Here’s what was posted on the T-Town Gallery Facebook page:

AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: Friday January 20, 2012: Mark Baron, Marquis Maze, Dont’a Hightower, Dre Kirkpatrick, Courtney Upshaw, Josh Chapman, and Brad Smelley from 5pm to 9pm. $200 for all signatures or $35 a piece. Saturday, January 21, 2012: Trent Richardson with Roy Upchurch from 5pm to 7 pm. $50 for both signatures. 
We expect the store will be busy so make sure to arrive early! We will have pictures and other things available to purchase for signatures! Be sure to share this with your friends!

The Alabama celebration for their 14th National Championship was at Bryant Denny today, so I figured it would be best get there early to stand in line.  My son and I showed up at the University Mall at 2pm and walked around a little. About 2:30, we made our way to center court to get in line. Before we did, we tried to buy some items to get signed at T-Town gallery but they were closed to set up. A sign on the fence said to wait there for assistance. There were 10-15 people in the store and I waited for 10 minutes and nobody came to assist. I wanted to know more about prices and what type of items would be available to purchase. We went ahead and got into line. I looked the number of the store up and gave them a call to ask those questions. The person that answered was quite helpful and answered the questions. She did mention that they had plenty of white panel footballs to purchase. Remember that for what happens later.

It’s now about 2:45pm and we’re looking at a good 2 hour wait. We had some really cool folks around us in the line, so the wait wasn’t too bad. One of the ladies a couple back from me in line had purchased a few 2011 National Championship footballs before she came. Because her father in law didn’t want to drop $85 to get the autographs, she had an extra. I paid her $10 more than she paid to help her out and as it turned out, it helped me as well.

Brett with a new haircut waiting in line to meet Trent Richardson

During all this, the store has a couple loudspeakers, amp, and mic to facilitate the event and make announcements. It didn’t work so well. Only the people right in front of the store could hear. I am not sure if anything important was ever said on it.

Now it’s 5PM and we’re still standing in line. We have approximately 100 people in front us at this point and an estimated 1,000 behind us. The line isn’t moving at all.

Finally around 5:30pm, the players are all set to get started. According to my receipt, Brett and I got into the store and paid for the signatures (all $255 of them) at 6:19pm. This is where it gets very disappointing.

Initially, my plan was to buy one thing to get signed and hope they would sign my son’s Bama cap too. While waiting, I decided to get something for Brett, something for me, and something for my father-in-law. Since I was there, waited so long, I might as well get something nice for my father-in-law and myself. But yes, the day and the idea to do this was more for my son than me anyhow. I am trying to remember that as I sit here disappointed.

As I mentioned earlier, I was told on the phone that there would be plenty of balls and photos to purchase once we get into the store. There were plenty of photos, none of which I felt were a good match for getting autographs of all 3 players on. I could have got 3 individual photos, but I wanted something I could get all 3 on that I could display in my home.

We got into the store and like I said, I wasn’t thrilled with the choice of photos so I wanted to grab a couple white panel balls similar to the one I bought from the lady behind me in line. They ran out of them a couple people ahead of me. They had a one mini white panel football on the table, so I bought it. I still needed a 3rd now. All they had left were official NFL and NCAA balls for $35. With very few options and people rushing me through I agreed to purchase an official NCAA ball. This one would be for my ball case!

3 tickets for each player!

After dropping $60 or so on the two balls and $255 on the autograph tickets, we were on our way to the table to get our balls signed, grab a photo, and meet the guys!

In the photo above, Trent has my third ball in hand to sign and I was still in front of Roy Upchurch. Dre Kirpatrick has his hand on the ball I got Trent to act like he was signing for a photo. The guy on the fence to the left of the video camera is the one that I refer to later in the article. He was the one that refused to talk with me about a deal.

Before we got to the table, the three balls I had were handed over to someone who handed them to the players. I didn’t even get to shake the players hands, say thanks for their service at the University of Alabama, or hand them the balls to get signed. Before I was even in front of the 1st of the three players, Upchurch, all three balls were signed and being handled by a security guard or policeman (can’t remember) and we were being shuffled out of the store. I grabbed the ball for me and asked a handler if I could at least get a picture of Trent Richardson acting like he was signing my ball since it was already signed (photo below shows him acting like he’s signing it). While he obliged that request, my son had his iPod Touch out trying to get a good picture of Richardson. He was almost crying when he asked me, “Dad, can you ask Trent to smile for my picture?”. I told him to just snap the picture, that’s probably the best you’ll get. We were shuffled along.

Trent Richardson simulating the signing of my football at my request for a photo.

With 3 balls in hand while trying to get through a huge crowd of onlookers with my son by my side we moved on. I had not even had a chance to look at the balls.

We get across the hallway to a shoe shore where I was going to let Brett pick out some new tennis shoes. While he was checking out the selection, I was checking out the balls. The 2 white panel balls looked sweet but when I got a look at my ball, my heart sank. IT LOOKS LIKE ABSOLUTE GARBAGE! I can barely make out who is who. The photo of the dark football was taken when I got home with lots of lighting on it to show it better. While I was checking it out in the shoe store, the two guys helping my son with a new pair of shoes were commenting on how bad it looked too. One suggested that I go back over and get my money back. I considered that, but I thought I should wait another day since it was so busy in there and would be for the next couple of hours. Look at the difference in the one above and the two white panel balls below. I should have skipped over the dark, bumpy football and got photos signed for myself. Roy Upchurch’s autograph is decent.

This is the football I am unhappy with. It has tons of lighting on it. It looks even worse in normal lighting.

We grabbed Brett some shoes and I called my wife to see if she wanted me to pick up some dinner. She could tell I was upset and I explained to her a little but didn’t really want to discuss it until I got home. She suggested I go talk with them before I leave.

I stood there telling my son to settle down and give me a sec. After 5 minutes I decided to try to make them a deal. I headed back, asked the police officer keeping the onlookers back to grab someone from the store to talk with me. After he realized I had already gone through the line, he got a guy over there that tried to help. He happened to be the one that told me that they were out of the white panel, 2011 Championship balls. I showed him the ball I was unhappy with and explained to him that I would be willing to let them keep that ball if I could buy something else to get signed without having to pay another $85 for the autographs again. Let me rephrase that… I paid $35 for the ball and an additional $85 for the autographs on it. I was offering to GIVE them that ball back and PURCHASE something else to get signed. The store would not incur any loss since they could give me the 3 autographs again only at the expense of 3 former Alabama player’s 2 seconds of writing. They would make more money off the addition item or items I would purchase and they could even resell the ball I was unhappy with. This guy went into the store to get an actual employee of the store over there to talk to me. Without even listening to my offer, he cut me off with, “NO REFUNDS” and walked off. After standing in line for all that time and spending $300 to be shuttled through the process like an unappreciated prison worker, I was shocked with the short answer without even letting me finish talking. I can understand they were quite busy, but in order for my offer to work… the players needed to be there and if I wait, they will be gone.

After this… I went from disappointed with the whole situation to mad. We left to pick up dinner and return home.

My son is 9, but he’s very bright and he knew I was mad. He tried to cheer me up with a couple of offers. The 1st deal was him offering to get me those autographs when he makes it to the NFL. Cute. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t. I can now though. The other offer was for him to get a sharpie and trace over the autographs to make them easier to see. NO BRETT. Please don’t.

On the way home, Brett shared with me his disappointment too. He was upset that he didn’t get to a) talk to Richardson b) shake his hand c) get his picture taken with Richardson, and d) get his Bama hat which is already signed by a couple other players signed. He knew and understood it was busy, but he thought he’d have more than a few seconds. He did get a photo of Richardson snapped with his iPod Touch. I explained to him that each signature was going to cost money and that I wasn’t prepared to pay $85 to get a hat he actually wears signed. The big white panel ball is for Brett anyhow.

When Brett got to meet other Bama players at another store in Tuscaloosa, there was time to chat a minute and the players he’s met have been cordial. Hell, Prince Wimbley even took off his 1992 National Championship ring and let Brett hold and wear it. I wasn’t prepared for this type of situation. The owner of the store, the police, and employees in the store were rushing people out very fast. I was very disappointed in this.

After getting home and telling my wife all about the day, she shared a story that I didn’t know. Apparently she had a bad experience with one of these signings a couple years ago. Terrance Cody was signing at the same place and my wife and daughter were in line to get an autograph for us. He was signing from some time to another time and when that time was up, he got up and left. There were 6-10 people left standing in line. My wife was 4-5 back and she was upset but not as upset as two kids in front of her. They were all left without an autograph.

Let’s recap

• My son disappointed in his chance to meet Trent Richardson.
• I am disappointed in the quality of my prize for waiting for 3 hours and dropping $300.
• There was no interaction with the players we were paying to get autographs from, or very little.
• There were not enough items to purchase for autographs in stock.
• The event started late making it seem like things were more rushed than it should have been.
• I felt as if I paid to be treated as if we were an inconvenience to the players and store staff.

At this point, I am giving the small white panel ball to my father-in-law and I have the large white panel ball I purchased from someone in the line displayed in my son’s room. I am considering using my ball as a very nice, very expensive ball for my son and I to play with in the yard. It’s a quality football and all his other footballs are worn out anyhow.

Bottom line, I won’t be wasting my time or money on any other autograph events put on by this company. Instead, I will wait for Bama Fever opportunities and/or just buy memorabilia from companies that offer autographed items with a certificate of authenticity at retail prices like I have been doing.

Maybe I am overreacting, but for $120, I feel somewhat justified. The ball looks horrible, my feet and back hurt, and my son didn’t enjoy the experience.

ROLL TIDE!

Update: I wasn’t the only one that had a crappy experience today. Apparently some people were led to believe that the autographs were free!

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook tonight!

Went to the mall to get Trent Richardsons autograph..after 30 minutes in line (behind a lot of people that had been waiting way longer) and the radio guy comes across the speaker and says, These autographs are not free by the way, It will be $50….. Needless to say I left & so did a lot of others. I love my Alabama Football but I am not paying anybody $50 for their signature. Ttown Gallery should have been upfront with the people and put that little bit of info in their ads and posters…..

Related posts:

1. Open Letter to the University of Alabama / Alabama Sports Network
2. Alabama Week 3 vs. North Texas – UnFingBelievable
3. Zebras love the Auburn Tigers & Alabama looks bad

Let’s break them down going into Monday. Even though I am embarrassed, here’s why today sucked. I made bad decisions and players that normally carry me well, sucked.

I got hammered in this one. Jordy Nelson and Victor Cruz have been rocking it lately. They turned up pretty lame today. Aaron Hernadez hasn’t done squat lately, so I rolled with my backup since he’s done as well as Hernandez lately. I also made a huge mistake and rolled with Grossman since I was concerned about Big Ben’s high ankle sprain. With McFadden being out for the last month and half, I have been living and dying with Blount and CJnoK (Chris Johnson). Neither of the really stepped up today. I GOT SMOKED! I finished the regular season in this one 2nd after leading the league almost all year.

I got beat here and other than going with Tony G over Hernandez, there wasn’t much I could do about it. If I rolled with Hernandez like I did most of the year, I would be up 9-10 points with the Steelers D left. I was the 4th seed in this league and the person I faced was dominant all year.

This matchup, rolling the dice with another TE actually worked but Blount laying an egg killed me. I could have won this one! Watch Gore go for 200 and 2 TDs tomorrow night. I doubt it, that’s why I benched him.

Oh Eli how do I love you, let me count the ways. Holy shit Eli, what have you done? An elite QB can score 4 points in their sleep. With all the injuries at RB (AP and Forte), I was happy to hear AP was going today. He didn’t go far though. I don’t think anyone would play DeAngelo over AP. Don’t hate. I figured Eli would outperform Cam this week. A miracle by Antonio Brown is the only way to save this matchup.

I rocked this league all year. I was 2nd and a strong favorite to meet up with Matt Akers of Windows Phone fame for the championship. That’s not gonna happen now. I got shellshocked. This is a 16 team league and talent is thin. I drafted Freeman thinking he’d have a good year. I was wrong!  There was little I could do to win this week, my players just didn’t perform. I almost rolled with Shonn Greene over AP, wouldn’t have mattered.

Well, I have one more league and it’s a money league. Wish me luck.

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Here’s what it looked like (Taken with the Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket btw):

I hope it was an isolated incident. You guys should send me an unlocked (GSM) Galaxy Nexus…

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They are both decent groups, but come on. Bring in the Rolling Stones, Eminem, freaking Madonna, somebody bigger than Maroon 5 and the “I kissed a girl” one hit wonder. Sandisk brought in Linkin Park, Common, Ztrip, Crystal Method, Supernatural, and another band I can’t recall to launch a FREAKING 8GB MICROSD CARD.  I was there and it was a blast.

I post this just to rant. Maybe lots of people like those 2 bands, I don’t, but hey… get what you can get I suppose. I just can’t believe Microsoft didn’t go bigger with the rumored 500 million they are spending on this launch. Oh, I did see the “Really” commercial during CSI tonight.

Oh and if you don’t know what I am talking about, this is in reference to the Windows Phone 7 launch. Apparently Katy Perry will be playing a concert in NYC for the Windows Phone 7 launch or something and Maroon 5 in San Fransisco according to the official Windows Phone blog.

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According to the specs, I should be getting a up to 512kbps uploads and 6mbps down.

Well, if you look at my speed tests, I am getting plenty of download and 0.37mbps (370kbps) upload. The problem is that I am not getting those speeds when actually sending an upload.

As you can see above, I tried to FTP this video to my own server (got similar rate uploading to Blip.tv’s FTP server too). I also tried sending directly to YouTube. According to YouTube, the video would have taken about 4 1/2 hours. This doesn’t add up for an almost 1gb file according to a nifty calculator I found online.

According to this calculator, the file I am trying to upload will take 5+ hours at the rate I am getting (51k), despite what I see in a speed test. If I was to get the speed I get from speed tests, this file should only take around 40 minutes. I can deal with giving up my internet connection for 40 minutes every couple evenings  to upload a video, but 5+ hours is ridiculous.

I have tried uploads to Blip.tv, YouTube, Vimeo, and even FTP to various servers, including my own. No luck, I can’t get anything better than 60kbps. Unless I am totally spacing something out here, I am having some issues. I called AT&T and worked with tech support. They said everything looks good on their end. They even sent a tech out, the line is great, the speeds are in spec. So what’s the problem?

I realize uploading video, especially HD video is slow, but I don’t think it should be this slow. I have tried running directly from the ADSL modem (bypassing my router) with no luck. I have tried Apple Mac OS 10.6.4, I have tried Windows XP, and I have tried Windows 7 Ultimate with the same results. Hardwired ethernet connection to router and WiFi, same results. One thing I haven’t tried yet is looking for others with the same issues in forums and blog posts. I plan to do that tomorrow night.

What is the hang up? I doubt that YouTube throttles incoming files and I know my own server doesn’t. What could this be? Am I doing it wrong? HELP

UPDATE: On a AT&T Wireless 3G connection, here’s what I am getting on the same upload.

Much better on a cellular network. This has to be something a) inside my own home network (which I doubt considering that I went direct from modem to this same machine) or b) something in AT&T’s network.

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Knee down, full ball control. The ball popped out when he hit the ground with  the rest of his body.

SEC Officials are horrible this year. I think someone could create a blog just pointing out each blown call and probably make more posts a week than I make on GottaBeMobile.

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So, can we stop the madness? Does it sell products better?

Some of these products have no reason to add “HD” to their names… Before long, I am going to walk into an IHOP and order an Ham and Cheese Omelette HD.

What is the most ridiculous use of “HD” being added to a product name that you have seen?

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Apple called the cartoonist Thursday and suggested that he resubmit the app, Mr. Fiore said in an interview. “I feel kind of guilty,” he said. “I’m getting preferential treatment because I got the Pulitzer.”

OK, so I do love the iPhone, I admit that, but the iPad… not so much. Nothing really ground breaking here folks. That’s not what I want to talk about though. I just had to qualify my embarrassing love of the iPhone 3GS before I share this bullshit.

Apple’s app store shenanigans is nothing new, but today, I read a story on Gizmodo that crosses the line. “Apple Blocks Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoonist From App Store”. Huh, what’s that all about? Apparently Apple is going beyond declining racy porn-like apps and pushing some other set standards on their app store. Apple declined a Pulitzer Prize winning Cartoonist’s app on the basis of being obscene, pornographic, or defamatory. Here is the letter he received from Apple…

Dear Mr. Fiore,

Thank you for submitting NewsToons to the App Store. We’ve reviewed NewsToons and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.14 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement which states:

“Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.” Examples of such content have been attached for your reference.

If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that NewsToons does not violate the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program

OMG Apple, what’s up with this. Political Satire is part of America. Get over yourselves. What do you think of this? Is this a step too far? I think so.

What’s funny about the post is that it was posted yesterday, yet Mr. Fiore received this letter from Apple back in December. I guess he was handling it a little bit like me? Wait to make sure there is no resolve before getting it out there? Who know. Either way, this is complete BS.

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Again, this matter is cleared up for me. I urge anyone using any company, service, or product to read all paperwork carefully to avoid situations that I often get myself into. In fact, I will be posting about another real soon… Ashley Furniture and 3 month delivery times.

How I got screwed out of $600.

OK, so here is a little story about my experience with Home Loan Center. I am not sure if Home Loan Center is “part” of Lending Tree or a new name for Lending Tree. This is a company that leverages several lenders in attempt to get the customer the best rate. I am not sure how they are being funded. My guess is that they get some sort of commission per loan they get done, but I am not sure. Perhaps it’s nickel and diming consumers with up front fees? Who knows.  At this point, I don’t care. My experience with the company started off good, but got poor as soon as I ponied up my up front fee.

1st I will share why I was even talking with them. I was looking to refinance my home loan to get a better interest rate, pay off a portion of the home, and get the loan length knocked down from a 30 year to a 15 year. I called Chase, the company that has our loan. I explained what I wanted to accomplish and they asked permission to connect me to Home Loan Center. They said that they are the ones that handle their refinancing. I said sure and got started right then.

This started in early February. I had a good talk with a salesman and he had me excited about a nice low rate. I am not 100% sure at the time of writing this since my notes are at home, but I think the rate was 4.75% for 15 years. I was not ready to lock in that rate that day since I didn’t want to start the process with out the cash I was planning on putting down was available. That cash was still in route and showed up a few days later. I called back in to start the process.

Update: I had abandoned this rant when I was promised that someone would look into this matter internally. Well, it didn’t get resolved and it’s been about 1 month, so all the details are not fresh in my mind, but I will sum it up now…

We started the paperwork, I signed a lot of papers and the process was underway. The next step was a $600 fee to pay for inspections and stuff like that. (although Region Bank, who I decided to go with, didn’t even require a new appraisal) I paid the fee, it was debited from my account and all was well. I was told it would take about a month to close. No problem.

Like I said, I was sent a bunch of paper work to sign, I signed a lot of them. I got some more papers while I was in Seattle at the Microsoft MVP summit too.

After 2 weeks, I logged onto their website and found out that they canceled the process. I called to inquire why and they said lack of communications and they assumed that I was no longer interested in the refinance. What? They have my cell phone number, my email address, work number, everything. I never got an email or phone call (on cell) while in Seattle or when I was on vacation. After they told me this, I called a coworker that covered my office while I was away. He did mention a couple “personal nature” sounding calls, but said that none of them wanted to leave a message. Lack of communications my ass. The tools are there people, use them.

Is it a coincidence that the $600 was debited from my account the same day as they canceled my loan process? I doubt it.

They offered to reopen the process, but warned me that the interest rates went up during that time frame and the locked in rate was no longer valid. I said, whoa… hold on a sec, and told them that I was going to look at other options. I then called regions and was offered a rate .5 less that my locked in rate at Lending Tree. I close this Friday.

I called Home Loan Center back and said, not to worry about reopening the process and to refund my $600. They said I can’t since I canceled. What? I canceled? You guys canceled me. Wake up people.

2+ months later, I have not been refunded the $600. Beware this company. I only trusted them since Chase, the owner of my original mortgage recommended them to me. Thanks for nothing!

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