CyberErik's Success Thread- just starting out, feedback and help welcome!

[cyberer]

Hey Walker sorry you missed it! You should check out the Philly ink facebook group they advertise a lot of the signings on there. I've gotten some great freebie tips from them. I'm glad you like the groome LMK if you are interested in any of the duplicate autos of Groome. The Julios I'm keeping for the PC.

DJ good to have you back on the thread! Yeah I can't say anything bad about Bonds after my experience. He seemed alright.

I am having a great run of graphing, but that's mostly just because I am going like CRAZY to get in as much graphing as I can before I start my medical school rotations (where I will be working 7 am to 7 pm every day mostly) and won't be able to do it anymore. It has been a great "last hurrah" of sorts, to be sure!

[adiddle]

I have been following your thread and as you have said what a great run
I also want to wish you good luck on your medical endeavor. Not an easy task but if you love it then very rewarding.
Hope during down time after spending time with the family you get to sneak in some graphing
Good luck

[cyberer]

Thanks addidle- I am really excited about medicine despite the challenges and sacrifices. I am definitely going to try to keep the work-life balance in check and do some graphing. Planning on doing Minnesota during the NFL season this year for AP. We will see how it plays out.

In the meantime, more graphing stories!

I went to the sixers draft party last night (Thursday). I had expectations low- I went last year and although the event advertised to the general public said "meet Dr. J," really he only signed about 20-25 autographs in the season ticket holder area in a line of about 100 people. So not only did the general admission have no shot, but the season ticket holders didn't even get a shot. I've been to similar things with the Sixers where they over promise and underdeliver.

This year, the advertisement to season ticket holders said "meet Dr. J and Allen Iverson!" and the advertisement to the general public read "meet sixers legends!" which in recent Sixers talk means only World B. Free. So, it was clear that I needed to find a season ticket holder.

I found some season ticket holders willing to sell/trade me 2 tickets with the season ticket holder wristbands, but it wasn't cheap. $55 and a McGwire sweetspot baseball got me a pair of tickets for my friend and I. I heard along the way that one season ticket rep said that AI wouldn't even be signing, but I decided to take it on faith.

My buddy and I got there at 4:30 for a 5:00 start time, got our tickets and were about 50th in line to get in the gates. Once we got in, we booked it for the season ticket holder area and got to the autograph table. Bobby Jones was signing right then and there so we got on the board and got him.


We decided then and there that we would just stand by the autograph table and be first in line when AI showed up, whenever that might be. We sought out a girl who was managing the line entrance and she told us that AI was next to be scheduled but that he would only be signing the promo cards (like Bobby Jones). Oh well, bummer.

Only us and a dad and his 2 young kids were standing by the booth, and they opened the line a few minutes later, so we were 4th and 5th in line. In just a few minutes it got very long behind us. They announced in line that he would take outside items, but only a strict 1 per person. AI was late, supposed to go on at 5:25 but it was more like 5:40 that he went on.

He got a huge ovation, greeted the crowd, clearly in a good mood. He sat down and started signing. He signed a jersey and 2 tshirts for the dad and the 2 kids in front of us. When I got up he refused to switch to my blue marker, but signed my 8x10 and my buddys 8x10. After he signed he wrote something next to his name. I thought he was writing his number, but to my great astonishment he had added a HOF inscription without being asked.

I got him to sign a photo from the 2009-2010 season (I think) where the Sixers resigned him to play for them and he came back to a sold out crowd and a huge ovation in the middle of the season- kissing the court in his first game back. I was at that game, so it has a special place for me.




I was utterly amazed how smooth it went. No rat race or anything for me. I just stood by the booth, got in line, and got a sick piece done.

After we got him, my buddy and I got to the back of the autograph line again, which was now ~100 people long. We figured by the time we got to the front AI would be done and Dr. J would be in. When we got back in line AI only had about 10 more min scheduled to sign based on what that sixers lady told us. To his credit, probably because he was late, AI actually STAYED LATE in the autograph booth, winging away. So, without even really trying, we got through the line a 2nd time.

I hadn't even entertained the notion that I would get AI twice so I only had one photo, but I did have a 12"x12" floorboard (the big ones) that I get done. So I handed him that. He signed it no problem. But the sixers handler recognized me from my first time through and started yelling 1 per. I told him I didn't realize we couldn't get back in line, but he wasn't having it. He tried to kick me out of the line, but once he saw that AI had already signed my item he just handed it to me and that was that. AI didn't seem to care at all. The only thing that sucks was the sixers guy's action disrupted the selfie I was about to take with AI. Oh well. Floorboard came out great.



For those of you that don't know, I mount up the floorboards with some stickers/mini fatheads to get a custom hardwood court piece. I bought the stickers to make it, but they haven't arrived yet. But you can see a computer simulation that I made of what the final product WILL roughly look like, when the stickers come in.



So I got 2 Iversons when I went into it thinking I would get ZERO, or one on a stupid promo card. I was seriously shaking with excitement it was so awesome. Iverson is a Philly white whale of mine. Not a white whale in the sense that I had near misses with him, but moreso that I figured I'd never have a shot at him without paying ~$150. He doesn't (usually) do freebies.

No Philly collection is complete without him, and I can now cross that one off the list.

After that was done, I decided to do the same thing (camping next to the table) for Dr. J. Many people got the same idea, so soon there was a long line behind me for Dr. J. The only problem was, World B Free started signing in the booth right then, and I couldn't get him because I didn't want to lose my spot for Dr. J- people getting world b were in another line, the Dr. J people were lined up right next to it.

And, after all that, when it came time for Dr. J's turn, he completely no-showed the line. That guy really is a joy. Oh well, I had a pretty good experience with Dr. J at a book signing years back, so I don't need him. AI was the guy that I needed. And boy did I get him!

[cyberer]

Just a follow-up, I found a video of the Iverson return game that captures the kissing the court moment from a different angle (around the 1:40 mark)! So I can definitively assign the photo now to that date, the game that I went to

[Smitty5]

Awesome Iverson scores! He was my absolute favorite player growing up.

[cyberer]

I am home in Scranton for the 4th of July at my parents home. I heard from a family friend that works at the casino told me that Pete Rose was doing a freebie signing at mohegan sun in wilkes barre. If you read back in my thread I have done the Thurman Thomas and Mike Schmidt and those were great- no outside items but the 8x10 they give is good.


So my wife and I went down- I had a ROMLB in tow. When we got there they were only giving out about 200 wristbands and there was a madhouse already I was worried that we wouldn't get a wristband but we did. And moreover most people when they got a wristband went off to go gamble or have lunch (the signing wasn't for 2-3 hours later) so my wife and I ended up hanging out in the area and being first in line.


Pete showed up on time (he had been in the casino beforehand) and made some jokes with the crowd before the event started. They reiterated no outside items but I saw a bunch of people behind me in line had photos so I decided to try the baseball.


My wife went first and noticed that he was presigning the photo in black and handing it to people, not signing as they approached. My wife smartly asked if he would sign hers in blue. He made a snide remark like who told you to get it done in blue? She said she just likes blue. He did it. She noticed that he didn't do the 4256 inscription (for the # of hits) that he was doing on the black ones so she asked him again, and he groaned and did it. Y so cranky pete?


I got up there and asked him to sign my ball. He said no. I asked why not. He said the lady just said no baseballs so no baseballs. I asked him to sign in blue and he did and added the 4256 inscription. I asked him to inscribe all time hits leader and he groaned at me. Oh well, the graphs came out awesome and the promo photos were bangin. I could even crop the one to remove the mohegan logo if I wanted (still undecided).



But on a slightly brighter note, I gave my baseball to my "man on the inside" who worked at the casino, and although I wasn't there to see him sign it, the guy got Rose on a pretty sweet ROMLB that he gave back to me today. So I got 3 free roses!

[PackerBum9786]

I am home in Scranton for the 4th of July at my parents home. I heard from a family friend that works at the casino told me that Pete Rose was doing a freebie signing at mohegan sun in wilkes barre. If you read back in my thread I have done the Thurman Thomas and Mike Schmidt and those were great- no outside items but the 8x10 they give is good.


So my wife and I went down- I had a ROMLB in tow. When we got there they were only giving out about 200 wristbands and there was a madhouse already I was worried that we wouldn't get a wristband but we did. And moreover most people when they got a wristband went off to go gamble or have lunch (the signing wasn't for 2-3 hours later) so my wife and I ended up hanging out in the area and being first in line.


Pete showed up on time (he had been in the casino beforehand) and made some jokes with the crowd before the event started. They reiterated no outside items but I saw a bunch of people behind me in line had photos so I decided to try the baseball.


My wife went first and noticed that he was presigning the photo in black and handing it to people, not signing as they approached. My wife smartly asked if he would sign hers in blue. He made a snide remark like who told you to get it done in blue? She said she just likes blue. He did it. She noticed that he didn't do the 4256 inscription (for the # of hits) that he was doing on the black ones so she asked him again, and he groaned and did it. Y so cranky pete?


I got up there and asked him to sign my ball. He said no. I asked why not. He said the lady just said no baseballs so no baseballs. I asked him to sign in blue and he did and added the 4256 inscription. I asked him to inscribe all time hits leader and he groaned at me. Oh well, the graphs came out awesome and the promo photos were bangin. I could even crop the one to remove the mohegan logo if I wanted (still undecided).



But on a slightly brighter note, I gave my baseball to my "man on the inside" who worked at the casino, and although I wasn't there to see him sign it, the guy got Rose on a pretty sweet ROMLB that he gave back to me today. So I got 3 free roses!

Great Rose story! He was probably grumpy cause it was a free signing and he makes his money anymore charging people for his autograph lol

My dad is a big Pete Rose fan. A guy I work with goes to Vegas every year so I asked him if he would go to one of the Rose signings and I would pay for it. The guy did got it signed and said Pete was an amazing guy, started talking to him about Iowa football (My co worker was wearing a hawkeye shirt and this past season was a good season for hawkeye football) etc. So I imagine like I said he probably was not in a good mood cause he was doing the signing for free lol

[cyberer]

Great Rose story! He was probably grumpy cause it was a free signing and he makes his money anymore charging people for his autograph lol

My dad is a big Pete Rose fan. A guy I work with goes to Vegas every year so I asked him if he would go to one of the Rose signings and I would pay for it. The guy did got it signed and said Pete was an amazing guy, started talking to him about Iowa football (My co worker was wearing a hawkeye shirt and this past season was a good season for hawkeye football) etc. So I imagine like I said he probably was not in a good mood cause he was doing the signing for free lol

Yeah, I heard he hates freebies, but I figured the casino must be paying him to be there so at least he's making something, so I wasn't expecting him to be cranky. Oh well, I still got 3 pretty sick graphs so all's well that ends well.

Awesome Iverson scores! He was my absolute favorite player growing up.

Thanks! Mine as well, and I never expected to ever get his graph either!

[lambeauleap87]

Those Roses all look great; he was probably grumpy after blowing his payment for the signing at the casino, heh. Wish the casino in Columbus would do stuff like this!

[cyberer]

Those Roses all look great; he was probably grumpy after blowing his payment for the signing at the casino, heh. Wish the casino in Columbus would do stuff like this!

Yeah casinos in PA have some good stuff- got Brian Dawkins, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, Thurman Thomas and others at free casino events. That is a pretty funny thought about rose and his gambling habits- maybe he should decline casino signings in future...

Haven't been out graphing but I do have some tiny updates. The stickers finally came in for my 12x12" floorboard piece of iverson. I am very happy with the end result- the Iverson photo has a subtle white rim that makes it really pop.




Also, in Pete Rose news- the casino took some photos from the event. Unfortunately my wife and I didn't get any posed photos, but we did interestingly get 2 perfect proof pics- for some reason Pete held up the photos coming back to us and the camera caught them





And, funnily enough, my wife made the front page of the local sports section for that picture above. "Fans flock to meet pete rose" was the headline.

AND I was able to size up a crop job on the mohegan sun photo to remove the logo. The photo below would be exactly 5"x7" if I cut it. Is it worth it or should I leave it as an 8x10 with the mohegan logo?



Starting medical school tomorrow so the graphing will be slowing down immensely. I will still post updates when I do get to do it though!