Here's the story.... it happened just last night. So I was walking through the mall with my gf, then I see Julian Peterson with a baby stroller walking through the mall. I don't think anyone in the mall knew who he was, people in Hawaii don't really follow sports, so he was just chillin. I told my gf hey its JP a footballer player in the NFL she was like oh yea? why is he here? I said well its the Pro Bowl so they may be around. She told me to go talk to him. I'm like nah hes a traitor, I don't care for him anymore, then she was like when do you ever see NFL players in Hawaii? Anyways we kept walking then we went to the food court (which is really huge) and there we were eating at Panda Express (Chinese Fast Food), then JP walks right by our table and goes straight for the bathroom and i'm like hey theres JP again, my gf says go shake his hand at least, i'm like hell no not now. So there I was thinking in my head hmm what if Patrick Willis was here instead of JP that would be crazy. Soon after out of the corner of my eye I see a huge dude, in a red armani shirt. It was PWill!! I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't dreaming... he was with a southern looking white guy and girl (I later found out it was his foster parents). He walked by Panda and got a free sample lol he ended up buying some food from there. While he was buying his food I told my gf thats the best player on my 49ers. She told me to go take a picture with him, i'm like ok sounds good do you have your camera? She says no, I left it at home. I'm like wtf, are you serious??? She brought her small bag out so it couldn't fit. So there I was leaving my table, I walked right past PWill without saying anything. When I was leaving the food court I thought to myself, when will I ever see an NFL player (also my fav player) in Hawaii? I said forget this i'm gonna get an autograph, I look for my pen in my pocket which I ALWAYS have but no luck, I left it in my car (which was parked at the other end of the mall). I said screw it i'll just buy one. My gf and I are running through the mall to champ sports, I go in champ sports and ask them if they have any genuine nfl footballs, the guy there says no. I'm like do you have any 49er hats?? He's like sure go look in the back there. So I go there and guess what?? They only have Black 49er Hats.... can you believe that? I run out of champs and start running to a sport memorabilia store that is right next to the food court... guess what? They ended up going out of business BUT my luck finally swang my way! It was a hat store... full of hats. They had a RED 49ers hat. There was only one worker there... he was full with customers, so i'm getting frustrated because time is running out. I end up climbing up one of the ladders to get the hat. He told me you can't go up there i'm like dude theres an NFL football player in the food court I gotta go get his autograph. Hes like oh ok, I told him do you have a sharpie? Hes like I don't think so, I'm like crap no point already, then he reaches into a drawer and pulls out the fat sharpie, he lets me buy the hat real quick (which was cool because he was with a customer at the time) then i was off to go find PWill again. There I was walking back into the food court with my gf and I exhausted from running all over the place. I check to see if he was still there at first I didn't see him but as we got closer I slowly saw him in his red shirt. He was still eating, I was like hmm should I bother him or not? I said hell I only live once, so my gf and I walked straight up to him, I said "wassup Patrick, mind if I can get your autograph for a big 49ers fan?" He looked shocked I think he had food in his mouth... then I pulled the red 49er hat out of the bag he nodded his head and kind of grinned. He wiped his hand with a napkin and grabbed my hat and pen and signed it. I told him thanks man I appreciate sorry for bothering your dinner. He didn't say much just nodded, he didn't even really look me in the eye.. I guess hes shy? So that's my story... I never met any football player up close ever, never went to a 49er game, but yet I got the hat signed and autographed from my favorite player in the game. Later that night I wondered how much his autograph was on eBay. There was no signed hat and there wasn't that many items of his on there. Must be rare. I'm happy. The Hat Spoiler Anyone else have any interesting stories about getting autographs?
Just my opinion, but I value a pic with people more, it's more personable and you can put it in your personal webpage. Autograph doesn't mean much to me. I read the part you and your gf forgot the camera, bummer. Other thing, I know you were real anxious but I'd feel like a douche interrupting someone while they're eating.
Steffi Graf was my first autograph. Then had clyde autograph a photo and then actually played tennis with Clyde. Saw Barkley, Jordan, and Pippen @ spy a long ass time ago. Saw Mark Jackson and Clarence weatherspoon walk into treasures and saw V-span @ crome. Waved at Rudy T walking around in Rice village. I seem to only notice tennis and basketball players though.
I used to collect autographs when I was young, but then realized it was kind of pointless. But anyways, you should have waited for him to finish eating. Its sort of a prick move to bother someone while they are having food.
Get kudos on a board who might care about a crappy 49er hat. I doubt you'll get much here. Although the D&D loves San Francisco. Maybe there would be best.
Dude's a kid...you can give him a break. It's a nice story, meeting your favorite player and all. For me, it was either Glen Davis or Jacklyn Smith...actually, I'm pretty sure it was Jacklyn Smith. I didn't know who she was but we sat on a flight together (had a 1st class upgrade) and I was young...told her she looked familiar (cause I thought she was a teacher at my school or something) and she said she did tv stuff. She never named Charlies Angles which would have made sense, but she said something like The George Washington Diaries mini series, which I did remember seeing a commercial for that. She was very nice. I was a little kid with a cold and she got me hot tea and everything. I guess she lives in Houston cause it was an LA to Houston flight. When we got up to exit, these young ladies behind me asked if it was Jacklyn Smith and I said yes. I figured then she was pretty famous so I went ahead and asked for here autograph. Years later I see that she's pimpin her clothing line for KMart. Glen Davis is a famous old Houston Astro who took karate lessons at my family's dojo. Chuck Norris, Joe Bisciboe, and Jonathon Bradis also made appearances there when they rented the place to film a scene of some crappy movie in the 90's called Sidekicks, which was made in Houston and grand opened on like 10 screens at the Sharpstown Cineplex Odeon.
My first was Maloney at Memorial City Mall. I ran to the in mall sports store and bought a large Maloney photograph and borrowed their pen. WTF was I thinking? My autograph carries more weight. Cell phone pics with the "celeb" are the new autograph.
buzz kills. The dude's excited and wants to share his story. I'm happy for you man, I remember this one time when I was excited after some even, I got online and told the first person I found on AIM. It's a great feeling. You're mistaken about one point though: the best player on the 9ers is actually Michael Robinson. Honest mistake, lots of people make it, no big deal . Coincidently, my first autograph is Joe Paterno.
Nolan Ryan. I still have the baseball. I also have a hat signed by Dream, but I didnt have any Rockets gear on me so he signed the gimme cap I was wearing at the time. Its from some software company. Oh well.
I was 12 and walking outside of Nordstrom at the Washington Square mall in Oregon. Clyde Drexler (my idol) was walking in and I was so shocked I literally said " Are you Clyde Drexler?!?! " He replied " I sure am . " And he shook my hand and he signed my shopping bag. A few days later he was traded to the Rockets. The day Drexler was traded was the day I became a die-hard Rockets fan.
I have autographs (somewhere) from: Alex Lifeson (Rush) Jon Anderson (Yes) Rick Wakeman (Yes) Harriot Wheeler (The Sundays) Harriot's Husband (The Sundays) Steve Morse (Guitar Player) The only one I really care about is Alex Lifeson because he inspired me to play guitar almost 20 years ago (still play) and, maybe, Harriot Wheeler 'cause she was cute.
My Dad sat next to Spud Webb on a plane once and got a nice autograph for me when I was little. Then my only other autographs are on a b-ball: Rudy, Sam Jones, Calvin, and Robert Reid. It was at Rudy's summer camp, way back in the day. aka ace, I really think you should have followed Julian into the bathroom with your camera. Might have made a never-forget type of story for both of you.
George Foreman. His daughter was a classmate of mine and he brought her lunch to the school cafeteria one day.
