Saturday, October 1, 2011

Blake Griffin Signing at OC Sportscards 10-1-11

On October 1, 2011 I went to the Blake Griffin Signing at OC Sportscards in Anaheim Hills which was sponsored by Panini. This was a paid signing, one of the few i've attended last year mostly because I usually try to get autographs for free in person. Since it was Blake Griffin and since I wanted a clean signature I attended the signing to get an Official NBA Basketball signed by Blake. Prices for autographs were $125 for any item and $50 for inscriptions. What was nice was that Panini was doing on site authentication for free. You can't beat that.




When I arrived at the event there was a huge line of about 100 people which surprised me a bit since it wasn't a free signing. Luckily I knew someone in front of the line, my good old friend James. James if you recall is the guy who got me into getting shoes signed and this day was when the addiction started. He asked me what I was getting signed and I told him an Official NBA Basketball. I asked him what he was getting signed and he shows he his player edition Blake Griffin Hyperdunks. He asked me why I wasn't doing shoes and I told him that it never really crossed my mind to get a pair of shoes signed. I also didn't own a pair of Blake Griffin shoes so I was instead getting the basketball signed. James offered me his right pair of the Blake Griffin shoes to get signed since he was only getting his left pair signed. This was back when I barely knew James but he was nice enough to trust me that i'd pay him back if I borrowed his shoe. Ever since that day I knew I could trust this guy since he had full trust in me that i'd return the favor. It's nice to run into good people in the graphing community. I ended up getting both the basketball and the shoes signed which started this addiction of getting shoe signed. Here are some pictures of Blake signing my items.



Here are pictures of the signed basketball and shoes. Note that I use basketball cases to display my shoes as well.




The following week I ended up buying a pair of Blake Griffin Hyperdunks through ebay and met up with James at the Drew vs Goodman League Game to return the right pair I borrowed from him at the Blake Griffin signing. Thanks James and thanks to OC Sportscards for running a cool event.

4 comments:

  1. That's pretty impressive. I think $125 is a great deal for Blake.

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  2. Now that I think about it I don't regret my decision at all to get both items signed even though it was a paid signing. This was the most i've ever spent on a paid signing since I try to get all of my autographs for free or below $50. Sometimes I do feel safer to get higher end items signed at paid signings since the environment is more controlled. You can ask the player where to sign it and don't have to worry about an athlete running with a dead sharpie. Plus the signatures always tend to look nicer when it is a paid signing since the autographs aren't rushed.

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  3. this might be a dumb question but im going to ask it anyways... what size do you get the shoes??

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    Replies
    1. No dumb question my friend capataz. I normally get the shoes in my size which is 10.5 but I can wear between size 10-11. I was initially a shoe collector before getting into graphing so I mixed the two together especially for basketball. I try to get shoes signed by players who have actually worn the shoe or get a signature shoe signed by each player. Some hardcore collectors only buy the exact shoe size and model of the player. For me I try to buy my size just in case I can't get the autograph. Worst comes to worst I can still wear them.

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