ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Barry Sanders signed a urinal last year. This month, it sold for thousands of dollars on eBay.
This led to wondering what other potentially odd items current Detroit Lions have signed. What transpired was a discovery that baby-signing is big and sometimes people will grab whatever they have just to get an autograph.
This turned into the offseason Question of the Week, with a bunch of Lions answers below.
S Glover Quin: I mean, babies. I attempted not to. I was in Houston and in Houston, I got a lot of weird things to sign. I was a young guy so I was like, 'OK.' I didn’t really know. Now, I’d be like, 'Nah, I’m not signing your son.' I’ve signed weird things.
RB Ameer Abdullah: A toilet seat. It was kind of condescending, really. You’re autographing a toilet seat where you put your butt. So what’s it saying about me? You’re sitting on my autograph. You think I’m not worth anything, so you crap on me? It’s kind of condescending when you think about it.
Reporter: How did that happen? Why?
Abdullah: Nebraska fans, man. You know, Nebraska fans are crazy. They are very passionate and the first thing they see, they are going to grab it and get it signed.
Reporter: Where was it?
Abdullah: It was actually at a fan day, so it was a well-thought-out thing. I don’t know, man. I guess they had a Huskers shrine.
Reporter: Did you hear about the Barry Sanders urinal?
Abdullah: That’s kind of similar. Hopefully I follow in his footsteps.
DL Darryl Tapp: Mine takes the cake. I’ve autographed body parts, a Bible, a golf ball and one kid wanted me to autograph his head, his forehead. Like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. I had an instance when I was at Tech and one in Philly and one in Seattle. The Bible was at Tech, when I went to speak at a church. I signed on the front page.
DE Devin Taylor: A shoe. A very old, hole-y shoe. The front lip of the shoe was actually coming off of the shoe. I was doing a charity event and they didn’t have anything else really for me to sign so they gave me a shoe.
Reporter: Were you like, huh?
Taylor: Nah. I respected that. It becomes like a novelty at that point. It was up here, I was doing a charity event around the state.
CB Rashean Mathis: Probably a baby. Real fans, loyal fans, will allow you to autograph their kid. And I think that shows a great sign of loyalty. The kid is going to be like, 'I can’t believe it,' when they grow up. I’m sure the parents get home and they take a picture of it and eventually wash it off, because babies have to bathe and get clean. I think it’s a great thing. I won’t say I’d allow my kid to get autographed, but for the true fan, I’m a player and not a fan. For the loyal fan, kudos to them. It’s been more than one incident.
Reporter: What was the reaction the first time it happened?
Mathis: I was like, 'Are you serious?' I had to ask them 'are you serious?' But yeah. At first I was thinking they were just playing, but then eventually, OK. It’s just marker. It don’t hurt. Children are resilient. So it didn’t hurt anything.
Reporter: So football players take the politicians signing babies thing literally?
Mathis: Literally. Exactly.
Reporter: So where do you sign?
Mathis: I won’t autograph a forehead. I wouldn’t do that. An arm or a leg. A little chubby leg, a little bit of a chubby leg, yeah, I’d do that. It’s a prime spot.
Reporter: So only extremities? Not a stomach?
Mathis: Nah, nah. You can’t do that. You can’t lift clothes. It’s a baby. Only limbs. Only limbs.
WR TJ Jones: I want to say a baby. Autographed a little baby shirt. The baby was wearing the shirt. I didn’t sign the baby’s skin. That’s not good for the baby’s skin. You’ve got to talk to them. That’s not good. Baby’s shirt.
CB Darius Slay: I autographed a lady’s leg and she got it tatted on her. Yeah, that was weird for me. [It was in] February. I went to a tattoo show called "Ink Master" [on Spike TV].
Reporter: Did you know who she was?
Slay: She knew who I was but I don’t think she knew that was happening. But yeah, that was crazy. Never saw her in my life. She’s from Detroit, though.
Reporter: Did you snag a picture of it?
Slay: Nah, I didn’t. They had to put it out on TV, I guess, or something like that. It’s a show. It’s a real show. I was trying to [get a picture of it] but they wouldn’t let us do that. I wanted to, though.
(Eds. Note: The new season of "Ink Master" is slated to start Tuesday. No word yet on which episode Slay will be in.)