Can’t imagine having to deal with these people all the time.
Autograph seeking can be a lot of fun for fans hoping to get a signature from their favorite celebrity, but it’s also big business for professionals looking to make a buck by reselling autographs to actual fans.
These people will show up to an autograph signing, an airport, a public appearance, pretty much anywhere with armloads of merch and photos to harass a celebrity and collect as many autographs as they can. It’s gotta be annoying.
And apparently Aaron Rodgers isn’t a fan of these autograph hounds – so he does his best to sniff them out.
The new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was signing autographs at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort during the American Century Championship celebrity tournament in Lake Tahoe on Thursday. But apparently he didn’t believe that one autograph seeker was an actual fan – so he began quizzing him on his NFL knowledge.
The guy was trying to get Rodgers to sign a ticket from a game between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints from 2005, when Rodgers was still the backup QB in Green Bay. The Packers won the game 52-3, and Rodgers was interested in whether this “fan” could remember anything about the game that he allegedly attended:
“You remember the score?
Who’d we play?
Did I play?
How many plays?
Who’d I throw it to?”
Rodgers wasn’t satisfied with the guy’s answers, especially after he couldn’t remember who the quarterback threw the ball to during his only pass of the game…which happened 20 years ago.
“You could look it up though. Then I would believe you, then I would sign your thing. But since I don’t believe you, I’m not gonna sign it.”
The guy continues to insist that he was at the game, even telling Rodgers that he could personalize that autograph (which would make it less valuable to a collector). But Rodgers still doesn’t believe him:
“You’re an autograph hound. Yeah you are. You can’t fool me.”
Rodgers may have been tipped off – or at least suspicious – about this guy because he brought his own blue marker for the autograph. Celebrities are often taught not to sign autographs in blue because they’re easier to photocopy than black signatures, which blend in with the rest of the black ink. (Although with the advances in technology this doesn’t really hold true today).
Whether this guy was an actual fan or not, I guess we’ll never know. But you’ve gotta think all of the ACTUAL autograph hounds in Pittsburgh who were hoping to get signatures from Rodgers to throw up on eBay this season aren’t happy seeing this video and realizing that he’s got his antennas up to look out for them.
As for the rest of the fans at the event, Rodgers seemed more than happy to sign their autographs and even pose to take pictures with them, so if you’re an actual Steelers fan you should be just fine. Just don’t turn around and put it on eBay.
