Asking for an autograph

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.

 

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

 

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....................

 

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.

 

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.

 

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)

 

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....

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.