Marshall Faulk and Manti Te'o Monday Night Football Tour 2013

I decided to check out the Monday Night Football Tour in San Diego today with the hopes of getting Marshall Faulk's autograph today. The Monday Night Football Tour travels across the country and has different tour stops each weekend. This weekend happened to take place in San Diego. Initially I was reluctant to attend since I heard rumors the night before that Marshall Faulk may not sign personal items. The same rumor applied to Manti Te'o who was a last minute addition to the event. Although it was a long drive to get to San Diego I decided to roll the dice and attend the signing.

I arrived at the signing at 8am and surprisingly I was the first one there. The staff didn't arrive until 9am. I was surprised by the low turnout since I expected more people to show up. Then I realized this was San Diego where graphers aren't as hardcore as LA graphers. I should have slept in a few more hours.

The first person besides me to arrive was my buddy Paul H. who rolled out to the Faulk signing with his entire family. Paul is a diehard Rams fan so he came well prepared to get several items signed by Marshall. When the staff finally arrived at 9am they let us form a line where we would have to first register, then test drive a car in order to receive an autograph voucher. They also handed out free swag including $10 American Express gift cards, t shirts, a bead necklace and also had a raffle for a chance to win signed items by Antonio Gates, James Lofton, and Eddie Royal who were all in attendance the previous day. Sadly I couldn't attend the event yesterday due to work.

Afterwards I got in line to get Marshall Faulk's autograph. Marshall was scheduled to sign from 12:30-1:30; Manti Te'o was scheduled to sign from 2:30-3:30; and Larry English was scheduled to sign from 4:00-5:00pm. 

In the end about 100 fans shows up for the signing which in my opinion was a low turnout. Marshall arrived on time and started signing.

Here he is signing a HOF helmet for my friend Victor

Here is Paul's haul aka the Hirigoyen haul.

As usual Paul and his family killed the event and racked up. Good pickups Paul and that helmet came out sick. 

As for me my goal was to get my Superbowl XXXIV football signed and my Rams throwback mini helmet signed as well. 

Although the turnout was low Marshall and his handlers were only allowing one item signed per person at the event. People who were double dipping were getting called out left and right by his handlers. It made no sense since Marshall finished signing in less than half and hour and just sat at the autograph table doing nothing. He didn't seem to be happy to be there. He denied every fan who asked for a photo op and even told Paul's daughters that he doesn't take pictures with kids. How sad is that.

The picture above is the line when there was still 30 minutes left at the signing. Since Marshall wasn't doing anything they did an interview.

I was just happy to get both of my items signed since Marshall is notorious for being a tough autograph. I was also relieved that he was nice enough to sign personal items so I couldn't complain about his poor behavior with the fans. 

Afterwards I waited in line for Manti Te'o who compared to Marshall was friendly as can be. Manti was posing for photos and was chatting it up with the fans. Unfortunately his handers didn't allow us to get any personal items signed but they did provide a stock photo for him to sign.

Since it was already a long day for me I skipped the Larry English signing and went straight to my post graphing spot in San Diego to get a well deserved lunch at Phil's BBQ.

Phil's is hands down the best BBQ in Southern California. I recommend the spot to everyone.

I want to give a shout out to Paul and the entire Hirigoyen fam, Anthony, Victor, Daniel and the rest of the graphers who were there today for the signing.