Ok, so I thought I would be writing about training camp at this point, but I just can't seem to catch a break.  If I head down to Foxboro, TC gets rained out.  If I think its going to rain and I skip it, TC is on.  D'oh!

So here's something I've been meaning to put on for awhile.  Let's call it a reprint.  This is the blog entry for Kevin Faulk's Celebrity Softball Game.  I wrote it the day after the event and got it up on Patriots Planet and Patsfans.com, and I had every intention of putting it up here....but I just never got around to it.  So here I present it to you, albeit belatedly:

So here it is. The wife, the boys and I made the drive from Nashua, NH to Brockton, MA yesterday to attend Kevin Faulk's Celebrity Softball Game to benefit the United Way. A great time was had by all. Kudos to Kevin for organizing this event! Kudos to his teammates for supporting the event and participating! And kudos to the Brockton Rox organization for hosting this awesome event and providing a great venue!



So we started with the pr-game tailgate party. Upon entrance to outdoor tent area which served as the tailgate spot, I immediately bee-lined it to the memorabilia tent, where they were auctioning off some very cool items for charity.

An open bar with beer and wine was provided so I grabbed a Coron and made camp at one of the tables available. I next put some fresh batteries in my digital camera and that's when tragedy struck! My digital camera of about 4-5 years suddenly did not work! Oh the horror! You can imagin my state of total panic!



Fortunately, the wife is much cooler headed and once again saved the day. Jenn actually ran out across the street to a grocery store and picked up a disposable camera. What a saint this woman is! I would have been devestated if I had no documentation of this event! The pictures are a little grainy, but at least I got them. (First thing I did today, BTW, was head out to Best Buy to get a new digital!)



At this point a couple of players started showing up at the party. They were all really great about talking to the fans, taking pics, and signing autographs. It was interesting to see their different srategies: some kind of set up shop and let a line form, other kind of strolled through the crowd and stopped intermittently and then kept moving. Some players had their families with them and stopped to eat, others just mingled with fans.



One of the first guys I ran into was special teams captain Larry Izzo. I talked with Larry and told him I couldn't wait to attend his upcoming karaoke event. He said he was really looking forward to the event.

Next I ran into Freddy Smerlas, former player and frequent contributor to WEEI's "The Big Show". Steve DeOssie and him were tight - just about always side by side. I didn't connect with Steve, but Fred was supercool and very nice.

Where was Jenn during these meet-and-greets? Well running out caused her to work up an appetite, so she was hitting the buffet! It was a nice BBQ type spread of ribs, chicken, corn, cornbread, beans and salad. Pretty nice. There was this kind of jerk-chicken with pineapple salsa which was real good. I mainly sustained myself on a diet of Coronas and autograph-hunting though!



Ran into Pierre Woods. Very cool guy, said he wanted to get some time in at OLB this year.

Also ran into Sammy Morris right before he did an interview with some reporter for TV. I asked him about each he and Maroney hitting 1,000 yards on the season and he said, "That's what we're shooting for."

Speaking of Maroney, he was at the tailgate too. He was very mobile, but the boys darted off when the saw him and each got him to sign their ball. Lucky kids! I was glad Jeffrey hooked up with him as he is his favorite player these days.



Ran into Jarvis Green who served as the game's umpire.

Also ran into Chad Jackson. I told him I had a feeling that this was going to be his breakout year and he said he felt confident about really contributing this year.  Also ran into one of my favorite guys, Billy Yates.

Ran into Eric Alexander and his little pooch! When we taking a picture with him I asked if he wanted to get his dog in the photo. He tried to pick the little bugger up, but it kept jumping away!

Stopped by Matt Gutierrez's table after he was done eating - very cool guy. Almost seemed a little surprised that I wanted his autograph! It just goes to show how overwhelming being in the NFL can be for some of the younger guys.

Also ran into Ty Warren and Matt Cassel, but didn't get photos. I told Matt that I heard he was a hell of a baseball player and he said, "We'll see."





Also mingling were Brandon Merriweather, Santonio Thomas, Vince Wilfork, and a couple of other guys.





Some players we're practicing on the field at this point and I saw Antwain Spann playing catch. Moss was on the field too and everybody was yelling "Randy!! Randy!!" I was close enough to Spann so I yelled, "Hey Antwain, you got a minute!" He turned around and came over and said hi and signed some stuff for me and the boys. I think the players really appreciate it when you are able to recognize them personally and refer to them by first name. Everybody was asking me - who's that? who's that? because it was clear I could identify the players. And once agian, half the crowd there thought that Billy Yates was Vince Wilfork!

For the game the players were divided into two teams, Red and Blue. Red was the clear favorite with the crowd since the Red roster boasted Faulk, Moss, and Jabar Gaffney.

The red team took an early lead. The game was real casual and light, with players tackling each other and whatnot. It was fun as a specatator to see. Also there were some great blasts! Faulk pitched for Red.

Blue came back, though and tied the game. Chad Jackson pitched for Blue.

Now a word on Randy Moss. What a character this guy is! He is such a rebel- he just does things his own way! At one point he walked from the field over to the crowd and started signing autographs. You should have seen the scene this caused! People just started running around the stadium trying to get his sig. Someone would throw him a football and he would throw it out to another player and play catch. Then he'd sign it and throw it back! It was crazy. During the commotion I went down behind the Red dugout. Everybody was focused on Randy at this point so I called down to one of my favorite players: "Yo James!" James Sanders looked up and I held up a mini-helmet. "Got time for one?" He nodded and motioned for me to throw it down, so I did. He signed it (after I threw the pen down too!) and tossed it back up. Sweet! Thanks, James!





A couple of thoughts on autograph collecting at these types of events:





Wait for an acknowledgement from the player. While James was signing my helmet some kid saw what was happening and just chucked a baseball mitt at him. He wasn't even looking so it hit him in the chest! Make eye contact and get a nod before tossing something down.



Also, screaming a player's last name over and over and over...it does not work. Learn who the players are, know thier first names, and call out maybe once. If they look over, cool. If not, don't sweat it. Very annoying to hear people just screaming "Meriweather! Meriweather! Merriweather!" over and over.



And if you don't get it don't be bitter...they can't sign for evertone and you can always try again later.





So anyway, back to the game. There was some cool inter-inning entertainment including a very humorous dance-off between Matt Cassel and Kelly Washington. Matt won. There was also a race, a closest to the tee putt-off, and the players zinging T-shirts into the crowd. Fun stuff.





The game ended with Red winning on a Randy Moss RBI. Go figure.

The whole thing ended with a salute from the MinuteMen of the End Zone Militia.

It was a real fun time. Thanks Kevin! Hope you all enjoyed the report. The next big event for Den will be Larry Izzo's Salute to the Troops Karaoke Contest in June. Hope to see you there!

...so that was it.  A golden oldie.  Hope you enjoyed and I will try to be better about staying on top of this whole blogging thing. Later.