Jets Training Camp Recap Part 2!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Today was another productive day for my family, as we got to go out to New Jersey and explore the Hoboken area a little bit. I'll get into that tomorrow, as I still have one more part of my trip up to Cortland University to share with you all, which will probably be more entertaining to read for you non Jets fans!

If you read my post yesterday, you may remember me mentioning a promotion for the first 50 kids in attendance. Well, Dad and I figured since I'm not technically an adult yet, that I could count as a kid. Little did we know, the guy in charge of handing out wristbands to the kids told us it was for children 14 and younger. We walked away, disappointed, but my Dad didn't want to give up. He went back, and practically begged the guy, and eventually, I ended up with a wristband! This wristband allowed me to go onto the practice field after practice ended to obtain autographs from any players who felt like signing for a bunch of kids (and one abnormally tall "8th grader")! I knew some players would go to the sidelines where I should've been, but the chances of getting multiple autographs in that position were slim. So, at around 11:00, when practice was coming to a close, I headed over with all the little kids who were about 4'0 tall to the end of the field! I didn't expect too much, but things changed very quickly

The first player to grab a sharpie and sign for the 50 of us was linebacker Bart Scott! Scott has had a great career spanning 10 seasons with the Ravens and Jets. I mean, who will ever forget "CAN'T WAIT!" I did get an autograph from Bart, which was relatively large on my football. I began wondering if everyone signed as big as he did, if I'd have enough room on the ball! Bart was an awesome guy, and it was great to meet one of the more colorful players in the NFL!

Running back/Kick Returner Joe McKnight was the next player to sign for us, and he was also really cool! I managed to talk to him; asking if he was planning a trip to Honolulu this season. He told me he'd try, and I thanked him for all he's done as well as adding the second autograph to my ball. He also gave his practice gloves to 2 younger kids after he asked them if they knew what his longest kickoff return was. Nick Folk told the kids to say 107 yards, and McKnight gladly handed them the gloves!

Special teams men Nick Folk (not pictured), TJ Conley, and Josh Brown were the next players to add their signatures to the ball! All three were nice guys, and well, that's all I really have to say about our kickers and punters. I'm curious to see whether Folk or Brown will be our starting kicker this year though. 

While they were signing, I caught Mark Sanchez over near us taking pictures with some of the VIP members. They didn't seem to get a whole lot of extra benefits, well, until that happened. Immediately thinking I couldn't leave without the starting quarterback's autograph, I told all the kids we should start a Sanchez chant! Sure enough, it got loud enough to the point I didn't even have to say a word. You have to love the enthusiasm in little boys. We got a wave out of him, and we had our fingers crossed that he'd come over when he was finished. 

In the meantime, receivers Patrick Turner and Jeremy Kerley came over to sign a little bit. I got Turner, who told a fan his name was Stephen (as a staff member proceeded to ask him if he really just told a little kid his name was Stephen), but I didn't get Kerley in time. Fortunately, my day brightened so much more when this guy did indeed stop over...

YES! The Sanchise! Way back in the day, I had bought an autographed picture of his off of eBay, and it turned out to be fake when I brought it to JSA. Now, my time had come to make up for it, so I went all out to make sure I'd get his autograph, as ugly looking as it is. And... I did! I wished him good luck on the season and he said he appreciated it. It was about all he said while he was preoccupied signing for the all of the young fans. And although I didn't get much to say to him, I won't forget it, that's for sure.

However, I was a bit too awestruck to realize that Rex Ryan was signing right beside Sanchez, and unfortunately, I missed him as well. I got his autograph through an autograph request in the mail a few years back though, so I'm not too disappointed. 

I ended up getting a very small autograph from rookie safety Derek Chard to go along with the other 7 I had at that point. I don't know a whole lot about Chard, but I wish him the best this year. 

Then, third string quarterback Greg McElroy started signing. I like McElroy, but I didn't get him due to the guy behind him taking my eye much quicker. Could it be, the birthday boy himself?

Yes, it was! And I didn't think my day could get any better after getting Sanchez! Normally, Tim Tebow isn't a common signer at these camps, but with our little crew of loud kids, we were able to hold off his 25th birthday celebration for a little bit longer as he began to sign for all of us! He eventually grabbed my football and put a very nice autograph down for me and as he handed it back to me, I wished him a Happy Birthday and he looked me directly in the eyes and said thank you. It was a really cool opportunity to meet perhaps the greatest quarterback in college football history, and despite possibly not making an enormous impact on the Jets, I'm a big fan of his. Everything about him screams class act, and it showed when he bent over to talk to a little girl suffering from severe handicaps. He signed an autograph for her and was really sweet to her, right in front of us. It's really great to see players show how genuine of human beings that they can be. I was already a Tebow fan, but with that great gesture, he may be one of my favorites in all of football now. 

The final signer that came by was Cornerback Ellis Lankster, who is heading into his 3rd season in the NFL, after being selected in the 7th round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. He was a nice guy as well, and while he hasn't done much in the NFL thus far into his career, I wish him the best of luck with the Jets this season as well. 

I went back over to meet Dad with my now pimped out football, and he looked kind of unhappy when I first made eye contact with him. But immediately he brightened up once he saw my ball and I yelled out "Tebow AND Sanchez!" to him! He, unfortunately, didn't get any autographs on the sidelines while I was doing my thing, but we both didn't care because of my success. But, I couldn't have done it without Dad getting me the purple wristband to make me an honorary kid for the day! Here's a look at my ball:

Top Row (L to R): Nick Folk, Josh Brown, Joe McKnight
Bottom Row: TJ Conley, Bart Scott

Close Up on Bart Scott's Huge Autograph

Left: Ellis Lankster, Right: TIM TEBOW, far right corner: Derek Chard

Close Up on Tebow's Nice Autograph!

Left: MARK SANCHEZ (upside down from this view)
Right: Patrick Turner

Sanchez sloppy autograph close up

It was an unbelievable day all in all, way better than I had originally anticipated as well! Thank you so much Dad for giving me the opportunity to see the Jets practice, I had a great time! And thank you once again to everyone who signed for me; it certainly made my summer all the more special!

See Ya!

Jets Training Camp Recap Part 1!

Hey guys, Drew back here, after a long, grueling car ride home from Cortland, New York. For a few weeks, my dad and I have planned up a trip up to the Cortland university to watch the Jets training camp in person! It's been a few pretty controversial weeks of Jets news led as always by the ringleader of the circus, Rex Ryan, but despite it all, we couldn't resist passing up on watching so many talented athletes come together for a practice session. We headed up yesterday afternoon and spent the night at a hotel about 7 minutes away from the camp. Although we slept horribly on the hotel beds that were harder than a rock; a little Monster and coffee was enough to get the two of us up and out of the hotel by 6:00 AM! Turns out we ended up being the first people there, so we became eligible for a promotion the Jets team runs for younger kids. The first 50 kids to show up for the camp were given a wristband, which allowed them to take the field following the practice for a good opportunity for autographs. Despite not necessarily being a "kid", Dad & I were going to try hard to get me one of those wristbands.

However, before I go into autographs and all that, I'm going to dedicate the rest of this post towards the actual practice. After being allowed into the facility, we went through a team store which we used to purchase some merchandise, and when we finished all of that, we found a spot on the far end of the two field setup. A guy working there told us it would be a good spot for autographs, so we took his word and camped out directly behind the fence and began our wait.

At around 8:00, practice was underway, and the players made their way onto the field to start warming up before drills and scrimmaging. Mark Sanchez, as seen above in the red penny, was loose and comfortable today, and that comfort level was a good sign of things to come. 

Receiver Santonio Holmes has been nursing a rib injury, causing him to miss the first (and now the second) preseason game so far. However, he was dressed in his uniform today, and ran a little bit on the sidelines. I've never been a huge fan of his, but with the receivers hurting and limited, I can't wait for him to be fully healthy again. He looks like he should be back relatively soon, probably within the next week or two. 

The players then begin their drills, and rather than moving and losing our spot on the fence, we stayed put and waited for the players to come in our direction. Sure enough, some did, as the cornerbacks made their way over to work on hitting drills. Antonio Cromartie, who also spent time working as a wide receiver, was encouraging the players to hit harder and harder, and the players seemed to interact pretty well for the most part today. 

The Man of the Hour, Darrelle Revis, was indeed there for camp, which is another great sign. It's funny, because on the way up, we stopped for dinner at the Roscoe Diner, which apparently is a pretty well known restaurant up around the Catskill Mountains. Revis met up with the Jets management two years ago at the very diner to restructure his contract, because it served as a middle point between Cortland and NYC. We didn't know that was the restaurant until we got there, when the waitress told us about it.

One of the more impressive things I saw today was, well, Rex Ryan! Holy wow he looks good! Over the offseason Rexy underwent a lap band procedure and lost over 100 pounds, and instead of sticking out like a sore thumb, he was a bit tough to find throughout the camp. The tattoo is fairly new too, and although I can't say I'm a fan of it; whatever floats his boat I guess.

Sanchez had everything working for him today, especially during the 7 on 7's drills! At one point in the drills, he completed 5 of 6 passes, resulting in 3 touchdowns! His biggest plays happened to both be touchdowns to backup wideout Jordan White, who had a big day. This is great news for Mark considering just recently him and backup Tim Tebow completed 14 passes in a row during this same drill. 

Speaking of Tebow, well, it wasn't the best of birthdays for the now 25 year old quarterback. He completed only 2 passes in quite a few attempts, however, he did run the ball pretty well as always. I'm a big fan of Tebow, but I'm still not all that sure how well the fit will be for him here in New York. It adds a lot of pressure on Mark Sanchez, and that's never really a great thing. 

A former Jet great was on hand to offer some advice to the young quarterbacks though. Chad Pennington, the Jets quarterback between 2000 and 2007, was requested by GM Mike Tannenbaum to help mentor Sanchez especially. Pennington was a big favorite of mine in my early years as a Jet fan, and he's one of the smartest quarterbacks the game has ever seen. While he wasn't quite Joe Namath, his presence definitely will  help around the Jets team as a whole. Multiple people have reported that Pennington thinks Sanchez has improved a lot over the past offseason, and he gave him a lot of high praise. 

We weren't quite sure who it was talking to the players for so long until I zoomed in on one of the photos above, and then we realized it was indeed Pennington. It was really cool getting to see him again, although he won't be coming back to football anymore, as he recently announced his retirement at the age of 36.  

Eventually, practice came to a close. Pennington came to the center of the team and said a few quick inspiring things to the players, and led the Jets roar concluding the practice. Rex Ryan stated afterwards that it was great to have him back around with the team, and that he will attend some of the upcoming quarterback meetings to discuss plays and other things with the quarterback crew. 

All in all, watching the practice was really fun, although some moments did get kind of dry at times. I'm sure if we moved with the offense throughout the practice we would've enjoyed it more, but as autograph collectors, we didn't want to move a muscle. In the next post, you'll see how we ended up doing. Stay tuned!

See Ya!

Drew's Top 10 TTMs

Hey guys, Drew back here. I worked up a list yesterday of my top through the mails, and I figured I would share the list with you guys. I listed it based on player/celebrity importance in society, legacy, being a great signer, a success I never imagined to get back, and some of the players I had to pay to get did not get as high of a rank as other players. Well, here goes, starting at number 10...

10. Virgil Trucks

Virgil never was a star pitcher in any way, although he is one of few few pitchers to throw 2 no-hitters in the same season. He is a tremendous signer though, for free I got my custom signed, index card signed, inscribed, and stamped, a bonus card signed, a stat sheet signed, and a personal letter to me! For a 93 year old man, I find Mr. "Fire" Trucks a truly remarkable guy.

9. Rex Ryan

If the Jets couldn't pull out that game against the Lions he wouldn't be on this list, because he did many things that I questioned throughout the game. However, Rex was a longshot to get TTM, and I really like his attitude towards winning. Inscribed "To Drew", Rex Ryan was one of the better successes.

8. Duke Snider

Duke Snider is one of the best Hall of Famers you can get right now. The 8 time All Star and 2 time World Series champion is now 84 years old and in not the best of condition. His signature has gotten more shaky as seen on my card, so hopefully things will get better for his sake. I am very glad I was able to get him though.

7. Bob Feller

Another nice old school Hall of Famer success here. Mr. Feller, for 92 years old, has a legacy in baseball, and is a great man. After trying him earlier and getting my custom destroyed in the mail, I told him what happened and he signed my new custom for free! Not only is Feller a baseball hero, but he is an American hero as well for serving some of the years in his prime in military service. A legend indeed.

6. Goose Gossage

This one came in recently, after waiting about a month, but it was well worth the wait. As you all know by now, this picture will look beautiful with the other great Yankees signed pictures I own. Goose was one of the first great relievers, and he brought fear to all of the hitters he faced. The signature can be read with ease, as Mr. Gossage has one of the best signatures in the game.

5. Whitey Ford

This guy would probably have ranked higher if I didn't have to send him $50 to get the picture signed. I gave him at least $20 more than I should have to get a success, because I already tried him previously only to get a price list. I couldn't think of much of a better Yankee to spend $50 on then the "Chairman of the Board", so I was thrilled to see the picture signed in all its glory. He inscribed it "To Drew, Whitey Ford, HOF 74". Awesome.

4. Lil Wayne

How often do you get the opportunity to get a great rappers autograph? Not often! I sent this custom card of Weezy to him during his recent prison stay for gun charges. I listen to a diverse amount of music and Lil Wayne has to be up there in my opinion in the rap industry. He seems like he's changed throughout the prison stay, thanking all his fans for the love and support and singling them out one at a time on his blog. This was a great success for me and I never imagined I would own a Lil Wayne autograph!

3. Steve Young

This card doesn't look spectacular by any means, but it doesn't matter, Steve Young, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, signed it! He has never been a consistent signer, but he has been as of very recently, so if you haven't tried him already I strongly suggest you try and try now! His signature is bold and beautiful and is a great addition to my collection!

2. Peyton Manning

You can say that Peyton Manning is the best signing player in the NFL today, but no matter how often he signs for his fans, he seems to be the best free signer I can think of. Peyton has already left a tremendous legacy in football, similar to that of Steve Young, but getting to see Peyton play every week makes it more special to have his autograph than Mr. Young. Peyton has a great sig and I'm still pumped that I got him back.

1. Yogi Berra

Without a doubt my top success! Yogi is in the top 5 best living Hall of Fame hitters for sure, you may argue that he is the best catcher of all time as well. He won 13 World Series and made 18 All Star Games! That is unbelievable! And I got him for free at that!

Well I hope you all enjoyed that! I started writing players letters way back, my first being to Jets wide receiver Brad Smith. I never got back from him, but then I wrote a letter to Iditarod racer Jeff King because I did a project on him, and I got my card back signed. From then on I've acquired 30 autographs for typically around 88 cents each. I started making customs after seeing what people were making, and I keep getting better and better.

If you haven't gotten involved in the TTM hobby, I suggest you do. If you need help getting started, shoot me an email to yanks1996wsc@gmail.com!

See Ya!

TTM #28 and Email Success #2!

Hey guys, Drew back here with 2 TTM's that I got in today, 1 of them being an email success. Let's start with the TTM, it was a good one!

Rex Ryan signed a custom for me! I sent this one out because I saw someone else on a forum got his autograph TTM on an index card, so I figured what the heck. I played around with some designs and came up with this one, which looks sweet because the card allows the autograph to be the first thing the person sees when they look at the card. This came out absolutely amazing, and I'm so psyched to own the Jets head coach's autograph! He inscribed to "To Drew" which is so cool, I always love when the signers inscribe my name on the items! It took 10 days for Mr. Ryan sign the card and return it, which was nice and short because I sent to him on their bye week!

Rex has led the Jets to a nice 5-1 start this season. He has a winner's attitude and will do and say anything to win us a Super Bowl. That could be a great thing for the Jets, but it's also a bad thing since, well, it is New York, and every single thing is remembered by reporters. Hopefully Rexy can lead us to the playoffs and more!

Next, I got an email a few days ago from my good buddy Vince Papale. As you may remember I got an autograph of his through the mail just because I sent him an email in appreciation of his contributions to the game last month. Here's what this email said:

Hi Drew,

Sorry it took a while to get back to you. I will be happy to send an autographed pic!

Be Invincible!

Vince

Well that was un-expected. I guess Vince didn't realize that I already received an autographed picture of him, but yet he sent another one my way! The first one was inscribed "To Drew, You Are a Star, Vince Papale". This one was inscribed "To Drew, Dare to Dream, Vince Papale". Sweet!

This was definitely a surprise, but it's pretty cool to have 2 of his autos. What a class act!

Thanks to Mr. Papale and Mr. Ryan! GO JETS!

See Ya!

New Football Customs

Hey guys, Drew back here, with some new football customs I made. What do you think?

I'm planning on making more for future TTM's, just wondering how you all thought they came out. It's gonna to be current and former players, and if I like it enough it may become a future baseball set too.

See Ya!