So yesterday, myself and L-Ram headed out to Huntington Beach for the Upper Deck store's signing featuring Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Orlando Hudson. The line was pretty long, the players were about 30 minutes late, and it's safe to say that had we arrived a little later, we, a.) wouldn't have even seen Andre Ethier, and b.) wouldn't have been able to take pictures with Kemp. Orlando was a no-show but we were informed that he'd been rescheduled for another signing but the name of the place escapes me at the moment.

I say we wouldn't have seen Andre because while we were waiting outside, we were told that Andre was on a tight schedule so they needed to speed things up. Those who were holding a ticket for Ethier only were lined up in a separate line to move them right along. The rest of us weren't so lucky and had to continue waiting.

The nervousness was apparent among those who frequent the blogosphere when some concern arose about whether or not Andre was going to allow pictures with the fans. Those who had no idea that Andre pulled that stunt in the past were quick to say "I paid a lot of money so I'm getting a picture!". From what I saw, and heard, however, there were no problems on that front, and Ethier looked very happy to partake in any photo requests fans may have had.

Once inside, Kemp was extremely friendly and talkative with everyone. He even pointed out my gf's glittery Dodger hat by saying "Aww she put glitter on it". I moved right along in my usual "soup nazi" fashion while L-Ram took the opportunity to ask if he (Kemp) was upset that Trevor Ariza had moved away to which Kemp responed "I'll be alright man". Immediately after our signing, the Upper Deck folks announced "no more pictures please", we got ours so we avoided some angry girlfriends on the drive home. As we walked over to the certification table, Andre gathered his things, and made for the exit after some employees made sure that nobody inside the store still had a ticket for Ethier.

As we left, there were still people outside, but I'm sure the Upper Deck people made sure that everyone got the Ethier autograph they paid for.

Everything went well, and we avoided a possible disaster after some douchebag decided to slam on the brakes in the far left lane of the 5 freeway. We heard a car about 2 cars behind us get slammed into. Luckily for me the driver behind me was more aware and stopped well short of hitting me.

Some pics from the signing complete with Matt's iPod Touch on the table which he plugged into one ear after signing our stuff. I didn't get a chance to see what he was listening to.