No Luck in NFL Draft and New York: A Football Fan Has Bad Day in the
Big Apple

April 26, 2008.

What was that day to you? Was it the day that you watched the Red Sox
lose in Tampa Bay 2-1? Or was it the day that you saw the Patriots
select Mayo with the 10th pick in the 2008 draft?

For one fan, it was a trip to New York City that turned bad. Mike
DiMauro, 24, from Feeding Hills, MA was on a bus trip to New York
City with his camping club. DiMauro was thrilled that he was able to
go on the bus trip, that was until the string of bad luck started.

DiMauro's first stop was to Rockfeller Center to the NBC Studio Tour.
When he got there, he was told that they were all sold out for the
day.

Then, DiMauro went over to Radio City Music Hall to get in line for
the NFL Draft. There were about a few hundred people in front of him
and he didn't get a chance to go into the NFL Draft.

The next stop on DiMauro's list was the NFL Draft Fan Zone. As you
can expect, he was sure to have fun. He was happy that his satellite
radio company, Sirius Satellite Radio, was there doing a live
broadcast.

Let's try this on for size: As DiMauro was walking through the fan
area, he noticed that someone was signing autographs for a group of
people in the crowd. The person was the Commissioner of the NFL,
Roger Goodell. He was standing in the group, but the Commissioner
left him without a signature or a picture with him.

After a few more stops, it was time for DiMauro to take the bus back
home to Massachusetts. After DiMauro told his parents and his friends
online about what happened, he wrote a letter to Commissioner Goodell.

In his letter, DiMauro wrote his opinion about the punishment that
the Commissioner gave to the Patriots back in September for Spygate,
but he said that it was not the main issue of the letter.

DiMauro described his New York City adventure, saying to Goodell, "I
understood why I was unable to get into the NBC studio tour and the
NFL Draft (both sold out), but I was so close to you when you were
signing autographs, other than your schedule, I kind of felt upset
that you were not able to sign an autograph and a picture with me
when there were a group of people around you like that and that I was
in that group made me a little upset and I did not really have an
exciting trip to New York City. I was hoping by getting your
autograph on that day that would make me feel happy."

He went on, saying, "Commissioner Goodell, if possible, could you
please have your autograph on the tickets that I have enclosed (two
tickets to the draft from April 27 that I was unable to use and a fan
central ticket) and at some point, I would like to get a chance to
meet you and get a picture with you, whether it is at the league
office in New York City or at a game. Could you please reply as soon
as possible?"

As of May 30, DiMauro said that he has not heard from the
Commissioner and wished that he would contact DiMauro as soon as
possible about this issue.