Flashback---The Peyton Manning Autograph

If you are a regular reader you know that we are all diehard Indianapolis Colts fans.  It was very devastating this year when they released Peyton Manning.  He was great to watch and we will miss him.

All of this got me thinking back.  I remembered a funny story about our oldest son who is the biggest Peyton Manning fan in the entire universe. That is not an exaggeration either.  He even knows his birthday, shoe size, and kids names. He has always been kind of a shy and quiet kid. Nicolas was trying for several years to get Manning's autograph and was never successful.  We were at training camp right after it moved back to Anderson University.  Practice was over and everyone was leaving. He was standing there telling me about how he wished he could just get Peyton's autograph.  There was a guy standing next to us that spoke up and said "Hey kid, he is over there signing on the other side of the field, you better run over and get it NOW!".  Up to that point, I have never seen him run that fast!

I was walking around to the other side to wait for him.  The crowd was huge and I thought we would be there for a while.  I wondered over to the bleachers and climbed up far enough to see if I could spot him in the crowd.  I could not see him but I could hear the big security guy by Manning yelling at someone,  "KID!!!!  Calm down!!!  Take a step back!  KID!!!!  KID!!!" He kept saying it more forcefully "KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK!  YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" I wondered what all the trouble was down there, but I didn't think much of it.  And then the guy continued on ""KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK! CALM DOWN!!!" I am starting to think to myself...what kind of knucklehead kid is causing trouble down there?  I snapped a quick shot of the commotion with my camera.  I could not see the kid causing trouble.  The guy in the large floppy Colt's hat to the right of  Peyton is the guy that was yelling at the kid.

Then just after a couple of minutes I see Nicolas walking back towards me staring at his autograph Superbowl ball with a huge smile on his face.  After a moment Nicolas asked me "Did you hear that security guy yelling at me?  There is no way I was walking away without an autograph this time."  I have to admit, I laughed....  Then we promptly left!  Here is the autograph:

This I believe was at the 2010 Training Camp.  He never did get Peyton Manning's autograph again.   It sits encased in a plastic container (heavily guarded with lasers and motion detectors) and is forever cherished by my goofy kid,  This is a memory I don't think I will ever forget.


How we did hate to see Manning go.  Now Nicolas keeps asking me to take him to Denver.....

Noblesville Football 2012

Noblesville 2012 football is getting off to a slow start this year, but I have still enjoyed watching Nicolas play.  He has come a long way since the days of sixth grade when he broke his arm playing in the elementary league.  He has grown up a lot and worked very hard.  The amount of effort he has put in is phenomenal. Most of all, he is finally gaining confidence and can see what he is capable of doing.  I am very proud of him.

Now he is a sophomore and a big bad defensive end.  He is listed on the program as only 156 lbs and regularly takes on guys that are 250 lbs plus.  Although they have played two games and not won one yet (today was close 13-7), I still look forward to every game, if nothing else, I enjoy watching him develop as a player.

I have added him as an author to this blog.  He is officially now the resident expert in this family for all things football.   He knows more about the Indianapolis Colts than anyone I know.  Since he just visited training camp with his camera and autograph book, I am pretty sure his first post will be about the Colts and the new QB Andrew Luck.  By the way, he did get Luck's autograph....

Colts Training Camp Schedule Announced!

Looks like some house renovation delays!

http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=Events_dynamic&id=135

Indianapolis Colts Training Camp 2008

We just returned from our "mini" vacation that included a couple of practices at that Indianapolis Colts Training Camp. We were able to attend a night practice and a morning practice. It was a good time. I captured some decent images, I will post more in the near future. Nicolas was able to get seven autographs on his Super Bowl ball so he was happy with the trip.

The crowds were much smaller this year. We arrived on Aug. 8th for the evening practice and watched the Aug. 9th morning practice. There were very few people at the morning practice. I think that is the way we will do from now on. We will go after Family Day.....

The night practice was good. It was good to watch them do the two minute drill. Here is a photo that I took of Marvin Harrison making a touchdown catch. It is a little soft due to my manual focus...

A Stunning Gift!

I received an absolutely stunning gift in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I am sorry for the late update, but I have been going through my midlife crisis (more on that later). I received the Colts watch from Theresa Menke in the mail last week. Theresa is the wife of Frank, my pal from Cincinnati in what is now the old days. Theresa is also an avid reader of the blog. Two wonderful people that I miss. I even miss Theresa (I can't believe that I put that is writing). When are you going to start the Menke Madness blog?

OK, now here are my suspicions. I figure that one of the Bengals players stole the watch from one of the Colts players or coaches. After all, the Bengals team is full of felons! It then hit the street at a minimal value and Theresa was shrewd enough to pick up the watch from the trunk of someone's car in the parking lot of Paul Brown Stadium. It probably came straight from the locker room to the trunk of the car. I have not yet figured out which locker it came from. That will take several months to track down.

I have several more things to post. I plan on posting about my midlife crisis soon and about our trip last weekend to the Indianapolis Colts Training Camp....

Thanks for the nice watch Theresa, it was a very nice gift! We will try to get some tickets off of StubHub for the December game this year.....

Indianapolis Colts Training Camp Update....Again

Breaking News!!!! I just heard on the radio that Marvin Harrison will be at training camp and practicing! Tony Dungy said he is all ready to go and that the carwash incident is over and behind him. I can't wait to see him practice....

Colts Training Camp Update!!!

I heard on the radio this morning that Peyton Manning, Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, and Marvin Harrison are not even going to be at the Terre Haute portion of training camp this year. The players are supposed to report Thursday to camp. While this news is unfortunate, I guess it will cut down on the autograph seekers and bandwagon fans. The crowds should be drastically reduced once this word gets all out.

It won't stop us, we will still be there. We also got the stadium tour tickets for the 16th of August. I need to check to see if I can take my camera in there. I will post some pictures if I get any...

We Made it to the Fest!

We made it to the Colts Fan Fest. It was a good time. Well, except for the part about the cheerleaders flirting with me constantly. That did get a little old. Again, they must have recognized me from this blog that is getting so huge! I walk out of the house without my wife for one second.....Ok back to reality. They had Matt Giordano and Tyjuan Hagler there to sign autographs. Matt G is a great guy. He was very friendly and talked with the boys as he signed their stuff. It is good to see pro players like him. I can't wait to see his special teams coverage this year.

It was just me, Joey, Sammy, and Nicolas that went. Jake is too big of a Chiefs fan to go....He probably would have wanted to wear his Tom Brady jersey if he did go....So it all worked out for the best.

It was a fun night out with me and the boys partying down. Although, we had to hold back some on the soda drinking so Joey would make it the whole time without having to go potty (he is frightened by big "potties") . We made it without any incidents. We were also able to make it out before the big storm hit.

This is a picture of the main stage area at the Indianapolis Colts Fan Fest, Anderson 2008....I kept asking those people to move out of the way so I could get a better picture, but they would not listen. I think I need a press pass....

Colts Fan Fest

There is a Colts Fan Fest in Anderson, Friday (June 6th). You can read all about it here. I may have to see if we can take the kids up there and hang out for a bit. They never list what players are going to be there for the autograph sessions, but it is still always fun. It always helps us to fire up for a new season of Indianapolis Colts Football.....

Indianapolis Gets the Super Bowl!

The day that they announced Indianapolis getting the Super Bowl, we happened to get to hear Tony Dungy speak at the Sheriff's Forum here in beautiful Hamilton County, Indiana. The forum was really good, it made me glad to be a resident of this county. I really like the way Sheriff Carter is reaching out to the young people to make the right choices in life. There was an example of an inmate serving 28 years for killing people while driving under the influence of alcohol. It was very moving.

The icing on the cake of the forum was to hear Tony Dungy speak. I think Nicolas had the best time of his life. Here is a picture of him getting Tony's autograph after the forum. Tony had just told him what a nice shirt he had on (Colts Champs shirt). It is amazing how nice this guy is...He stayed and talked to people after the forum when he could have just talked his half hour and scooted out. He actually came back early from Atlanta to do this talk. He had to hear the results of the Super Bowl vote on the plane.

We are more than fired up for the Colts this year! We can't wait for training camp!

It's Official, The Colts are Back in Terre Haute....

It is official, the Indianapolis Colts Training Camp for 2008 is at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, IN. You can read the entire story here.

Indianapolis Colts Training Camp 2008

I have heard rumors that the Indianapolis Colts Training camp is staying in Terre Haute for 2008. I also hear that Rose-Hulman is remodeling much of the training camp quarters to keep the camp there for a little while. The last story I could find about it is here. Since I have been contacted by a few different people about training camp, I will be posting a lot more about this year.

My next post will include items about the facility, with maps and the locations of the activities at trainging camp. I will then go into the autograph stuff and mark up a map to show the best locations. I also plan to post many more pictures from our visit. Be sure to say hi if you see us there. We are not hard to find, we will be the family with six kids!

Please remember to click one of my ads if this is helpful to you. I have a lot of kids to feed!

Go Colts!

What about those Indianapolis Colts?!?!?! What a game! Although there were many injuries to the players, we will find out more at Noon at Tony Dungy's press conference. One of our favorite players, Dallas Clark, had a great game.

There are rumors that I may be at next week's game in a suite. If that works out, I will post some pictures here. Next week we take on the Bucs... Go Colts!

Tough year for Peyton Manning!

This is going to be a tough year for Peyton Manning. It looks like practice is tough on him. I hear the Colts signed a couple of small tough guys this year. These guys are really tough! Their names are Jakey and Joey. We accidentally knocked over this Peyton Manning while we were goofing around, but luckily we caught it before it hit the ground. Don't the boys look cool?

Training Camp Bust!

Training camp was a huge bust this year! The Superbowl bandwagon fans were getting in our way of the fun that we have every year with our favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts. There were people showing up wearing Bears and Cowboys jerseys. Why even bother, go support your team, don't show up at ours! There were hecklers in the crowd. That really gets me upset, I bring my kids to this for fun, save that for a game and don't do it around my kids. People were stealing our rosters. People would show up at the start of practice and gripe because they can't get a bleacher seat. There were even more people trying to cut in the autograph line than there usually are.

We have decided to skip the "family day" for the rest of training camps to come. We will just take time off and go back during the weekdays when the crowds are lower. We will work up a new strategy for next year and post here.

At least it did not rain on us, although that may have been a blessing, since it would have run off all of the bandwagon fans. All was not lost, we were able to get a few good pictures, as you can see. Here we posted a good one of the Superbowl MVP, Peyton Manning.

We are at the Indianapolis Colts Training Camp!!!

We are in Terre Haute today at the Indianapolis Colts training camp!!!!! The bad news is the weather is way too hot and the crowds are insane this year! We showed up late and missed the tent autographs today, but hopefully we will get some tomorrow. Here is a picture I took today of Jeff Saturday, the best center in the NFL, signing autographs for a bunch of eager fans! Remember that fumble recovery in the end zone against New England? What a touchdown for the big guy!

Indianapolis Colts Training Camp Autograph Tips!

I have noticed some hits coming to this site for Colts autograph tips, so I thought I would post some past experiences at training camp.

First, an update, the pregnancy is going well! Dawn is looking fantastic. As a matter of fact, more fantastic every day! Please support our site with the ads/affiliates on this page, they help pay for the kids college fund!

Ok, at Indianapolis Colts training camp, it can be a mad house! It helps to know what to do, so you don't waste time in the wrong line, etc.

The first and most obvious place to get autographs is the autograph tent. This is usually located near the East end of the main football field. It sits just between the main field and the practice field. Here is the need to know about the autograh tent: In years past, they only sign here after the morning practice. I would get in line during the morning practice or earlier ( depending on which day it is...) They will bring the players up on golf carts after practice to sign. You really never know who they will bring to sign, as there is no set schedule that I know of for this. This is how we got Reggie Wayne's and Joseph Addai's autographs. It is worth the wait in line. I have heard from talking to others in line that Peyton Manning is always in the tent on family day. I have also heard that people start getting in line there at around 5:00am........

At the afternoon practice it is all about luck. Some of the players will come over to the bleachers after practice and sign. We have seen Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison do this after an afternoon practice, but we failed to get their autographs there. Nicolas was really disappointed! It is a mad house when they come over to sign. Watch your little ones closely to make sure they don't get trampled!

We have a few more top secret tips for obtaining autographs, we will post those soon! Check back, and please support our site!!!!!

Fire Up For Colts Training Camp!

We are starting to get fired up for this year's Indianapolis Colts training camp! The players arrive this Sunday (July 29th). We will head down at the end of that week for autographs and pictures. Here is a picture of all of us at the night practice last year. (Thanks Dan for taking the picture.) It is a great time to see the Colts practice this close. You can hear them yell everything and complain about holding, etc. The two minute drill is awesome! Nicolas has most of the autographs of the players, but this year he really wants to get Peyton and Marvin to sign his Superbowl football. We have not been able to get those autographs in the last few years. We will keep trying. Although, Dallas Clark (#44) is one of our favorite players because he always makes time to sign autographs for the kids. Stay tuned for recent training camp pictures to come in the next couple of weeks.