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Here it is, my 2nd year of hounding, and technically my rookie season. This year was, for me, the most successful to date. I got just over 700 autographs total in 22 outings. I had some great successes, a few surprises, some painful memories, and some stories of futility and disappointment. Here it is in its entirety, with a forgotten outing added!
5/5/00 - More prank calls, more autographs, and talking to Ronnie Stern in a diner I remembered how
the Blues had gotten prank calls before the Game 4 in San Jose, and had
been forced not to sign autographs. On Friday mornings, the 92.3 KSJO
morning radio show "Lamont & Tonelli" holds their
"Dirty Friday" prank call marathon. They prank call
people, and this particular morning, as I listened to the show before
school, Lamont and Tonelli decided to prank call the Dallas Stars!
They actually called the Fairmont, and were connected to Richard
Matvichuk's room. The phone rang, and a player picked up.
The conversation went something like this: 5/2/00 - Sharks vs. Stars: 8x10s the focal point in a disappointing outing This one was really crappy. The Stars were staying at the Fairmont this time, and the word "disappointing" continued to be the theme for my playoff hounding. This time I concentrated on getting a few 8x10's signed. First off, Dave Manson and Kirk Muller both signed for me. Then Eddie the Beagle Belfour, the scourge of San Jose, signed jack squat, as he waited inside the hotel until a cab was ready. He hopped in without even considering going over to sign for the four of us there at the time. There were a few other players there who hopped in cabs that would have willingly signed had they been staying at the De Anza. By that time, 15 people had gathered for autographs, when this Fairmont Hotel worker guy came out and said, "No autographs, guys." Everyone just stared at him, and did not move at all. He repeated what he had said. We just stayed there, staring him down and thinking, "Yeah, nice try, idiot!" Finally, he got some sense into himself, and said, "Yeah, that wasn't gonna work, huh..." and he walked out. He called for security on his little walkie talkie. Everyone was thinking of what an idiot this jerk was. Modano came out, and people obviously were wanting to get his autograph. The security personnel, all two of them, told us to get off the property and onto the sidewalk. Modano signed for me on the sidewalk, after ignoring pleas from the hotel workers to stand clear. Another collector argued with the insolent hotel worker, saying, "Hey, buddy, this is America, I can do whatever I want!" The hotel people couldn't just sit there yapping at us to get off the sidewalk that belonged not to the Fairmont Hotel but to the city of San Jose. Bunch of ignorant jerks! Those guys totally messed up anything. The original idiot who said "No autographs" made attempts to stop us from getting autographs, but was more useless than a mail request to Mark Messier. This outing yielded only 13 autographs for me. This sucked. At least I got an 8x10 signed by Hull, Keane, and Modano. Total: 13 Stars. 4/19/00 - Sharks vs. Blues: Phone threats, ticket lines, and a crappy outing overall! Playoff fever struck Santa Clara County, as the Sharks took the momentum from Game 3 right into Game 4. I did the same thing as last time; I walked to a light rail station, hopped on, and was jetted to downtown. But as I got off on 2nd Street, I looked at my watch and it was 9:40! I thought I would miss some players. I dashed across 2nd Street, jaywalked across San Fernando, and darted across 1st Street, around the Fairmont to the front. Phew, nobody left. Pronger, as usual, was "talking on his cell phone." I swear, he's faking it. He makes it look like he's talking on the phone, but ten bucks says he's not! (A sign seen in the Tank during Game 3 sums it up: http://www.bigwhinydefenseman.com/pronger) Anyway, he left in a cab. This time in the morning there were about 10 people. MacInnis did not repeat his signing habit this time. He left the same way Pronger did. Jamal Mayers, Bob Bassen, Kelly Chase, Mike Eastwood, and Ricard Persson signed for us. Yeah, that about sums up our waiting around. And Jon and I did plenty of that, believe me. We went to the Tank, and our beloved wench in orange was guarding the Sharks entrance. No barricades though, as we were not breaking any of her "rules." We got many of the players that came in, including Damphousse, Friesen, and Nolan! Jon was waiting for tickets in the line later. 60 people were in line to get some tickets for the game. Jon was the 10th one in line or so. After five people bought tickets, it was over. No more for anyone. Sold out. Jon and the rest of the people in line unleashed expletives, and we left. We decided to walk back to the Fairmont and try to get more Blues. I looked across the street, and who was walking parallel to us but Pierre Turgeon and another player! We beat him to the hotel. Actually, we got Turgeon to sign a block away from the hotel. After he signed, I asked him who the other guy was. "I'm not telling, you should know that already! You're a hockey fan, aren't you?" Then they continued walking. Now you should understand that each time I go on an autograph outing, I print out a sheet that has every player's picture on it. I looked on this sheet and found the other one to be Eastwood. Jon called him and he signed for us. Pierre was amazed that we had found out. "How did you find that out?" He asked us. I held up the sheet with player images on it and he understood, I think. It was then about noon. It was getting very warm, as the lack of clouds meant burning sun. It wasn't Phoenix, but it was a sign that summer's coming! My main goals for this particular try were Handzus and Turek, two notable players I hadn't gotten this week. The bus pulled up, and the players filed out. I got Handzus, and then someone called Turek over just as he was about to go. Thank God! I got him to sign an Ultimate Victory card, and it came out hella good. Pronger was up to his cell-phone charade again, and this time it was the most obvious faking I've seen. He wasn't even talking! He was just holding it up to his ear! What a bunch of schieße! Now here's the brick that ground the autograph hounding gears to a halt... We returned at 3:45 to get St. Louis as they went to the game. Pronger came out, and as usual, phone in hand, left by way of a yellow car. Then, MacInnis, McLennan, and Young came out. I asked Young to sign, and he reluctantly came over, and slopped one apiece. I was wondering, "Man, Scott Young is usually a pretty cool guy, why the hell is he only signing one, and sloppy?" I then called for Al MacInnis. Here's the reply: "No!" and then, "You can thank one of your colleagues for that!" I was baffled at this. Who the heck was he talking about? I called for McLennan and he came over. He said he wouldn't sign, but at least he was nice enough to explain to us what had gone awry. First of all, the Blues had come back from the morning skate to find threatening and profane messages on their answering machines from a bunch of crazed fans. NHL security had informed them that, as a security precaution, the team should refrain from signing autographs. Well, we were all very much pissed off. Sure, this sucked, but we decided to go get the Sharks just so we could make productive use of this pish-posh We went back to the arena, and got some more Sharks; then Jon came over to my house and we watched the Sharks beat the Blues 3-2 in one of the most exciting playoff games in team history. I helped Jon scan some images for his website, then the day was done. He went home, I counted up my autographs, and I was less than pleased. Only 33 this time. But oh well, at least some were pretty good! I sure hope this is not the last autograph opportunity of the year here in San Jose! Total: 17 Sharks autographs, 16 Blues. 4/17/00 - Sharks vs. Blues: Playoff fever in Teal Town You know, San Jose has 300 days of sunshine per year. But this week it seemed that was not true. Taking advantage of spring break this week, I woke up this morning to pouring rain. I went to the light rail station anyway, and rode downtown. I hopped off at the Convention Center, and walked the block to the Fairmont. Jon came 5 minutes later. Oddly, absolutely nobody besides us was there! Pronger had already left with a few others. Scott Young and about 4 other players were lounging around in the atrium. I called for Young, and he motioned us over. The Fairmont's Middle Eastern security guard was inside, so we got McLennan, Ellett, Chase, and Mayers. I was just about to get Reirden, but nooo, he had to come out and tell us to get out of the atrium. Richer came out, and signed for us. I had a Stephane Richer card of him, but it was on the Panthers. He said that was a different Stephane Richer, not him. Oh well, at least I got the Score 97 card I needed signed. Then, out came Al MacInnis. I saw this as a big chance to get someone that's usually pretty tricky to get. He actually walked out to the bus, and beautifully personalized my Score 97 card! And then, at the Arena, the Sharks exited from the morning skate. Damphousse signed a pretty good card, and Friesen beautifully signed the official game puck I had gotten after I was attacked at the game. Also, Sutter, Norton, Matteau and Hannan stopped. Not too bad for a rain-clouded morning. But the clouds parted, and there was the trademark clear skies for the rest of the day. Jon could not go before the game, so I and the usual 5 or 6 others got a few more, including Turgeon, but nothing major. I was very surprised that Jon and I were the only ones there! Total: 16 Sharks, 36 Blues. 4/9/00 - Sharks vs. Canucks: After a day like this, it figured I would get attacked!
4/5/00 - Sharks vs. Stars: Quality, not quantity! The Stars. The hated Dallas Stars. In San Jose, they are the enemy. Also, Eddie the Dirty Bum Eagle was here too, and for the first time in two years, he played a game in the Tank. The fans booed his ass the whole game, and he let in 5 goals! Belfour is to San Jose what Marchment is to Dallas. That should make things clear to see. They were staying at the De Anza, thankfully. I and 14 others got everyone worth a mention, including Belfour, Nieuwendyk, Modano, Langenbrunner, and Hull. Brett did not sign St. Louis stuff, so the card for my set was out of the question. I was happy with the results, although I have gotten more in one shot before. Total autographs: 32 Stars. 3/27/00 - Sharks vs. Oilers: Only two players eluded me! The Hotel De-Anza is THE best hotel to get autographs at in San Jose. Hell, maybe even the best in the West! Or the NHL! There is no atrium for the players to escape to. That is why I got every single player on the team, minus Mike Grier (didn't make the trip), and Sean Brown (who escaped while I was getting someone else.) I got everybody. Deveraux, Guerin, Hamrlik, Kilger, Marchant, Niinimaa, Poti, Ranford, Salo, Smyth, Titov, and Weight were the major ones. And this was not over the course of a day, this was over the course of only an hour and a half! 39 in only 90 minutes! Not too shabby! If Grier would have been here, though... Total: 39 Oilers. 3/24/00 - Sharks vs. Coyotes: Two letters --> J.R. I went to this one after school, and a bunch of people were there. Roenick was the first one to come out and boy, did he sign! I got four items from him, and he was signing left and right! I guess everyone was right about J.R.! He does sign well! Tkachuk got suspended, and he did not come out of the hotel while I was there. There was one intersting moment when Sean Burke came out. A collector was wearing a KISS concert T-shirt from a recent performance at San Jose Arena. Burke asked the collector if the concert was good, and had a conversation about KISS! (Not exactly my favorite band, though...) I nabbed a whole bunch of other guys, such as Numminen, Letowski, Drake, Alatalo, Green, and Odelein, plus the coaches, but nothing much else. While J.R. was the highlight of the night, I was sort of disappointed overall with this one. Total: 27 Coyotes autographs. 3/15/00 - Sharks vs. Sabres: Hasek signed, but not for me... I followed up an unbelievable outing with another unbelievable one. This time, it wasn't the amount of autographs that was surreal. It was the fact that... Hasek signed! Up till this afternoon, I had heard everything about his embargo on signatures, and how he absolutely would not sign. Here's what happened: This Czechoslovakian kid was there wearing a Hasek jersey. So were a few others. But I noticed that the Hasek name on the back had an accent mark thingamabob above the s. And the logo on the jersey was foreign. So when Hašek came out, this kid rushed up to the front, his dad behind him. He presented Dominik with a letter he himself had written in Czech. The Dominator was surprised and felt pretty good after reading the letter. He signed for the kid, all the while chatting in Czech with the dad and the kid. He posed for a picture, and then he started signing for a few kids there. I was shocked. He was signing?! Wow! But I should've known better. The Dominator signed for a few kids, but nobody 7th grade and up. Damn! Oh well, it's quite an interesting story. I got Rob Ray, and he emphasizes manners... just check out my quotes page for that! I got Smehlik, Tsyplakov, Warrener, Lindy Ruff, Stu Barnes, Chris Gratton, and a few others. Peca didn't come out until 6:30, by that time I had already left because my parents did not want me out there after dark. Well, for me it was pretty good despite having a Hašek autograph slip through my fingers. Total: 30 Sabres autographs. 3/13/00 - Sharks vs. Flames: An autograph inferno, and one day's fame in the paper!
3/6/00 - Sharks vs. Rangers: As expected, no Leetch or McLean The day was dark as clouds rolled in. After school I took the #22 down to the Fairmont Hotel and then walked the two blocks down Market Street to the Fairmont Hotel. Now, I'll remind you, the Fairmont Hotel sucks for autographs. The players filed out at about 4:00 and I got players like Nedved, MacLean, Tim Taylor, LaCroix, and Adam Graves. Then Fleury came out. He's a class guy, and he signed two beautiful signatures for me. Mike Richter came out, and scribbled a really crappy "MR" onto my card, ŕ la Mike Ricci. Then came Valeri Kamensky, who signed one each, but not too bad. But, as I thought, Kirk McLean came right out and ignored all of us and went right onto the bus. And, as usual, Brian Leetch did the same, and I expected it. Oh well, this one was not really that great. Total: 23 Rangers autographs. 3/4/00 - Sharks vs. 'Canes: A hurricane of hounding
2/29/00 - Sharks vs. Mighty Ducks: Finally, Selanne! It took four tries, but I finally got Selanne. I was inexperienced last year and did not know how to call hotels and what to ask. But finally, I got Selanne and about half of the team. Kariya did not come to San Jose with the rest of the team. Among the few I got this cloudy afternoon at the Hilton: Aalto, Matt Cullen, Ted Donato, Kevin Haller, Tony Hrkac, Guy Hebert, Marty McInnis, Fredrik Olausson, Steve Rucchin, Temmu Selanne, Oleg Tverdovsky. They were harder to hound than L.A. because a whole bunch of them came out at the same time. There were about 8 more people than were at the Hilton to try to go get the Kings. Therefore security was a lot more tight. But the bus did not go into the hotel atrium, so I was thankful for that. The bus parked on the sidewalk, and all the players just walked up. The first to come out was Fredrik Olausson. He is quite possibly one of the nicest and most easy-going NHL players around. He personalized two cards (by request) and chatted with all of us there. The rest of the Ducks were indifferent about signing, but did anyway. Kevin Haller was very polite. Tverdovsky signed three for me, and on the other hand, Selanne was nearly mobbed. He hastily signed one item each, and scampered onto the bus. He was the last Duck. All in all, not too bad; if I do this regularly I will get more experienced in hounding! Total: 26 Mighty ducks autographs. 2/27/00 - Sharks Fest: Standing in line isn't fun at all! I came into this outing not thinking I would get over 20. I was correct. I did not get over 20. But the Sharks Fest is a lot of fun, and as Jon and I waited outside with others for the general session to begin, Steve Konroyd walked up to the front entrance. He signed for us and I gave him a list of all his cards that I printed off of hockeydb.com. Then it was time to enter the arena. The Sharks Fest has these booths at the bottom of the arena around the playing area. The lines to these booths wind up the lower bowl sections, and are very long in most cases. The downside to the whole event was the amount of time waiting in line to get the autographs. And with only three hours for general session, it was impossible to get more than 15 players! Minor league call-up Shawn Heins signed my jersey, Granato, Damphousse, and Stern also signed for me. A few odd things happened when getting Ricci and Marleau. First off, I handed Ricci a 1999-00 Stadium Club card to sign. He'd never seen it before, so he showed it to Marleau and he read the card text aloud. After that, he held the card by the edges and sarcastically plopped it back on the table as if to say "Yeah, great description." Right after I had gotten Marleau, this teenage girl got her autographs. For a fee, you could get a picture taken with Marleau and Ricci. This girl happened to have a humungous crush on Patty Marleau. The whole time she was in line, she was talking about him. Then, when she got up to him, her face turned cherry red. When she posed with Marleau and Ricci, she was standing very close to Marleau and away from Ricci! After the picture was taken, the photo lady gave the girl and her friend the picture. The Marleau-loving girl started to shake and hyper-ventilate! Wow, I guess it meant that much to her! Overall, it was a fun outing, even though I did not get that many. Total: 15 Sharks. 2/26/00 - Sharks vs. Kings: Forty in one shot How would I follow up
one of my better autograph outings? Why, of course, I would do the
best in my career as an autograph hound! I nabbed Sharks in the
morning, as I had heard the Kings would not be practicing that morning
(they got into the hotel at 3:00 in the morning after flying in from
British Columbia!) so I then waited until the afternoon, then went to
the San Jose Hilton. The players came out and it was
perfect. Jason Blake signed. Then a few more Kings came out,
and all stopped. Then I saw Garry Galley, one of my favorite
defensemen, exit. Got 4 signatures from him, and he was very nice
about it. He asked us how we were doing, and if we had gotten a
lot of autographs yet. Then, right after that, Luc Robitaille came
out, and I got two beautiful signatures from him. Palffy came out
and autographed one per, which was weird because I heard that he was
signing three in other cities. Jozef Stumpel and Bryan Smolinski
were both very nice, and Stumpel only signed one per. Then out
came Rob Blake. I thought, "Oh man, he's gonna be the one
bitchy player on the team." But no, I was very surprised. He
signed one per, but the autograph I got was very good. I only
missed about six Kings, and they weren't really worth mentioning because
I barely had anything for them anyway. In all, I was extremely
pleased with the results, and with a nine-game homestand coming up for
the Sharks, it's only gonna get better. 2/23/00 - Sharks vs. Blues: No Sharks, just the Blues! The weather forecast looked grim. There were big dark clouds covering the whole valley when I went out to the arena. After getting off of the Light Rail, I made my way to the Fairmont Hotel. Remember, this is the crappiest hotel in San Jose to get autographs. They don't let you into the atrium to get autographs. So, I was relieved to find a bus parked on the sidewalk. That was really helpful, because we could get players as they were walking to the bus. I got Dave Ellett, Craig Conroy, Jochen Hecht, Jamie McLennan, Jamal Mayers, and Pavol Demitra, just to name a few. But I missed a whole bunch of guys. After that, I was on my way to the arena with my friend Jon when it started to rain hard. We figured the Sharks were already in, so we left. However, it stopped raining after 3:00. That was good; we then headed over to the Fairmont again. This time, I got Bartecko, Bassen, Reasoner, Helmer, Eastwood, Persson, and Turek, plus I got Mayers, Demitra, Quenneville, and Federko for the second time that day. I was very pleased with this showing, even though I got fewer than some of my previous outings. But this was good because I didn't come home with just Sharks. At the game, the St. Louis announcers were in a different press box we couldn't get to, so we got ESPN colorman Brian Engblom, and as always, Steve Konroyd. After giving him his rookie card again, he passed it around the press row and everyone had a laugh or two. However, I watched in horror as my Sharks were steamrolled 4-1. San Jose played sloppy hockey, reminiscent of the 96-97 season. The only goal the Sharks scored was a fluke. After the game, I felt sick that the Sharks had crumpled so easily, and I also had a fever and was sick to my stomach. I knew I had to go home, so while I was waiting for my early ride, I got Vincent Damphousse. He only signed one. Many drove by without looking at us. This mentally handicapped guy was yelling "f--- you Blues" at the Sharks players, cussing them out as they headed to their cars! Finally, the security guy there told him to scram. Good riddance! (This is the same retard that appears at my hockey rink and yells "boooo!" during our games at random times.) Even though I felt like crap after the game, I still had one of the best days for autographs. Despite the rain, I was able to obtain a decent amount of opposing teams' autographs. I did not feel empty about not getting any Sharks, because just two days earlier I had gotten a ton of them at their practice at the Ice Centre. Total: 5 Sharks, 29 Blues, 2 Miscellaneous. 1/21/00 - Sharks Practice: My first practice is a success! I went to the Ice Centre, and watched the Sharks shoot pucks around and do other passing and three-on-two drills. After the game, I was lucky to get most all the Sharks, except Shields and Korolyuk, and a couple others that did not attend practice. I was overwhelmed by how many I got. I did not think I would bring home that many signatures! Total: 35 Sharks. 1/25/00 - Sharks vs. Av's: Not too shabby for an outing I never planned!
1/22/00 - Sharks vs. Mighty Ducks: The Curse of Anaheim is lifted!
1/8/00 - Sharks vs. Panthers: Before, during, and after the game Today was pretty darn busy for me. As I woke up this morning I was tired, for I had just wrestled in a tournament the day before. I gathered all my crap and went up to the arena. Already there were about ten people there including five kids. And alas, the normal security lady with the 500-pound frame was there. D'oh! Oh well, she wasn't that pissy, which was good, so finally the players came out of the morning skate. Vinny Damphousse stopped for us and signed, followed by Alexander Korolyuk. "Korky" signed nicely for everyone, and then Ragnarsson did likewise. The morning passed quickly, with Sturm, Norton, Sutton, Shields, Stuart, and more signing for most of us. Then I saw a player walk out of the gate and towards a car down the street. It was ex-Shark Ray Whitney! I and about four others ran off in pursuit. He signed one for each of us, but was in a hurry. Soon after that, a huge bus pulled into the arena. Assuming it was the Panthers bus, I decided to head over to the Fairmont, where Florida would be staying. The Fairmont is the worst damn hotel in San Jose because people are not allowed into the atrium in front of the hotel. The bus pulled into the atrium and out popped most of the team, which went straight into the hotel. And a rather heavy-set man started hollering his head off at the parking valet for parking right in front of the bus so it was trapped. Hmm, typical Billy Smith. He's a butt-munch who doesn't sign jack. But overall, before the game I got what I normally get before a game; somewhere around 15. But that wasn't all. I went to the game that night against Florida, and got Panther announcers Denis Potvin and Randy Moller, both former NHLers. Then I saw the Sharks fall to Florida 4-2 as Pavel Bure burned Steve Shields for two goals. I did not expect much in the way of signatures after the game, but I went anyway, and came away with signatures from Granato, Harvey, Lowry, Marleau, Matteau, Norton, Ricci, Shields, Stern, Stuart (again!) and Ron Sutter. Overall, I did excellent, my best day ever in my brief autographing career! I got many cards, and two pucks (signed by Brad Stuart and Denis Potvin), and a Brad Stuart 8X10 signed. That 8X10 autograph is probably the best autograph I have now! Total: 36 Sharks autographs, 5 Panthers. 12/26/99 - Sharks vs. Mighty Ducks - My first postgame attempt I decided to get some autographs after the Sharks-Ducks game. Before the game, however, I entered the arena, and instead of going to my nosebleed seat in section 208, I headed over to the press box and hoped that some former NHLers were there. Sharks colorman Steve Konroyd wasn't there, but when I went to the Anaheim side of the box, former Sharks goalie and NHL veteran Brian Hayward was sitting there. I chatted with him for awhile and he signed three cards. After that, I watched from row 30 of the upper deck as the Sharks fell to Anaheim 1-0. Temmu scored the game's only goal. After the game, I went straight to the gate where the Sharks entered/exited. Already a small crowd had gathered there. I made my way to the front near the driveway. The normal security wench wasn't there, which was good. There was another security guard who was more lenient. I heard from a few people that the Ducks would be heading straight to the airport, so it was likely that they would be taking a bus. About 15 minutes later, Stuart drove out and stopped. He signed for everyone there and was very polite about it. Marchment and Sundstrom were next. Ricci stopped, but was sort of annoyed with all the people crowding around the car. His signature was no more than a barely readable catscratch that looked like a weird "MR". Steve Shields stopped and signed, but then we thought, "Who hasn't come out yet?" Lowry, Matteau, Korolyuk, Rathje, Sturm, and Nolan had all ignored the crowd of autograph seekers / pesky little kids and roared away. But just then Friesen arrived. And he didn't come out of the arena, he was walking into the arena! He had gone out to eat, and was re-entering the arena. He graciously signed for everyone there, even posing for photos! This was surprising, because Friesen has been known to get a bad temper when his team loses. I was surprised he was in such good spirits. Soon after he left, the crowd waited for the Ducks to exit. They sure did; they all exited the arena in one bus and headed straight for San Jose International. D'oh! Not again! Overall, though, it was my best outing to date. My next will be Jan. 8 against Florida, probably. Total: 14 Sharks autographs, 3 Mighty Ducks. 9/11/99 - Sharks vs. Mighty Ducks - "and a funny thing happened to me on the way home from school…" Things are looking up for me, sort of. One day before this day, I decided to roller-blade home from my school. We get out at 12:30 here on Fridays (!) and San Jose Arena was about a 5-minute walk away. But on blades it's 1 minute! So I went past the Tank and who did I see walking to his car but Darryl Sutter! I didn’t have anything for him to sign, so I just chatted for a few minutes. He's a great guy who talks to fans a lot. Anyway… I learned that the Ducks would fly in from Orange County (no pun intended.) that afternoon of the game, so I decided not to get autographs from them. I got to the Tank at about 8:30, and saw Owen Nolan pulling in. He signed one for me! I guess I was wrong about Nolan! Then Sundstrom blazed past us and parked in the closest spot next to the gate. I politely asked Niklas for an autograph, and indeed he signed! Then, as usual, I got Murray Craven, and then Mike Ricci signed for me. Then we waited for them to finish practice. Granato and Sundstrom signed, followed by Marleau and Damphoussse. I hoped my pen would work this time! All in all, it was an average day for me. I received some great Sharks autographs, but no Anaheim. That sucked. But my next try will be for all those who I frequently trade with. I will try to get many cards signed that I will be able to trade for SCORE 1997-98! Total: 13 Sharks autographs, 0 Ducks. |
This
day was bizarre. It started when the Canucks did not skate in the
morning, canceling my chances at them. Jon and I went down to the
arena, and security had barricaded off the
total area of the driveway, and there were only 5 of us there!
Sucks! Anyway, the day overall was not good. I only
got one Potvin, one Snow, and a few others. The only great signer
was Peter Schaefer, who loved to sign, and chatted with me and others
for awhile before walking. My day ended on two harsh notes. First,
when Messier blew everyone off as usual, he walked up and sat on the
bus. Then Ed Jovanovski came out and signed for everyone. As
he got on the bus, this kid yelled "Messier is a jerk!" Jovo
turned around and said, "Excuse me?! What did you say?" The
kid didn't say anything and Ed retorted "Go home!" before
jumping on the bus. The Canucks will probably be really good
signers the next time they're in town! I actually went to this
game, the last home game of the season for the Sharks. The Canucks
drummed the Sharks, forcing the men in teal to face the Blues.
After the game, in honor of Fan Appreciation Night they parachuted
souvenir bags off the rafters. It was descending right above me,
in the aisle about 10 rows up from the glass. I grabbed the bag,
and this kid grabbed it at the same time. I tugged on it, and the
kid did also. Then, the kid lost his footing a little bit.
He lost his balance briefly but did not fall down. This angered
the kid's dad. He charged me, and knocked me over. My head
hit the iron hand-railing on the way down. The arena security was
on the guy before you could say "Owen Nolan." I was taken straight to the first aid unit at the
arena. I did not get a concussion. I did not get
stitches. It was not even all that serious, except I bled alot.
I
needed to wash my Sharks jersey, as shown above! Ow. Aside from that,
autograph-wise, this day sucked. Nothing major, just the same old
stuff. Total: 21 Canucks, 6 Sharks, 1 Blood-stained Jersey.
The
weather was very nice, and there was not a cloud in the sky as I jumped
off of the Light Rail at the Santa Clara Transit Mall. I walked
the few blocks to the De Anza Hotel. Jon was already there along
with a few familiar faces, including veteran collectors Dieter and
Bob. The Flames started to walk. We got Bure, Brathwaite,
Iginla, and Fuhr, and a few others. Even more remarkable, we did
not see a bus in sight. The Flames were all walking to the
arena! No cabs at all. The players were all very nice.
I had fun racking up the signatures, and when the morning skate was all
said and done, I had already reached 45. Jon and I came back to
the hotel to clean up shop. Brathwaite, Iginla, Regehr, and
countless others were signing like mad. There were a few big
surprises. First of all, I had noticed on Regehr's card that it
said he was born in Recife, Brazil. I thought, "How
odd!" So I asked him, and he said that his parents were
missionaries. Quite interesting, since there were only two other
players besides him (Willi Plett, Rick Chartraw) to have been born in
South America. Second, there was this cameraman from the Calgary
Sun present at the hotel. He told us he was photographing fans
getting autographs in different NHL cities. He took pics of me
getting Rene Corbet and Valeri Bure, plus shots of just Jon, myself, and
this other kid. The photo seen above was actually published in the
Calgary Sun Sunday edition one week afterwards! (I'm the guy in the
middle, of course!) Thirdly, the photographer knew all the players, so
those who I wasn't quite sure of were identified by him. This guy
passed by, and I asked the photo guy who it was. I was very
surprised to hear that it was Perry Berezan! I was shocked because
not only had I not even expected him to be a broadcaster with the team, he is also a former Shark! I
caught up to him and got his signature. He was just as surprised
to see me asking for his 'graph. "Hey, how the hell didja
know I was with the team?" He asked. I told him, and he
signed and after I said "Thank you," he also said "Thank
you!" Pretty weird. This day was a success, and I only
missed Martin St. Louis and no-namers Jeff Cowan and Darrel Scoville.
I got an unbelievable amount of autographs. My standard for an
all-day outing is 60. Getting 79 was un-f***ing-believable! Total: 71 Flames, 8 Sharks.
I heard that Carolina was a pretty good team
for autographs, but I never did expect as many signatures as I got this
time. The day was bizarre. I got to the Hotel De Anza in the
morning, and there were a few hounds there, no new faces though. A
few minutes after I had gotten there, Rod Brind'Amour came out and
signed. Then he walked on down to the Arena. Then, a mere 30
seconds later, my friend Jon arrived. I told him what happened and
he was very close to insanity. But we all got a good amount of
autographs to start... not too bad. Ranheim, Fitzpatrick, Kapanen,
Roberts, Irbe, and more signed for us. That picture above is
with my boyhood idol, Arturs Irbe. The picture was taken on the corner
of Autumn and Santa Clara, the arena is to the right and the train station
is in the background. We then walked over to the
Arena, and there we saw a bizarre site. The security guard put up barriers on both sides
of the driveway... and there were only five people around! This
made me very angry, because our success rate was lowered. But Jeff
Friesen stopped and chatted with everyone there. Then after the
morning skate, we waited by the hotel. The bus parked on the
street and about 10 players came out. One of which was Paul
Coffey. Everyone wanted Coffey and he signed one apiece. I
was very happy with this success, as I've heard that Coffey is a tough
autograph to get in-person. There is a Togo's restaurant about 2 blocks
down Santa Clara Street from the hotel. We walked in to get lunch,
and we saw, to our surprise, Sharks radio colorman and former Sharks
assistant coach Drew Remenda was ordering his sandwich! We chatted, and
he signed a team picture of the Sharks from 1993-94, when he was
assistant coach. That was a weird and unexpected success. However,
the real successes came right before the game, when the Canes came
out. However, while getting autographs I was suddenly struck by
deja-vu. This 12-year old kid was standing there, with a few cards
in his hand. I asked him what he had, and he showed me his
cards. He had some current Canes, but then there was Primeau,
Haller and Primeau. Even worse, he asked players if they were the
person on the card. More often than not, he got a "no"
response. The funny thing was, that's what I was like one year ago
when I ventured out to get some autographs in person for the first
time. Scary. Anyway, I basically cleaned up on the players I
didn't get, like O'Neill, Gelinas, and Kovalenko. I ran out of
stuff to sign, and I was surprised by how may I pulled in, for one
day. Total: 7 Sharks, 58 Hurricanes.
I
didn't plan to get autographs for this game. Hell, I didn't even plan to
go to this game! However, I got some frosh at my school to give me
a ticket for a Damphousse autograph only 4 hours before the puck
dropped. Little does he know, I got
that same card signed after this game again. I quickly searched
through my collection, and I hastily threw in a few Av's, and also
Colorado's TV announcer and ex-Bruin Peter McNab, plus an old 1979
magazine with Trottier on the front. I didn't know if I would be
able to get the Avs' assistant coach, but what the hell, I
thought. I went to the game a little early, and quickly nabbed the
announcers. Then, I sat down with a few friends and watched from
my lovely section 220 seat as the Av's manhandled the Sharks 4-3.
It was close in the end, as Nolan scored two goals to cut the lead to
4-3. But sadly that's how it ended, and it's too bad, because the
Av's were diving on their asses like a bunch of pansies and drawing
absolutely ridiculous penalties. Especially Roy! This didn't
sit well with the Sharks, and after the game most of them just drove off
without stopping for us... except Friesen, Stuart, Norton, and *gasp!*
Rathje! Rats usually never stops, partially because he's a bit
shy. But this time he had girlies in the car, so he probably
wanted to show off or something! And just as I was about to leave,
guess who walked out of the arena... Bryan Trottier! I got that
magazine signed, and I was very surprised. Well, this was certainly more
of a success than I had planned. Nowadays 16 autographs is way
below my standards, but I'll take it for now. Totals: 14 Sharks
autographs, 2 Av's.
It's known to me as the Curse of
Anaheim. Whenever I go to get Ducks autographs, I come back with
NO Ducks players. However, this time, I managed to get a few, and I also
got a whole crapload of autographs from the Sharks. This was
excellent, considering the bitchy arena lady was always yapping at me
for "going onto the driveway" although I was clearly behind
the crack. At one point, Ronnie Stern drove in. He stopped
so that when he rolled down the window, he was right on the borderline
of arena property and the sidewalk. I walked up to get a
signature, and stood on the edge of the sidewalk to get the signature,
but security yelled at me for 'trespassing onto arena property to get
signatures', to which Ron Stern even got annoyed. "He doesn't
have to come in to get autographs," he argued. I got Ron Stern's signatures,
all the while happy that he signed despite the conflict. After
the morning skate, I hit a gold mine. Almost all the players, even
Nolan, stopped to sign. I only missed a few. After all
had left, I bolted only four blocks down to the De Anza Hotel, where the
Ducks would be staying. I waited. And waited. And
waited. It was 2:30, and still no Ducks! I decided that they would
most likely be walking to the arena, since many teams do that. (I
later learned that the Ducks flight from LAX was delayed and they didn't
reach San Jose International until 3:30!) I
went back to the same spot I'd come from, waited for a while, and then
saw a few Sharks coming in. I got them, and surely enough, a few
obscure Ducks
walked by that I didn't have stuff for. Then I got Steve Rucchin
and Fred Olausson, all the while looking over my shoulder to see if any
Sharks were driving in. But alas, the rest of the Ducks had decided to
bus in. Oh well. I got Friesen (for the third time that day), plus
new goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. His signature was very good; too
bad, because the only thing I had to sign for him was my Sharks hat! (Evgeni
has no cards whatsoever.) I did not attend the game, and so I
wasn't looney enough to go after the game. But I had almost
reached the 50 mark for the day! I could have gotten 50 easily if
I had done a few things differently... Total: 44 Sharks autographs, 3
Mighty Ducks.