April 23, 2010 - Little Maddox meets Big Ben

From Maddox's father, Colin Gratchen:

I need to share a positive story that happened to my family today regarding Ben.

I have been hypocritical of Ben, doubting him at times. People make mistakes. I have made a ton of them and always seemed to get another chance so why can't we do the same with Ben?

Ben and his father were golfing today. My son Maddox who is 5-years old, is a huge 'Ben fan'. My son patiently waited for Ben to finish up at the ninth hole. He had his 'Ben' jersey on and a rookie card in hand.

Well before my son could even ask him a question, Ben took the initiative and asked my son, "What do you got there buddy, you want me to sign something?".

So he signed a card for my son and took a picture with him. They then saw him a few minutes later getting a hot dog and he called my son "buddy" again.

I don't know if Ben has to win his fans back or not, but I just wanted to thank him and share a positive story with you.

He put a smile on my family's face today and I'm pretty sure my son will never forget it. If he does, heâ€™s always got a nice picture and autograph to remind him.

I should have never prejudged the guy like so many others. Iâ€™m going to share this story with as many as I can.

Story Update:

Colin advised that his son "has been talking about the experience for the last couple days. We printed up some pictures for the golf course and our parents. Now he wants to autograph one and send it back to Ben."

Update, May 28, 2010: After Maddox's meeting, he wanted to send Ben a photo of the two of them with his autograph (in crayon). Ben said he would do an even exchange - an autographed photo of him for an autographed photo of Maddox, but he sent much more:

Hey Erin,

We received the pictures today! Maddox was so pumped! Now he thinks Ben is his biggest fan because that is what he wrote to Maddox!

If you can, tell Ben we couldn't say thanks enough to him! He has just made Maddox so happy!

Today we got a package mailed directly from Ben's parents (Ken and Brenda) and it had more autographed items in it than we expected.

So the tally for one simple meeting turned into 2 autographed authentic NFL action photos and 3 autographed cards as well as a personal photo taken with my son. The autographed photos of Ben scoring the first TD of Super Bowl 40 and Ben making "the tackle" against Indy are just awesome.

If people are going to tell every negative story, I'm going to continue to tell the positive ones too. It's only fair.

*Thank you so much to both of Maddox's parents, Colin and Nicole, for sharing their story with us!

**Photo taken by Colin. Please do not use the photo without permission.

Rate this file (Current rating : 4.1 / 5 with 22 votes)

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File information
Filename:	ben-maddox_042610.jpg
Album name:	erin / Lil' Fans
Rating (22 votes):
Filesize:	81 KiB
Date added:	Apr 29, 2010
Dimensions:	565 x 540 pixels
Displayed:	2651 times
URL:	http://www.bigben7.com/photos/displayimage.php?pid=5025
Favorites:	Add to Favorites

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April 23, 2010 - Little Maddox meets Big Ben