10/25/08: Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch

Second time in the early year that Syracuse faces Rochester (AHL Affiliate of the Florida Panthers). It was also a special night used to honor boxing Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio, as well as Pink Out Night for breast cancer. Due to the Pink Out night, Daniel Baldwin showed up for support of his mother's foundation. Between periods, Basilio was signing free photos, which was great. As for Baldwin, I found out right before I left that he would probably be there so I printed off a photo. He was never really accessible, however, I just happened to pass by him after getting my Basilio autograph, and he signed for me. It was a pretty sweet night. We decided to get Syracuse players after the game, as it was wide open outside of the Crunch locker room.

Cards:

Syracuse
Adam Pineault - 1
Mike York - 3
Craig MacDonald - 1
Dan Smith - 1
Aaron Rome - 2

Overall Hockey Cards Signed 2008-09 Season - 15


Photos:

Carmen Basilio (Boxing HOFer)
Daniel Baldwin (Actor)

Pucks:

Maxim Mayorov

10/24/08: Binghamton Senators vs Syracuse Crunch

Tonight, I decided to try to get the visiting Binghamton Senators in their first of four visits to Syracuse. Since I am awful with faces and since I only had cards of three players, I decided to print out a logo sheet, like the ones I used in Auburn Doubledays games. Overall, that came out great and I was able to get 4 of my 5 cards signed!

Cards:

Binghamton
Brendan Bell - 2
Ryan Shannon - 2

Overall Hockey Cards Signed in 2008-09 Season: 7

Other Items:

Binghamton Logo Sheet (18 signed)
#24 - Derek Smith
#8 - Tomas Kudelka
#15 - Danny Bois
#13 - Peter Regin
#38 - Chaz Johnson
#23 - Josh Hennessy
#33 - Jeremy Yablonski
Coach - Cory Clouston
#22 - Matt Carkner
#35 - Jeff Glass
#9 - Shawn Weller
#7 - Brendan Bell
#41 - Alexander Nikulin
#36 - Ilya Zubov
#16 - Cody Bass
#26 - Ryan Shannon
#19 - Zack Smith
#20 - Mattias Karlsson

10/16/08: World Poker Tour Event at Niagara Falls

Day two of our time near the poker room was very uneventful. Neither Erik Seidel nor any other player was in the stands watching, so my only two possibilities were Kathy Liebert and Gavin Smith. Gavin was my main goal, so we showed up a bit early hoping to run into him. After sitting in a chair in the hallway for a bit talking, Gavin finally came walking down the hall. I did not move from the chair, didn't even uncross my legs, and called him over to ask him to sign my Razor card of him. He was nice, and I have to say it was probably the least effort I ever had to put in to getting an autograph. I decided Liebert wasn't worth really bothering to get on a card, so that is all I got.


Cards:
Gavin Smith - 1

10/15/08: World Poker Tour Event in Niagara Falls

Sadly, even on vacation I try to get autographs. We had been planning on seeing a WPT event live for awhile, so this would be fun. Unfortuately, I forgot most of my stuff in the hotel room and realized it after walking to the casino. I ended up buying a Sharpie and a deck of Niagara Fallsview Casino playing cards and made it to the WPT poker area with about 12 players left. I recognized three players: Erik Seidel, Kathy Liebert, and Gavin Smith. The bothersome part was that I had cards of all three of them in my hotel room, from the Razor set!

Well, I was able to get Erik Seidel in the hallway after he busted out. He seemed rather disappointed, of course, but was polite and signed my King of Hearts card. Then, as the players went to dinner break, I was able to get Kathy Liebert to sign my Queen of Hearts. At this point we gave up, knowing that we were going to watch the final table the next day. Overall, not bad, but disappointing to not have the cards instead!

Items Signed:

King of Hearts Playing Card by Erik Seidel
Queen of Hearts Playing Card by Kathy Liebert

10/11/08: Rochester Americans vs Syracuse Crunch

Home opener for the Syracuse Crunch and it was relatively uneventful. I stood outside after the game, going after Syracuse players. My main goal was Nikita Filatov. I felt he would be called up soon, so I decided he was my goal. I was able to get him on a puck, however I was unable to find my silver Sharpie, so I borrowed another guy's silver marker. It didn't come out good at all, but at least I have a signed puck of him. Other than that, just lucked out and got some cards.

Cards:

Syracuse
Dan LaCosta - 1
Jonathan Sigalet - 2

Other:

Signed Puck by Nikita Filatov (Syracuse)

9/13/08: Penn State vs Syracuse College Football

During the very boring (autograph wise) month between baseball and hockey, I have really only had one autograph experience. This was before the Syracuse University and Penn State football game. I was meeting the guy who invited me to the game, but I decided to get there about an hour early, as the premiere for the movie "The Express" happened the night before, and I had a gut feeling that the many ex-Syracuse football players, as well as the movie stars would show up during the pregame festivities. I was correct on this feeling, as Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown (he played Ernie Davis in the movie) were there doing some interviews before going into the Carrier Dome for the game. I missed out on Quaid twice, which was disappointing. I was able to get Rob Brown to sign a movie poster, as well as a Syracuse bumper sticker that was handed out. Not a bad deal. Unfortunately, it sounded like I missed Art Monk by meer minutes and a couple other players I had cards of (such as Don McPherson). Overall, it was kind of nice to get an autograph of an actor for once.

Autographs:

The Express Movie Poster signed by actor Rob Brown
Syracuse Football Sticker signed by actor Rob Brown