I have my own little story about Tony G.Let me preface by saying that anyone who has seen my gameroom knows how much of an NFL and Chiefs addict I am.I have many collectibles and yes some of them I have had autographed when the opportunity has presented itself and no,not once have I ever thought about trying to sell anything.

Anyhow,I'm at the HOF induction a few years ago(when Coach Stram and Marcus Allen were inducted) and I happened to be out in the stadium concourse when Tony came out of a door.There was no one else around and all I had was a Chiefs cap but I thought what the hell I'll approach him nicely and see what happens,I mean after all it was a special weekend for KC fans and my thinking was that an autograph from a future KC HOF'er would be awesome in the gameroom and the memory of when I got it.

I approached Tony and simply said something like,"Hi Tony,could I get an autograph for my cap?"Tony continued to walk away from me not saying a word acting as if I did not exist.I kept pace with him and asked again and still the same reaction,nothing.Finally,I basically said,"man you've got to be kidding me,if you only knew how much I spent on this team supporting you guys,maybe you'd see things differently." I rambled a bit more about not wanting to sell the cap etc etc and Tony stops dead in his tracks,turns around,takes my cap and sharpie,signs the cap,hands it back and turns and walks off not saying one word between us.

I still have the cap hanging in the gameroom to this day but whenever I look at it I'm not reminded of a pleasant experience.I do appreciate these guys have lives too but I also believe if it were not for we the fans their lives wouldn't be near as great.

I'm also reminded of seeing Lamar Hunt at a Red Friday at Arrowhead on the other side of a large wire fence and I called out to him and he turned and walked towards the mrs and I and came right up to the fence.We had some small talk and I asked if he'd be kind enough to sign a commemorative t-shirt I had and he was more than happy to do so and then thanked us for attending the event.Why do I share this part,because at least in my eyes the level of importance of the two aforementioned men isn't even close and the one man of the two who could've kept walking and I would've totally understood was the man who turned and made the effort to approach us and then thanked us for being fans.

Character. That is what Lamar had and Tony lacks (allegedly).

Great story BTW.

You are one persistent m'fer.

Greedy Gonzales is a a pos.

Being a n00b but a long time lurker, I know you're a pretty cool dude, and a great Chiefs fan. Having said that, this is the kind of behavior I absolutely hate, and why I'd never sign anything if I were in his place.

No

Pathetic. You are a grown man. Act like one.

I may have been a little hard on Tony in my first post in this thread. He has always just struck me as a great player with kind of a dick vibe. I am sure he is real cool in those charity situations and all. When there are not tons of fans around, and people have obviously purchased Chiefs stuff, just sign and say thanks for being a fan. If there are bunches of people lined up, then the guys do have to draw the line somewhere. I think most fans see and respect that.

Look just because an autograph means nothing to you doesn't mean that it is the same way for every other person. Look I fully understand a guy getting upset if you bother him when he's eating or on a date or something like that, that's disrespectful.

But asking for a signing at the HOF or at camp when he's by himself isn't a big deal, you're asking for roughly 5 seconds of his day.

Some players are not nice people, it's just like life, some people are nice some aren't. Sometimes the great player for your team that you love on the field is someone that if you knew him in real life you wouldn't like him. It's funny though the guys who have bad reps are sometimes some of the nicer people where guys who have good ones sometimes aren't...

I met Tony once, and I've met Terrell Owens once, Owens was infinitely nicer than Gonzalez was, you'd never know that with their "reps"

When he tried to hand it back to you, you should have just turned around and walked away.

BTW, I've never asked him for an autograph. I did get a picture taken with him once at a charity function thanking us volunteers but since then I've not asked to take another picture or sign something for a charity auction.

I've got some pics taken with players at Red Friday functions but thats all I ever do anymore. I'd rather talk to the guy, shake his hand that have him sign something.

Why? It doesn’t sound like Mr. Nzoner was being rude, and having known the guy for a few years I don’t doubt his friendliness. Why is it such a problem to expend no more energy or time than to sign your name? Seems like a pretty simple yet effective way of saying thanks for making me a millionaire. :shrug:

If you look at it from TGs perspective, that 5 seconds happens to him all day, everyday. From a fans perspective, it's only 5 seconds out of THEIR life.

While I don't approve of what he did if there was anyone who deserved a little sumpthin' it's Joe. It just goes to show that you shouldn't put these players up on a pedestal when they could give a rat's ass about you. Being a hardcore fan just means getting shit on for the most part.

True, but in Mr. Nzoner’s story Tony wasn’t being accosted by a group of fans, they were alone and he asked nicely. I wouldn’t think it would be that difficult to be nice in return but this also isn’t the first story like this I’ve heard, read, about Tony.