CLRyan5's Success Thread

**clryan5** · 10-04-2012, 11:56 PM

Thanks!! Really pleased with how they turned out!! RockiesFan makes the best cards!

**clryan5** · 10-16-2012, 05:18 PM

RECENT IP SUCCESSES
Well I haven't had much time to blog lately with midterms being this week and next, but I'm sitting in my night class bored beyond belief so I figured now would be a fantastic time to update this :) Lately I've been doing mostly WNBA teams coming for the playoffs. I also graphed the Wolves Saturday night before their preseason game vs the Bulls. I did not do the US gymnasts Thursday when they were here for the Tour of Champions because they did not stay at a hotel I was told and I had also been told they were not very pleasant girls.

To start, here are my successes from the Sparks-Lynx series. I am a huge Sparks fan and was very disappointed in the outcome of the series. To have Candace Parker play the way she did in the elimination game and not get the ball for the final shot is just ridiculous. It was a very selfish play by Alana Beard! I went to game 1 and I also graphed at the hotel.

Team Floorboard: Previously got Carol Ross on it. Game 1 I got Coach Jim Lewis, Ebony Hoffman, and April Sykes.

Candace Parker: 1/1 flooboard, 1/1 8x10, 1/1 SI
Unfortunately Candace and several other Sparks players signed my floorboards on the stickers. :( O well I'm always excited and grateful to get Candace Parker's autograph!!!!

Nicky Anosike: 1/1 SI, 1/1 mini floorboard
I was pumped to get another Lady Vol standout to add to my collection. I've decided next year I am going to get basketballs signed by all the Lady Vol greats in the WNBA!

Nneka Ogwumike: 1/1, mini floorboard, pic with
Nneka was super nice and signed for everyone! Check out her awesome full name autograph!

Kristi Toliver: 1/1 mini floorboard, pic with
Kristi was also very nice and happy to sign. I was amazed at how nice the Sparks were prior to a playoff game. WNBA players are the nicest in sports!

Alana Beard: 1/1 mini floorboard

Jenna O'Hea: 1/1 mini floorboard

Delisha Milton-Jones: 1/1 mini floorboard

Minnesota Lynx: Inside I was able to get several Lynx players before and after the game

Maya Moore: 1/1, 8x10, I have met Moore a couple times and I gave her the benefit of the doubt the first time but she was the same the 2nd time. I've reached the conclusion that she is very fake with fans, especially with the young girls. Candace Parker is much cooler and real with fans.

Lindsay Whalen: 1/1 8x10

Monica Wright: 1/1 8x10, super nice

Candice Wiggins: 1/1 8x10, definitely my favorite Lynx player. She is so cool and extremely nice!!

Indiana Fever: I graphed the Fever at their hotel Sunday night before game 1 of the WNBA Finals. They were a great team to graph!

Team Floorboard: Lin Dunn, Mickie Demoss, Stephanie White, Briann January, Sasha Goodlett, Karima Christmas, Tammy Sutton-Brown

Jeanette Pohlen: 1/1 floorboard
I didn't put stickers on any of these boards after the Sparks signed the stickers

Tamika Catchings: 1/1 basketball
Catchings was so nice!! And this is a beautiful autograph! Getting her on this ball sparked my idea to get all the Lady Vols in the WNBA on basketballs. I bought some floating shelves at Ikea and plan to put one on my Tennessee wall in my apartment and put this ball in a display case on it!

Laurel Richie: 1/1, mini floorboard
I brought some mini floorboards in case some of the broadcast crew or other notables were staying at the hotel. I was able to get WNBA President Laurel Richie. I think she is a decent president but could do a lot more for the league like get better fan gear, make fan gear more easily available (I think it's crazy there is no WNBA gear in sports stores geared towards women like Lady Foot Locker). I refrained from telling her her marketing department sucks. If I could have her job for a day the decisions I'd make!

Finally I graphed the Wolves Saturday night and it sucked. I only got JJ Barea. He got out of a cab and walked by us and I yelled JJ and he came right up to me. He smiled at me because he recognized me from last year :) I told him welcome back and he asked me how I was doing :) Pretty awesome 1 of my favorite NBA players remembers me after 6 months!

**clryan5** · 10-20-2012, 09:46 PM

I finally got around to updating my blog with my recent TTM returns. I've been pretty busy studying for midterms this coming week but took a study break to update. I also took a break today to put together some requests and I mailed out around 30 card requests to Arizona Fall League prospects and NFL players. I've regained my fire for TTM because I've been on a roll getting returns and there are so few IP opportunities this month here that I needed to do something to get my fix! haha

My hot streak continued today as I received a success from Redskins' 4th round draft pick Kirk Cousins. He signed all 4 of my cards and personalized 3 of them. It was about a 3 week turnaround

I also won this on ebay the other day and it arrived today. Besides collecting autographs I also love collecting bobbleheads of my favorite players and teams. This is former Astro Chris Johnson. He was 1 of my favorites, so of course he got traded! I'm not so bitter about the trade now after seeing Matt Dominguez play 3rd for us at the end of the season. He's definitely the real deal and future 3B of the Astros

I've got 4 more bobbleheads that I've either won or am winning on ebay. I will post them here once I receive them. They will stay a mystery for now...don't want to ruin the surprise ;)

Now here are my returns from the past week or so, including some great surprises!
First, I have received a bunch of my customs that I ordered from RockiesFan33 back signed.

Heather Tarr: 1/1 (9 day return)
I'm a big fan of the Washington softball program, especially after watching Danielle Lawrie lead them to a national title. This is an interesting "autograph" haha but it was a fast return!

Skylar Diggins: 1/1 (1 week return)
I love how this turned out! She is a fantastic point guard! I really hope she gets another shot at the title this year. I would love to see her get one before she goes to the WNBA next year but I'm not sure anyone will be able to stop the Baylor Bears again this year, not even my beloved Lady Vols :(

Elena Delle Donne: 1/1, signed in pen (9 day return)
Delle Donne is my 2nd favorite women's basketball player behind Candace Parker. She can do it all and I am so happy she is getting the recognition she deserves and is no longer getting ripped for leaving Uconn. I truly respect her putting her family over Uconn and national titles. If I was the Mercury GM I would draft Delle Donne #1 over Griner

Matt Davidson: 3/3, 2/2
I sent 3 custom cards and 2 8x10s in 2 separate mailings to Davidson at the Arizona Fall League and they both came back today. I could have sworn I addressed one of them to be returned to my home in Iowa, but I am glad he was willing to sign all of my stuff. I think he's 1 of the most underrated prospects in baseball

I knew he was a 3rd baseman but RockiesFan put 1st base and I completely missed it haha! Turned out unique :)

My futile attempt at a custom card

Jennie Finch: 2/2
These came back in about 3 weeks and I must say I was ecstatic to see these come back! I sent her a softball in April and haven't received it back, nor have I received my 8x10 I sent in December so I was starting to think she was done with TTM. So happy to see these! She was always 1 of my favorites along with Cat Osterman!

Laird Hamilton: 1/0 via email
Love this success as surfing is something I have always wanted to do!

Pat Neshek: 9/9 (around 12 days)
I was glad to see him sign so many. He signed 15 customs for me earlier this year instead of keeping some like I intended so I figured he'd sign 9 but I am not happy with how these turned out at all. Almost all of them smeared. I powdered them so I thought they were prepped well enough but I guess not. Seeing as I have 110 of these 2 types of cards still to get signed by him I better figure it out. I bought a 119 card lot of these 2 cards off ebay and I thought it would be cool to get all of them signed and put them in a big poster frame!

Kevin Gausman: 3/3
Sent these to the Orioles Spring Training complex trying to catch him in the Instructional League. The adhesive from the envelope stuck to some of these 4x6s but they turned out great otherwise. Thrilled with this success and he has a great autograph!

Keith Ellison: 1/1 in 5 days!!!!!!!
Last year I met Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison here in Minneapolis at the Occupy MN movement and got a picture with him. I thought it would be neat to see the political grievances process playing out through this movement. I thought it was a futile attempt at reform because politicians will always be in bed with the Wall Street crooks. I was excited to meet a fellow Democrat and I also got to hear him speak via videoconference the 2nd semester of my freshman year at an event my school hosted. He signed my photo and inscribed "Go Colleen Go! Occupy Forever! and then put the date 10/16/12 under his signature" What blew me away about this return was the letter he included. He wished me luck in my studies and told me if I am looking to intern for him this spring or summer contact his staff member and he gave me the staff member's name, phone number, and email. I may take advantage of this opportunity this summer! I mailed this to his Minneapolis office 2 miles away instead of his DC office because I have heard mail sent to the DC offices take longer due to the numerous security procedures.

And finally here are some recent ebay pickups

Daniel Hudson 2012 Bowman Platinum
This only cost me $1!!!

Brett Anderson Game-Used Jersey card
Only $0.99, will send this to Spring Training to get signed

Troy Patton ROMLB
$12, Always loved watching him as an Astro and after his long journey to the majors I am happy he got to finally see the playoffs this year with the Orioles

**maxzemke24** · 10-20-2012, 10:11 PM

Where and when did you send to the guys in the AZL??

**clryan5** · 10-20-2012, 10:30 PM

Almost all of my requests went out today. You have to do some Googling to find what Spring Training complex the AFL teams play at but it's pretty easy to find. I used Wikipedia. The championship is November 9 I believe so I wanted to get them all out today

**ILLRIMESAYA** · 10-21-2012, 06:49 AM

Sweet stuff as always Colleen, love the inscription on the Gausman and the Finch's are quite a prize... The AFL is causing me to be even more impatient for the season to begin next year because none sign better than Minor Leaguers in my opinion :)

**clryan5** · 10-21-2012, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by ILLRIMESAYA View Post

Sweet stuff as always Colleen, love the inscription on the Gausman and the Finch's are quite a prize... The AFL is causing me to be even more impatient for the season to begin next year because none sign better than Minor Leaguers in my opinion :)

Yeah I've been ready for Spring Training 2013 since Opening Day this year hahaha After all the successes I got my 1st Spring Training plus discovering how well minor leaguers sign...I really want it to be Spring Training haha