Meeting the Jazz

A few weeks ago, my bishop from our last ward called me and offered me two tickets to a Utah Jazz player signing party. He knows that I am a huge fan of the Jazz and that I am trying to get a few things signed from the better players. How could I say no?

I invited my sister, Boo, to go with me. We met up during my lunch break to purchase a few things that we wanted to get signed. The main thing that we each got was a Jazz basketball. We decided that if they would only let us get one thing autographed, that we would work on getting the ball filled up as much as we could. I already have an autographed Deron Williams jersey, so I also bought a plack that I was hoping to get him to sign.

We left early to go to the arena, and discovered that there was already a huge line to get in. As we were walking down towards the end of the line, we saw Sean Douglas, from our parents ward. We stopped to talk to him, and he generously offered to let us stay (butt) in line with him. Again, how could we refuse?

Once inside, we discovered that Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver were not there that evening. I was bumbed. Taking that into account, and seeing how many people were there, we knew that Andrei Kirilenko and Deron Williams would both have huge lines. As we headed towards Deron, we saw that Matt Harpring’s line wasn't too long. We stopped in and he signed our basketballs without even looking up, even though we both said something to him.

When we saw Deron's line, it seriously stretched around half of the Energy Solutions Arena. I knew that it was going to be a long wait, so I waited in line while Boo went to the players that had shorter lines, to fill up her ball. Deron's line was so long that the end of Ronnie Price's line (Which started further back) was not as far back as Deron's. Boo got in that line, and the people around me were nice enough to let me go with her to get Price's autograph, and still hold my spot in Deron's line.

When we were closer to Deron, I realized that I had two things that I really wanted to get signed, but they had signs posted all over, that you could only get one thing signed. I began walking back in the line to see if there was anyone I knew that could hop up front with me and get the ball signed, while I got the plack signed. I knew it was a long shot, but I saw Josh Ericson and his wife. They only had a picture that they needed signed, so they came up with me and I was able to get both items signed. Deron and CJ Miles were both real nice guys. They were talking to everyone that came through, and thanked us for being there.

Time was running out, at this point. Boo and I went downstairs, where we saw Tyrone Corbin and Jarron Collins. Their line only had like fifteen people in it. Boo had already gone through it, but we waited again to get my ball signed. We also had a scrap of paper that they signed, and we mailed it to our brother, Mats. He is a big Jazz fan too. We were sure that he would always treasure a piece of scrap paper with their autographs on it. We were going to see if we could get in Matt Harpring's line again to get a jersey signed. Then we were told that Matt had already left. (The event really had about 10 minutes to go.) Jarron laughed and said that sounded just like Matt, and he wasn't surprised at all.

Then Boo and I went to dinner and talked about a lot of things. I am glad that she was able to come with me. We had a great time. She tried to make me trade her balls, since hers had more autographs. I refused though. The best part about getting things signed, is when you get it signed yourself. I will keep going to Jazz games and getting my ball filled up.

My wife doesn't understand why I enjoy doing things like this so much. Any explanation that I could give wouldn't help, so I don't really try. I just like having something physical to remember meeting these guys with. Besides, I could always use more cool things to decorate our downstairs family room with.