AUTOGRAPH FEATURES
ALL STAR MADNESS!
The NHL's 50th All Star Game was held in Toronto on the February 6th weekend of 2000. I took notice of this date months before hand and tried to make sure that I was fully prepared for any player or ex player that I may run into that weekend. As I soon discovered, having over 800 items on hand of 400 players doesn't mean you have all of your bases covered.
When deciding on how to best prepare myself for this event I thought my best bet was to use as many cards as possible & make sure I could easily access any player I saw at a record speed. I based my supplies on the All Star rosters, the old timers & ex-Leaf teams as well as all of the broadcasters. I was literally pulling stuff out for months before hand. Each night I would be rubbing down cards for hours to make sure that every card was perfectly ready for a blue sharpie. I also went & bought a load of photo's of players like Modano & Amonte. When all was said & done I estimate by portfolio weighed in at over 50 lbs.
When I first looked at the old timers list two names really struck me, Jari Kurri & Glenn Anderson. When I heard that these two were playing in the old timers game I new that I wanted to land there autographs more than any other player in town.
The weekend kicked off on Friday when the old timers held a practice at Maple Leaf Gardens. I was really bummed because I had to work. Believe me when I say that no matter how bad you need an autograph school & work should always come first. When I got home from work that night & put on the news on & saw the who's who at the practice. Michelle Goulet, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson & my favorite Leaf goalie Allan Bester. I was almost crying when I thought about who I missed.
My plan was to get up really early on Saturday since practice started at 9am & head to the players entrance at the ACC. I wasn't exactly sure on what hotel everyone was staying in so I figured that my best bet was to go to the arena & get a feel on what's up. I new that my safest bet would be at the place where everyone was eventually going.
The next morning when I got to the ACC it was absolutely crazy. Only in Toronto a 9am practice sells out. People were absolutely everywhere to be seen. When I got to the players entrance I noticed another who's who, the who's who of autograph scum bags. Every scum bag dealer in North America was trying to get lucky. Dealers from Calgary & as far away as California were there. I hate dealers with a passion, so when they were asking me questions I kept giving them all the wrong answers. When I figured out who was staying where I was telling the dealers the opposite. The players were starting to roll in. I saw Shanahan, Chelios & Yzerman but none of them stopped to sign. Next Phil Housley walked in with his kids & he didn't sign either. The day was looking really dark, security was really tight & with all of the people around the players seemed negligent to stop. Finally Pat Quinn arrives & he stops & signs for everyone. Scotty Bowman comes a few minutes later & doesn't stop. I wasn't sure on how to feel. I was seeing players, but none of them would sign. All I had to show for the early morning was a Quinn. Those annoying hosts from Cool Shots came out of a limo & I was about to get there autographs because my day was going so bad but I didn't. I did notice Brett Lindros crossing the street so I pulled out his cards. A couple of other people noticed him to. When he got to the door he signed two cards for me. All of these dumb dealers were showing him Eric Lindros photo's & he kept saying "I'm not Eric". This is one of the reason I hate dealers, because they ruin everything. All they care about is a quick buck. They don't even know who's autograph there getting, they f*ck it up for everyone else.
My mentor Marco showed up & gave to the wrap on what's going on. He told me that at the practice the day before almost every old timer was signing autographs except Glenn Anderson. When he told me that Jari Kurri stopped & signed for everyone, I almost died. It didn't suprise me about Anderson, he has always been a tough autograph. But most importantly he told me on where everyone was staying. The current players were in one hotel, the old timers in another & broadcasters in yet another. None of these hotels were close together so hotel jumping was next to impossible. What I really wanted was to go to the hotel where Jari Kurri was & wait for him, but Marco convinced me to say with him & try to get the current stars after practice.
When the morning practice ended some players began to file out. Victor Kozlov & Sergei Zubov came out first. Kozlov signed for everyone which suprised me because he's usually pretty tough. Zubov refused every request. Marco was begging him but he gave the old " If I sign for you I have to sign for everyone". Next out came Ray Whitney and he signed like crazy, he did a real beauty for me. Then out came Dominic Hasak who wasn't even scheduled to play, he didn't sign a single thing. Hasak has become a really tough autograph in the last year. When I looked in the window of the ACC I noticed Pavel Bure standing alone. I don't think anyone saw him so I pulled my card out before hand. He bolted out the door signed my card & jumped into the cab. I was really lucky to land him.
The morning finished off pretty much there. No more players came out only broadcasters like Greg Millen & Bryan Hayward. Somebody told me that Mike Krushelnyski came out & I was pissed off because I missed him. As I was landing every single broadcaster in NHL history I noticed a short & skinny guy with a really hot wife walking outside the ACC. I than realized that it was ex Leaf goalie from the 80's Allan Bester. Bester is & will be my favorite Leaf goalie of all time. I have a lot of great memories of him when I was a kid. I always remember being the happiest when he got the start over Ken Wregget. Me & about five other hounds approached Bester for autographs. I began immediately to tell Allan how great I thought he was. I was really letting it all out, telling him that he was my favorite goalie & how many great memories I have of the old Leafs, he kept telling me thanks. I asked him where he is living & he told me Orlando. After he left all of my friends started goofing on me because they said I was just kissing his ass. The truth of the matter is, I wasn't. I meant every word that I said. I'm sure everyone has a certain player that they love no matter how great there stats are, Bester is mine.
Saturday afternoon I decided to try my luck with getting Jari Kurri at the old timers hotel. I had heard good things about the old timers signing autographs there so I decided to try my luck. When I got to the hotel security was tight. Tons of hounds were outside the front doors by the bus. The players started to file out one by one. When Jari Kurri came out he ran straight on the bus without signing. Old timers like Bobby Hull & Teeder Kennedy came out but weren't signing. There was way to many people waiting by the bus that no player stopped. Glenn Anderson came out & everyone began to cheer. He stopped & signed one autograph for one guy & than I went up to him with my team picture. He told me "that's it" & jumped on the bus without signing.
That pretty well ended my Saturday. Some of the other hounds were telling me about this NHL party later that night. The worst feeling in hounding is being outside of some lobby like a hobo while tons of celebrities walk rate by you on the red carpet. I'll never put myself in that position. It's such a low feeling hounding outside of these dinner's & events.
I decided to dedicate my Sunday to landing as much current star autographs as possible & land the much anticipated Jari Kurri autograph. I started Sunday morning by going to the players hotel. When I first got there at about 8:30am I immediately bumped into Mario Lemieux at Starbucks. He signed one card for me graciously. Hounds began to pour in one by one so security was getting tough. Some of the hounds spotted Olaf Kolzig in the lobby so they followed him in. Security then came out & threatened there lives. I than noticed to buses side by side with one saying North America & the other the World. Security than put up two chain ropes to create walkways for the players. Marco convinced me to wait by the World side & boy am I glad that I did. Lidstrom, Satan came over & signed while guys like Modano & Roenick ran on the bus. When the Bure brothers came out everyone started to go crazy screaming for Pavel. I king of felt bad for Valari so I asked him for his autograph & he signed three cards for me. They each signed only for about five people, so I felt lucky. The North American side was looking dark, I only saw Richter and MacInnis sign a few.
After the buses left I went to the old timers hotel & was suprised at what I saw. The hotel had opened it's doors & people were allowed to walk in & stay in the lobby. When I went in it was an absolute frenzy of players. When I first went in my buddy told me that Gretzky was signing over in the corner. I quickly pulled out my photo & went over to the scene. Only problem was that it wasn't Wayne, it was his dad Walter & he was signing like crazy & posing for pictures.
I noticed Jari Kurri over by the stairs so I went up to him with my team picture & he signed a real beauty for me. I than asked him to do a card & he did it. I was so happy that I got him. It was by far the highlight of my weekend. He was the guy I wanted the most.
Tons of players kept pouring out. Guys like Henri Richard, Peter Stasney, Michelle Goulet, Gary Leeman were all signing in the lobby. Even ex Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulrony & 80's pop sensation Cindy Laupper were at the hotel signing. I got so many autographs that afternoon it wasn't funny. I got Johnny Bower, Lanny McDonald & Darryl Sittler as well.
After the All Star game I waited outside of the ACC, I landed Rob Blake & Eric Lindros. A bunch of old timers came out like Tony Esposito, Steve Shutt & Michelle Goulet who I got for a second time. While I was hounding a good friend of mine had is bag full of photos & autographs ripped off. He put it down & than some guy stole it. Rumor has it that it was this Bum that hangs outside of the arena. If I ever see that Bum again I'm really going to do a number on him with my belt. I'm going to whip that bum so bad that the Levis logo from my belt buckle will be permanent on the back of his neck. Players like Kariya & Selanne ran out and didn't sign for anyone.