Buckeyes in person

Stayed after yesterday's Ohio State - Northern Illinois game in Columbus to
see if I could get a few autographs. Most players signed as they came out of
the stadium. I got TJ Downing and Jim Laurinaitis. I had pictures of them
so I had them sign them. Jim Laurinaitis' father is the wrestler, "the
Animal" as the Legion of Doom. I also saw Terry Robiskie former interim NFL
coach for a couple teams and current assistant coach for the Cleveland
Browns. His son, Brian, plays for the Buckeyes. Butch Reynolds, the Olympic
runner, is also a coach for Ohio State and I could have gotten him. Ohio
State's most popular players, Ted Ginn, Troy Smith, and Antonio Pittman
wouldn't sign for anyone.

Sean



----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

that's the state of college football now...mostly all of the stars on
teams sneak out of what used to be very accessible areas because too
many people are hanging around for autographs...
teams like texas and arizona state, tell their players NOT to sign
unless it's at a functioning team signing location. in fact, on texas
website, it tells you that the players will not sign (and this goes for
EVERY team that texas has)...as arizona state, there are big signs
telling people not to ask for autographs because signing autographs can
hurt their NCAA eligibility. at usc, it was common to not even see matt
leinart or reggie bush last year as leinart would sneak out the side
and bush's parents would pull the car up right to the top of the tunnel
so he didn't have to sign.
at florida, when steve spurrier was coach, i got autographs and one
player actually told me that if coach caught me, taht coach would
personally strangle me to death. at kansas, the players all tell you
that you are going to sell it, to the point that little kids with
autograph books are discouraged..
last year, ohio state was at the fiesta bowl and all those guys
mentioned were total jerks there too...and at practices, which are
normally very fan friendly, the fiesta bowl commitee has put it upon
themselves to put big huge tarps up along fences so that you can't even
see the players...
at the rose bowl, usc went so far as to have the hotel guests screened
constantly...there was a guy out front at a desk asking you for your
room key, then also, double checking on his list to see if you were a
guest of the hotel. if i were staying at the hotel and got bothered as
much as the guests did, i'd be ****ed..
but college is almost as much of a money maker as the NFL at a lot of
schools these days (especially the ones who churn out NFL prospects)
and i imagine it'll get worse...i bet, by the end of the year, that
spot you were at for ohio state, will be cut off completely, even if it
is a public parking lot.
sure, selling autographs ruins it for people...but it also ruins it
when every tom, dick and harry wants to sell what they got at a game
too. because of ebay, everyone's an entrepreneur.
mike