Barry Sanders is in the Hall of Fame. He is the most famous -- and beloved -- player in
Detroit Lions history.
His signature? It is now on an urinal thanks to a lifelong Lions fan, a joke and a daring decision at an autograph signing.
Mike Kozan put a urinal from the Lions locker room at the Pontiac Silverdome signed by Sanders up for auction on eBay. As of Thursday morning, 26 bids have been placed on it, with a high marker of $1,925.
The 28-year-old Kozan is selling the urinal even though it is likely he is the only person in the world who owns this type of memorabilia.
"I got the memory, which is the important thing to me," Kozan said. "I got to meet Barry and do something super-awkward. I got his autograph, and to put it on eBay is making the story even better."
Here is that story.
Having Barry Sanders sign a Silverdome urinal started out as a joke for Lions fan Mike Kozan. Courtesy of Mike Kozan
There is, of course, at least a little bit of irony in having the best player in the history of the Detroit Lions, one of the worst franchises in professional sports, signing something meant to dispose of human waste. Sanders dumped the Lions on the eve of the 1999 season after rushing for 15,269 yards and 99 touchdowns in 10 seasons. He retired instead of playing for a franchise with only one playoff win in the Super Bowl era.
Sanders' signing the urinal started because the Pontiac Silverdome auctioned off everything in the downtrodden arena.
Kozan bought two urinals, two sinks, three showers, two stall partitions, the shower area and a toilet he ended up not taking from the Lions' home locker room at the Silverdome for $23 -- less than he paid for signage that once hung in the Silverdome.
He hung one of the urinals in the man cave in his suburban Detroit home. The other one was sitting around. A couple of months later, Kozan helped his girlfriend's parents with some things, and as a present, they bought him a ticket to a Sanders autograph signing at a suburban Detroit mall. Kozan already had a jersey, hat and football signed by Sanders, so he joked with his girlfriend he should have Sanders sign the urinal.
He said it once. He thought nothing of it. He said a couple of days later, his girlfriend called the organizers of the autograph session and asked if he could bring the urinal to the signing. They had no problem with it. Kozan wasn't sure.
"I debated for a couple weeks whether I was actually going to do it," Kozan said. "She said, 'Just do it. Just do it.' I didn't want to insult the guy, and it's kind of weird, to be honest."
He decided to go for it, wrapping the urinal up and taking it in his truck to the local mall. As he wheeled it around the mall on a dolly, people asked what it was. In line, people asked what it was.
Then he reached the front of the line. Sanders sat there. He was told what was wrapped up on the hand truck. He got up and walked around the table. Kozan said that at the time, he didn't know Sanders had tweeted out that he would not sign any urinals when the auction was announced in March 2014.
FYI - I am not signing urinals...
@AndrewSiciliano @latimessports
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders)
March 21, 2014
Although I was surprised that a fan wanted me to sign a urinal, I am glad it worked out for him.
#UrinalGate2015
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders)
June 4, 2015
"I was like, 'Well, Barry, I've got your urinal here from the locker room at the Silverdome,'" Kozan said. "He said, 'Are you for real?' He looked kind of confused. I felt kind of dumb. I was like, 'No, I'm for real' and said, 'Do you mind signing it?'
"He said, 'I refuse.' Barry's so straight-faced, and I didn't know if he was joking or not. My girlfriend was with me and said, 'Can you please sign it?' in a sweet voice. He kind of laughed and said, 'Yeah, yeah, I'll sign it.'"
Sanders' agent, JB Bernstein, confirmed that Sanders signed the urinal and said it happened because urinals were not on the list of things Sanders had said he wouldn't sign.
"Barry felt bad turning him away after he had lugged the thing down there and waited in line," Bernstein wrote in an email to ESPN. "It was really my fault because urinals are not listed in the items that Barry won't sign. He is so good to his fans that he will pretty much sign anything, but going forward we now state that Barry reserves the right to refuse to sign any item, and that odd items should be cleared in advance through his memorabilia partner, Schwartz Sports.
"In the end, the message here is that Barry values his fans, and that their support is greatly appreciated by him."
Sanders signed it for Kozan, creating a potential one-of-a-kind item. What started as a joke turned into a collectible. It left Kozan nervous leading up to it and not really believing he asked a player he idolized to sign a latrine as he headed back home, toilet in tow, perspiring more than normal.
"I just wanted to get out of there. My girlfriend was like, 'Why are you sweating so bad?'" Kozan said. "I just asked my childhood hero to sign a urinal."
UPDATE: Kozan said he wants to donate part of the sale of the urinal to a charity of Sanders' choice.
http://espn.go.com/blog/detroit-lio...ilverdome-urinal-and-why-it-is-up-for-auction
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