An Exciting Night at the Walter Camp Fan Fest

Last Friday night, at 5:15, three of my buddies and I arrived at the Walter Camp Fan Fest in New Haven, CT. We were excited to meet and greet some of the best athletes in college football. There really wasn't too much publicity for this event, so we were unsure as to who would be attending. But I must say, we were pleasantly surprised.

A major reason why my friends had accompanied me was because of the admission price, a mere $10. As we walked inside, we saw a bunch of people lined up at four separate tables with a panel of players at each.

All of the athletes wore baby blue jump suits and had nametags at the tables where they were sitting. Now, my friends and I are pretty big sports fans, but it was really hard to tell who some of the players were if we didn't see their nametags.

So we proceeded to get in line at the table where WR Michael Crabtree was signing autographs. We knew it was him because of the long line and red jump suit he was wearing. As we moved up in the line, I decided to buy a Walter Camp t-shirt for another miniscule $10. Now I had something for all of the players to sign.

As we got closer and closer to the table, players began to leave and switch spots with other players. When we got to the front of the line, Crabtree was gone, but somebody even bigger came out and took his place, Colt McCoy. Yes, Texas Longhorn QB and Heisman hopeful Colt McCoy.

I was so excited to see him in person, let alone shake his hand and get his autograph. Along with the t-shirt, I had the latest issue of Sporting News with me, and inside there just happened to be a picture of Colt McCoy. I knew I had to have him sign this instead of the t-shirt.  

When I walked up and gave him my magazine to sign, he saw that it ranked Texas No. 3 in preseason polls for next year. He flipped to the front cover and probably realized that this was an article he hadn't seen yet.

He might have thought to himself, "Why are we ranked third? And why would this kid want me to sign something saying that we're ranked third?" That's what I nervously thought to myself. Anyways, I guess we'll never know what he was thinking.

After he signed my magazine I moved onto the next player, who happened to be Rey Maualuga, linebacker for USC. He signed my t-shirt as did about 12 other Walter Camp All-Americans, such as Jerry Hughes, Rylan Reed, and Aaron Maybin. This night turned out so much better than I had expected.

On our way out, I had my friend snap a photo of me standing next to the Heisman Trophy. Attending the Walter Camp Fan Fest was such an awesome experience for me.

I will definitely be returning in the future and maybe one day even attend the formal black-tie dinner. I was surprised at how friendly the big stars like McCoy and Maualuga were.

They must not have seen the Tim Tebow jersey I was wearing under my jacket.