Meet The Players

Yesterday, I did something I had never done before. I went to the Meet the Players event the Senior Bowl puts on every year! Although I have lived outside of Mobile almost my whole life, I have never gone. I've been to the Senior Bowl plenty of times, but never to the MTP.

When I found out Josh and Lee were going to be in the Senior Bowl this year, I decided I wanted to go. Then, I found out Zac was going, so I really wanted to go. I didn't know exactly how it would be organized, but read about it in the paper, listened to the local sports station guys discuss it, and watched the news. Last year, something like 10,000 people showed up to try to meet Tim Tebow but it turned out he had gotten sick. People kinda gave him a rough time, but sheesh, if you're sic, you're sick. It happens. Anyway.
I decided to get there early. I got there around 1:45 or 2:00.  While it isn't that far as the crow flies to downtown from Semmes, it takes quite some time to drive there. At any rate, I got there early enough to park in the Convention Center parking garage, which was excellent. The city was using 'Event Parking' which was also good, because it was only $5.00 to park. I was fully expecting to pay more since I would be there for several hours.

Right when I got on the elevator to go in the building, I met a guy and his son dressed in Auburn attire. He said War Eagle and I returned the greeting.  They were selling sharpies and SB programs, but I had brought my own sharpie. The guy (I never did ask his name. I was around him almost all day. Found out his kid's name, where he lived, what he did, watched Auburn videos on his cell phone but not his name) had his own sharpie as well.  He was almost giggly in telling me that Bo Jackson had given him an autograph with that sharpie, so it was his 'autograph' sharpie. The line was already pretty long and the doors to the Exhibit Hall were not even open yet. In a little while, my friend Kim and her family arrived and we all spent time hanging out together and talking about Auburn stuff.

Finally, they announced the doors were opening. We followed the line. When we got closer, the lines split. Auburn on the left, Alabama on the right, and everyone else in the middle. While Auburn and Alabama clearly had the longest lines, there were also many people who had come to see some of the guys like Christian Ponder, DJ Williams, Courtney Smith and some others.  We were in line near some doors when Josh Bynes came out and headed toward his spot. We heard someone say he had been sick as well. We knew we'd have to get in line again to meet Zac because they did the players in two sessions.

As we got closer, we heard them say one thing signed per person. I had two things I wanted to get signed. The guy and his son just had his hat, so his son carried my dad's hat for me. I did give him a pin from an Auburn-Alabama game in 1992 for his trouble! :) I also brought one for Kim's son.  We got through and Lee and Josh were very nice. They had a bunch of people surrounding them. Some were senior bowl officials. Some were Mobile Police Officers. There was a guy in an Auburn shirt who was kinda hovering over both of them, so the guys were pretty limited as to what they could do. I said 'War Eagle, thanks for a great season.' I also asked how they were liking Mobile. They both smiled. They weren't allowed to really pose for pictures but they smiled while they were signing things so we could take pictures. I had brought my program from the Auburn-Georgia game that had all the seniors on the front.

In the middle were a bunch of kids things to do. Jumpy things and those spin around things they used to have at the space center.  We went out on the balcony and sat by the bay for a few minutes.  The Alabama line was REALLY long. Some of their fans didn't even get to Greg McElroy and Preston Dial. Preston Dial is a HUGE hometown kid since he is from Mobile. Everyone who had been in line on time got to see Josh and Lee. However, when we got in the line the second time, there was man from Arkansas who was hoping to meet Lee. I didn't think we were going to get back up there in time. He was very nice and we chatted with him in the line. Finally, all the guys from the first session came by the doors which the Auburn line was next to.  Lee came by. The man asked for an autograph but the people around Lee said he couldn't. Lee kinda smiled at the man, though. When we had met Lee, they had these little baseball card like things, so I gave him mine from Lee. Then all the guys came by. Preston, Greg, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton, the Matthews kid...several of the other guys (smaller school guys) stopped and signed autographs for the people in the Auburn line. It was pretty neat. We were telling the Arkansas guy about Zac's story,  and he decided he wanted to wait in line to meet Zac. Then the second session guys came though.  Zac came out smiling and bouncing. He was clearly enjoying himself.

So, we chatted with the man about Auburn and Arkansas. He was sorta in town for a wedding. I say sorta because they were over in Picayune which is kind of north of Kiln in Mississippi, not far at all from Slidell.  We finally got up to meet Zac. He was smiling and talking to everyone. I said War Eagle and told him who I was on twitter. He smiled and said 'oh yeah,' I asked him about Mobile and he said it was great. The Arkansas man got his autograph and we wished him a good day He was headed over to meet the other Arkansas guys. That's why he wasn't in line in time to meet Lee. He had been in line to meet one of the Arkansas guys and then got in the Auburn line. He did get to meet DJ Williams and the other Arkansas guy he wanted to meet though. Then he said he was going to tell everyone how nice the Auburn folks in line were to him.

Kim and her family left then. Then I told the other guy and his son goodbye. They had driven from Ft. Walton. All in all, I'd say it was very organized and well-run. We had waited in line A LONG time. There were THOUSANDS of people there. There were some Alabama folks who were disappointed but I don't know if they'd been in line the whole time or not.  As I was leaving, the parking deck across the street was full. As I drove down Water St., people were parked in the side of the road all the way down to the Press-Register building. it was full, full, full.  I was actually proud of myself. While it is easy to GET to the convention center, it is NOT easy to get HOME from the convention center. I usually get on the Loop and drive around and around. I actually got off the Loop on the right spot!! It was a REALLY fun day. I hope the guys (other teams included) how much it means for the fans to be able to meet them. I know they are just regular guys. It really meant a lot to me and I know it did to those kids.

So, it was a great day. It was fun. I got both things autographed. I was SO tired though, that I bought junk food on the way home and ate it for dinner. I am having some trouble uploading photos, but I will do that this afternoon when I go to my parents' house to keep the twins.