DoubleDee
All American
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2013
- Messages
- 4,450
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- 9,390
Great fan fest today. Overall I give a A-. It's great to have an avenue to spout off so here goes...
Had my two little oranges with me today, so X's and O's weren't the highest priority. What we watched looked good. But let's be honest, at this point any football looks good. My issues are non- football.
First disappointment was no food trailer. In years past you were able to buy something to eat. The free "junk food" was great, but a 4 hour event that runs though dinner time screams food trailer.
Second, was the schedule. Almost had a major catastrophe. Once again a could be perfect afternoon at fan fest turns into a parent/fan nightmare. At 5:30, an hour before the practice session was to end, I committed to letting my 7yr old daughter get in the line for glitter tattoos. My son (5) agreed to this as he understood it would be another hour before the autograph session would start. Then in a surprise move, they start the autograph session on the field at 5:40ish. It would last 20 minutes and she's got a good 20 minutes left in line. My sons almost in tears. If on schedule, this would have been avoided.
And to anyone who says I should take the boy while my daughter is in line... To each his own. "Honey, what happened to our daughter?" "How should I know I was looking for Hunt to sign my poster." Her safety is worth a few tears from him, and no wrath from the old lady. Everything we do has an odd little twist. Stick to your schedule. Now, to be fair, once she got through that line, we made it out to the field to get some autographs, as they clearly stayed longer than scheduled. We could have got more perhaps, which leads me to the last...
The table set ups for autographs at spring game and fan fest. Why do we separate everyone all over the field at different tables? One entrance, one exit would get everyone a chance to get every player. This has irritated me for years. Can anyone on here make this change for the future? One long table, one line. Start on one end, exit on the other. It's really easy.
These gripes are reasonably minor I know. The stand out goods?
After the horn blew for the players to head in, a select few made an extraordinary effort to accommodate more autograph seekers. West, Kobena, and Ishmail to name a few. All players were very gracious, and again as noted after the spring game, there is a strong effort being put forth for the players to interact with kids. They showered my kids with questions and called my daughter sweetheart etc. they asked my son if he played football at all, and he said Lacrosse. I told the players that I was starting him at face-offs so he'd be ready for Desko to come calling in 13 years.
They found that funny. HCSS who never disappoints stayed even after they said he had a team dinner in 4 minutes. And he had a hell of a line. Poor Missy and family always waiting for ever, as he always stays behind. He as always was great with my kids, and very gracious for our support. I told him unfortunately I was going to be away on family vacation for the Nova game. "Happy wife, happy life", I said. He said " you got that right".
All in all, the good outweighed the bad for sure.
Also got these stickers.
Even though I've liked this new logo since the debut, now I love it. If I was a tattoo guy...
Had my two little oranges with me today, so X's and O's weren't the highest priority. What we watched looked good. But let's be honest, at this point any football looks good. My issues are non- football.
First disappointment was no food trailer. In years past you were able to buy something to eat. The free "junk food" was great, but a 4 hour event that runs though dinner time screams food trailer.
Second, was the schedule. Almost had a major catastrophe. Once again a could be perfect afternoon at fan fest turns into a parent/fan nightmare. At 5:30, an hour before the practice session was to end, I committed to letting my 7yr old daughter get in the line for glitter tattoos. My son (5) agreed to this as he understood it would be another hour before the autograph session would start. Then in a surprise move, they start the autograph session on the field at 5:40ish. It would last 20 minutes and she's got a good 20 minutes left in line. My sons almost in tears. If on schedule, this would have been avoided.
And to anyone who says I should take the boy while my daughter is in line... To each his own. "Honey, what happened to our daughter?" "How should I know I was looking for Hunt to sign my poster." Her safety is worth a few tears from him, and no wrath from the old lady. Everything we do has an odd little twist. Stick to your schedule. Now, to be fair, once she got through that line, we made it out to the field to get some autographs, as they clearly stayed longer than scheduled. We could have got more perhaps, which leads me to the last...
The table set ups for autographs at spring game and fan fest. Why do we separate everyone all over the field at different tables? One entrance, one exit would get everyone a chance to get every player. This has irritated me for years. Can anyone on here make this change for the future? One long table, one line. Start on one end, exit on the other. It's really easy.
These gripes are reasonably minor I know. The stand out goods?
After the horn blew for the players to head in, a select few made an extraordinary effort to accommodate more autograph seekers. West, Kobena, and Ishmail to name a few. All players were very gracious, and again as noted after the spring game, there is a strong effort being put forth for the players to interact with kids. They showered my kids with questions and called my daughter sweetheart etc. they asked my son if he played football at all, and he said Lacrosse. I told the players that I was starting him at face-offs so he'd be ready for Desko to come calling in 13 years.
They found that funny. HCSS who never disappoints stayed even after they said he had a team dinner in 4 minutes. And he had a hell of a line. Poor Missy and family always waiting for ever, as he always stays behind. He as always was great with my kids, and very gracious for our support. I told him unfortunately I was going to be away on family vacation for the Nova game. "Happy wife, happy life", I said. He said " you got that right".All in all, the good outweighed the bad for sure.
Also got these stickers.
Even though I've liked this new logo since the debut, now I love it. If I was a tattoo guy...
