Julius Erving Signing At Harman NYC 2/14/2015

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day when many people stay with their loved ones, having a romantic day. Going out to dinner or a movie or just staying in the company with their one true love. Well, this Sexy Geek decided that while many were snuggled with their better half's, I would brave the 20 degree temperatures and snow and meet one of the greatest basketball players who ever lived. That would be Dr. J himself, Julius Erving.

Dr. Jay was making an apperance at Harman NYC as part of the NBA All Star Weekend. The All Star game is being held this year at Madison Square Garden as part of a joint venture of the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Many NBA players have been making apperances all over New York City these few days and although I was tempted to meet a few of them, only Dr. J could get me out of my warm home and into the colder elements to grab an autograph. So, a I hastily printed out a 11x14 photo (The one above) and off I went.

Harman is located on Madison Ave and 54th street. It was pretty easy for me to get to as I used to work not too far from there. When I got there, I was shocked at how few people there was lined up outside. I made it a point to arrive at least 2 hours early to beat the crowds. When I got on line, the store staff was ushering the graphers inside the store. Once inside, we waited in a designated area while being served pastries and hot chocolate.

The group of graphers were the usual suspects I see at almost every event or outside any stadium or hotel I have gone to graph at. I made small talk with a few I knew and read my tablet while waiting for the festivities to begin. I'm currently reading "The Best In The World..At What I Have No Idea" written by one of my favorite wrestlers, Chris Jericho. His previous two books were smart, funny and highly entertaining and so far his third offering has not disappointed.

If one wishes, they could have watched NBA highlights while waiting in line. Of course, they were the same 5 minutes of highlights on a continuous loop that was replayed over and over. That get's pretty old pretty fast.

This speaker would be a sweet addition to the Sports Room here in the House Of Swag.

The signing was supposed to have been from 1-3 PM. Of course, 1 Pm rolls around and no Dr. J. The employees passed time by giving out speakers, headphones and Knicks tickets via a raffle. Finally, around 1:15, the man of the hour arrives and goes directly to a radio show that was emanating from the store. I understand that these players have to promote the All Star game and the festivities that take place before the game, but at least get there before your scheduled start time to take the interview. Most celebrities will want to leave at the appointed time, no matter what even if they were late starting the signing. OK, rant over.

After his radio spot, Erving came over to the table to start signing. Another problem arose when we were informed that he was only signing the 8x10's supplied by the store. I really wish the advertisements would state that when promoting the event. I wouldn't have had to run around to find a place that would print an 11x14 on such short notice and waste the money to have it printed up.

When I finally got to the front, I told Dr. J how I remembered watching him play for the New York Nets and being impressed with his dunking ability. I also told him it was an honor to meet him. He seemed like he appreciated the comments and shook my hand while posing with me for the picture.

The photo is actually a lot nicer than I expected. It's still printed on that card stock that so many photos given out at these free events are printed on, but the store and corporate sponsor logo is a lot smaller than on other photo's I've received in the past. Still, you can't complain about getting a free autograph from an NBA legend like Julius Erving.

It was great to meet the good Doctor. I always try to make it to a signing to meet legendary players. You never know how long you have to meet them before they stop making appearances due to age or they just don't want to be bothered with signing autographs.  I honestly don't get out to as many appearances as I'd like to, but being able to ad Dr. J's autograph to my collection makes me want to go out and find more appearances.

Must...Have...Autographs!!

New Autograph Additions To The Sports Room

A few weeks ago, the Yankees held their annual Fan Fest at the Intrepid Air And Space Museum in Manhattan. It's a day where former and sometimes current Yankees meet and greet with fans, sign an autograph and talk about the Yankees. To me, it's more of a Fest where business set up booths and give out free samples of whatever they are hawking. This time around, I got a major sugar rush by drinking free samples for Colombian soda pop and ate a whole bunch of cherry licorice while waiting on line for autographs.

This year, Rich Gossage, Willie Randolph and Doc Gooden were the players that appeared. Cecil Fielder and Reggie Jackson cancelled out, which was a bummer as I really was looking forward to meeting Reggie for the first time, but getting to cross the former Yankee second baseman and Captain off my Yankee bucket list worked just fine for me also.

Willie wasn't scheduled to start signing until 1 pm and I was already on his line at 11 am, so I killed time by chatting up my fellow Yankee fans, eating a lot of candy, looking out over the Hudson River and talking to my girlfriend on the phone. Soon, Willie Randolph arrived and started to get to work signing autographs for the fans who waited patiently for him.

I had heard stories about Randolph. Fans had told me that he wasn't the nicest guy to meet so I was watching him to get an idea of what his mood was. There was a few fans ahead of me so I watched as they met up with him. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood. It really didn't matter as I was going to wow him with my charm and get a smile out of him as he signed my baseball.

I didn't have to worry. Willie was so nice to me. He greeted me with a hearty hello as I walked up to his table. I told him I had been following his career since he was traded to the Yankees from Pittsburgh and he thanked me for supporting him from the beginning. I asked him about his thoughts on Derek Jeter and he said it was an honor to have known him and coached him during his time with the Yankees. He signed my ball, shook my hand and I was off.

Willie makes ball number 46 in my Yankees signed baseball collection. I'm 4 away from my goal of 50 signed baseballs from former Yankees by the end of the year. I'm very pleased with how this came out.

As I was walking away from Randolph's tent, I snapped a quick shot of Goose's tent. I didn't get a Gossage autograph on this day as I had nothing for him. He signed baseball number 44 over the summer and my Yankee poster over the summer, so I'm good for now on Gossage.

After, I was able to get in to meet Doc Gooden. I had the pleasure of meeting him on several different occasions and each time he was so very nice. This time was no different. He looked at the picture of him after he pitched is no hitter and I asked him what was he thinking at that moment. He told me he was glad the pop up was hit to Jeter because Boggs had a problem with pop ups. As he signed it, I asked him if he would have rather had done it as a Met and he said as long as it was done in New York, he was happy.

The picture that I printed out isn't the clearest. I like that he added the no no date on the photo. I may print out a clearer picture and try to get him to resign at a later date though.

Afterward, I walked around and checked out the festivities. There was a few things you could do. You could take batting practice, throw pitches, listen to a live remote from WFAN, New York's Sports Radio Talk Station, watch someone from Ringling Brothers play with a rope, get some free stuff from local businesses and grab some grub (which wasn't free. Oh well,)

Overall, I had a fun time at this year's Yankees Fan Fest. My main concern really is getting autographs. I got the ones I wanted so I consider my day to be a success. Anything else is just icing on the cake. The icing this year was being able to walk away with a box of those cherry licorice, which I ate in a few weeks. Now, I have a sugar rush and I can't wait until next years Fan Fest for more autographs and free candy.

The First Rule Of Fight Club Is You Have To Go To A Car Show To Meet A Knick!

The New York Auto show is in full swing. The event is held at the Jacobs Javitz Convention Center every year and thousands of car enthusiasts visit the show each year to check out the new cars that will be released in the upcoming season and do other car related things. Being that I am not a car guy I have never been to the show. I don't own a car nor have I ever in my life. I have never worked on a car or even cleaned one. I do have a drivers license and can pump my own gas, so I at least have that going for me.

But I did attend the show today. Why, you may ask? None of your business!

OK, I'm just playing with you guys. Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks was appearing at the show today. He of 2 NBA Championship teams. He of the 50 greatest NBA Players of all time. He of awesome fashion and even better grammar was signing autographs from 1-3 at the State Farm booth and I was going to be there. Frazier has been on my want list for a while, so I made sure I was going to be there.

Thanks to New York Transit, I arrived at the convention center a little later than I expected to. For those who do not live in New York City, riding the subways on a weekend is one of the absolute worst things. There is always construction somewhere and it causes delays. So, it took me over an hour to get to my destination today. Thanks MTA.

After having my bag checked at the door and paying my $15.00 ticket for a show I had absolutely no interest in checking out, I made my way to the State Farms booth, which was on the same floor as the entrance, lucky for me. When I got on the line a little after noon, I was pretty close to the front of the line.

The front of the line was just a wrap around the ropes for me. Comfortable with this knowledge, I put my bag down and pulled out a book to read. I am currently re-reading the Last Night Of The Yankees Dynasty. It was a good read the first time I read the book and it is even better the second time around. I highly recommend it if you have not read it yet.

As it was getting nearer to showtime, I noticed the workers pulling out a couple of boxes of photos for Walt to sign. They were nice, except for the State Farm logo on the bottom of them. I had bought a mini basketball and my New York Knicks 50th Anniversary book that I am getting signatures inside. I was hoping to get "Clyde" to sign either one, but when I saw the pictures my heart sank. On one hand, I was thankful I was finally meeting arguably the 2nd greatest Knick after Ewing, but I really wanted Frazier to sign my items. Thankfully, it was announced that Walt would indeed sign what you had, but it was one per person, which I was fine with.

Around 12:55, I looked behind me and was shocked to see the line behind me.

Quite the turn out. I shouldn't be surprised. The man is a Knicks legend and is still very popular with Knicks fans thanks to his contributions to Knicks broadcasts on MSG as a broadcaster. He even opened a restaurant in New York City called Clyde Frazier's Wine And Dine. I've been there before and it's a very nice spot.

Right at 1 PM on the button, Frazier shows up. Check out his jacket. What did I say about his sense of fashion? Pretty sweet.

I was actully expecting him to be a bit late. As of late, whenever I show up for a signing the athletes are usually late. Although Hideki Matsui was on time, I figured it was a fluke and Walt would be a bit late. Nope. He was right on time and got right to work upon sitting down.

The line moved rather smoothly. Walt was interacting with the fans, smiling, posing for pictures and being the man I had heard he was. A very humble and gracious person. When it came to my turn, I decided I was going to take a picture with Walt, even though I rarely take pictures with the athletes. I was not passing that opportunity up.

Before I got up there, I decided to have the mini basketball I bought signed. While he was signing, I told him what it honor it was to meet him and I loved his restaurant, which he told me he was going to after the signing. I probably should have gone to get him to sign my book. Once I left, I took a look at the ball and wasn't thrilled with it.

The signature is not as bold as I would have liked it to be because he used a blasted Sharpie marker. Not Walt's fault. That's all he had up at the table. The day prior, I was looking for Deco paint pens and most places I tried didn't have them. I went to the one place I didn't go to yesterday after I left the show and found a few. I guess I should have gone to the store yesterday after all. Maybe if I had, I would have had a better signature on my ball. Lesson learned. 

After seeing how this ball turned out, I seriously thought about giving up getting signatures on balls. My other efforts, the Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Charles Oakley, Amar'e Stoudmire all came out disastrous. I'm going to try one more time, this time with a Deco. My Carmelo Anthony ball looks great and that's because he used a Deco. Same as Wayne Chrebet on a football. Those give me some hope.If not, it will be photos from here on.

Despite the signature, the day was a pretty cool day. I got to meet one of my all time favorite Knicks and even if the signature isn't the boldest, it will still look good on display when I get one up. A day like today, I'll take it every time.