Derrick Rose GNC, Brandon Jennings Flag Football 11-5-11

Went out to Westfield Mall in Culver City to check out the meet and greet Derrick Rose event at the GNC store. From facebook I found out that Derrick was doing a photo op at the GNC store so I went out there to check it out hoping that GNC would let Derrick sign some items for his fans or get him while he is coming in or as he is leaving the mall. When I arrived at the mall about an hour before the meet and greet I noticed that there weren't that many fans out there i'd say less than 100 people. If it was an official signing the numbers would have been more i'd say about 500. I asked the guys in front of the line how early they arrived and they said 3am. The meet and greet didn't take place until about 11am. Hardcore for no guaranteed autograph. Although there weren't that many people Derrick's reps and GNC didn't allow for any autographs and only photo ops provided by the GNC store. Everyone in line were all pissed off especially the ones who camped out for hours. The staff and GNC didn't even all fans to bring their items into the store. I wasn't too angry since I didn't expect anything. I brought a pair of D Rose All Star Adidas shoes to get signed but left home without anything. A group of us tried to get him as he was leaving but he refused to sign for any of the fans. The only person who ended up with a D Rose autograph is my friend Mike who won a raffle from GNC for a signed basketball. I ended up with a crappy photo of me and D. Rose courtesy of GNC.

After the bad news I picked up a pair of Brandon Jennings' new shoe called the Bloodline made by Under Armour. He had a signing and shoe release the day before the D Rose event at Footlocker which was literally next to the GNC at the mall. My friend James who got me into getting shoes signed ended up getting Jennings during his shoe release the day before. The true reason why I was out in the LA area was to attend Brandon Jennings' Flag Football Game at Rowley Park in Gardena which I heard about through Brandon's twitter page. I figured since i'd be in the area i'd check out the D. Rose meet and greet and try to get lucky. Since the D Rose event was an epic fail I was hoping for better at the Jennings Flag Football event. Drove out to Rowley Park in Gardena, Brandon's old stomping grounds. Under Armour even remodeled the basketball court at Rowley in honor of Brandon.

After checking out the basketball court I went over to the football field in search of Brandon. Brandon ended up riding his custom bike to the park.

As soon as I saw Brandon I approached him and asked politely for his autograph. I showed him the Bloodlines and he was happy to see I picked up his new signature shoes telling me "Cool you bought the Bloodlines, I'll definitely sign these." Brandon was nice enough to take a photo with me as well.

The flag football event was low key with less than 40 people in the audience. Most of the people who came to watch were family and friends of Brandon's. Less than 5 graphers were there. The game was MCed by the famous Clipper Darrell.

I wish more athletes would have low key events like this.

Gail Goodrich Signing 10-15-11 (I HATE Honabach and Sons)

I went out to the Gail Goodrich signing at Frank and Sons on 10-15-11. This was a paid signing hosted by Honabach and Sons who also had Elgin Bailor in attendance signing along with Goodrich. I normally don't go for paid signings unless it's a player who rarely signs. They charged $39 for small items which includes flats 11"x14" and smaller, magazines and trading cards; for large items they were charging $59 and $20 additional for inscriptions. I went to the signing to get my Lakers Forum Floor signed. I personally bought another Forum Floor from ebay a few months back so I can add Lakers signatures prior to the showtime era (Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, etc). I have another floor with Worthy, AC green and Cooper. The size of the floor piece was 8.5" x 10.5" so I figured I would be charged the price for a small which was $39. Boy was I wrong. As soon as I went to the register to buy an autograph ticket the guy said that my item was considered a large. I complained and said that didn't make any sense since if you go by dimensions my item is smaller than 11"x 14." I was angry and upset since I had to fork down another $20 to get my floor piece signed. I figured they would rip people off since there weren't that many people attending the event and they had to make their money. I didn't even bother buying the Baylor ticket since he does a lot of free signings and I wasn't going to pay Honabach and Sons anymore money. Honabach and Sons are shady and they never offer any good deals even at their table at Frank and Sons. Since the event I stopped attending any of their signings. I don't want to feed into their shady business practices. Have fun paying for $80 for Matt Kemp and Ethier if you decide on attending any Honabach signings in the future. They offer the worst pricing on all their signings. Definitely not worth it. Sorry about the rant but that's how much I hate them. Here are some pictures of the event. The only thing I wish I did was to ask Gail to write smaller since he took up the entire floor piece leaving not much room for the other guys. Nonetheless I was happy with the results.

Drew League vs Goodman League Game 10-9-11

One of the best games and also one of the best days for graphing basketball. This hyped up game between the Drew League vs the Goodman League took place at the Long Beach Pyramid on 10-9-11. This was the revenge game for the Drew League and was dubbed "The Payback" since the Drew Crew lost to the Goodman League in Washington DC. Thanks to the NBA lockout the Drew League provided many fans an opportunity to watch top notch pro NBA players play basketball and gave us graphers a chance to pick up autographs of non local players like Kevin Durant and John Wall. I headed out there with my friend Nick a few hours before tipoff so that we can get autographs while the players were walking in. I met up with my friend James (the guy who got me into getting shoes signed) and also the guy who runs his own blog http://justsomeblog.com/  at the event. If you haven't seen his blog you will be amazed by his signed shoe collection. My goal was to get my Nike Zoom KD IIIs signed by the man himself Kevin Durant. I've gotten Durant to sign last summer at the Elite 24 Event at Venice Beach so I had to get his shoes signed to add to the Durant Collection. I waited right next to the parking lot to check for players walking in. There were a lot of graphers with the same thing in mind. I'd say there were about 30 of us out there. I ended up getting Dorrell Wright, Trevor Ariza, Matt Barnes, Derrick Williams, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, James Harden as they were walking in on a basketball.

I ended up also getting John Wall on a single signed basektball

And finally Kevin Durant on his Nike Zoom KD IIIs which completes my KD signed baskebtall and shoe collection. My goal right now is to get a signature shoe signed as well as a single signed basketball from any notable NBA superstar or rising star. So far i've been able to do that for Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Brandon Jennings and Baron Davis.

The security was though at the Pyramid as they wouldn't let you bring in any outside items outside of what you are wearing. After getting all of my stuff signed I went in to watch the players warm up. While I was taking pictures Dee Gordon walks right by me trying to get to his seat. Luckily I had my Dodger Fitted on and so I had him sign my hat. Dee came out to watch the game just like all of us normal NBA fans. He looked a little surprised that anyone noticed him. Dee was nice as usual and he signed my cap for me.

Here are some pictures of the game itself. The Drew League ended up beating the Goodman League. Enjoy

Don Newcombe Autograph Signing at Frank and Sons 10-1-11

Don Newcombe had an autograph signing sponsored by Hall of Fame Sports at good ol' Frank and Son's Warehouse on 10-1-11. He was scheduled to sign autographs from 11:30am to 12:30 pm. This was a paid signing with small items going for $29 and large items going for $30 with inscriptions for an additional $15. What I love about paid signings as i've mentioned numerous times in my blog is the fact that there is no drama, the autographs always come out nice, and there is never a rushed signature. I am a fan of any Hall of Fame Sports event since Chris always runs his events smoothly and professionally.

Along with Don Newcombe other current and former Dodgers were signing including Wes Parker, Tim Leary, Steve Lyons, Manny Mota, and Javy Guerra. I expected more people to show up since this was a Dodger event but there wasn't much of a crowd.

I ended up getting a ROMLB signed on the SS by Newk.

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.