index cards to get random people.

With that said, as you can see in photo #2, make sure your printer has an adequate level of ink to do this.

Before the game, I got Uconn Associate Head Coach George Blainey, and Providence star, Bryce Cotton:

 

Afterwards, I got Shabazz Napier, and Deandre Daniels. I never like to say anything negative about athletes or anyone who signs for me on here, but I have loosely mentioned this before anyway. Shabazz is VERY different when he is around his family. I have never been denied when he knows his mom or girlfriend are watching, but if you catch him outside, good luck.

 

I also was able to get a photo with ESPN commentator, John Saunders, who I met at the last game. He is a really cool guy, always willing to stop for you.

Total Autographs for 2013:34

Top Autographs for 2013:

 1)Sonia Sotomayor 2)Jeff Bridges, 3)Chandler Jones,  4)Dick Groat 5)Ryan Gomes