My husband has been a Dolphins fan since forever. Next year it’s his fortieth birthday and I would love to have Dan Marino (his hero – my husband cried in fourth grade – I think – and then when they were retiring Marino’s number) write a letter to him. I have gone to the web sites and everything is pretty much a solicitation for facsimile autographs and not to him anyway. My husband’s birthday is not until Sept. and I am willing to send a letter a week (non stalking tone), if necessary. It would make his life.
Sometimes, the answer is “No, you cannot get what you want.”
There is no active Dan Marino fan club.
Your best shot would be if you were a sick/dying child and could get the attention of the Miami Dolphin’s Public Relations Office, who is surely still in touch with an icon such as Dan.
Personally, I’d think it tacky to even bother him if you could, and if you did, action would be unlikely, since you are not a hardship case.
Well, let’s just get things straight. I understand I can’t always get what I want, but I would like to try to get what I can’t get for my husband.
I am not going to masquerade as a hardship case and know you weren’t suggesting I do so.
Umm…I have a problem with the tacky thing. My husband has been a life-long fan and I fail to see how it’s “tacky” to bother someone that made his way, so to speak, with a great arm and the support of his fans. Quite frankly, it’s a bother to go to the games when it’s pouring but we always did.
I think your best option would be to buy him a autographed football or card or something. You can find marino stuff fairly cheap. Try Ebay or a google search under sports autographs. I actually got Marinos autograph when I was 15 at an airport. It was only his intials, which makes me think he might not be to keen on keeping his fanbase happy.
Ok, your hubby is 39 now. I have a first grader, and she’s 6, so I calculate that most people are 9 or so in the fourth grade. So, your hubby should have been in fourth grade sometime around 1972.
I don’t know when they retired Marino’s jersey, but I have distinct memories of him wearing it in a football game. I was born in 1971.
A quick web search reveals that "Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. was born on September 15, 1961, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Daniel and Veronica Marino. "
So Dan was 11 when your hubby was in fourth grade.
Why was he crying? Did Dan take his lunch money or something?
Metalhead, I think she’s just suggesting that her husband once cried in fourth grade. His second occurance of crying was when they retired Marino’s number.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with writing Mr. Marino a nice letter and asking him to write to your husband. You could even send a few letters over the course of the next year. I would not suggest sending one every week. That changes your request from one of a sweet wife to one of a crazy stalker.
DO NOT buy anything autographed from eBay. For that matter, don’t buy him ANYTHING autographed. I know this is without cite, but I’ve seen and read several reports about how 90% of the signatures in the sports memoribilia market are forgeries. You best bet if you want something autographed would be for you to write to him or his agent, or keep your eyes peeled for autograph sessions in the sports section of your local paper.
Seriously though - I challenge you to scan the eBay autographs section for a half hour and NOT find at least one “Dan Merino” or “Dan Mario” autographed item!
When I worked in the scuba diving industry, we would have lots of celebrities, athletes, etc, getting certified. When contacted (even with just a “hey, I’m a big fan, would you mind?”), they were always happy to sign a picture or drop a note.
What’s the harm in asking? It’s not tacky, and I think your husband would love something like that!
TO make it a little more likely to get a response, you should send along a SASE, so that it’ll be that much easier to reply to you. Or, perhaps, if there is a particular item (picture?) that your husband would prefer, send that along with return postage.
Whoa whoa whoa. While you are correct in saying there is a problem with sports memorabilia autographs, it is wrong to say no one should ever buy any.
When you are looking for autographed items on eBay, all you have to do is look at where they came from. Any of the major card companies (Upper Deck, Fleer, Topps) have tons of autographed or memorabilia items, and collectors would vouch for their authenticity 100%.
In other words, don’t spend a couple hundred bucks on some schmoe with a Dan Marino autographed football, even if he/she claims to have a CoA.
I don’t know where you live, but if you’re near Florida you might try hanging out a lot at Dan Marino’s restaurants:
For fine dining there’s DAN MARINO’S, Fine Food and Spirits in Miami. It just opened last month, so he might make appearances there to drum up the business.
Or, for more casual dining: http://www.danmarinostowntavern.com/
Your best bet would be to go to either the one in Ft. Lauderdale or the one in Coral Springs, since he lives in Weston which isn’t far from either one. But you could try calling and getting someone to tell you if there are any scheduled appearances. I doubt it, but what would it hurt.
If you want to go the “sick/dying child” route while maintaining your dignity, you could try the donating to The Dan Marino Foundation, which would probably give you some positive attention and separate you from the masses of other fans who want autographs.
You could also try going to his annual “Celebrity Golf Tournament” although I don’t know how much that would cost you. It’s usually in February.
Dan Marino is a great guy (He’s from Pittsburgh, isn’t he?).
A friend of mine went to Central Catholic High School where Marino went. One year Marino bought the entire school sports teams shoes. My friend has a pair of wrestling shoes bought by Dan Marino.
He’s very generous. I think you’ll have good luck if you can contact him or his agent.
Here’s a show with Dan Marino in May in NJ: 2003 Football Spectacular. It is not cheap. $125-$175 (depending on the item) and for that “personalizations & inscriptions are generally discouraged.” You can get a photo with him for only $175 though.
Given that price range, I’m thinking that all the free solutions suggested above would be doomed to failure.
Wow. Thank you guys so much. I really, sincerely appreciate the information and also the suggestions about what is or is not tacky. I think I am going to try the agent route first – Thank you for getting that Realitychuck. I am going to draft a letter and post it – I would love feedback.
I got quite a giggle at the thought of Dan swiping my husband’s lunch money. I meant to imply that the only time my husband has cried since fourth grade was when they retired his number. Sorry for the confusion!
Seriously, thank you so much. I realize it may seem trivial but it would mean so much to him (I don’t really get it myself) and I really want to try to make it happen.
Ok – here 'tis. Are there any comments/criticisms (I can take it!)
Dear Mr. Demoff:
One of your clients, Dan Marino is my husband’s idol. He would happily slide down a giant razor blade into a vat of rubbing alcohol and dry off with a salt towel at even the minute chance of just exchanging pleasantires with him.
But I realize that’s out of the question.
My husband is turning 40 next September (I have given myself a lot of time here because I assume the shameless begging is going to have to be substanstial), and it would mean the world to him to receive a letter from Mr. Marino. It could be a very, very short letter – “Happy Birthday” or even shorter, "Happy B-day. “It could even be, H-B-day,” as my husband would completely understand what the “H” stood for.
I realize that you must receive numerous requests of Mr. Marino and know that this does not compare with many, many poignant and much more deserving circumstances. Still, my husband has been a life-long fan of Mr. Marino and I know he would frame such a letter and consider it a treasure.
Any guidance on how to go about achieving this goal would be sincerely appreciated.
