Well...that didn't go well

As a life-long sports fan, I've also enjoyed collecting autographs over the years of my favorite teams and players.  So, naturally when I started creating my artwork almost a decade ago, I have had a great deal of my paintings/drawings signed over the years.  I've obtained the autographs in a variety of ways...some in-person, some via mail-in, etc., so I'm definitely not a "noob" to the process.

Generally, when players are doing autograph signings, they have already negotiated with the promoter/company the terms of their signing.  Sometimes it's a flat fee, sometimes it's a fee for a limited number of autographs; it all varies according to each appearance.  They're all a little different.  So, when I saw Joey Bosa and a number of other Ohio State players were appearing at the 2016 Midwest Sports Spectacular recently, I was interested in having my drawing of Bosa signed at the event.  When I visited their site & Facebook pages to check out the details, there wasn't any indication that the autograph tickets were limited to a certain quantity.  In the past, I've attended a number of signings with Buckeye players, some very popular and some not.  In all the instances, I've never had an issue needing to pre-order an autograph ticket...this even includes Troy Smith the year he won the Heisman Trophy & took OSU to the National Title game.

Perhaps I underestimated Bosa's popularity, or maybe OSU's fan base has just grown more than I realized in the recent years.  I did email the company putting on the event about a week before the signing to inquire about the specifics on Joey Bosa's signing...pricing on artwork sizes, etc., and never got a reply.  And, after seeing a post on their Twitter feed saying, "Tickets available at the door" a night before the signing, I didn't see any need to pre-order a ticket.  Plus, at that point I wasn't even positive we would head up to Columbus for the event.  And, when I checked their website the morning of the event, there was no indication that autograph tickets for Bosa were sold out.  Nothing on their Twitter feed either.  So, when we decided to make the road trip up yesterday morning, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind.

We arrived around 2:30pm and waited in line for about 15 mins. before making it to the ticket window.  And, then we were informed that his autograph tickets had sold out.  So, we made the most of it and hit up some cool spots in the Arena District.  Bosa will undoubtedly be doing more appearances in the coming weeks, so I'm sure the drawing will still get signed eventually.

Oh well, lesson learned.  Plenty of blame to spread around -- not any one person/entity's fault, just one of those things.