5/31/08                            Colorado Rockies Autographs

Pictured above are Tulo, Clint Barmes, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jorge De La Rosa and Jonathan Herrera( on one ball), Ryan Speier, Franklin Morales and Micah Bowie. The autograph on the ticket stub is Omar Quintanilla I got two years ago.

The baseballs on top are batting practice balls from this year that we will be use for autographs from now on. I have snagged six batting practice balls so far this year and one has Ubaldo Jimenez’s autograph on it and the other ball Hunter had signed by Tulowitzki. 

                                                      DENVER NUGGETS 2008

I am fortunate to have a good buddy of twenty years who works for the Nuggets. 

 I was able to attend most of the Denver Nuggets home games this year.  

I bought most of my own tickets, but he was able to get me backstage after the games.

Thanks bro !

 

 

 

 

 

The Red ones will get you through the tunnel backstage after the game. 

If you had a yellow one it would get you in locker room. (I’ve never had one of those). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                      Brick #1.

The first game I was able to go backstage was on Jan 17, 08. Nuggets vs Jazz.

I had no idea I would going backstage and was totally unprepared.

 I managed to buy a sharpie at the Nuggets store, but what I really wanted autographed was a basketball. 

Ouch, the price for an NBA basketball was over a hundred bucks.

So I decided to use one of the bricks that Nuggets fans wave when an opposing player is trying to shoot a free throw. 

Not only are they free, but they are actually great for getting autographs on.

 I know people say not to laminate autographs, but that’s because it makes it harder to verify the autograph’s authenticity.

Every single autograph I own has been obtained by me personally. I do not own a single autograph that I have not personally had signed in front of me.

On the bricks I attach the backstage pass for that game, the date, which team the Nuggets played that day, the player’s who autographed the brick, and the final score.

On the first brick I had the ticket laminated with it and it worked fine. Unfortunatly it didn’t work so well with the next two bricks because the ink was temperature sensitive and the tickets turned black.

Autographs on this Brick # 1 are: Linas Kleiza (career high 41 points that game), Marcus Camby, Eduardo Najera, Yakhouba Diawara, Anthony Carter, and JR Smith.

I looked over to see Carlos Boozer of the Jazz sneaking out and asked him politely for an autograph.

 He said “sure’ and signed the back of this brick. He was really cool about it.

Nuggets beat the Jazz 120-109.

Most of Nuggets are really good  about signing autographs, but not all of them.

 I have yet to snag an autograph from Carmelo Anthony or Allen Iverson.

It’s not that they won’t sign autographs backstage, it’s just that they don’t go over to the autograph area after the game. Iverson usually makes an appearance but but sneaks out the door without signing. That’s cool, at least I got to see him. I have never seen Melo after a game. He usually sneaks out of the Pepsi Center through another more private exit.

Brick # 2

 The next time I got an opportunity to go backstage was Jan 25, 2008.

This game was the Nuggets vs the Nets.

Nuggets won.

 Autographs on this brick are: Kenyon Martin, Chucky Atkins and Yakhouba Diawara.

I felt bad because when I saw Chucky Atkins because I interrupted him during his phone conversation by asking him for an autograph. Usually I’m a little more respectful than that.

Oh well, it was the first time I had seen him backstage.

He was chill about it, he held up his finger as to mean “wait a minute”, and when he was finished with his call he came over and signed the brick. He also signed a picture for me and so did Kenyon Martin. I will post the autographed pictures at the end toward the end of this entry.

                                                Nuggets beat the Nets 100-85.

      Brick # 3

Is from the 3/7/08 game vs the Spurs.

Nuggets won 109-96.

The autgraphs on this brick are: George Karl, Anthony Carter, Nene and Sean Elliot (a retired Spurs Player now  sports commentator).

My wife and I were at that game. I got Brick # 3 autographed and she got the black basketball signed.

 

 

 

 

 

 Autographs on this basketball are:

Anthony Carter, Taureen Green, Linas Kleiza, K-mart, Chucky Atkins and tucked away in the corner, George Karl.

 

 I love this ball !

 

 

 

 

                        

 

 

Here is a my Nuggets hat with George Karl, Anthony Carter and Chucky Atkins Autographs.

                                    Linas Kleiza from Lithuania (aka, the L Train)

                                    One of my favorite players Eduardo Najera.

                                Kenyon Martin. My daughter Mylee’s favorite player.

 

                    Coach George Karl has a great routine for signing autographs.

 

He walks out, goes to the front of the line, signs his autograph, and then uses that sharpie to sign everyone else’s stuff.

Then he casually walks back to the first guy in line whose sharpie he used and returns it.    

 How cool is that? 

George Karl is a good guy.

.

  

 

 

 

                                                             JR Smith

                                              My favorite Nugget this year.

 I’ve always been an Allen Iverson fan, but I really enjoyed watching JR last season.

His three point scoring carried the Nuggets for a number of games this year. JR became a dominant player towards the end of the season and as a result received a lot more play time. 

It will really be cool to see what JR developes into. It was fun to watch him play this year. That 360 degree dunk he did over Dampier of the Mavericks was bar none, the best (non-game determining) basket I have ever seen live. 

I have a picture of that dunk on my wall waiting to get autographed. JR is really good about signing. I can tell you that it was easier to get his autograph at the beginning of the season than it was toward the end.

 Yakhauba Diawara

(aka Kooba)

 Kooba spent most of the season  keeping the bench warm, but was always the one of the first players out to sign autographs.

 He has signed several times for me and has always been approachable.

 Check out his autograph… it’s different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  Anthony Carter is the best for signing autographs.

He’s super friendly and has always signed for me. AC was fun to watch play this year and he is an important part of this team

 Thank you AC !

 

 

 

And my last autographed picture is of Chucky Atkins.

 Chucky got a lot more play towards the end of the season when he replaced Anthony Carter.

He’s about my size maybe shorter. It just shows you dont need height to play in the NBA.

 

                              A picture from my seat at the Nuggets vs Detroit Game. 

 In case you don’t follow basketball, the Nuggets were swept and thus eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs by the LA Lakers. That’s all I gotta say about that.

                                                     Thanks for looking..D