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williams
Posted by: JEFF HARRIS on September 6th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.DERON WILLIAMS STOPPED IN BEAVER AT MY PLACE OF WORK AND FRIDAY. WANTED TO GET A AUTOGRPH BUT HE HAD A LITTLE BIT OF A ATTITUDE. NOW ME AND MY FRIEND ARE BIG WILLIAMS FANS AND WE UNDERSTOOD THAT HE MIGHT OF HAD A BAD DAY TRYING TO GET ON VACATION SO WE RESPECTED HIS SPACE HE PROBABLY GETS IT ALL THE TIME, BUT THERE WAS A LITTLE KID ABOUT 10 THAT WAS STANDING RIGHT BE HIND HIM AND HE DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHY DERON WOULDNT SIGHN FOR HIM. NOW THAT WAS NOT RIGHT I HAVE MEET A NUMBER OF JAZZ PLAYERS AND MY WORK FROM MARK E. TO RONNIE PRICE AND THEY ALL HAVE BEEN GOOD ABOUT SIGNING. I HOPE DERON READS THIS OR HEARS ABOUT THIS BECAUSE THE FANS ARE THERE FOR HIM AND THAT LITTLE BOYDID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT WAS ONE HE SHOULD OF TAKEN TIME TO SIGHN.
SINCERLY. STILL A JAZZ FAN
Replies: 28
Views: 966
28 Responses
If the kid really didn’t understand why Deron didn’t sign the shirt, I sure hope you took the time to explain it to him. If not, you’re at fault, not Williams.
Professional athletes could probably spend 16 hours of the day signing autographs for people. Give them a break if they miss one or two during the day.
I agree with you adam.
Could you please refrain from using all caps, it hurts my eyes and it sounds like your yelling.
I am jealous you saw Dwill though.
I agree. The guy has some time off with his family and he was probably in traffic. Plus Deron probably didnt see him… A 6′4 210 pound guy probably isnt going to see a 4′0 60 pound kid. Shoot maybe Deron just really had to pee… why else would he stop in Beaver?
I’m mixed on this one. While I do agree that “celebrities” deserve their privacy, I don’t see anything wrong asking for autographs if your polite,especially if its for a kid.
If D-Will was really THAT busy he could have responded nicely that he didn’t have time.
Any Jazz player I have met (Price, Millsap, Mike Brown, Karl Malone, Mark Eaton, Thurl Baily, AK) have all been real nice.
I valet D-will’s car all the time and hes never a jolly guy. I still love him tho.
Why are you yelling? It’s annoying to read it when in all caps and your extra spaces.
I bet it gets annoying having fans ask for your autograph everywhere you go. I know I would get annoyed by it. He could’ve been in a hurry or just wanted to go home to his family. Who cares. He plays basketball, there is no clause in his contract that he must sign everyones autograph everywhere he goes…
Williams is awesome but you have to look from his point of view.
hes probably mad at the person who said that he is the next player to ask for a trade, trying to follow chris paul and carmelo.
Well, I saw him at a restaurant and he signed just one autograph for some 30yr old guy, and right after that a little girl came up to him for an autograph, but he didn’t give her one.
I thought that was messed up, to sign just one autograph and leave everyone else hanging. Of course, its different since we didn’t know his situation so I am not going to say that I hate him cause I only “know” him from his playing.
HE HAD TO PEE! I’M TELLIN YA!
Hes one of the if not THEE most famous people in Utah currently. Hes becoming one of the bigger names in the league.(becoming because i still think hes not getting the respect he deserves). I’m sure he could sit down and sign autographs 24 hours a day all day everyday and always have people lining up for one. Its not like hes Earl Boykins and has a few people here and there that might recognize him. Hes an Allstar and top PG in the league.
Besides, for all we know he just got done signing 50 autographs outside before he entered your place of work. Maybe he was having hand cramps and didnt want to injure his hand or wrist before the season. Way to look out for the rest of us Jazz fans Dwill!
Ive got mixed feeling on this one as well, He doesnt have to sign autographs and he might get annoyed with the fact that people constantly ask him. Personally I think if you get payed 8 figures a year to play a game then the cross you bear so to speak is constantly being in the public spotlight and having to sign autographs. Sometimes I think athletes and celebrities forget their place and don’t realize that its the fans that provide their bread.
I for one do not feel the need to make excuses for them if they cant take the time to address the public then they deserve every ounce of criticism they receive. These athletes and celebrities who complain about the constant attention they receive often forget they are paid millions to be in the public spotlight, if you don’t like it become an accountant and no one will bother you.
Here’s a little scenario for you… Imagine you work for, oh I don’t know, some kind of customer service company. You’re out on the road/vacation WITH your family that rarely gets to see you from October to May and if you’re lucky June. You walk into a public place and obviously they’re not going to remember your face, but for SOME reason you have the uniform still on. Here’s comes the 25th person to interrupt you asking basically the SAME question. You answer, and here comes the 26th person, and then the 27th and then the 28th and then the 29th and then the 30th and then the 31st. All of the sudden you have a line out the door and wow is it really already 5:02 when I walked in at 4:34? Oh yeah, forgot the family was outside in the heat… whoops. Give the guy some slack, he is human like the rest of us and if he was on vacation, then that’s exactly what he SHOULD be doing. He’s about to give you months and months of time and effort. Like everyone else has said, look at it from his perspective.
Basketball players are just people and so have different personalities. I assume their contracts require them to do so many appearances a year and sign autographs. Having had the opportunity to attend the last two Leapin Learner Charity events, from what I saw Deron was not overjoyed by sitting and signing autograohs for 100’s of people. His lines were the longest and he was there signing for as long as he was suppossed to be. But as I watched I don’t think he smiled very often. On the other hand Boozer was all smiles, very friendly and talkative and seemed sincere (something I assume he had a great deal of practice at). That is not to say one is a better or kinder person than the other, they just have very different personalties. I agree that if he stops and signs a couple of autographs he may be there for an hour. ANother problem with autograph collecting is that some people do it for a living, I am not saying this young boy was doing that, probably not, but there are currently over 125 items on EBAY that are autogrpahed by Deron. That would bother me a little as a player. Deron devotes many hours of his own time to charities, so maybe he deserves a little time just to be by himself.
I’m sorry, but I’m with Kelton on this one! I got your back man!
Id have to say once your paycheck is based on fans specially kids your kinda obligated. If you have to take a !@#$% than tell the kid and come out and give him a signature. Ill probably get bashed but I can see the cocky factor in D Will. It has facilitated in his game in the past. If he gets angry he comes back offensively and looses his composure trying to do to much. Bad days do happen and maybe that incident was just one of those days and it got blown out of proportion. Im sure the public relations guys are on his ass about it so why are we even creating blogs and posting trivial things as such. I know its a long summer but man the last two weeks have been random trivial post after another.
I think what a lot of you here are forgetting is that Stockton HATED signing autographs as well. I had a friend to actually had to take his hand and start writing for him because Stock was so paranoid about more people coming. My friend said he kept asking “are you SURE there isn’t anyone else with you?” While Deron might have an attitude or doesn’t really like signing autographs, it’s not like that’s what he is paid for. Deron is paid to play basketball and do some community service. So he didn’t sign a kids shirt, big deal. We don’t pay to see him be happy go lucky and sign everything. We pay him to tear it up on the court and that’s exactly what he does.
Yeah when I was younger, I saw Stockton at Hoop It Up in Salt Lake and asked him for an autograph but he just waved and kept walking. And I was pretty heartbroken, but now looking back, I don’t think it should be expected. I mean they play ball. I don’t think that should REQUIRE them to sign autographs. Celebs are just people who do their job, they just happen to be in the spotlight. I’m sure D-Wills dream as a kid was to play in the NBA, so he did what it took to make it. If his whole life he wanted to be a lawyer and ended up becoming a great one, you wouldn’t expect him to sign a paper for every litle kid who wanted to become a lawyer.
But, I do think it’s a bummer for the little kid who wanted an autograph.
Kids are overrated. Why wouldn’t a 40 year old man get the same sympathy for not getting an autograph. He’s the one spending the money not the kid. Dwill shouldn’t have to sign anything or feel obligated to. A fan is a fan, you lose one you’ll pick up another. To Dwill: make a policy of no autographs unless its at an official Jazz event. That way no one gets hurt. So when someone asks for an autograph you can say, “sorry its out of policy, I could get in trouble, see you at the next event and bring a pen…I’m out peace…” I like Dwill attitude and cockiness, it took him this far. Keep it up.
I don’t know about this, if it wasn’t for us they wouldn’t be living the priviledged lives that they do. When I was a kid I asked Stock for an Autograph once before a game and he was really nice about it but I had a friend tell me he approached him at restuarant with his wife and kids and John simply lost it on him. Mark Eaton took the time to sign about 10 cards, hats, and shirts. I met Karl at Hardee’s one day but he wouldn’t sign unless my Mom paid him or bought merchandise, which we didn’t have the money for, I remember being crushed as a little boy who pretended to be the Mailman in my drive way every night. Player should be more sensitive ESPECIALLY when it comes to kids, they regard them as honest to God heros. Besides it would only take about 10 minutes to sign an autograph for everyone in Beaver. It really wouldn’t bother me if a player told me “Not now man, I’m with my family, or Im in a hurry” but a kid? No way, stop and sign for the kid.
Have to agree that it is a different matter when it is a kid. If others came up after that he could say “I only have a minute for the kids”. DWill seems to have a bit of an attitude that he is much better than others. We all have a right to feel like we want and it doesn’t change how I feel about him as a basketball player or how I feel about the Jazz but it re-enforces the fact that I feel his success has gone to his head. What a crushing experience for a little kid!
Beyond re-pointing out the the fact that this post was an extremely annoying run-on sentence screamed at the top of Mr. Jeff Harris’ lungs, I would like to give my take.
If I were an NBA superstar like Our D-Will, I would take this approach to signing autographs: You have to earn it. You come to my game, you wear my jersey, you hang around until after a post game interview and then hang over the railing with a marker and whatever you want signed, then YES, you earned it kid, here you go. If I go into a gas station and you happen to be in there too and recognize me? I’ll say hi and thanks for being a fan, but my autograph? NOPE, you gotta earn it, kid.
Who’s to say why Deron didn’t want to sign. Maybe it lost him a 10-year old fan. But if I were him, I wouldn’t have signed because the boy didn’t earn it.
Well said KC. If I were a superstar athlete, signing autographs would get very old, very fast. I signed up to play basketball and win titles, not sign autographs for everyone in the state. Special autograph signing day? Sure. Walking in to a random store/restaurant/gas station? No.
D-will has had an attitude for quite some time now.
he has gotten really,really cocky since being crowned “best point guard in the league”
He used to be a really nice guy but now he’s just a jerk.
EVERY cent he has in his bank account comes from us. If a 10 year old kid asks for an autograph you smile, say yes and be damn grateful to do it.
I’m so sick of pro-athletes acting like they live such hard lives and that they are giving us SUCH an amazing service. They play freaking sports for more money than any profession in the world. They don’t make a positive difference in anybodies lives except entertainment.
Just once I want an all-star like D-will to say “oh wow, I make 20 million dollars a year and my every wish is catered to on the dime of my fans, I should give them more respect”
I’m sorry but he doesn’t do that. Everytime I ahve met him he has a serious attitude like he is better than everyone. That’s why I won’t be surprised when he leaves for dallas
KCJones I’m sorry but that is the dumbest thing I have ever read. Read my previous post.
If anything they OWE US the autographs.
You really think an athlete should sign autographs for all the kids in every gas station or restaurant or place they happen to go into? THAT is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Show the athlete you’re an actual fan and made some effort to get his autograph. How is that ridiculous? An autograph should be something special and thus reserved for the true fans who make an effort to get it and earn it, not handed out willy-nilly to every kid they happen across in their day-to-day life.
Hey maybe you can convince Greg Miller that since the players ‘owe us’ autographs, we should get one at every game. Oh why stop at 20,000 every game? Send them out via mail to all 2.5 million Utahns. We’re OWED IT! Now THAT is one of the stupider things I’ve heard.
Could he have been friendlier? It appears so. Would I respect him more if the story were about how he took the time to sign? Yes. But do I think he’s obligated to sign an autograph for someone who happened to be in a gas station he went into in Beaver? No.
I stop in Beaver whenever I’m enroute to Vegas, St. George, and Zions Natl Park – to use their bathroom, not talk to people.
I loose respect for players that act like that. he might just be having a bad day but if you can’t take two minutes and sign a kids shirt your just a jerk plain and, simple I remember when i was a kid. I played basketball down in orem against John Stocktons kids all the time and, John coached the team never, once did he get up with his boys and shack are hands or even sign one autograph for any of us. If a person can’t take 30 seconds or a minute to makes a kids day he better rethink his profession because that’s half of bein a basketball player is inacting with your fans especially the little ones
I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. Someone explain this to me. WHAT is the big deal about having a person write their name for you? Just think about how stupid that is! If I were to see Deron or any athlete or famous person that I respect, the last thing I would do is ask for a stupid autograph. It’s stupid and a waste of time. People like Deron can’t and don’t want to waste time signing autographs. If I were to see Deron somewhere I would definitely want to say something to him, even it’s something as simple as “Hey”, but the last thing I want to do is waste one of my favorite players time asking for a stupid autograph. Come on people