Tag Archives: 2x rose bowl mvp

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince ‘VY’ (5)

Playoff Prestige 2010, #195
SP 2008, #34
Absolute Memorabilia 2010, #97
Playoff Contenders 2008, #95

CARDS: Absolute Memorabilia 2010, Playoff Contenders 2008, SP 2008, Playoff Prestige 2010
ACQUIRED: In Person, 2023

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

An end of year surprise for 2023, my friend Mark G sent me a link to a signing that VY was doing at a Crunch Fitness in South Austin. I was really hesitant to go after my last experience a few years ago at Kickin’ It with Jeff, but in the end I am glad that I went. It was a far cry from that event from a few years ago.

I met up with Mark and I just basically word vomited on him about football for a while. He brought his kids who were SHILs but grabbed a few of their own. The line was long but moved quickly. VY showed up on time and was in a great mood. He signed everything that we had on us, despite the strict rule that he could only sign 2. In the end I got 7 things signed, with the help of Mark.

This made me super happy. I really like Vince. He’s a local football hero, and Htown hero, but to be frank despite his athletic trappings- it doesn’t mean things are come easy or mental health is simple. He’s struggled a lot and I feel that he does deserve the best in life like anyone and everyone else. He looked great too! VY grew in this sweet beard that’s gently whitening out.

We talked for a minute about how he always made the Texans pay for not drafting him and that his OT heroics still live rent free in my head. -And how when he ran, it always looked like he was moving in slow motion- but everyone was moving so much slower.

I loved his Htown Oiler hat, but I thought it’d be in bad taste to ask him where he stood on if the franchise stats, color, and color should be returned to Htown or not. He told me that he really liked my AAF jacket. We chuckled about how it was classic now, since it was from the fire festival of football.

I’m always looking to help out friends, or surprise them, so I dropped three of them in the mail to Joe, Rick, and Jake. Overall it was a great way to close out the year.

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince VY (4)

Card: Panini Contenders 2018, Score 2010, Panini Contenders 2010*, Donruss Classics 2009-2010*
Acquired: In Person, 2018 Heisman House, 2018 Kicking it ATX
See Also: Vince Young, Vince Young (2), Vince Young (3)

Paired with Ricky Williams the day the Heisman House tour came to Austin was none other than UT’s very own Vince Young. It seemed like a no brainer to go to the event. While it’d seem odd that VY would be a guest at the event- it completely made sense for a variety of reasons. UT was playing USC, and while the rivalry from that great 2006 game has dimmed slightly, the comradely between the two storied schools has grown. Vince recently was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, 10+ years after he became the only two time MVP of that game, (little less with one of them for a National Championship against USC). The final reason is because VY wanted to win the Heisman in 2006, but it was given to Reggie Bush instead. When Bush had to vacate the honor, the presenters tried to give it to Vince Young- but he declined the secondhand award. 

As usual Vince strolled in 20-30 minutes late, much to the chagrin of those standing in line for autographs. He was accompanied by none other than USC runningback LenDale White. I had no clue but apparently VY and White were very good friends. They had become close after their years on the Titans together. Vince did a short interview about his time playing at Texas and answered a few questions. He then donned a pair of shades and signed autographs for the fans in line. I didn’t really want to push it so I was quite happy to have him pen this Panini Contenders 2018 card. We talked for a second and exchanged pleasantries. He told me, “To be blessed!”, and I told him, “Hey, you know you have a choice. You can get up in the morning and be happy if you want or mad. I choose to be happy.” He then responded, “You know it.” This was probably my second best experience meeting VY. It’d be in stark contrast to his appearance at Kicking It ATX. 

I had high hopes for the Kicking It ATX event at the Domain. I had really bad luck the last few in person events, as very little had been scheduled and the cancellations kept rolling in. I got probably 9 or so cards of Vince ready to go and with him proclaiming on Twitter that there would be special guests, I got pumped that maybe there’d be a few other guest stars.

It was a total letdown. Outside of Vince, Aaron Ross and his wife just had a baby and had to make a last second cancellation. They basically walked in the door- and back out. Vince was pretty nice to fans, but when I asked him if he was going to watch the new football leagues (XFL, AAF), he told me essentially no, but with an f-bomb attached to it. He signed these three cards, for me, but I just felt like he wasn’t happy at all that I was there as he gave me and my friend the stink face while signing our stuff.

I know that I am an older fan and collector. Most players just don’t see that anymore. They see people like me as a threat to their brand or another white guy EBay-ing their autograph. I just left that event feeling introspectively defensive about my involvement in the ‘The Hobby’, and it maybe the end of the road for me getting VY’s autograph.  

I decided in the end to give away two of the cards I got from the event. Bryan is a good guy who just seems to have bad luck. He’s almost like John Candy from ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’, and like John’s character, he has a giant heart for ‘The Hobby’. There’s nobody more deserving of one of these than him- so I gave him the Playoff Contenders 2010. The other card- the Donruss Classics 09/10, had been in my collection for a while. Eric and I have been chatting it up back and forth for sometime and he’s helping me on a super secret signing or two, so I felt it’d be nice to drop him the other one out of the blue as well.

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince VY (3)

do09 vyoung AH
utud11 vyouing icCards: UT UD 2011 NCAA, UT UD 2011 Icons, Donruss Threads 2009, TNT College, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2007, Playoff Contenders 2007.
Acquired: IP 10/25/2015, Tiff’s Treats Soft Opening. IP 11/6/2015 MVP Vodka Spec’s Bottle Signing and Tasting, IP 4/30/2016 Tiff’s Treats Soft Opening Cedar Park
See Also: Vince Young, VY (2)

doth08 vyoungVY was in relatively good spirits for the first event- a grand opening for Tiff’s Treats in the east part of town. While the weather had been pretty bad all weekend, the worst of it had passed allowing me to go into town for the event. I thought that by getting there roughly 30 minutes early I’d be good for a few autographs as the rain would keep away some of the fans, but I was completely wrong.

utud11 vyoung ncaaThere  was roughly 200 people
there I’d say for the soft opening of the store so I just got into line and prepared for one autograph. To hedge my bets I traded a card to a kid behind me in exchange for his father getting an autograph on a card for me- so I’d at least walk away with two.  On top of it, only one of the cards I had gotten off of EBay showed up before the event. Nothing really worked out the way I expected for this event, but in the end, it really did.  The rain wasn’t all that bad, and VY was in such good spirits he offered to sign 1,2,5 cards if I wanted to, so I was able to get two, plus the one that I had gotten as insurance through the trade earlier. Initially I didn’t really like the Donruss Threads card I got through EBay, but it grew on me a lot, especially with the football cut in there. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have paid this card any mind.

A few days later- Nathan got
word of  MVP Vodka, who was slowly making the rounds about Texas having bottle signings. This would finally allow me to get the really nice Absolute Memorabilia card signed I picked up through EBay. The signing went well enough. As usual Vince showed up a bit late, but there was almost zero people waiting, despite the radio advertisement. He was nice enough to sign the Absolute card and the Top Notch custom I did of him. I asked him if he’d forgive my awkwardness from the poster debacle at the Sam’s Club event, but he told me that he didn’t remember it. I guess that’s good. Ah well,  I mean at least he signed another piece of my art- no matter how underwhelming the response was.

I had been holding out hope of getting VY again on a few cards in 2016. In fact I had volunteered to pick up a few autographs for
Deadhorse.  It took about 5 months for Young to pop up for another Tiff’s Treats grand opening. As usual Vince was fashionably late to the event.  The problem was it was a group event with Kasey Studdard, Justin Blaylock, and Quan Cosby. Thankfully with a bit of fast thinking, the promoters had fans line up behind VY’s chair so that when he did show up, everybody got a chance to get his autograph, and he was happy to sign multiples.  He had his son there with him, and after he signed each card, his son would inspect them to make sure that they were up to snuff. It was very cute. I told VY about how painful it was to watch him on the Titans, especially when he played the Texans, because he always made us pay.  I was surprised that he responded by telling me that he hated it too.

Vince played it low key for the past few years here in Austin, but in early 2017 made waves as he agreed to a free agent contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. Saying the desire and want is still there, Young seemed primed to make an unlikely comeback.