Fan Appreciation Day

The beard winner has been chosen and notified. Thanks for participating and see his pic here.

I want to say thank you to all the fans who read this blog as well as
everyone coming out to practice. I think the first week has gone great for
the Redskins all around. I would definitely like to invite everyone to
come to fan day tomorrow. We are going to have a live scrimmage and it
should be pretty bad ass. I think the first teams are going to take at
least 20 plays, so fans should get a really good look at what's going on.
When practice ends the entire team will make their way over to the fans to
sign autographs and bullshit with everyone. I have tried to stop every day
at least for 5 or 10 minutes to take some time to sign for people and have
made some autograph observations. Because of this I created a little list
to increase the chances of anyone seeking an autograph. The list is not in
any order, just a couple of my thoughts from signing thousands of things.
Keep in mind I am pretty much giving you the players prospective on this,
whether you like some of the suggestions or not, there pretty much the
facts.

Top ten best suggestions for getting autographs.

1. Wear the players jersey that you want to have signed. I am much more
likely to sign a 47 jersey than anyone else.

2. Be under 12 years old. Yea I know this one's tough, but players would
rather sign auto's for little kids. I know this tip has been utilized by
many weird old man "or" woman, but it is very effective. Also, if you are
a little kid I know how exciting meeting players can be, but screaming
please, please, please, pretty much turns off most guys from stopping.

3. Know something about the player who's autograph you want. If someone tells
me congrats on the wedding or asks how my dogs are doing I will take an
extra second usually to not only sign, but talk.

4. Try to take a position close to the locker room. The further you are
away from the locker room the fewer signatures you will acquire. Every
players ultimate goal is to make it inside, so the closer you stand to that
goal the more players you will come across.

5. If you don't get someones autograph try not to make that player feel
bad that he didn't take enough time to sign everything. So many times I
get "Oh come on," or "It's only one more." If I get boos for not signing
it just makes me want to go inside. When I'm signing I have to pick and
choose where I go and it's impossible to sign for everyone. I really would
like to sign everyone's stuff but I just can't.

6. If you don't have a jersey have something good to sign. Napkins and
sneakers are bad autograph items, balls and posters are much better. The
easier and quicker I can write my name factors largely into my decision to
sign.

7. Stand out from other fans. Not everyone wants to do this, but if there
is a way to become more visible to players you become a much more likely
candidate. Redskins outfits, crazy hats, nudity, anything different makes
a difference. Oh yea, the nudity will probably be a bad choice because
your signing time will be cut down by security. I mean, if there was one
specific player someone could wait till that time, but your probably not
gonna make it long after that.

8. Try really hard to make your way to the front of the line. I pretty
much only sign things right at the fence. If you don't make it to the
front of the line try really hard not to lean all over everyone in front of
you. There's kids and women that really have a bad time if you're a leaner
and players will see problems and move on, thus ruining the chances of
everyone that did make it to the front.

9. Advice and criticism = bad. I know everyone sees something they could
fix or do better, but right when practice ends no players want a part in
that. Even our coaches are going to wait until the evening film to place
their judgement and trust me, we get enough. Great fans just support the
players and coaches get paid to coach the players. It should be left at
that, but in the event someone tells me how I should beat man coverage I
will politely move on.

10. Buy an autograph at the store. I know this isn't as much fun, but
it's a guarantee. The autographs at the store also look much more
professional and come with proof of signatures. Then you could go back to
step nine and say you met the player while still collecting a signature.

Posted in: Chris Cooley, Fan appreciation day, Washington Redskins