AROD

Melbourne Marriott Hotel - We figured this trip would have many unforgettable moments but today will probably go down as the most memorable of all!  As you know one of the main reasons for coming to Australia this time of year and the reason we are starting in Melbourne is so we could watch the Australian Open.  There are so many unknowns just going to a new city, let alone a new country but there are even more when trying to organize getting to a major sporting event in that city.  The one player we really wanted to see was Andy Roddick but really had no idea how possible that would be.  After getting to watch him the first day we said basically anything else is gravy…well that officially makes today the best gravy ever. 

We were able to get tickets to Hisense Arena last night online so we could let our parents know exactly what match we were going to be at.  Because we knew they would be watching we decided to do our best to get on TV.  The best way we figured we could do that would be to wear our Rodgers and Driver jerseys and make a sign to draw attention.  Our seats were higher up than we thought and the main cameras were not facing us which made getting their attention basically impossible (also factor they are Australian TV cameras and the US stations just use their shots so they would have no real reason to focus on us).  We were a bit (new favorite word to use) disappointed that we were not going to make it on camera but we started formulating a new plan to get Roddick to autograph the sign we made. 

The short story version of the plan was to sneak down to lower seats right before Roddick was going to win (he started off very poor losing the first set but then played much better so we knew he was going to win).  From there we would run down to the area around where the players leave and try to get his attention.  Both of these parts of the plan worked perfectly (although they involved some trickery and getting yelled at by a few security guards) and we found ourselves right against the railing about 8 ft above where the players would leave. 

Roddick had several interviews to do after the match so he was literally standing right under us and April was leaning over the railing holding the sign so he could see it.  As he turned to leave he signed several things and the last thing he grabbed was our sign!  In April’s version he winked at her and said that match was for you…I personally did not hear that or see that.  I really don’t think we can describe the emotion.  There are so many people surrounding the area trying to get him to sign stuff and he maybe signed a total of 10-15 things and our sign was one…so awesome. 

We had to sit down and gather ourselves because we really couldn’t believe what just happened and before we knew it the next match was starting and we were sitting in the 3^rd row.  No one was telling us to leave..so obviously we stayed.  Maria Sharapova was playing and the guy ahead of us turned around and asked us about the Packers so we started talking to him…turns out he was Sharapova’s agent…crazy!  So we watched the first set basically from the player’s fan box before heading out.  Not sure if we made it on TV, but we made it on the big screen in the arena.

It was such an amazing day.  We also got several comments from people throughout the day on our jerseys.  The best was probably when we were leaving the arena and it was fairly quiet and someone yelled out GO PACKERS!  Pretty funny stuff.