Many sought Kardiac Kids autographs; few were chosen

EDITOR:
The Ohio Browns Boosters held a banquet March 12 celebrating the Return of the Kardiac Kids, which was the 25-year reunion of the 1980 Cleveland Browns division winning team. A number of former Browns players along with 850 paying fans attended. The evening for the paying fans was to be a celebration with the players about this exciting time in Browns history.
At the end of the banquet the Browns players were to sign autographs for the paying fans. This was the way the autograph session was described in the promotional information for the event by the Ohio Browns Boosters: "There is NO Guarantee of all players' autographs. Due to the sell out crowd of over 800 people, we cannot guarantee autographs from each and every player."
A paying fan could assume from this description that each paying fan might not get every autograph from every player -- about 21 former Browns players were in attendance -- but could assume that each paying fan would at least get a fair chance to get any autographs.
This is this fan's interpretation of the events: This banquet, like most, started disorganized and continued on a path that forced it to run long. Of course, with the autographs at the end, by the time they started time was already running short. This banquet had over 102 paying tables. The autographs were to take place table by table with the organizers calling each table by number to get in the line. The table number calling started and ended a lot sooner than any paying fan might expect. I believe that only about 20 of the 102 tables were called. That meant that less than 20 percent of the paying fans ever got a chance to get any autographs. The organizers announced that due to time constraints on the former players schedules that the autograph session was over.
When questioned about the paying fans who got no chance at any autograph, the organizers abruptly stated to this fan "they never promised any autographs to anybody." Their promotional information stated that 80 percent of the fans would get no chance at any autographs; it stated there is no guarantee of all players autographs.
Numerous fans sought and received their autographs before and during dinner from the players. Even though announcements were constantly made to quit this practice, some fans continued. Maybe they knew they would not be given a fair shake at the end of the night.
JOE BISTRICA
Boardman