FanPost

Utah Jazz Autograph Party 1/14/2015


Hello fellow dunkers;

I'm the first to admit I'm a lurker... and I've been lurking for years. I did a fanpost or two when I first joined, but I mostly come for my daily dose of Jazz. I really appreciate the hard work all of you do in keeping this site up. It really is the best site out there for all things Jazz. While I may not agree with all of your opinions all of the time, I always enjoy the quality of the people and articles here. For those of you that live outside of Utah, or haven't had the opportunity to go to many games, tonight's "party" is the type of thing that in my opinion, make the jazz a top notch organization.

Basically what went on tonight is that all season ticket holders, and even those with mini-plans like myself were invited to ESA where the Jazz players would sign one item of our choice. Having never gone to anything like this, and not living in the state for the last seven years, my dad and I decided we would just bring basketballs and have a signed team ball from this season.

The way they had this set up, is that they had different players set up at different portals, this made for more efficient signing, but it also meant we didn't make it to a couple of different players before they locked down the tables and sent everyone home.

I really enjoyed getting to interact with the players tonight, some are more comfortable with fans than others... I'll give a brief summary of what happened at each player, and my casual observation from what brief interaction I had with them... some of it was really fun.

Our first stop was the table with Rudy Gobert, Jeremy Evans, and Steve Novak:

First off... Rudy is a massive man... I addressed him as Monsieur Gobert, and complemented him on his amazing play of late... he seemed very humble and appreciative.

Jeremy Evans: All I can say about Jeremy is he is one of the nicest jazz players I've ever met. The guy was all smiles. I thanked him for being ready to play at all times, he smiled and said that it was his job. He greeted every fan with a smile, and even at the end of the night when a lot of the players were clearly tired, we walked past the table again and Jeremy was greeting every fan with a smile. He truly is one of the good guys. I can see why they send him to do Jr. Jazz.

Steve Novak was also at that table, he had what I assume to be his son with him, and he and his son were both very active in talking with fans. I didn't have much of a conversation with Steve, but in casual observation, he seems like a great father, and a really nice guy. I can see why the jazz picked him up.

Our next table was Ian Clark, Enes Kanter, and Elijah Millsap.

Ian is another one of those guys that just seems nice. A little quieter, but still very good with fans.

Enes Kanter: oh man I had to laugh at this one... Enes was very attentive to the ladies, as was expected, and pushed the guys in line through pretty quick. His signature is hilarious... really just a scribble. I welcomed him back to the team and said we were glad he was back from injury... he acknowledged while checking out the caboose of the woman in front of me... classic Enes. Man I miss that twitter account.

Elijah Millsap: A lot like his brother in that he is quiet and unassuming. He seemed genuinely happy to be there. My dad thanked him for his scrappy play and he responded by saying "it's just what I do" I really hope he sticks around.

The Next table was probably my favorite of the night, it held Rodney Hood, Elliot Williams, and Joe Ingles.

Rodney was another one that seemed happy to be there, I asked him how his foot was feeling and he said he was almost ready to get back to playing. Brief convo, but another classy guy

I welcomed Elliot Williams to the team... he was also very friendly.

My favorite encounter of the night was with Joe Ingles, he was looking especially scruffy tonight, and while he was signing my ball, I told him about the nasty rumor that was floating around that he didn't shower... he laughed loudly and said "yeah mate, I'm surprised you didn't smell me from down the hall" We both had a good laugh. I liked Joe before, I like him even more now. He's another one that was always smiling. I'm glad he's a part of the team.

We hit the coaching staff next, basically thanked them all for doing what I perceive to be a really good job with this team. I did have to give Johnny Bryant a hard time about his half-time interview curse... yes Moni, he is very aware of it. :) We had a good laugh about that as well. We thanked coach Snyder for doing what he's done. He was very affable as well.

They kept the stars of the team upstairs... Gordon Hayward's line stretched halfway around the upper bowl. We opted to go and see Derrick Favors first. His line was long, but not like Haywards. When we got close to Derrick I could tell he was ready to be done... or uncomfortable. He really is a quiet guy. I asked him how his hand was feeling and he smiled a bit and said "man it's getting tired" I thanked him for his great year. He really is a humble guy and I am so glad he's finding success this year.

Gordon Hayward: His line was ridiculously long, I guess that's what you get for being the face of the franchise. By the time we got to Gordon, you could tell he was beat. The guy in front of us had him sign "too big yo!" on his merchandise... we all had a laugh about that, Gordon included. For it being near the end of the night, he was very nice too... especially to the kids.

By the time we were done with Gordon, the ushers had locked down the lines, which was pretty disappointing, it meant that we didn't get to our point guards, Dante, or Trey. I would have liked to talked to them.

Also, Trevor Booker was out sick, and Alec wasn't required to be there due to his injury.

In summary, I'd never done anything like this, and both my dad and I walked away with having a good experience. I really appreciate the organization for doing things like this, and the players for being good sports about it. I know signing a mortgage can be bad enough... I imagine these guys go and have ice baths for their hands after something like this... well except for Steve Novak, because he doesn't use ice.

All in all, we had a good night and I hope we can get the rest of the players to sign our basketball before the season ends.

Thanks Jazz for a great night!

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.