Brady Pettigrew isn’t a collector of sports activities playing cards or memorabilia. The Indiana Fever fan simply wished to have some enjoyable with Sophie Cunningham, one among his favourite gamers.
At a fan occasion in Indianapolis final weekend, Pettigrew waited in step with many others to get the star WNBA guard’s autograph. When his flip got here, the 39-year-old resident of close by Anderson, Ind., positioned a sports activities card in entrance of Cunningham for her to signal.
Solely it wasn’t a Cunningham card. It was a Jacy Sheldon card. Not solely did Pettigrew need Cunningham to signal the cardboard of one among her on-court rivals, he wished her to position her autograph immediately underneath a phrase his sister, Tristen Pettigrew, had inscribed on the collectible: “Property of:”
Cunningham and Sheldon have been concerned in a dust-up throughout a June 17 sport in Indianapolis, when Sheldon was a member of the Connecticut Solar (she was traded to the Washington Mystics final week). Late within the sport, with the Fever up by 17, Sheldon made a steal and was taken down arduous by Cunningham — a transfer many seen as payback after Sheldon poked Indiana celebrity Caitlin Clark within the eye throughout a play within the third quarter.
Pettigrew instructed The Instances he was “a little nervous” about how Cunningham would possibly react to his uncommon request. However on the identical time, he mentioned, he knew from following Cunningham on social media that she is “a little edgy” and has “a good sense of humor.”
“I was just like, if there’s anybody that would do this, it would be Sophie,” Pettigrew mentioned.
A Jacy Sheldon sports activities card options the phrases “Property of:” written above the signature of rival participant Sophie Cunningham.
(Brady Pettigrew)
A video of Pettigrew’s interplay with Cunningham, filmed by his sister, exhibits that his assumption was appropriate. After he locations the cardboard in entrance of her, Cunningham takes a second to register what she is seeing, then bursts into laughter and instantly autographs the cardboard so it reads, “Property of: Sophie Cunningham.”
“She said that when she first looked at the card, she just thought it was a card of herself, you know, blond, white chick,” Pettigrew mentioned, “and so she didn’t realize until she read what the inscription was, and was like, ‘What?’”
Share by way of Shut further sharing choices
He added: “If I have a chance to make her laugh, that’s better than just taking up some picture where she looks all pretty like everybody else does, or get a jersey signed or something,. I was like, well, if I can make her laugh, maybe I can make a tedious, boring situation for her a little more fun. And she obliged.”
Cunningham could be heard within the video laughing and exclaiming, “She’s the problem!” Whereas some have assumed the remark was aimed towards Sheldon, Pettigrew mentioned he thinks Cunningham was really referring to her mom, Paula, who was additionally on the occasion and had inspired Pettigrew to make the bizarre request of her daughter.
“If you listen really close right when the video starts, I’m walking up and I say to Sophie, ‘I just want you to know I got your mom’s approval for this,’ and I set the card down,” Pettigrew mentioned. “And she looks at it and starts cracking up. And she’s like, ‘See, she’s the problem.’ … I’m fairly certain based on the conversation she’s actually calling her mom the problem, like laughing about the situation of her telling me to do it.”
Pettigrew mentioned he has gotten affords of as much as $2,000 for the cardboard, however it’s not on the market — though he may change his thoughts for the fitting worth.
“You know, I love riding motorcycles,” he mentioned, “and so I’ve kind of told myself, if somebody offers me enough to buy a decent motorcycle, I couldn’t say no in that case. But I definitely don’t have any intention of trying to make that happen. If it naturally happens, I mean, everything’s got a price.”
Cunningham and Sheldon will likely be on the courtroom collectively once more Friday when the Fever hosts the Mystics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana. Pettigrew really has different plans for the night.
Nonetheless, he mentioned, “If Sophie hits me up and and says, ‘Hey, we got courtside seats for you,’ I think I could probably show up to the concert a little late,” he joked.
