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

[TheTrilogy]

Great recap!

[cyberer]

Got out graphing a bit this past week, nothing too crazy but definitely a good freebie to get at modells- Lagarrette Blount! Modells had one of their “he will sign anything you buy in store” signings. So no patriots gear available but lots of eagles stuff. My brother and I went, and bought mini helmets.

Blount was being nice to the fans, he noticed I was in a business suit and was like “man that’s a big big dude in a suit” and I’m like “yeah just came from an interview” and he’s like “well now this is an added bonus huh? Hope it went well.” I had heard bad things about the guy but he was nice.



The only weird thing was they were completely banning photography. No selfies, no posing, no having your phone out. His handler would yell if you tried. IDK if they were blocking proof pics or what. People were having relatives stand far away in the store and try to snap them but even that was being broken up. Really weird. ESP because it was advertised as a meet and greet. Oh well, no complaints! Things ran smoothly and got in and out pretty quick.

Some of my haters were there and posted a pic they took of me on a facebook group and the comments weren’t too flattering but haters gonna hate i guess.

[cyberer]

Amid the haze of euphoria of my eagles winning the superbowl, I actually got out and did some graphing.


I got a hot tip that was way too good to pass up. Ertz, alshon, mills, long and aghilor all did jimmy Fallon in nyc and I got a tip about the transportation company bringing them home. So I went down to the company to try my luck.


There were 2 doors at the place so I ended up missing mills. He came out the other door from where I was and couldn’t get up in time. But the rest followed close behind.


Ertz and long came out together. Ertz said “no autographs guys” but i countered it “you mean GUY singular I’m the only one here dude please?”


And he asked me my name and personalized and did my mini.





Chris long was like “dude that won’t stop them from selling they have ways to get that off”


And I said “we do have ways, but I’m not selling”


Long was cracking up at the we do comment. He said he didn’t care whAt I did with it and god bless. He signed a mini too.





Alshon came out next and said no autographs. I said the same thing I said to Ertz but he kept walking, wouldn’t even take a selfie. He said “get me at the parade.”


I said “there will be 5 million ppl there I can’t get a pic with you there.”


He said “just a picture? Ok sure but only bc that throwback Randall jersey is awesome.”


So we took a pretty awesome selfie wearing the hat he had on on the air on Fallon.




Aghilor being the typical jerk he is just breezed on past mostly ignoring me. They all had tight little blondes with them. Pretty awesome night overall in and out in an hour.

[cyberer]

I got out graphing yesterday, keeping on the Eagles gravy train!

I heard on Friday that JAY AJAYI was doing a free signing at a Dicks sporting goods on saturday, so of course I had to go- he's one of the few guys on the team I still need.

I got there 6 hours early and was #50 in line. By the time of the signing there were 600-700 people in line. They only gave out 350 wristbands. It was an insane madhouse, glad I got there early. I waited in the rain, which sucked, but I had a wifi hotspot and an ipad with netflix, so I made it through.

They were allowing outside items so my brother and I got our mini helmets done. He was being nice about switching markers and talking to the fans briefly, but they were ushering people in and out quickly. They did not allow posed pics so my brother and I did our best to snap pics with.

So all in all it was a long half-day but it was worth it!

[lizard-jd]

Looks like you banged out a few nice graphs - good job!

[cyberer]

Hey everyone,

I got out to do a few more graphing trips! I love that since the Eagles won, the signings and the hype keeps going (normally after the season the team scatters to the wind).

On Wednesday I hit a free (with $5 donation to the children's hospital) signing of Jalen Mills at a gym. No outside items. I brought some helmets in case, but they were being strict. There was a short line but it took FOREVER, they were posing for pics and allowing multiples. Which is awesome but not when there are 200+ people in line. He didn't finish everyone.

Fortunately I got there early and snagged a graph for me and my brother. He was running with a green sharpie but switched to blue for me. I got him to inscribe "Green Goblin" and got a pretty sick pic with.






The gym promo 8s are pretty good, but I was able to buy a decal to cover the logo. I made a digital mockup of what it will look like:





So that'll be awesome.

Fast forward to yesterday (Friday), I hit a Corey Clement free signing at a car dealership in south jersey. He's a local boy so he's been popping up all over the place for free (a clothing store, a sporting goods store, etc.) but I kept missing him. I was excited for this one. It was advertised as outside items allowed.

However, on the day of, the dealership put a post that "due to overwhelming demand, no outside items allowed." So I was kinda bummed but went anyway. Fortunately, while in line, they put out a sign "no helmets no jerseys-" so my 8x10s were allowed. Footballs too. Woot!

I got there about an hour early, was #20 in line. He was about a half hour late, and when we got into the place, turns out they let about 30 friends and family in line ahead of us. And, like the Mills, he was a great guy, posing for pics, hitting multiples, etc.

I got to the front, asked him to sign my 8x10, which he did, but then I added the kicker: "can you inscribe IT WAS A TOUCHDOWN?" bc the photo depicted the controversial touchdown that wasn't overturned. He laughed and did it. Class act.



I put the other photos I had in front of him and asked him if he wanted to keep one, he said no but signed both. They also gave me a promo photo.



And he took a pic with! Really, one of the nicer players I've met.



I pretty much have the entire roster now, except some linebackers, O and D linemen, and some DBs. Hope these signings keep appearing.

[cyberer]

Long time- no post!

I have actually done a fair bit of graphing lately, so I'm getting on here to catch up. I will divide it into segments:

Part I: Spring Training!

Believe it or not, I actually did go to spring training this year! And although this wrap-up may seem a bit meager compared to years past, I still got nearly everyone on my "want list."

Given all the roster turnover on the phils the past few years, I decided to focus most of my efforts on Phillies camp because I had a lot of guys to get. Guys like Hoskins, Kingery, Moniak, Arrietta, etc.

There was a major different between this spring training and years past, however. Years past I would treat this like a full-time job- 7am until 5pm then hit the beach for the evening in Clearwater. This time, however, I only had a quick 2.5 day trip, so I confined my graphing to half days (leaving when the actual games started).

Day 1 I got to the facility early around 7am, only to find out to my dismay that half the team had stayed down in Fort Meyers for their back to back day games there, so most of the team wouldn’t be there, including Hoskins. So that sucked.

But as I waited it wasn’t a total loss. Aaron Nola came by and signed, side paneled my ball though (he has a habit of doing that).




Shortly after that an unexpected dude rolled in. Charlie Manuel! He was nice as could be and sweet spotted my ball with an 08 world championship inscription.



A couple of other guys rolled through but no one I needed, so that was that. Not a bad start but not what I was looking for.

I then went to the minor league complex to try my luck there. I got Moniak as he was heading into the batting cage but it was pretty dead there, so I decided to go try my luck at Blue Jays minor league facility for Vlad Jr. and Bichette and Gleyber Torres (visiting).

I got there and followed those guys around a bit, but they all said no. Then the game started. I debated staying until the end of the game, but again I told myself it wasn’t worth it and packed it in and went to the beach. I heard through the grapevine that Vlad signed a few after but neither of the other 2 did, so I didn’t miss much. But a pretty lackluster first day.

Day 2 I got to the park around 7 again and to my dismay Hoskins and most of the team had already gone in that day. But an hour or so later I checked the schedule and Hoskins, Altherr, Williams and Carlos Santana were all out of the lineup. Which was annoying in a way but great in another way because that meant they’d all be working out on the side field.

So I waited by the side field. It was raining on and off so the crowd was small. I saw Hoskins come out and I was the only one there. I asked him to come over and he said after batting practice he would.

In the meantime someone who I thought was Nick Williams came over and I got him on the sweet spot of the ball. I was really bummed when I looked at the signature and saw that it was NOT Williams. But I quickly became happy when I realized it was Altherr instead!




Sure enough the real Williams came over a few minutes later and signed my ball- really him this time! Good thing I didn’t call either by name.




After batting practice, Hoskins was true to his word, without my even asking he came right over to me and signed my ball. A small crowd quickly formed around us and he signed 1 per for everyone. Was talking to us and being a really chill dude. Hope he stays that way because he’s a monster on the field!




Jake Arrietta came to the sidefield around that time but he wouldn’t even look at us. He remains a “class act.”

I went into the stadium and got Alfaro immediately upon getting to my seat.




I also found out that around the exact same time Hoskins was signing on the side field, Kingery was signing inside! Can’t be 2 places at once but that would have completed my “want” list. But again, rather than wait the 3 hours until postgame I decided to leave early and hit the beach. No regrets. So I had a good few days but not great compared to past hauls. But for what it was it was pretty good.

Part II: Same ole’ sixers

I went to a sixers season ticket holder event, hoping for a shot at Fultz. I figured the team would be there, given that it was nextdoor to the practice facility. The players they actually sent, however, was the “b team.” Guys like korkmaz. Fultz was the “Attraction,” but it was photo ops only. So I got a photo op. After the booth I hassled him about signing, but he wouldn’t do it. I was the only one asking him. Classic sixers overpromise and underdeliver.





Part III. Weekend of graphing

Had a pretty nifty whirlwind of graphing. I started on Friday with a free signing of Carlos Santana (1B not guitarist) at a Modell’s. The Eagles signings at these stores have been INSANE, like 300 people in line 2 hours early. So I got there 3 hours early and was number… 6 in line. So I overshot it a little bit. But I got through the line and he was nice enough, sweet spotted my ball.



I then woke up first thing Saturday to go to a John Kruk free signing at a Walmart of all places to promote MLB the show. The signing was promoted as being from 12-2, so I got there at 11:30. Turns out, the signing was 11-1 and it was mispromoted, so I got there right when kruk did. In and out in 30 minutes and he hit both of my wall of fame prints and a promo photo. He did the requested “3x allstar” inscription that I wanted too- great signing and someone I’ve been wanting to add to my Philly collection for quite awhile.




Then Saturday afternoon/evening I decided to go after a GOAT. Jerry Seinfeld was doing his show at a local venue (where I had gotten mike Tyson at the stage door in the past).

So I decided to wait out for him to see if he would go out during the day. I ended up waiting ~3 hours and didn’t see him. I did see Ben Simmons but we didn’t even ask that jerk (he hasn’t signed one autograph since being drafted, unless it was for upper deck).

At long last, Seinfeld came out. Only 2 of us waiting. He wouldn’t do it. He said “no autographs before the show, strict policy.” He basically pushed me out of the way physically.

I was really bummed because the guys there told me that the venue had changed and now the cars can pull right in and you’ll never see the performer after.

So I was really on the fence about going back and trying again afterwards after putting so much wasted time in earlier in the day.

But I decided this is my childhood favorite JERRY SEINFELD.

So I went back, waited about 25 minutes until he came out after the show and there he was! He was really nice, he signed about 10 autographs, out of the 10-12 people there. He butchered my photo by signing in a dark spot so I got back in there and got the replica show script done too! Amazing success! Gave the extra to my mom!

[Atlantaman]

Awesome stuff!

[cyberer]

Thanks Atlanta!

Got out graphing again yesterday and today (have the whole month off so I'm putting in the time haha).

I went to a free signing at Modell's for Randall Cunningham. I've wanted Cunningham for a long time since I was a kid. Still kicking myself for an incident last year when I had the chance to go meet him and he would have signed that night but I declined the invitation because I had some "female company" that night. So anyways this was a chance at redemption.

The only catch was I have an AWESOME mitchell and ness stitched throwback jersey that I need to get done and the modells are pretty strict that you have to buy your item there to get signed.

I got there 4 hours early just to be on the safe side. The Eagles superbowl team signings at modells drew thousands of people so I wanted to make sure I got it. Turns out there isn't as much interest in the older players because I was number 5 in line. All told maybe 200 showed up.

I bought a cheap screen print jersey at modells, that was NOT kelly green (they had ZERO kelly green merchandise for randall which didnt make any sense). As I waited in line I saw him sign an outside item (a jersey) for a kid, so I felt a bit better with my switcheroo.

I decided to try for my jersey anyway. I rubber banded the jersey so just the number 2 was showing to make it less conspicuous. When I got to the front I showed them my receipt for the cheap jersey and they let me up. I handed randall the rubber banded throwback jersey, He said "I like to sign on the number 1" and he took off the rubber band and billowed out my jersey for all to see- clearly not one that was bought in store. But no one said anything and he signed it perfectly and was a real gentleman about it. Came out great!



So that was a long day but well worth it!

The other graphing I did was earlier tonight I went down to the sixers arena to wait for Doug Pederson who was being honored before the game, but I never saw him- he must have driven right into the players lot rather than walk in past the fans. Oh well still another great addition for a white whale to my collection!

[grifnutz]

Wow, that is a beautiful jersey! Way to stick it to Modell's too! I hope you returned the crummy one you bought haha