[CBFF] this years convention...

Tue Apr 3 12:41:26 MDT 2007

I was talking to one guy who was bragging about how he somehow slipped into 
the Gayle Sayers signing....where you were supposed to have had a winning 
scratch off ticket.   My son looked up at him and said "Well that wasn't 
fair..."  LOL  Good kid!! :)

I did get quite a few signatures on our flag last year, and I was able to 
get my son's Moose card signed for him...this year there really weren't many 
players that I would have wanted to stand in line to get.  Those that I 
would have wanted, there was no way.  and you are right, it's the handful of 
idiot adult fans that ruin it for everyone else, especially the kids.  When 
we saw a line of people near the front entry getting autographs, we found 
out who it was.  It was Jack Johnson who played in like the mid-late 50's, 
but the kids wanted his autograph so we got in the line (aka mob) of people. 
There were grown adults pushing my nephew aside to get in front of him. 
Finally I went up there and asked the next guy who pushed in front of him if 
it made him feel like a big man to push in front of a 7-year old?  Well Mr. 
Johnson did take notice of what was going on then and he made sure to get my 
nephew next and then skipped past the guy who pushed in front of him and 
made him wait...LOL

I do understand that they have to have a cut off somewhere for the autograph 
signings..when you figure how many thousands of fans are at the convention. 
But to have a sold out convention and then CUT the number of autographs 
rather then increase them..well, you are only asking for trouble.  Some of 
these people amaze me though..the set ups they have for these autograph 
signings and how organized they are about it all....it cracks me up.  We had 
our ball and I had a program that I was trying to get signed for our friends 
son who couldnt' go and that was it.  Some people had binders, that were 
cataloged by season with photos and other memorabila and they have these 
stools they bring with them.  Some of them actually opened up and they kept 
their signing paraphanalia in there...it was a hoot to see these people in 
action.  I could just set up a chair in the middle of it all and people 
watch all day long!!! LOL

teri

~A Morning  Without Coffee is Sleep~
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Victor Waldron" <victor19 at gmail.com>
To: <post at chicagobearsfanforum.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [CBFF] this years convention...

>I dropped out of the autograph game long ago because of a lot of what
> you said below. Fans have high expectations but the reality is players
> are less accessible than they've ever been.  It's just not worth
> scratching and clawing just for someone to scribble their name on
> something.
>
> I feel sorry for the kids, I really do. It's mostly the behavior of
> the adults that get the players all cranky about signing. It makes me
> feel bad for the players as well because there are some reall a**hole
> fans out there.
>
> V
>
> On 4/3/07, mom2iancal <senzigx4 at charter.net> wrote:
>> Convention was a bit of a disappointment this year.  The disorganization 
>> of the autograph sessions was at an all time high...well I only have last 
>> year to compare it to, but it was horrible compared to last year!!!  We 
>> were told by several security people (not hotel security, but workers 
>> hired for the convention) that doors to line up for autograph sessions 
>> wouldn't open until 9:00.  (sessions started at 9:30)...hotel people 
>> didn't get that memo apparantly and people were allowed to camp out in 
>> line.  There were several lines that had already been cut off by  8:00am 
>> on saturday.  So we ended up not even trying to get any that day.  Last 
>> year they cut the lines off at 300 people, this year (with a sold out 
>> convention) they reduced the number to 200....   The lines were 
>> disorganized, people were fighting, lots of angry fans...even on sunday 
>> it was horrible!!!  We talked to a couple of guys who had gotten in a 
>> line Saturday morning that had Fred Miller listed...well he showed up 
>> late and a lot of people who wanted his autograph were out of luck.  My 
>> brother ran into him outside the hotel so he got his autograph, but we 
>> weren't there so out of luck again. LOL
>>
>> Saturday we ended up going to a break out session with JA, phillips and 
>> lovie.  My son liked that a lot and even got up and asked Lovie a 
>> question, so that was the hi-lite of the convention for him.  He tried 
>> for Lovie's autograph, but lovie only signed a handful of autographs and 
>> then scooted out to have his pix takend with some lady and her baby...she 
>> had gotten up and showed pix from the last couple of conventions of Lovie 
>> and her when she was pregnant, then last year with the little girl and 
>> wanted another one this year.  He did get Jerry Angelop and Ted Phillips, 
>> though Phillips was a bit of a jerk I thought.   Angelo was signing and 
>> being pretty friendly, but then said "last one" and signed something from 
>> a grown up.  Then a kid next to my son and I said "Come on Jerry, we're 
>> just kids here..." so he did sign that boys hat and my son's football.
>>
>> Sunday autograph session wasn't any better.  My son and I got in line  a 
>> little before  8:00 on sunday and it was already a mob scene.  We asked a 
>> worker where the end of the line was, she walked us to it and said here 
>> you go....well she was wrong and we had people swearing at us!!  another 
>> guy who had been led to the same end of the line as I was, stepped in and 
>> helped us out and we found the correct end of the line.
>>
>> Ian wanted his Steve McMichael card signed, so that was our plan to go to 
>> his stage first.  Well that stage was cut off at 200 people by about 
>> 8:30-8:45.  So we picked another stage...mostly old timers.  the only 
>> younger players there were Antonio Garay and Dvoracek but he had gotten 
>> their autographs at a kids only session.  So he picked a line with Ronni 
>> Bull, Calvin Thomas and Kris Haines...of course he was clueless as to who 
>> any of them were.  By the time we got those autographs, the Idoneje line 
>> for 11:30 was closed as was another one he wanted so he said "forget it, 
>> Mom...it's not worth it"  Not the experience I was hoping for for him, 
>> but that's okay. He still had fun.
>>
>> He also really wanted his Richard Dent and Gayle Sayers cards signed, but 
>> you had to win on a scratch off ticket to get those.  OR you had to buy 
>> something in order to get their autograph...or, if you were lucky run 
>> into them in the lobby which, of course, we didn't.
>>
>> I doubt we'll go back to the convention next year, though.  We'll plan 
>> our next trip to the city and just do some more museums and sightseeing 
>> with the kids.  We're thinking of planning a trip to training camp 
>> instead....
>>
>>
>> Teri
>>
>>
>>
>> ~A Morning  Without Coffee is Sleep~
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>
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