Chris Paul CP3 Day LA Fire Academy 10-21-12

I got a tip from my friend James that Jordan Brand was celebrating CP3 Day at the LA Fire Academy. This event promoted Chris Paul's new signature shoe the CP3 VI's and also included a celebrity basketball game.

Until the night before the event we had no clue who was going to show up to the event until I found a press release online. I had to do some last minute preparation so luckily I was able to develop some photos of Willie McGinest, Jalen Rose, The Game, and Common. We also weren't 100% sure if Chris Paul would show up. It's been a goal of mine for awhile to get Chris' autograph on his CP3 V All Star Edition shoes.

James, Benson and I arrived at the CP3 Day Event at around 2:30 a little bit after the event started.

They handed out meal tickets for either Tommy Burgers or Wahoo Tacos but the lines were extremely long since it was free food. Footlocker also had a table set up and if you showed them your VIP card they gave you a gift bag which contained a Jordan Brand water bottle, Jordan CP3 VI Wristband and a redemption card for an additional prize at any participating HOH Footlocker store. I love free swag so I picked up a gift bag.

They also handed out raffle tickets to win additional prizes and they also allowed fans to try on the new CP3 VI shoes and run through an obstacle course. We were interested in getting autographs so we scoped out the venue and figured out where the players were being dropped off.  Surprisingly the usual graphers were not there since most of the crowd comprised of inner city kids being bussed in from different school districts.

The first player to sign for me was Jalen Rose who signed my Fab 5 photo for me.

Chris Paul ended up walking in as well but security blocked us from getting his autograph pregame.

The line was already long to get into the game. Luckily James got us VIP wristbands so we were able to skip the line and get into the game.

The VIP band saved our day as we were given access to the player VIP locker area and we were able to roam anywhere on the court. Thanks for the hookup James.

I decided to take some pictures of the game from the 2nd floor VIP area and behind the basket as well. It was nice to have all of this access.

At halftime they interviewed Chris Paul.

Jalen inbounds the ball to Common.

In the second half Chris Paul decided to participate in the game. Here he is being defended by Willie McGinest.

The game went into overtime and Chris Paul ended up making the game winning three to seal the victory for the white team. Here are some post game pictures below.

I have to thank The Game for this one. As soon as he was done posing for photos with Chris and his kids, The Game asked Chris Paul to sign two basketballs for each of his sons. I was at the right place at the right time. As soon as he signed the basketballs, Chris signed both pairs of my shoes and signed one more autograph for another fan. Chris ran with a black sharpie but I was still happy to finally get his autograph.

Afterwards I went back to the player locker room to chill with the players. They were with their family and friends. Common signed a photo for me and was nice enough to take a photo with me after finishing up an interview with Nicekicks.

The Game was chilling with his family and he also signed a photo for me as well.

When I arrived home I decided to try out my new case I picked up from Michaels. I needed another football case but I decided to try the display with the newly signed CP3 shoe, my Manny Pacquiao signed glove and my MJD signed football. The case was originally intended for a football.

The only downside is that it can only fit one shoe and one glove. What do you guys think? Should I go with the shoe, glove or football?

Tim Salmon Signing at Dick's Sporting Goods

Today was the second day of signings at Dick's Sporting Goods in Huntington Beach to celebrate their Grand Opening. Tim Salmon was scheduled to sign autographs from 11am to 1pm. I arrived around 8:30 and there were already about 150 fans waiting in line. I was a bit shocked to see that many fans since I figured most of the fans already had Tim's autograph from the past. Normally you would expect to see this amount of people for a current player. However Tim is and always will be Mr. Angel so I mistakenly underestimated his popularity. The staff at Dicks Sporting Goods started to hand out wristbands to the first 250 people waiting in line starting at 8am. They also handed out gift cards to the first 100 people in line.

My goal today was to get a bat signed by Tim especially since bats are always tougher to get signed since it's a hassle to carry bats around. Plus you cannot bring bats into the stadium thus it's harder to get them signed in general unless it's a paid or free signing.

In the end about 300 fans showed up. Luckily Tim was a fast signer and went though the line pretty quickly. I was able to go back in line for the second time along with the fans who didn't have wristbands and was also able to get a photo signed as well. Tim was nice enough to inscribe "2002 WS Champs" on my bat and "02 Champs" on my photo. He was also nice enough to take a photo with me as well.

After the signing I stopped by Michael's next door since I had a 50% off coupon. I decided to pick up a bat display case.

What's cool about it is that there is enough space to place a baseball in as well.

Steve Nash

When I arrived home after the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Finley signing I ended up getting mail from the Steve Nash Foundation. About a month ago my buddy James texted me that the Steve Nash Foundation was taking donations of $10 dollars and in exchange he would send fans a signed photo. This info was posted on twitter. I decided to give it a try and donated $10 since it was for a good cause and plus it is probably the easiest way I would get Steve Nash's autograph this year.

I was impressed with the quality of the photo. I had low expectations of a basic photo with Steve wearing a shirt from his foundation or something along those lines but the photo is of him hoisting the MVP trophy. I still plan on trying to get Steve Nash's autograph in person this year but this is still a nice start.

Chuck Finley Dick's Sporting Goods Signing

Dick's Sporting Goods in Huntington Beach was having a Grand Opening and Chuck Finley was scheduled to sign from 11am-1pm today. Benson and I have gotten Chuck Finley's autograph numerous times before but we decided to check it out since it was literally across the street from the Arnold Schwarzenegger signing.

We arrived at the signing at about 12:40 and there was literally only about two fans ahead of me in line. I guess most fans got their autographs and left or it was a low turnout since Chuck does numerous signings each year. Plus most of the regular graphers were most likely at the Raiders signing today. Nonetheless it was a great signing since there was no drama and no stress. We were in and out of there in less that five minutes. As usual Chuck was great with the fans and signed multiple items and also posed for pictures as well.

I ended up getting my vintage Angels mini helmet along with a 50th anniversary baseball (which I got from BP this year) signed by Chuck. There was also a postcard on the table so I had him sign one for me as well. Chuck was nice enough to sign all three items and also took a photo with me.

Chuck is simply the best. I wish every signing ran this smoothly.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Costco Book Signing

Instead of graphing the Raiders at Universal City Walk today Benson and I decided to attend Arnold Schwarzenegger's book signing at Costco in Huntington Beach. The truth is we both wanted to avoid the long drive out to Studio City and also to avoid the insane amount of Raider fans at the signing. We expected chaos, madness and rioting so we decided to pass on the event.

The signing was scheduled to take place from 11am-12pm. We arrived at Costco around 8:30am and we were about 100th in line. We were informed that Arnold would only be signing his book and no outside items and that it was one book per Costco member. Arnold ran a bit late and arrived around 11:30am and began to sign.

We did notice that the first few fans in line were able to get some outside items signed so we were hoping that we would have the same luck. When it was our turn in line we weren't so lucky as his handlers started to crack down and prevented anyone who tried to hand Arnold a personal item to get signed. Arnold's handlers also made each fan bookmark the second page of the book to get signed so that the line would run even faster. We weren't given a choice which page we wanted the book signed. The Governator was signing like a machine barely looking up as he was signing each book.

The line ran really fast since there was barely any fan interaction with Arnold. Here is the photo of the autograph I got.

Overall it was a quick and easy signing. Afterwards we went across the street to Dicks Sporting Goods since Chuck Finley was there for the Grand Opening.