I thank the Jazz, Sonics, and 76ers for their support. They are the base that is convincing me to go forth with my tour. Still struggling to get in touch with the Warriors and Blazers.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Teams stepping up
As I mentioned last week, the Sacramento Kings were the first to show they appreciate a fan, and since then several of the other teams have offered support. I received an email from the VP of Guest Relations from the Seattle Supersonics. I received an email from a member of the Utah Jazz offering tickets, an arena tour and pictures with the mascot. On Friday, I got a call from the Philadelphia 76ers. They are offering tickets, pics with the mascot and dance team, and are going to do a spot on their website. Philadelphia will clearly be the toughest decision of who to take as it is my hometown and 90 % of my friends reside there.
I thank the Jazz, Sonics, and 76ers for their support. They are the base that is convincing me to go forth with my tour. Still struggling to get in touch with the Warriors and Blazers.
I thank the Jazz, Sonics, and 76ers for their support. They are the base that is convincing me to go forth with my tour. Still struggling to get in touch with the Warriors and Blazers.
Monday, October 8, 2007
In the mail...
So as many of you know, my largest expense on this challenge is airfare. Being that I have little vacation time and am doing this primarily on weekends, I will rely mostly on flying to various cities around the country. I believe I'll need a MINIMUM of 9 roundtrip flights to make it to all 30 arenas.
I started writing to airlines. Most ignored me. Others made me laugh by telling me to sign up for their frequent flyer program as their support. Ultimately I came realize that Southwest would be the only possibility as they are the official airline of the NBA. If the NBA would support me in any way, I would have to use Southwest. I typed up several letters and sent them to every Southwest mailing address I could find. On Tuesday, there was an envelope from Southwest in my mailbox. I was ridiculously excited. I knew this was going to be the break I needed to make this tour happened. I opened the letter and read:
You may or may not be able to read the image above. It can all be summed up in a single line: "While we sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm, we must regretfully decline (to help you in any way). " As you can guess, this was a very defeating blow to the tour. No airline support will increase the cost likely anywhere from $5,000 - $10,000. Selling a Damian Miller bobblehead on eBay won't get me anywhere near that number. This is where it gets scary, and I ask myself how I'm going to come up with the money to do this....
Well, I won't end this post on a sour note...so yes, I received another piece of mail this week. This particular item stems from the fact that I'm constantly going to be on the go over the next 6 months, and I've got to eat. I plan on stopping at as many different fast food restaurants along the way too, so I tried writing to some of them.
I received the above letter from White Castle and the envelope was filled with coupons for free burgers and chicken sandwiches. Wonderful! Thank you White Castle for supporting the tour!
I started writing to airlines. Most ignored me. Others made me laugh by telling me to sign up for their frequent flyer program as their support. Ultimately I came realize that Southwest would be the only possibility as they are the official airline of the NBA. If the NBA would support me in any way, I would have to use Southwest. I typed up several letters and sent them to every Southwest mailing address I could find. On Tuesday, there was an envelope from Southwest in my mailbox. I was ridiculously excited. I knew this was going to be the break I needed to make this tour happened. I opened the letter and read:
You may or may not be able to read the image above. It can all be summed up in a single line: "While we sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm, we must regretfully decline (to help you in any way). " As you can guess, this was a very defeating blow to the tour. No airline support will increase the cost likely anywhere from $5,000 - $10,000. Selling a Damian Miller bobblehead on eBay won't get me anywhere near that number. This is where it gets scary, and I ask myself how I'm going to come up with the money to do this....
Well, I won't end this post on a sour note...so yes, I received another piece of mail this week. This particular item stems from the fact that I'm constantly going to be on the go over the next 6 months, and I've got to eat. I plan on stopping at as many different fast food restaurants along the way too, so I tried writing to some of them.
I received the above letter from White Castle and the envelope was filled with coupons for free burgers and chicken sandwiches. Wonderful! Thank you White Castle for supporting the tour!
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