i always feel so awkward when i bump into sports figures like that.... usually i just think oh cool, there's so and so. and dont say anything because i wouldnt want to be bothered if i was in in their position.

I always prefer a good handshake over the autograph...and I'm sure they do too

for me at least. I'm in Denver's Dave and Busters, been drinking, and I'm walking by this wall with a bunch of autographed pictures. I see Mike Shanahan's picture, and yell out to my friend (who's about 30 feet away and a big Broncos fan) "hey, Mike Shanahan!" This really tan dude in front of me turns around, and it's Mike Shanahan. He walks back to me and shakes my hand, and I explain that I wasn't yelling at him. I can't think of anything else to say but "nice season" (they won the Superbowl the previous season). Weird.

I have one autograph, Adolph Herseth, former Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony.  He is the Babe Ruth of orchestral trumpeting, and I was a trumpet major at the time, met him after a concert at Ravinia.  Asking for the autograph was really just an icebreaker so I could chat with him for a while.  

... my old roommate used to work at a Gateway country store, and in walks David Robinson, who was still playing for the Spurs at the time.

He inquired about a new laptop that wasn't out on the market yet, then she asked him to autograph her boyfriend's basketball, which was in the trunk of her car. He politely obliged, asking if she was gonna watch the impending playoffs. She said "no, because my boyfriend says I jinx you so he makes me go in the other room."

Robinson shook his head and said "why are people in San Antonio so superstitious?" And she replied "it's because we are Mexican, we can't help ourselves."

Needless to say Robinson didn't know how to respond to that, so he said "I need to go" and left the store. He never came back to buy that laptop.

I ran into Leon Lett in the bathroom of the Yellow Rose in Austin, during the training camp between the first two Super Bowl years.  He looked like a giant 15 year old who was scared to death of everyone.

I saw Jimmy Johnson and his whole coaching staff having margaritas at a table at El Arroyo in Austin, back in 1992 or 1993.  Avezzano looked even crazier in person -- he reminded me of Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future -- and Jimmy was real, real red-faced.  I think he'd had a few.

I saw Lloyd Daniels just standing in the middle of Sixth Street, looking crazy, one year on New Year's Eve.  This is when he was with the Spurs.

My friend 'Dre talks about how he once spent an evening playing dominos with Kevin Smith, Kevin Williams, Jesse Armstead, and Marcus Buckley about 10 years ago in Dallas.  He said he told Kevin Smith that there was a white dude in Austin (me) who was the biggest Kevin Smith fan ever.  

I saw Shawn Colvin on the Town Lake hike & bike trail in Austin, where she was sitting and resting after having just run.  

My friends and I were once sitting at the Jazz on Sixth Street in Austin (which has since closed) having $2 pitchers of Miller Lite and $2 plates of chicken strips for happy hour, and Earl Campbell came up to the bar and sat next to us.  After a few minutes of, apparently, waiting for us to recognize him and talk to him, he started talking to us, about nothing.  We didn't have anything to say to him, though, so after a couple of minutes of being ignored (by pretty much everyone there), he then told the bartender he had a big meeting he had to go to that he just remembered, and left.  

all these rules people make.  I think the context of the autograph request determines whether or not it is ok to request it.  

I was in the Barnes and Noble in downtown FT Worth and bumped into Randy Johnson.  He had pitched the night before at the Ballpark and I had attended.  My wife and I were the only people in the place that seemed to recognize him.  Sense no one was around, I quietly walked over and asked if I could get a quick picture.  He declined.  I told him that's fine, I understood.  Without thinking, I patted him on the shoulder as I said "Nice game last night."  He looked at his shoulder and looked then looked at me like I was leper.

After my we waited an hour and a half for my son to run the bases after the last game of the season.  We ran into Mark Teixeira at a Walgreens near the Ballpark.  My son had just gotten a Teixeira rookie card in his kids meal at the Ballpark and we had a Sharpie.  We asked him if he minded signing it.  He seemed happy to.  

Then there are the times that the players scheduled to be somewhere signing and I don't see why there is anything wrong with getting an autograph then.

I am a baseball fan.  I am not looking to sale any of the autographs that I get.  I have never bought an autograph.  It is like taking a picture.  It is about capturing the moment and honoring the player.  There are a lot of guys that I would not ask for their autograph if I saw them.  There are times I wouldn't ask.  No autographs after puberty is just dumb.  I can understand not asking for autographs from players who are younger than you, but I think that is a personal choice.  This discussion reminds me of the "Who and who can't wear jerseys" and the "Don't take gloves to the game" discussions.  Maybe, someone should write a Fan Rule Book, so that we don't embarrass Adam and his mindless minions.