8/29/09: New York State Fair

We had gone to the State Fair, in hopes of watching Shinedown's free show. Needless to say, when it poured most of the day, we gave up. Ended up watching the last game of the Chiefs/Leigh Valley doubleheader. But while we were there, just so ended up that there was a WWE autograph signing. It was free, brought to us by Time Warner. So I said, why not? WWE personalities Jimmy Hart and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were there. Talk about bringing back childhood memories from when I actually used to watch this stuff lol. Ended up running into a guy I knew who gave me a Jimmy Hart card, which was cool. They also handed out photos of an empty ring, which both signed for me.


Cards:

Jimmy Hart - 1

Other:

Photo of wresting right, signed by Jim Duggan and Jimmy Hart

12/12/08: WBS Penguins vs Syracuse Crunch

A special night at the Crunch game against the WBS Penguins (AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins), as Mario Andretti was there to make an appearance and sign some autographs. A bit disappointing, as the line went very slowly, and my long search for a card came thru with about 2 minutes to spare. The sucky thing is that right in my other, easy box, I had a Mario Andretti Allen and Ginter card that I didn't realize he was in. So finding that the day after the signing was not a happy point! Other than that, not a bad autograph night at all, especially seeing Mike York leaving, as I was trying to get WBS guys.

Cards:

Syracuse
Mike York - 3

WBS
Ryan Stone - 2
Joey Mormina - 1

Racing
Mario Andretti - 1

Misc:

Photos
Mario Andretti Proved At Signing - 1

WBS Logo Sheet (18 Players, 1 Random)
#3 - Joey Mormina
#6 - Ben Lovejoy
#23 - Ryan Stone (Top Right #33, his NHL number, played game as #23)
#35 - Adam Berkhoel
#4 - Jon D'Aversa
#44 - Danny Richmond
#26 - Jean-Michel Daoust
#28 - Nick Johnson
#19 - Luca Caputi
#21 - Dustin Jeffrey
#1 - Curtis Darling
#10 - Mark Letestu
#7 - Bill Thomas
#8 - T.J. Kemp
#33 - Tommy Goebel (Bottom Right #33)
#5 - Deryk Engelland
#2 - Jean-Philippe Cote
#38 - Adam Henrich
Top Left Corner - Random Coach or Trainer Not listed

54 Different Hockey Cards Signed This Season

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

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

8/28/08: Toby Keith Concert

After winning two tickets in a karaoke contest earlier in the day, I went to the Toby Keith concert. After the show was over, two of the three opening acts were signing autographs. The line was about 10 people long, so we figured why not. Not wanting to spend actual money, I was able to get:

Trailer Choir: All three band members (plus some other guy) on my ticket stub.

Carters Chord: All three band members on a little promotional card that had their pictures on it.

Not a bad deal when I entered the day not thinking anything about autographs