The young McIlroy get dissed for an autograph

[IrishGolfer]

In the news over here is an interesting stoey that Man Utd star and current Irish Football manager Roy Keane once dissed a young Rors when he came looking for an autograph from him as a kid. Rory says it stuck with him and he has never liked Keane since.

A few years ago my middle kid and were walking to the practice range at the Irish Open at 7am. On the other side of the rope was Rory and about 5 paces behind him was his security guard, no-one else about at that time of the morning. My kid asks Rory for an autograph. Guess what, he just completely blanked my son.

Hmmmmm!

 

[TEA Time]

I've been thinking about this lately.

When I was volunteering at the tournament and met Rob Oppenheim, he signed a golf ball for me, which I didn't even ask him to do. I was going to give it to my friend who is an Oppenheim fan, which he told me to keep since he already had one. I was like, whatever, I have lots of autographed shit.

Fast-forward to meeting Stephen and Owen King. We hung out for two hours, talked about family, dogs, "regular Joe" bullshitting, really. Although I did get a sneak-peek at an upcoming TV show he's working with someone on... the director emailed him the trailer. They were complaining (not really) about being hounded by - as Owen put it - "a giant gnat-ball of people" trying to get autographs and pictures. They sign ~400 books before each show and at the end the books are mixed in with however many other people are in attendance (in this case it was about 900 total) and 400 "lucky" people got an autographed copy. We could hear people screaming with joy when they opened their book to find it was an auto copy.

And I thought, "Man, I guess it's nice to have an autographed copy, but what are you going to do with it? Display it? Sell it? I mean, it's probably worth something to someone." But after hanging out with them backstage and seeing them as people and not some untouchable Gods, I thought that my experience was far greater than getting some randomly autographed book that had no connection to me. That's when I realized that autographs are weird things and, as an adult, seem really kinda dumb. I can fully understand kids getting them from their idols or even just regular hard-working tour pros or whatever, but in the end they're just dudes making a living. Having them write their name on something, especially if it's not personal, is just weird to me.

So I walked out of there, amidst hundreds of screaming fanatics, without a book or an autograph. And I couldn't have given a shit less.

 

[IrishGolfer]

I’m in the same boat regarding signatures, but it means the world to an 11 year old kid, right? Rory will justify by saying he was on his way to work, but given the circumstances I think it was a shitty thing to do, just flat out ignore him. And then to come out with a statement that one of his idols ignored him.

Pot / kettle stuff!

 

[TEA Time]

I’m in the same boat regarding signatures, but it means the world to an 11 year old kid, right? Rory will justify by saying he was on his way to work, but given the circumstances I think it was a shitty thing to do, just flat out ignore him. And then to come out with a statement that one of his idols ignored him.

Pot / kettle stuff!

Agree 100% Shitty thing to do to a kid.

 

[TheTrueReview]

I’m in the same boat regarding signatures, but it means the world to an 11 year old kid, right? Rory will justify by saying he was on his way to work, but given the circumstances I think it was a shitty thing to do, just flat out ignore him. And then to come out with a statement that one of his idols ignored him.

Pot / kettle stuff!

Agree IG. Given Rory’s bleating being topical at the moment, I’m sure the media would love to find out about what happened to your boy.

 

[azgreg]

I've received two autographs my whole life. One I asked for (Bob Fellers) and one I didn't (Andrew "Beef" Johnston).

 

[subsonic]

I don't do autographs much. Not really a big thing to me to have something signed by someone. I do have a couple Arnold Palmer Autographs. that is different since he is the King

 

[PaPaD]

I don't do autographs much.

Can I get yours anyway?

 

[subsonic]

Can I get yours anyway?

Sure. Anything to help out a geezer.

 

[TheTrueReview]

I've received two autographs my whole life. One I asked for (Bob Fellers) and one I didn't (Andrew "Beef" Johnston).

I don’t know of the first guy but the second one is kinda cool.

 

[azgreg]

I don’t know of the first guy but the second one is kinda cool.

Bob Fellers was a top notch pitcher for the Cleveland Indians way back in the day.

 

[limpalong]

Was Bob Feller, not Fellers. He was born in '18. Died in 2010. He and I were in first grade together!!! :>)

 

[limpalong]

If anyone wants my autograph, send me a dozen ProV1's. I'll do my best to remember where they came from, to sign them, and where to return them. Of course, at this age, my memory fails me sometimes.

 

[MCDavis]

I'll always remember my first autograph. I live 30 minutes from Pinehurst. Golf Hall of Fame used to be there, and there used to be a Hall of Fame Tournament played in Pinehurst. My dad and I went down to watch, and first place we went was the putting green. There was a young golfer practicing, daddy said I should ask him for his autograph. Didn't know who it was, but daddy said he was going to be a great golfer one day. I walked over and asked for his autograph. He stopped putting, signed my program, and spent about 5 minutes just chatting with us like we were old friends.

The young golfer: Ben Crenshaw. I have been a fan of his ever since. I no longer have the autograph, but the memory lives on vividly.

To me, that's what an autograph is really about.

 

[eclark53520]

After being at the US Open and seeing how people act in the gallery while trying to get an Autograph...I was sick of it and I only watched it from the side during a practice round for a day.

I'm not saying what he did was right or wrong, but I can't even imagine being someone that has to deal with that on a daily basis. The millions of dollars I was making would help...but still. That has to get under your skin.

I mean, I saw, with my own eyes, adults pushing other people's kids out of the way to get their kids up to the ropes and screaming at the golfers to get autographs. It was disgusting. Not that this situation was in any way relevant to your specific situation @IrishGolfer but I think after a while, they just get to the point where they can block the gallery out.