OT: Autographs at Chantilly Show

[t206hound]

I apologize if this belongs in another location, but thought I'd start here. My son's eighth birthday is the same week as the Chantilly show and his favorite football player (Peyton Manning) will be there. In my opinion, the price for the auto is pretty steep, but let's eliminate that as a factor regarding this thread.

Essentially the question is, are these sessions generally a cattle call where the player takes the item, signs it and hands it back? Or can I expect that there will be a little interaction between the player and my son?

Thanks in advance...

[pgellis]

I haven't been to one like this in a while, but the last one I went to was a All-Pro Quarterback and basically you hand your item to a person who hands it to the athlete who then has a second person on his other side pick up the item and hand it back to you.

You don't get a chance to hold up the line for more than 2 seconds. It's basically a conveyer-belt set up. "Move along....nothing to see here".

[t206hound]

That's what I assumed. Thanks for the info.

[vintagetoppsguy]

About 6-7 years ago, I made the drive from Houston to Kansas City for a TriStar show to meet Joe Montana (my childhood hero) and Jerry Rice. I was going to have them each sign a 49ers mini helment. I stood in Montana's line first. He didn't even really look up for most people. He had a guy on his right that would accept the item. That guy would look it over and pass it to Montana. Montana would sign it and pass it to some guy on his left who would pass it back to the owner. It kind of reminded me of an assembly line. He seem to have no personality at all.

When I went through Rices's line, he stuck out his hand and offered me a handshake and thanked me for coming out to see him. I was pleasantly surprised. He made me fell like I got my money's worth. It was quite a difference in the two individuals.

I met Jim Brown a few years ago and I had always heard that he was a big jerk, so I wasn't expecting much but an autograph. However, he was also one of the nicest players I have ever met. So, I really say it just depends on the individual and what kind of day they're having.

[kcohen]

Yes. It depends on the athlete. I have found that most of them take the time to chat or pose for pictures, unless of course it's Willie Mays. What you might do is go to the show and observe how Manning interacts. He may well be open to being more indulgent with children too. If you like what you see, you can then purchase the ticket at the show.

[pgellis]

Most of the time if it is a big-name athlete (like Manning), the athlete doesn't have much of a say in how the signing is run. If there are a lot of people in line (most probable for Manning), then the people running the signing will probably move people along very quickly so that they aren't there all day.