Meeting Chicago Comic Con celebrities

My girlfriend and I made the trip out to the Chicago Comic Con convention on Saturday August 11. It was a blast and I could not have asked for a better day. We arrived there at 12:00 p.m. and the place was packed. There was probably about 10,000 people there when we arrived. We got there and went right into the photo op line for CM Punk. We waited there for about an hour or so and we finally got by Punk. He had his WWE championship with him which was really cool to see the real deal. My girlfriend and I took a picture with him and we I had my belt on to match the real one that Punk had on. He seemed real nice, but he did not wear any CM Punk gear and he sat down during the photo op whereas John Cena stood up the whole time. After this we traveled over to meet John Morrison and Melina. Morrison is my girlfriend's favorite wrestler and Melina was my favorite diva. I really dislike the fact that both of them are no longer in WWE. Hopefully they will return soon and inject some new life into the current WWE. Melina was super sweet and she signed so much on my picture that I got. Morrison was also really nice and they were both very talkative. We could have sat and talked with them the whole day if we wanted. Following this we went over and met Sam Trammel from True Blood. He was very short and did not say much to either one of us. My girlfriend got her picture signed and we went right on her way, because we did not have anything to say to him. Following this, we went and got in line to meet Booker T. Now Booker was awesome, he signed his book that isn't even out yet and he also signed one other item so I got my WWE Championship belt signed. Booker was very talkative and I was talking to him about Alberto Del Rio and him getting axed from the World Heavyweight Championship match at Summerslam. He was super cool and he took a picture with the both of us. After meeting Booker, we went and met Jon Bernthal who plays Shane in the Walking Dead. We are huge fans of the show so meeting Bernthal was pretty sweet. He was super nice and introduced himself and he was also very talkative. I asked him how the movie shoot went for the new movie "Snitch." He said that he is done with it and we should expect it in the spring. He was super cool and he signed my Walking Dead poster. After meeting him, we went and got in line to get an auto from CM Punk. His line was pretty long and when we finally got up to him, he was really short. He did not shake hands and he signed our picture, which has a dark background, in blue which really stinks. I was pretty disappointed with how Punk was and I wish that our experience could have been better, maybe we just caught him on a bad day. After this, we got lunch and walked around a bit. We ended the day by meeting Norman Reedus who plays Darrell on the Walking Dead. His line was packed to the brim and we were lucky we got in his line as the convention was closing around that time. We got in his line and by the time we were getting close, they had turned the lights off in the place and the convention was over. He stayed the whole time to get through the line and it was really nice of him to do that for everyone. He was really cool and very accommodating for everyone. He signed my poster and we got a picture with him. He was one of the only celebrities that we got a picture with as the other ones, you had to pay to get a picture with them. I'm not much of a fan of this as you already have to pay for the autograph, you should be able to get a picture free of charge. All in all, that Saturday was loaded with meeting celebrities and WWE wrestlers. We had a ton of fun and I cannot wait to go back next year.

Meeting John Cena

On the first day of the 2012 Wizard World Chicago Comic Con my girlfriend and I met WWE Superstar John Cena on Thursday, August 9. Cena was doing photographs from 4:00-5:30 p.m. Following that Cena did an autograph signing from 5:30-8:00 p.m.

There were so many people waiting for the photograph with Cena and my girlfriend and I were one of the many people waiting for him. We finally got up to get the picture with Cena at about 5:00 p..m. after waiting for a little over an hour.

We got up to Cena and he was super nice, shaking hands with everyone and smiling. He was just a nice guy who seemed so genuine.

So many times, people think that these people are larger than life just because they are famous, but when you meet them you realize that they are normal people. Cena probably had to sit there through around 1,000 people taking pictures with him.

I talked to the people selling tickets there for the photo op with Cena and they said just that day they had sold 300 tickets. That was not counting the pre sale tickets or the VIP tickets that were sold, so you can imagine how many people were waiting to meet Mr. Cena.

Following that photograph session, Cena went over and signed autographs for two and a half hours. I am sure that he was pretty tired following all of this. We waited for the picture with him and then followed that by walking around waiting for the line for the Cena autograph line to die down.

We ended up meeting Lou Ferrigno who was just sitting there with no one in his line. I went up to him and shook his hand and told him how I liked him on Celebrity Apprentice and we had a brief chat.

We kept walking around because the line for Cena was so long, we ended up seeing Kevin Nash who is a former WWE Superstar and he was doing interviews along with some autographs.

Nash was super tall and he seemed like he was a nice guy from what we saw from him in about five minutes. Following this we got in line for Cena and we waited for about another hour to get his autograph.

I got up to him and had him sign the picture that we took with him and he personalized it to my girlfriend and I. I told him to keep doing what he is doing with Make A Wish and he told me thank you and he thanked my girlfriend as well.

The reason why I told him that is because he has granted 300 wishes and he does not plan on stopping there. His Make a Wish contributions have been widely publicized and he has become more famous because of that.

We finally ended our seven hour day of being there and we took off after the autograph session with Cena. Meeting Cena was a huge highlight for me as he is my favorite WWE Superstar.

He was such a nice genuine guy that everyone loves to cheer or boo whenever he comes through the curtain for the start of a WWE show. The 2012 Chicago Comic Con continues through this coming Sunday August 12.

If you can make it out there this weekend, make the trip out to the Donald E. Stephens Center in Rosemont, IL. The pricing is quite expensive though to get in because this Saturday is $45 for entry and Sunday is $35 for entry.

There will be many great celebrities there and tomorrow, Saturday, my girlfriend and I will be meeting the current WWE Champion and hometown guy CM Punk.

Meeting Jimmy Hayes

On July 20, my girlfriend and I met Jimmy Hayes who is a young Blackhawks rookie at Steven's Collectibles in Countryside, IL. This was my first signing at this location and it was a lot of fun.

With my membership, I was able to get this signing for free and I was glad that I went to the signing. There were a lot of people there as there normally is a ton of people for Blackhawks players.

I have been to two other Blackhawks signings before including Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook, at both of those signings I showed up and left because there were too many people. I waited in line until we got up close to Hayes and he signed a mini Blackhawks helmet that I had for him.

He was pretty nice and he signed the helmet and I got a picture with him. Following this, I headed out after this fairly quick signing.

When we were leaving though, the line was out the door. He was only charging $15 per autograph and like I said earlier, Blackhawks players normally have a big turn out.

I have been to many other signing including basketball, baseball, football, wrestling and hockey players and the hockey signings along with the wrestling signings have the biggest turn outs. Always with signings it is hit or miss meaning that you never really know how many people will turn out, there could be five people or 500 people.

This place was pretty packed for this signing and I look forward to meeting some more players at their location. If you have yet to be out to Steven's Collectibles in Countryside, IL., I would advise you to head on over there because they have a lot of sports memorabilia along with sports cards if you are interested in that.

Meeting Pierre Pilote, George Altman and Ernie Banks

                The Mounted Memories Sports Spectacular convention is long past, but sports fans are counting down the days until the next Sun-Times Convention from Nov. 16-18. The Sports Spectacular Convention took place in Rosemont, IL. from June 29-July 1.

                During that convention, my girlfriend and I went to show on Sunday, July 1 and met some pretty awesome people. The first person that we met that day was Pierre Pilote (Chicago Blackhawks Hall of Famer 1975) who was signing for the Fergie Jenkins foundation at his own separate booth.

                He was really nice and talkative, talking about the poster that I brought for him to sign. I also have Denis Savard’s autograph on that poster so Pilote was talking about all of the other guys that I need to get on that poster now including Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito.

                He signed my poster in gold ink and then he stood up for a picture with me and I moved on. I went and found George Altman who was doing a free signing for CSAC which is a website that I am a member of for autograph signings.

                I grabbed my free ticket and got in line and he took my baseball and signed it 1961-62 2x All-Star. He took a picture with me too after signing my baseball.

                After the two of them we proceeded to walk around and check out the autographs and sports memorabilia that the Sports Spectacular show had to offer. That convention can make any sports fans drool over the amount of memorabilia you wish you had in your ‘man cave.’

                The final signing of the day for me was Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. He was probably the nicest guy that I have ever met.

                My girlfriend and I walked up and there was a guy in front of us getting a helmet signed and Banks looks at me and says, “Is that your wife with you?” I replied, “No, that is my girlfriend.” He then said, “That’s your wife.” We had a good laugh after he said that.

                We got up to him and he took my baseball and signed it and his agent or friend told me to lean in and get a picture while he was signing. Banks said, “No, no, no, wait on the picture.” He turned to his buddy/agent and said you go and take a picture of these two people.

                I ended up handing the camera to someone in the crowd and he took a picture of me, my girlfriend and Mr. Banks. We shook his hand and headed off.

                I looked at the baseball and to my amazement Banks had signed not only his name, but also HOF 77 and Mr. Cub. That was a great surprise and I was really excited by that.

                All in all, this was a great experience and another great autograph signing session. Those three guys were three more awesome signings to add to my collection.

                If you have not been to any of the sports conventions held in Rosemont, IL., at the Donald E. Stephens Center you need to make it out there. It is a lot of fun and a great time, so bring someone along and head on out there at the next convention from Nov. 16-18.

Meeting HBK, Shawn Michaels

Back on Saturday June 23, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels and former White Sox player, Bill Melton were doing an autograph signing in Gurnee, Illinois. They were signing at a Bass Pro Shop store from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. My girlfriend and our friends Samantha and Nick came with us to a hotel up in Gurnee on Friday night. We decided to go over to Bass Pro Shop to scope out the area and see where the signing was going to take place. The employee that we talked to said that they had just found out that the signing was going on only one day in advance which I thought was pretty crazy. You would think that they would have known for quite some time that these guys were signing. So they were setting up tables right in the front of the store and no one was camped out just yet for the signing. What was surprising to me was the fact that Bass Pro had no promotion for the signing whatsoever, no signs, no posters, no anything. We went out to Key Lime Cove for dinner and then played some pretty sweet arcade games before heading back to the hotel room to retire for the evening. I hardly could sleep as I was so excited for this signing. My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m., but I was awake before then getting ready for the day. My girlfriend, Sam and Nick all woke up and they got ready as I waited for them. We left the hotel and headed to Dunkin Donuts for a little breakfast. We arrived at the signing at about 7:15 a.m. and we thought we were the first in line. After about ten minutes a guy came out and said that the line was on the side of the building and not in front. We walked over to the side and there were about 50 people in front of us. Apparently the people towards the front of the line had been there since 5 a.m. We waited and waited and we started talking with one guy that was waiting in front of us for the majority of the time. We talked about wrestling and other signings that we had been to. He apparently caught Shawn Michaels's shirt from a WWE Raw event years ago. He was going to have that signed which I thought was pretty sweet. After waiting and waiting for almost five hours, Shawn showed up and so did Melton. By the time we got in there, Melton had left because he suddenly became ill. I think that he was pretty upset that no one wanted his autograph and everyone was there for Michaels. We got in there and Nick went first to have his 8 x 10 photo signed and then Samantha went second to have her 8 x 10 photo signed. They really couldn't get pictures with him as they were trying to rush the line due to there being about 500+ people there. Next, my girlfriend went up and had her 11 x 14 photo signed that Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker are both on. Last, I went up and I got my WWE championship belt signed. After it was all said and done we met up with the guy that we had been talking to and his shirt looked pretty sweet signed. His kids got two hats signed and the guy's wife/girlfriend got a picture with Shawn. We shook the guys hand and said it was great talking with him and we bid him adieu. We walked through the mall and you would not believe the amount of people that asked me about my belt and how no one knew that Shawn was there. One guy even wanted a picture of my belt and he spun the emblem in the middle. I think about ten people asked me about my belt. I could not believe how many people asked me about the belt and how many peole really knew wrestling. After walking around the mall and getting Rainforest Cafe for lunch, we left and headed home. I fell asleep because I was so tired after getting barely any sleep and sitting outside for five hours for a signing. I have never waited that long for a signing before, but it was well worth it. This was my 61st signing and I cannot wait to meet more wrestlers down the road. I am not sure if I will wait that long again though as Shawn is argurably the greatest wrestler ever.

Chicago Bulls Offseason Moves

As we all know the Bulls season was cut short this year due to the devastating ACL injury to Derrick Rose. The Bulls were ousted in the opening round against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers team. The Bulls lost Rose in the opening game to an ACL tear with a little over a minute to go in the fourth quarter. Then, Joakim Noah went down with an ankle injury in game three which put the dagger in the Bulls' hearts. The Bulls lost in game six and were eliminated from playoff contention. The 76ers went to the second round and lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games. Just watching that series showed me how easily the Bulls would have gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals at full strength. The Bulls should be playing the Heat and not Boston. The Bulls are now in off season mode and they can begin making trades at any point, although it is unlikely until around the draft and beyond. The Bulls have a lot of situations to address. The first thing that I think should be done is picking up head coach Tom Thibodeau's contract for next season and giving him an extended contract. He has led the Bulls to the best record in the NBA for two straight years and he has only been a head coach those two years. The Bulls are a great team under his tutelage and he should remain the coach for at least a few more years. In those two seasons the Bulls have had injuries to Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, C.J. Watson, Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Richard "Rip" Hamilton. The Bulls have rarely been at full strength in these past two seasons due to all of their various injuries. Even with these injuries the Bulls were the number one seed in the East both seasons and they had the best record in the NBA both seasons. It is scary what this team could do at full strength for an entire season. The next thing to address is the contracts of Mike James, Brian Scalabrine, John Lucas III, C.J. Watson, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer and Omer Asik. Asik is a restricted free agent and the Bulls are expected to match any competitors contract so the Bulls can keep Asik. Brewer, Korver and Watson all have player options and all of them may not get picked up. I believe out of that group, the one that would be picked up would be Korver as he provides a spark off the bench. Let's say Lucas III, Watson, Brewer, Scalabrine and James all leave the team. The Bulls would not have a point guard as Derrick Rose will miss a lot of time next season. Luol Deng may miss time as well if he elects to have surgery on his left wrist after the Olympics. The Bulls may also move on from Hamilton as well who missed over half of last season with a list of injuries. If I was the GM, here is what I would do:

-Give Thibodeau a contract extension
-Decline the options of Watson and Brewer
-Pick up the option on Kyle Korver
-Let Lucas III, Scalabrine and James all go
-Make a trade that nets Pau Gasol from the Lakers
-Sign Chauncey Billups
-Sign O.J. Mayo
-Release or trade Richard Hamilton

The Bulls would either have to trade Deng or Boozer to get Pau Gasol from the Lakers. Everyone would love to see the Bulls trade Boozer or release him, but I do not think the Bulls will do that. Although I would hate to see him go, the Bulls may trade Luol Deng to get Pau Gasol. The Bulls lineup with my additions would be Billups, Mayo, Gasol, Boozer and Noah. Seems pretty solid to me until Rose comes back and replaces Billups. The Bulls are very close to the salary cap limit as their core players are making a lot of money. This gives the Bulls little room to sign anyone without releasing or trading away some of their larger contracts. This will be an interesting off season for the Bulls as they will have a lot of decisions to make. Let's hope the Bulls can improve this team and maybe swing a blockbuster trade that brings the Bulls another superstar player.

Meeting Randall Cobb, Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings

On Saturday May 12, my girlfriend and I traveled up to Waukesha, Wisconsin, to meet three Green Bay Packers players. I have yet to meet any Packer players until this day, so with me being a big Packer fan this was pretty amazing. The ride was about two hours long and it was around 120 miles to get up there. On the way up, we passed by Miller Park where the Brewers were playing the Cubs. It was funny to see all of the Cubs fans walking out of the game as the Cubs lost to the Brewers that day, 8-2. We got up there after I passed the place up and had to call them to figure out where they were located. We got there and I could not believe my eyes when I walked in. I saw so many Packer autographs all over along with all types of Packer fans. I felt like I was with my people, there were people who were in from Green Bay for this Packer signing. It is always interesting to see what people bring out to get signed by these players. It ranges from footballs to mini helmets to canvases to cleats. The first thing we did was walk around and experience all of the autographs they had and try to keep the credit cards in our pockets. This was tough because living in Chicago, there are not many Packer autographs around; especially at stores. It was time to get into the autograph line, the first person that was signing was Randall Cobb from 12:30-1:30, then Jordy Nelson from 12:45-1:45 and finally Greg Jennings from 1:00-2:00. We got Cobb first and got to take a picture with him, then after that we hopped right in line for Jordy Nelson and got him pretty quickly and got a picture with him as well. It seemed as though everyone was there for Greg Jennings. So once we got Cobb and Nelson, we got in line for Jennings. Jennings did not show up on time, in fact he was about a half an hour late to the signing. We watched as the line started to move and I was getting more and more nervous as Greg Jennings is my favorite player in the NFL. We saw Nelson and Cobb in a back room signing all types of helmets, pictures, footballs, etc. for people who mailed their items in or for the store itself. Finally it was our time to meet Greg Jennings and I walked up and shook his hand and he stood up for everyone to take pictures with them. We then got a picture with him and I was super pumped up. We then went back in the store and walked around tempting ourselves with great autographs. We both, reluctantly, decided to leave the store with no more autographs. After that, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home and had lunch. We got home and then went bowling for our final day of our fall league. All in all, it was a great day and a pretty awesome signing. After meeting LeSean McCoy, my second favorite NFL player, and Greg Jennings, my favorite NFL player, I would say that I am pretty happy with meeting them two and getting pictures with them. Jennings was actually my 60th autograph signing that I had been to and I plan on going to many more in the future. Here are the pictures from the event:

 

Should the Bulls go after Dwight Howard?

Dwight Howard has come out and said that he would be open to playing for the Bulls along with other teams like New Jersey, Los Angeles and Dallas. The idea of pairing Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard together is a really amazing thought. It would be a really great thing for the Bulls, but they would have to give up so much for him. Would that necessarily be a bad thing though seeing Howard is one of if not the best centers in the game? The Bulls would most likely have to part with Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and draft picks to get Howard. If the Bulls could trade Noah, Boozer, Gibson and draft picks for Howard and maybe Hedo Turkoglu, I'd say pull the trigger. First off Howard is a big upgrade from Noah and Boozer only plays well against weak teams really. Taj is one that you would hate to give up, but he is very foul prone once he comes in so he is expendable. You have to think, Howard is capable of 40-45 points in a game if he gets hot and so is Derrick Rose. Those two alone could beat some NBA teams. You factor in Deng, Brewer, Korver, Hamilton, Watson and Asik as well, and you have an amazing team. The starting five of Rose, Hamilton, Deng, Brewer/Korver and Howard would be almost unstoppable. This is a long shot, but the Bulls may be able to pull it off. If they do, they instantly become the title favorites even with Miami at full health.  If the Bulls do not go after Howard however, they need to make a move to upgrade their shooting guard position. With Richard Hamilton being hurt all the time now, the Bulls need someone who can play SG and be healthy come playoff time. I was super pumped when the Bulls got Hamilton, but now he has become a liability with his injuries. The Bulls wanted him for his scoring ability and veteran presence, not to fill a bench role. The Bulls should target O.J. Mayo, a guy that can score 15 points a game and a young up-and-coming player in the NBA. The Bulls need to make a move if they want to compete with Miami down the stretch, because Miami knows when the turn on the jets and that is when the playoffs come. In just their first year together, Wade, Bosh and James made it to the Finals with really no problems from Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago. The Bulls gave them a great fight, but Miami proved to be too strong. The Bulls could really use an upgrade to the team before it is too late.