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.

Drew League Part 2 7-30-11

I decided to check out the Drew League again for autographs and also to watch some basketball games up close. I found out through twitter that James Harden and Josh Smith were going to play. As soon as I arrived another grapher informed me that Amare Stoudemire was going to show up to watch the games. About five minutes later I see Amare strolling in but he didn't sign for anyone so I went in to watch Team Go Ham play. Today Demar DeRozan and Cuttino Mobley played for Team Go Ham.

As soon as the game was over everyone went after Amare for autographs. Amare was nice enough to sign my basketball for me.

Next game up was Kings of LA which featured two pros, James Harden of the Thunder and Josh Smith of the Hawks.

I ended up getting Harden and Smith after the game and Kenneth Faried as he was coming into the game.

The third game featured Kenneth Faried vs Austin Daye. In this game Kenneth Faried stole the show with his monstrous slam dunks. Check out this youtube video of this game featuring Kenneth's highlights.

Here are some in game action shots. Note how cool that the NBA players like Nick Young and James Harden stay and watch the games with the crowd. What I love about the Drew League is accessibility to the players and the fact that every seat in the gym is a great seat for basketball.

Looking back now I wish I attended every game. Top pros like Kobe, Lebron and KD stopped by the Drew League over the summer to showcase their skills.

Clayton Kershaw Living Spaces 7-23-11

Clayton Kershaw was scheduled to sign at Living Spaces in La Mirada on 7-23-11 from 10am-12pm. I arrived at the signing around 8am and there were already about 400 people waiting in line. This was my fault since I went out the night before with my buddies, slept late and got to the signing late as well. I made the rookie mistake of not getting to the signing earlier but I wasn't going to camp out either for 10 hours. One of my buddies Joseph was smart enough to get there early and he camped out the night before since midnight. Thus he was able to get two wristbands and get two items signed.

Personally i'd never do a 10-12 hour campout. That's just completely insane for an autograph. That's why I sometimes prefer paid signings since it's less of an hassle. By the time I arrived Living Spaces staff already distributed wristbands. There was chaos at Living Spaces as people were getting multiple wristbands and people in the back were cutting in line. The entire event was a fiasco. I ran into the usual graphers there like Martin, Scotty, Mike and Joseph but none of them had any extra wristbands for me except Joseph. I didn't ask Joseph for the extra wristband since he did earn it waiting over 10 hours for this signing. Thus I did what anyone would do bribe a stranger for his wristband. I ended up chilling near by buddy Joseph who camped out the night before in front of the line and yelled out "twenty bux for the first person to offer me their extra wristband." A random guy came up to me and agreed to sell me his extra wristband for 20 bucks. The guy brought like four of his kids so I don't think he needed more items signed. For me that was a good investment since I was able to sleep in and also if it was an actual paid signing fees for a small item would have been at least $50.

I ended up getting Kershaw to sign a ROMLB on the SS with the 2011 All Star Inscription. My buddy Joseph got a jersey signed.

Drew League Part 1 7-10-11

This was my first trip out to Washington Park to check out the Drew League. Due to the NBA lockout a lot of local pros were playing in this summer pro am to work out. I heard through Derrick Williams' twitter page that he would be playing that day so I had to check it out. My goal was to get Derrick Williams' autograph since he is a local product from La Mirada and the #2 pick in the NBA draft. As soon as I arrived I noticed that there weren't that many graphers and the gym that the players played in was smaller than a high school gym. It looked more like a rec league gym which was great since every seat in the house was great. As soon as I parked I ran into Nick Young (Wizards) and Austin Daye (Pistons) in the parking lot.

Nick rolled up in his Maseratti. I ended up getting both of them to sign my basketball before they left.

The next scheduled team to play was GO HAM which is a team comprised of a lot of NBA players. A week prior to this both Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley played for the GO HAM team. Today featured players included DeMar Derozan, Derrick Williams, Terrence Williams and the rapper The Game. I ran into both DeMar Derozan and The Game in the bench/picnic area between the players locker room and the gym.

I had Demar sign by basketball (add on to my Nick Young and Austin Daye basketball) and I had The Game sign a SS ROMLB since I had nothing prepared for him to sign.

As soon as I got these graphs I went back to my car to unload the signed items and brought back a brand new basketball to get it signed by Derrick Williams and also another basketball which was initially signed by Tayshaun Prince. The Tayshaun Prince auto was obtained at the Baron Davis Charity kickball event at Crossroads High School in Santa Monica. Tayshaun has the worst signature so I figured i'd add more signatures to this ball. His sig looks like the letter "L." (pictured in the Lower Right side)

The signatures shown above are Matt Barnes and Marcus Williams. Matt came out to the Drew League as a spectator with his sons. Marcus Williams was playing for team LA Unified.

Here are some photos of the game itself. Note how close everyone is sitting near the court.

At the end of the game I ended up getting Derrick Williams to sign by basketball and he was nice enough to take a photo with me as well.

At the bench/picnic area between the players locker room and the gym I was able to get Terrence Williams, Demar Derozan, and Derrick Williams to sign for me before they left.

Overall it was a fantastic event. Stay tuned for part 2.