Asking for an autograph

[Columbo]

Anybody in this business who asks for anybody's autograph should be fired on the spot.

It is effing childish, childish, childish.

You want another grown man to sign a piece of paper to prove you were once in his presence?

Loser!!!!!

I will never let my kids to even collect or seek autographs. It would be sending them the wrong message -- that certain people are more special than others because they get media attention and can hit a ball with a bat or make a lot of slam dunks. Stupid.

Some people are more special than others. Whether they are genius inventors, sublime artists, highly functioning athletes or people of great power in history.

 

[MertWindu]

Anybody in this business who asks for anybody's autograph should be fired on the spot.

It is effing childish, childish, childish.

You want another grown man to sign a piece of paper to prove you were once in his presence?

Loser!!!!!

I will never let my kids to even collect or seek autographs. It would be sending them the wrong message -- that certain people are more special than others because they get media attention and can hit a ball with a bat or make a lot of slam dunks. Stupid.

Some people are more special than others. Whether they are genius inventors, sublime artists, highly functioning athletes or people of great power in history.

And having them sign their names on something does what?

 

[Bubbler]

A longtime Milwaukee-area sportswriter was my dad's college roommate and they are great friends to this day, so I learned the do's and don't's of autographs pretty early.

He covered the Brewers of my youth -- Bambi's Bombers, Harvey's Wallbangers, etc. -- and I asked him if he could get me some autographs.

I could tell it was the question he was dreading, he always did whatever he could to foster my interest in sports, and later, in sportswriting, but he had to tell me he couldn't do it because it was against the rules. I'm sure I parried him with the kind of 8-year-old questions that defied an easy answer like, "That's stupid that it's against the rules, can't you do it just once?"

At some point, I got a Cecil Cooper and a few other autographs through him. Today, I hope to God he went through the Brewers PR staff, because I would feel terrible if he let his ethical guard down to please me as a kid.

He was a great influence when I was younger about knowing the do's and don't's of the biz. I knew all about "no cheering in the press box" when I was in my teens. That kind of grounding is really a great headstart as far as knowing what is and isn't professional in the biz.

And I was truly honored when I got to cover some Packers games with him years later when I covered the team.

 

[Just_An_SID]

I am asked all the time to get items autographed for sportswriters, mostly for charitable functions that they are involved with or for their fathers or children. Never for themself.

Depending on the situation, I don't have a problem with getting a couple of autographs, especially if it is for a good guy or a good cause. If you are going to be a prick to me and my school then don't expect me to go out of my way to help you.

The same goes for free tickets. I wish I had a dollar for every time a media member (mostly electronic media) hits me up for free tickets. It is almost like they think they are entitled to them. I left tickets once for a radio guy once who went to the wrong will call gate and proceeded to mother-&#*$ the worker who told him that she didn't have the tickets. They tracked me down and I told him where the tickets were and he left without even apologizing to the poor girl.

 

[shockey]

26 years as a sports writer, never once have i asked anyone for an autograph. closest is when i've asked p.r. guys to get autographed stuff to send to charity auctions. i couldn't even imagine asking a player personally for his john hancock. that would make me feel dirty.

 

[rgd]

No reporter should EVER ask for an autograph. Case closed.

 

[Stupid]

I bought a couple of NCAA championship retrospectives done by the home team's SI Dept. as holiday gifts one year. I took them to a game and afterwards asked the 2 SIDs who had put the edition together to sign both copies for me. Both seemed to be flattered although I pointed out that as authors, it's customary to sign books.

 

[spaceman]

don't do it.

 

[Big City Scribe]

The second you ask for an autograph, you stop being a reporter and become exactly like those guys who do that Redskins site... I believe the term is Fanboy.

 

[markvid]

I bought a couple of NCAA championship retrospectives done by the home team's SI Dept. as holiday gifts one year. I took them to a game and afterwards asked the 2 SIDs who had put the edition together to sign both copies for me. Both seemed to be flattered although I pointed out that as authors, it's customary to sign books.

That doesn't seem wrong like getting any athlete's autograph would be.

 

[soccer dad]

ive seen two reporters -- one tv one print -- do it with wayne gretzky. i thought it was a disgrace.

i remember standing with one of our on-air guys at batting practice when a kid yelled out his name and asked for a baseball. our guy walked over to the kid and explained why he couldnt do it. two minutes later, another tv reporter, lets call her hazel mae, gave another kid a ball. i thought my friend was going to kill her.

 

[markvid]

ive seen two reporters -- one tv one print -- do it with wayne gretzky. i thought it was a disgrace.

i remember standing with one of our on-air guys at batting practice when a kid yelled out his name and asked for a baseball. our guy walked over to the kid and explained why he couldnt do it. two minutes later, another tv reporter, lets call her hazel mae, gave another kid a ball. i thought my friend was going to kill her.

But it was Hazel Mae.....
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....................

 

[Double J]

I bought a couple of NCAA championship retrospectives done by the home team's SI Dept. as holiday gifts one year. I took them to a game and afterwards asked the 2 SIDs who had put the edition together to sign both copies for me. Both seemed to be flattered although I pointed out that as authors, it's customary to sign books.

That doesn't seem wrong like getting any athlete's autograph would be.

I've asked fellow writers to autograph books they've written. I saw nothing wrong with it and still don't, because I don't intend to let go of the books, let alone sell them for a profit or anything like that.

 

[Columbo]

Anybody in this business who asks for anybody's autograph should be fired on the spot.

It is effing childish, childish, childish.

You want another grown man to sign a piece of paper to prove you were once in his presence?

Loser!!!!!

I will never let my kids to even collect or seek autographs. It would be sending them the wrong message -- that certain people are more special than others because they get media attention and can hit a ball with a bat or make a lot of slam dunks. Stupid.

Some people are more special than others. Whether they are genius inventors, sublime artists, highly functioning athletes or people of great power in history.

And having them sign their names on something does what?

The previous post said that a kid getting an autograph "sends a message" that some people are better than others, as if that was not the case.

And, I merely replied that, indeed, some people ARE better than others.

I don't see a problem with kids, if they want to interact with their favorite players to ask for an autograph.

It's actually one of those very few/only remaining pure, unfiltered actions that a star engages in in public.

I've always thought signatures are cool, artistic expressions of personality... a little window inward.

But to be clear, I would never, ever ask someone for an autograph. To me, it's like trick-or-treating... kid's activity.

 

[EStreetJoe]

What's worse than a reporter asking for an autograph -- a referee asking for an autograph after the game.
It happened here a few of years ago causing a minor scandal.
The high school Prime Time Shootout was going on LeBron James' team was here when he was a senior. After the game one of the referees was caught asking James for an autograph and posing for a picture with James. One of the local newspapers shot a picture of this happening and ran it. The ref got into a bit of trouble.

Back to the journalists asking for/getting autographs.
Over 10+ years ago Willie Mays made an appearance at some big youth baseball tournament going on (might have been the Babe Ruth World Series). He was giving out some autographs and our reporter at the event got in line and asked for one. He signed it "John Smith" (or some other common fake name, I can't remember which one)

 

[Dan Hickling]

I have zero interest in any autographs...save for those on the fronts of checks I've earned....there is a proper protocol for this sort of thing, as has been already pointed out, and I have only employed this tack once. My brother's father-in-law happens to be named Joe Thornton, and as I cover the Bruins, I thought it might be a cool thing to have one Joe sign a pic for another. I brought this to the Bs PR staff, purchased my own picture of (then) "Causeway Joe" and after an off-day skate gave it to the asst PR guy to have Joe sign it, which he did cheerfully....it reads, "From one Joe Thornton to another....Best wishes, Joe #19"....everything was cool....

 

[tmunson]

ASking the PR staff ... I dont know if this is the case everywhere, but I know of one university with a high-profile coach who had a manager do all his autographs. I imagine a lot of places do the same thing. I just cant see a pr staffer going up to Kobe Bryant and saying, Hey, man, can you sign this for the beat reporter's sick dad? Probably not going to happen.

 

[Billy Monday]

If a reporter asks for a coach's or athlete's autograph, not only should he be fired immediately, but he should be fitted for a diaper and a pacifier.

 

[Stupid]

I've never understood autographs anyway. when I was a kid in the '70s, my great aunt, who worked at a KC bank, got George Brett's autograph and sent it to me. I have no idea what happened to it. probably crumbled up in my attic. my dad got Gaylord Perry's autograph on a baseball and since I didn't like the color of the ink, I re-traced it in a different color. People who collect autographs by either standing in line for them or paying out the ass have to be some of the dumbest MFers on the planet.

 

[Orange Hat Bobcat]

I collected autographs of the Cleveland Indians of my youth (including a now-jailed Albert Belle, for what it's worth), but I've never asked for a signature while working and I never plan to ask for one. The athletes and coaches I deal with are doing their jobs, and I'm doing mine. That's enough for me.