Today, I met The Man, Ric Flair! I know many of you are going “What a geek”, but ya know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ve been a big Flair fan since I was a teenager, so we’re talking for like 15 or more years!
A couple of weeks back, he released his autobiography, “To Be the Man”. I noticed from looking at some websites, that the book was getting good reviews (it’s actually #5 on the New York Times bestseller list), and I knew that I’d eventually buy the book. I mean, after all, I do have his DVD. Well, I found out that he’d be touring, doing book-signings for the release of his book, and I looked at the dates to see if there would be anything close by. And indeed, he was scheduled to sign books today at the Borders in Frederick, MD. Frederick is more than an hour away, but that’s OK. So, a friend and I headed up there this morning.
We got there a tad after noon, but he hadn’t arrived yet. He was scheduled to be there from noon until 2 pm. So, I go in the store, and the place was packed. I got my book and a “gold colored ticket”, which ensured that I’d get an autograph. But “gold” was the last color that would be guaranteed him signing the book. If we would have been 20 minutes later, we might have ended up S.O.L.
So, Ric shows up about 12:30, in true Flair fashion, by limosine. Since I knew it would be a little while before those with gold tickets could get in line, I hung out at the back of the bookstore for a little bit. When Ric entered the bookstore, the “fans” went nuts. You could hear tons of people screaming “Whoooo!” either in homage or in attempts to get him to Whoo back. It was a comical sight. Ric takes his seat at the table, and begins signing.
There were some rules. 1) No personalization — all you’d get is a signature, no “To Brian” or anything. 2) He’d only be signing his book or DVD, no memorabilia (I left my DVD at home, shucks!). And 3) No pictures. Dammit. I was hoping for a picture with him. I did sneak a camera pic, which can be seen on my moblog There was a guy who was taking pictures, though and will supposedly email pictures to everyone who left their email address. The line for the email list was longer than Flair’s line (they needed more information).
Well, after hanging out at the back, we decide to just go up to the signing area to check things out… and there was Ric, having a good ol’ time meeting people and signing their books. He would joke with the kids, and shake hands with all. Every now and then, someone would come over the PA system to announce the next color ticket holders to come in line. And as they announced “Everyone who is here to see wrestling legend Ric Flair”, a few rednecks would start to “Whoo!” to which Ric would follow along and show them how it’s really done.
There was this really hot girl standing a tad behind me, who got a phone call during the signing. Ric cracked many of us up by telling her “Tell him that you’re not coming home tonight!” He was implying that she was talking to her boyfriend or husband, and that he’d (Ric) be taking care of her tonight instead. We all had a good laugh at that.
Well, after nearly 2 hours, I got the chance to go up to have my book signed. Ric was very nice, greeted me, signed my book, and shook my hand. What a pro! I’ll post the pic of him signing my book when and if I get the pic emailed to me.
He was only “contracted” to sign 400 books (that’s also why they had the colored tickets, to keep count), but he stayed a little later to make sure that those who didn’t get there in time did get an autograph. That was awfully nice of him.
The pictures I took were all outside at the limo area/loading dock as Ric was headed out (the other guy in the picture is referee Tim White, who was alongside Ric the whole time — not necessarily a bodyguard, but the “bad guy” who could tell people that they couldn’t take pictures, or have other things signed, etc… in other words, Ric didn’t have to sound pompous by saying “I’m not going to sign that”). It’s funny, when they were going to get into the limo, as Tim White goes to open the door, it was locked. And worse yet, the driver was no where to be found. They stood out there for like 5 - 10 minutes waiting for the driver, and finally decided to go back inside to wait. I wonder if that driver’s going to be out of a job later?
Anyway, between the people watching (wrestling fans are either rednecks or old people or really, really fat… at least those were the bulk of the people at this signing), and actually getting to meet a legend, I had a great time.
Ric Flair is indeed THE MAN!
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