Thank You Professional Athletes!

Professional athletes make millions of dollars to play a game that they love and are good at... is there a better life? Then there are people like us. People who are fans. We spend $70 for football tickets in the upper deck. We come to the stadium four hours early to tailgate and talk about our team's chances to win with other fans. We spend $75 on football jerseys that we wear to cheer on our teams, hundreds more on hats, sweatshirts, coats, blankets, towels. You name it, and a die-hard fan probably has it. For many fans, sports are a huge part of our lives.

You know what probably gets to us more than our teams having a winning percentage of .300 for 10 years in a row? Our favorite players totally blowing us off. Nothing is worse than going to training camp and trying to talk to one of your favorite players and having them ignore you and continue walking. Nothing is worse for a little kid who looks up to these athletes, thinks they are amazing, and asks for an autograph only to have the player continue walking without ever acknowledging his existance.

I went to Giants training camp to see what the team was going to look like in 2004, and maybe get a chance to meet some players. We went and checked out the practice, seeing Eli Manning for the first time in a Giants uniform, and the team looked pretty good. Had a good practice, and when it was almost over, people lined up near the rope, hoping to get some autographs. I was 18 years old, and wanted some autographs, but I was there more to be able to talk to these guys. Leave more of the autograph seeking to the little kids, it is much more exciting for them. There were some older guys pushing little kids out of the way to get an autogtaph, that makes me wanna just knock them on the head, but that can be another article for another time.

Anyway, it seems pretty cool, you get to talk with the people that you watch on TV every Sunday. Everybody was waiting for Eli Manning, who now is a favorite player to many Giants fans, to get his autograph and see what he's like. What did Eli do? He ran into the building, using another exit and totally avoiding the fans. Real nice. People were yelling for Jeremy Shockey to come over and sign an autograph for a little kid, and what does he do? Totally blows him off and keeps walking. A kid that came with me saw Michael Strahan in the parking lot and asks him if he would sign his football. Strahan told him that they weren't allowed to sign autographs in the parking lot, and kept walking.

If I were famous, I would try to sign for as many people as possible. Some people might tell me, "You don't know what it's like" or "Think about how many people you would have to sign for." Yes, I do know what it's like. Without us, the fans, these people would not make one cent of their money. We are the reason they are paid to play a game they love. Do they appreciate this? Some of them definitely do. However, there are many that do not. I can see that it could be very time consuming, but Kurt Warner didn't seem to have a problem with it. He signed until everyone that wanted an autograph had one. Ike Hilliard didn't make us fans seem like we were a waste of time. He too spent as much time as needed to cater to every fan who wanted an autograph, and even was talking to us while talking to a family member on his phone. Very classy people, and it's very nice to see that these people really care about their fans. It seems like these are the people that get released, as they did this season, but that's also another article for another time.

Tiki Barber came out and talked with us, took pictures, and signed autographs. David Tyree, Willie Ponder, Luke Pettigout, David Diehl, Chris Snee, Jesse Palmer, Tom Coughlin and others did the same. It really seems like these are people who appreciate their fans. They understand that we spend so much time and money on them, buying tickets, merchandise, and watching every game on TV. Buying the football package because sometimes games aren't televised. These are people that I want to root for. There are many people who like certain players because they have met them in real life, and said they were "nice people." I am one of these people. It is much nicer to root for someone who you have talked to and who was very nice to you, spending time to talk to you, and listening to what you have to say and replying without totally blowing you off.

For this, I thank these athletes. For all the players who sign autographs for little kids. For all the players who give touchdown balls and game balls to disabled people. For all the players who don't play for records. For all the players that donate time and money to charities. For all the players that aren't covered by ESPN because all they do is play football, and not cause 5 controversies per year. For all the players that respect their coaches and fans. Again, I thank these people.

And for all the selfish athletes who don't care about their fans... thanks a lot. We root for you as players because you are on our favorite teams. But as people, that's a whole different story.