My encounter with The Great One

This was the third year that Wayne Gretzky was holding his celebrity/charity golf tournament. Celebrities that have participated in the past have been Mark Messier, John Elway, Brett Hull, and of course, Gretz.

Steve and I headed down to Collingwood to try and get some autographs. I headed down with roughly fifty photos to get signed after seeing the list of celebrities that were set to be there this year. The list included: Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley, Brett Hull, Charles Barkley, Grant Fuhr, Corey Perry and others.

We arrived on the Sunday evening and headed to the Blue Mountain Resort. The village is managed by the same company that manages Mont. Tremblent in Montreal. It was gorgeous.

We met up with two guys from Montreal who were also looking to meet Gretzky and the other celebrities in the tournament. We relaxed in some chairs in a spot where we could see the hotel in case anyone left to enter the village. Unfortunately, we soon realized that not a lot of the players had arrived yet.

We went to the firehouse pizza place for some dinner and sat on the patio so that we could still see if anyone was coming. We soon saw Darren Pang and Grant Fuhr coming our way. We soon saw Darren Pang and Grant Furh coming our way. I was able to get an autograph from Fuhr and two from Pang. Both were extremely nice guys.
That pretty much ended our Sunday evening. Still no sign of Wayne.

On Monday morning, we headed to the golf course to see if we could sneak on for some practice rounds.

Unfortunately, before we could even head to the holes to hide, we were kicked off the course by the lady who was running the tournament. This was the first year that the practice rounds would be closed to the public. We figured we would head back to the hotel and wait for Wayne to come back after his round of golf.

Bur first, we went for lunch. We also found out that Brett Hull, Charles Barkley, and Nick Kypreos weren't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday. This was terrible news for the guys from Montreal who were scheduled to leave on Tuesday morning.

At 4pm, we headed outside to the front of the hotel and when we saw we drive back he looked completely wiped. He tried to hide his face as he past us. When he got out of the car we tried to approach him, but his personal security guard immediately chewed us up for being on hotel property.

After a little bit, we figured we would go into the hotel and grab a drink. After a short while, the same lady that kicked us off of the golf course approached us and said that if we even approached Wayne in the hotel that we would be kicked off the property. A minute later, Wayne came to the bar and ordered a drink. He started making small talk with us and then went over to some friends. I could see how much it bothered Steve that Wayne was standing right beside us and we couldn't ask him for an autograph.

Shortly after, Wayne and Janet headed into the village for dinner. After a few minutes we headed into the village and shortly after saw Walter Gretzky, Wayne's dad. We grabbed a photo with him and an autograph. He is a great guy. Steve had 12 photos for him to sign. Walt told him to get all his stuff ready and he signed every one of them.

We figured we would split up and wait for Wayne. Steve and one guy waited outside a restaurant that had a private function sign outside, and another guy and I waited near the hotel where Wayne would need to walk by us. Steve said he would text us when he saw Wayne.

After a short bit, we saw Wayne walk by with Janet and his two boys. It caught us a bit off guard as we hadn't heard from Steve. We headed off Wayne and asked him for an autograph. He turned and gave us the old "I'll get you guys tomorrow".

That ended out Monday. Still no autographs or photos with Wayne. The worst part was the only autograph we got on Monday was that of Walter Gretzky. This trip was becoming more of a boozefest than an autograph trip.

Tuesday was a new day. After sleeping in a bit, we headed back to the hotel for around 10am in hopes of seeing Wayne before he left. After about an hour wait, the guys from Montreal headed home. I was starting to think that I would never get to meet Wayne. To our surprise, Wayne drove right past us and pulled up to the hotel. Steve and I didn't approach because of his personal security guard. They must've had a morning tee time that day, so back to the hotel bar we went.

After a short while, Wayne came down to the bar again. This time he approached me and started talking to me about my Team Canada hat that I was wearing. He asked me if I had been golfing that day. Not wanting him to know that we weren't there for golf, I told him that it was too hot outside to golf. He came back with, "what are you.... a fucking pussy?" It blew my mind. The great one had just called me a pussy. I later told that story to Eddie Mio, the backup goalie for the Oilers when Wayne was there. He told me "that's why they call him The Great One". I was able to finally ask Wayne for at least a photo though.

Wayne then had to head off to Toronto via a helicoptor and needed to have a few drinks to get over his fear of this.

Steve, who had been waiting outside, was able to get the first of his 5 jerseys signed. I didn't think there was a chance that Wayne would be signing, so I missed him. We then headed back to the village to relax and hope that more people would arrive.

After a short while, Catriona Lemay Doan, the olympic gold medalist most recently known for the mishap that occured at the Vancouver olympics, and her husband went out for dinner. We were able to grab a few autographs and photos with her.

Also, to our surprise, Brett Hull made an early arrival while we were eating dinner. We saw him walk by and wanted to wait for him to head back to the hotel. Time was not on my side though. I wanted to head back to the front of the hotel for Wayne to come back. I heard him say that he would be back roughly around 8pm so I headed to the front around 7:30 to make sure I didn't miss him. Steve waited in the village because he didn't want to get on Wayne's security guard's bad side. He had earlier been asked to keep the autographs off of hotel property. I figured since I wasn't there I could just say that I didn't know.

About thirty seconds after I got to the front of the hotel, Wayne arrived. His car pulled up to the front of the hotel, but I was waiting near the sidewalk by the edge of the road. I pulled out my jersey and sharpie with hopes that he would see me. He waved me up and I was finally able to get my jersey signed.

I then quickly headed back to the village to wait for Brett Hull. We were chatting away when Brett and his wife came around the corner. They must've been talking about autograph seekers because he said "like these two guys here", and then walked right up to us. We each got three photos signed. They were the full autograph and looked great.

I asked him if I could get a photo with him but he told me that he wasn't feeling very photogenic and he asked if he could do it another time. Not a problem.

We ended up finally seeing another autograph seeker, Al from Buffalo. He told us that the pairings list for the tournament had been posted. Mike Modano's name was not on the list, but there were two unexpected guys that were supposed to be there - Hollywood Henderson and Jerry Ferrara. That pretty much ended our Tuesday. We went back to the hotel and tried to get some prints ordered for the new guys. An executive decision was basically made for me that we would be staying until Thursday instead of leaving the next day.

On Wednesday morning, we woke up and headed to Wal-Mart to grab our photos. We then went to the hotel bar as all the celebrities were out on the closed course. We were hoping to see some more guys as they checked in. Shortly after arriving, we saw Corey Perry. We were able to get him and then met up with Al who arrived two minutes after Perry left. Missed him by that much.

We waited around in the village and enjoyed the nice weather. The rest of the celebrities began slowly arriving. We first saw Craig Simpson and grabbed a photo and a signature from him.

We also saw Dwayne Roloson that day. He was in a bit of a hurry though. He signed a few autographs and then disappeared like a ninja.

Matthew Barnaby came out also. He was on crutches but still stopped to sign some autographs and take pictures. We asked him what he did to his ankle and he told us that he was drunk and messing around in the backyard. Typical Canadian.

A short while later we saw Andre Tippett.

Andre Tippett was an All-American defensive end and three-year letterman at the University of Iowa. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the 2nd round of the 1982 NFL Draft. Andre is a member of the NFL's 1980s all-decade team and was selected to five Pro Bowls in his career, earning the nod in five straight seasons from 1984-88. He was voted Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) co-Defensive Player of the Year in (with Raider Howie Long) in 1985. Tippett spent his entire 12-year career with the New England Patriots and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the class of 2008.
He is a big dude. As we saw him walking back to the hotel, Brett Hull walked past us. We were so busy getting Tippett that only Al was able to grab an autograph from Hull. When he returned, he gave us the same line that Wayne did. "I'll get you guys tomorrow."

It was starting to get late. Just as we were about to go to the hotel to see what was happening, Jerry Ferrara walked past us. I was very excited to meet Jerry as I am a huge Entourage fan. He does such a great job as Turtle.

We also saw Mike Keenan head into the steak house with Jungle Jim Jerome.

After a short while, Jerry and his crew came out of the restaurant. He was cool about everything. He signed everything we had and posed for photos. He is genuinely a great guy. He also looks about 50 pounds lighter than he did when he was on the show. I can't speak for season 7 though as I don't have HBO.

Just as we were about to head back to our hotel, "Iron" Mike came out of the steakhouse and signed some photos for us.

Our plan for Thursday was to arrive at the course early enough to meet Wayne for his morning signing session. Unfortunately, my phone was dead. Steve said he would set the alarm so that we got up in time to be at the course for 7am. Good thing I woke up at 7:15 as the alarm didn't go off. How terrible is that? The one day you actually need to be up early, you oversleep.

We got ready as quickly as we could and headed right to the first golf course. We arrived just in time to see Wayne about to tee off. We had missed his morning session. So, we walked to the end of the 8th green to meet some players as they passed by.

The first group had Corey Perry in it. The second group had Marty McSorley. This was the first time that week that I had seen him. He is a nice guy and will sign two autographs per person. I was also able to grab a photo with him.

The next foursome we approached had Mike Keenan. I decided to grab a photo with him that wasn't at night. He seemed happier during the day than late at night anyways.

We also saw Dwayne Roloson, who I was finally able to grab a picture with.

Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson has a crazy story behind him. "Henderson excelled as an outside linebacker, earning All-Pro honors for the 1977 season. Lawrence Taylor, perhaps the greatest player ever at the position, said that he was inspired to wear 56 because it was Henderson's number. Henderson earned the nickname "Hollywood" for his flamboyant play and high-visibility lifestyle. he helped lead the cowboys to three Super Bowls, including a win in Super Bowl XII.

However, his destructive lifestyle of drugs, alcohol and women began to catch up to him. During many games, he snorted liquid cocaine from an inhaler he hid in his pants.

In November of 1983, Henderson was arrested for smoking crack cocaine with two teenage girls in California. He was accused of threatening with a gun and sexually assaulting them. He claimed that he gave them crack in exchange for consensual sex. He pleaded no contest to the charges and served eight monts in cour-ordered drug rehabilitation as well as two years in prison. he states that "Hollywood" died on November 8, 1983 and he has remained clean and sober ever since.

Henderson made the news again in 2000 by winning the Lotto Texas $28 million jackpot. He started a charity (East Side Youth Services & Street Outreach) and has made major donations to the East Austin community where he grew up. He currently gives motivational speeches and sells videos of his anti-drug seminars."

We also saw Brett Hull again. His autograph went from full name in the village to a shortened version on the course. I thought I would throw in a picture so you can see the change.

We also saw Wayne's wife, Janet, and grabbed a photo and an autograph. Janet used to be an actress and can be seem in Police Academy 5 and in A League of Their Own.

Finally it came time for Wayne to come through. He told us that he would sign at the end of the 9th hole. Everyone that was waiting hurried to the end of the hole to wait for The Great One. But, because it was the end of the 9th, there was a bit of a hike to the start of the 10th. He told us that he would sign at the 10th tee box. Everyone followed and he stayed good to his word. People lined up, but again, security made it hard to get more than one autograph.

Al and Steve got two, but security was very unhappy and even asked Al to leave the course. This was fine because he was heading to the other course to get the afternoon guys anyways.

Steve and I stayed around for a few more minutes and met Scott Thornton.

We also met Nick Kypreos.

Right after we met Nick, Steve and I headed for the second course to grab the afternoon guys. At the second course, we immediately found out that Alfonso Ribeiro was on the driving range. We headed over to see the Fresh Prince alumni. We were then able to pull a couple of autographs from Sir Charles Barkley, but he wouldn't take a photograph with me. He told me that he wanted to keep movind and didn't want to stop to take pictures for everyone. I probably could've gotten one at the end of 18 holes, but I didn't want to wait for him to finish.

I did manage to pull four Charles Barkleys at the second course. He would only sign one autograph per person, but he would sign each time you saw him. He didn't care if he had already signed for you either. I must say that he could be the worst golfer I have ever seen. If you don't believe me, look his golf swing up on Youtube.

After seeing Barkley, something completely unexpected happened. There was a thunderstorm warning and the siren rang. All of the celebrities then headed back to the clubhouse. It was a blessing. Grant Fuhr, Alfonso Ribeiro, Damon Allen, and Andre Tippett were just standing around outside the clubhouse. They put on a session. They might as have gotten a table and some chairs to sign all the stuff they did.

I even got another photo signed by Jerry Ferrara, this one personalized.
After the intermission, we were able to finally grab a few autographs from Claude Lemieux. After he had finished his 18 holes, I asked him for a photo. He seemed really nice about it, but gave Steve the look of death when we tried to pull out more photos to get signed.

After we met Claude we called it a day and drove back to Ottawa. It turned out to be a great trip. If I had to do it all over again I would just head down on the Tuesday night instead of Sunday. Things were pretty dead those first couple of days, but had we gotten Gretzky a few more teams they might have been worth it.

Thanks for the read. I hope you enjoyed.

The Iceman Cometh

Mixed martial arts are is still growing all over the world. There are a few key names that have helped create the sport into what it is today.

UFC hall-of-famers Royce Gracie, the winner of UFC 1 and UFC 2, Mark Coleman, the first ever UFC heavyweight champion, and Randy Couture, one of only two fighters that has held championships at two different weight classes, have all had influences on the sport.

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell is a former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion with an extensive striking background in Kenpo Karate, Koei-Kan Karate, and Kickboxing. Along with fellow UFC fighter, Randy Couture, Liddell is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. On July 10, 2009, he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

When I found out that Chuck Liddell was doing a seminar and autograph session at MMA Revolution in Toronto, I had to go.

When we arrived at MMA Revolution, I ran in to grab our wristbands for the meet and greet. I then went back to grab Diane and we headed inside. There weren't many people lined up yet for the autograph session, but we could see the seminar happening in the back of the gym.

It seemed to me that Scott Epstein, Chuck's BJJ trainer, was conducting most of the seminar while Chuck did interviews and sipped on ice caps.

While we were waiting for the seminar to finish, Carlos Newton came into the gym. He is pretty big for a guy that sometimes fights at 170 pounds.
After the seminar was done, those that were a part of it were able to meet Chuck before the people in line just for the autographs. When it was our turn to meet Chuck, I asked him if he was going to attend the UFC Fan Expo in Boston and he said that he still wasn't sure.

I grabbed a new photo with Chuck. He had two black eyes still from his fight with Rich Franklin. The photo I had before from UFC 101 in Philadelphia wasn't very good since I just happened to grab him and take the photo.

Its always a pleasure to meet a great fighter. This could have been my last chance since Chuck might retire.

2010 Olympic Gold Medalist: Drew Doughty

I have never actually met Drew Doughty. Why am I making this blog entry? Because Drew Doughty is the first piece of a team photo that I am trying to get signed.

Drew Doughty, now of the L.A. Kings, was taken second overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Following a standout career with the Guelph Storm, where he twice voted the league's top offensive defenceman, he made his NHL debut in 2008 as an 18-year-old and was named to the All-Rookie Team.

He has represented Canada four times internationally, winning a gold medal at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he was named the tournament's top defenceman, and a silver at the 2009 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The youngest player on the team, he won a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics and was named a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the top defenceman in the NHL in 2010.

On June 12th, 2010, the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League held their 20th anniversary alumni game. I had found out about the game through a post online and decided to do some more research. The lineup looked decent with NHL players Ryan Callahan, Todd Bertuzzi, Kevin Dallman, Craig Anderson, Manny Malholtra and Drew Doughty. Tickets were super cheap....only $12 each, and for charity. I swiped up four tickets, two of which my sister wanted for her and her boyfriend.

As the day of the game approached, I realized that I still didn't have anyone to go to the game with. I didn't really want to drive to Guelph alone for the game, so I gave my 16x20 of Team Canada to my sister to get signed.

She came through and the photo has been started.

Running count: 1 autograph
Drew Doughty

K-os in the Capital

July first is a huge day in Canada. Its a chance for the whole country to get together and have one huge party. In downtown Ottawa, there is always a good time to be found. Buskers, face painters, fireworks, bars and beers are to be found. One other perk of living in the capital is the show that is put on at Parliament Hill.

This years lineup included the Barenaked Ladies, Johnny Reid, and K-os. Special hosts included Ron Maclean and actor Christopher Plummer. With that being said, I printed some photos and headed downtown with hopes of them being signed.

Diane and I arrived downtown at around 10:30am and immediately saw thousands of people waiting around. One big difference between this Canada Day and those of years past was the presence of the Queen. People had packed Parliament Hill by 9:00am and there was no hope of getting anywhere near the hill.

Diane met up with some of her friends and I met up with Steve to try and grab some autographs. There was no hope on parliament hill, so we headed to Major's Hill park to try and meet K-os. When we arrived, he was on stage already as part of the afternoon show. After he was done performing, Steve and I headed to the side of the stage area to try and meet the indie rocker/hip hop artist.

After a few minutes K-os came out of backstage and we were able to grab a graph and a photo right away. He was in a bit of a hurry, obviously trying to avoid some of the crowd that might gather.
After we met K-os we walked around the market and met back up with Diane, and then with Pete and Dana. Eventually we ended up back at Parliament Hill after the Queen had left and the crowd had scattered. There were definately some characters on the hill that day.

It was definately interesting to see the costumes, but there wasn't really much of a correlation to Canada Day.

After failing miserably to find any of the people we were looking for, we headed back to Major's Hill Park for K-os' performance. He put on a pretty good show.

As 10pm neared we headed back to Parliament for some fireworks.

Its unfortunate that we didn't get to meet all of the guys we were looking for, but at least we met one of them.

Dragon Boat Festival: 54-40

"54-40 are one of the most important popular music groups to emerge from the Canadian cultural landscape. With more than 2 decades of performing and recording behind them, the band has an unbelievable catalogue of hit songs. Lead by chief songwriter Neil Osborne, 5440 have carved out a legacy of gold and platinum albums and a outstanding reputation for their live performances that carries through to this day."

For those who are unfamiliar with 54-40, that was a brief description from the band's website.

Steve told me that 54-40 was going to be in town at the dragon boat festival and was wondering if I wanted to go and meet them. Definately.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a yearly event here in Ottawa that sees dozens of race teams compete in dragon boats. Tens of thousands of people visit each year. It really is just a big party. There are various kioks set up and a large beer tent.

We headed down to Mooney's bay to try and meet the band before their concert. Unfortunately, we didn't get there on time and would need to wait until the end of the performance to get our autographs.

This turned out to be very fortunate for us because 54-40 put on a fantastic show. I was suprised how many of their songs I knew. They played all of their hits and worked the crowd extremely well. There were points where lead singer Neil had the audience split in half and each half would take turns singing the chorus. It was great to see.

After their show, the band left the stage and headed back to a trailer that was behind the stage. After the crowd had exited, lead guitar player Dave Genn and dummer Matt Johnson came out to talk to some family and friends that had waited around. We were able to grab photos and autographs from these two almost right away.

There were rumours that the Neil and Brad had to catch a flight and had to leave immediately which would have been terrible for our photos. You can't have a group signed photo without key members of the band....especially not without the lead singer.

Steve and I headed around to the back of the trailer by the gated exit in hopes of meeting the other two members of the band. Eventually, Neil came out the back entrance to talk with someone he knew. He was really a pleasant guy and had no problem signing autographs and taking pictures.

After another bit of a wait, a van pulled up to take the band back to their hotel. The rumours of a quick flight were not true. As Brad came out to get in the van he fired off a few autos and pictures.Every band has a jerk. 54-40 might be the exception. Each guy was really nice.