Boost Mobile Elite 24 Game 8-27-11

The Boost Mobile Elite 24 Game took place in Venice Beach on 8-27-11 and it featured the top high school players in the nation. The game was televised live on ESPN U. I went out there to check out Shabazz Muhammad the nation's #1 prospect and is supposedly the next big thing in basketball along with featured NBA players such as Tyreke Evans, John Wall, Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday, Kemba Walker, Jason Williams and Kevin Love who were coaching the event. There was also a rumor that Kevin Durant was going to be there since he showed up to the event a day earlier to judge the dunk contest. While I was watching the players warm up I ended up getting Shabazz Muhammad and Justin Anderson to sign my program

During warmups Mitch Mcgary ended up breaking the backboard while dunking. Therefore there was about a 45 minute delay before tipoff since they had to clean up the broken glass and install a new basketball court. During that time the NBA players strolled in along with suprise guests Derrick Williams, Bobbito Garcia, Kenneth Faried, Matt Barnes, Jamie Fox and Kevin Durant.

During the event Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings were nice enough to sign a basketball for me.

I had Tyreke and Brandon on the same ball since they were part of the same draft class.

And finally for the first time I ended up getting Kevin Durant to sign my basketball. I was stoked. I found a video footage of KD signing by basketball on his website. It shows me and my buddy James getting his autograph at 3:46 in the video. James are I are the two asian guys with sunglasses on. Check it out.

The autograph came out clean and I was happy with the results. All I can say is that KD is one of the most fan friendly elite NBA players out there. A player his caliber would never take the time to sign for fans but so far i've never had a bad experience with him. Kobe can learn a lesson or two from Durant.

At the end of the event I tried getting John Wall to sign but he ran with a dead black sharpie. He seemed grumpy and wasn't in the mood to sign trying to avoid the fans. He signed for a few people and left. I was a little bummed by that but ended up getting him later at the Drew vs Goodman Game and Long Beach State a few months later.

Matt Kemp Living Spaces Signing 8-13-11

On 8-13-11 Living Spaces Redondo Beach was hosting an autograph signing featuring MVP candidate Matt Kemp. He was scheduled to sign autographs for fans from 10am until noon. I knew that this signing was going to be crazy since Matt is a popular Dodger and any Dodger signing always draws a crowd. The policy for autographs were for only the first 300 people in line. Thus you had to get there early. I was fortunate that my friends Joseph and Chris were nice enough to hold my spot for me. They started lining up at midnight. The first person in line was there since 6pm the night before. I ended up buying my friends breakfast for holding my spot for me. Thanks Joseph and Chris.

Me being the lazy bum ended up arriving around 4am. I did have an excuse though. My friend Josh from http://www.dodgerbobble.com/ had a contest giveaway for the SGA Duke Snider Bobblehead. Since I couldn't attend the game to get the bobblehead myself I was lucky enough to win the Snyder Bobblehead through Josh's contest on his website the night prior to the Matt Kemp signing. When I arrived at the signing there were at least 150 people ahead of us in line. As it got close to the time of the signing there were over 300 people.

About two hours before the signing the workers at Living Spaces started passing out wristbands. That led to a bit of chaos as fans were trying to swarm in and get multiple wristbands which is what I did as well. I figured that if we were camping out this long to get Kemp's autograph we have to take full advantage of this opportunity. When the signing began we noticed that Kemp's agent Dave Stewart walking into Living Spaces. I asked him to sign a baseball for me but he told us that he'd get us inside.

While I was in line inside Living Spaces I asked Dave Stewart to sign my baseball. Initially it was a bit intimidating going up to him and asking for his autograph. Normally I don't have problems asking athletes for their autographs since I don't get star struck too much. However Dave has this intimidating look he gives you just like when he pitching for the A's and Dodgers in the 80s. However he was nice as can be and signed by ROMLB on the SS.

When it was my turn in line I had Matt Kemp sign a Rawlings bat since i've gotten him on baseballs in the past.

Matt was nice enough to inscribe 2011 All Star on my bat. As soon as we got out items signed we noticed that the line was dwindling since it was almost noon so we hopped back in line. I didn't have a 2nd items prepared for Kemp to sign. I did have a few extra ROMLBs but i've gotten Kemp on baseballs before. Luckily my buddy Larry (the guy that sells autograph supplies such as baseballs, bats and mini helmets at all of our local signings) had an extra 2011 MLB All Star Baseball. I ended up buying the all star ball from Larry so I can get Matt to sign it for me as well. Matt again inscribed 2011 All Star for me on the baseball.

All in all another great day of signing thanks to Living Spaces.