Going To The Show

Tomorrow is my designated day for the excursion to the National Sports Collector's Convention in Rosemont, IL.  I attended the last two in Chicago and it was pretty much a no brainer for me to decide to attend this year too.  How can I consider myself a collector and not go when it's basically in my backyard (ie, less than an hour drive)?  The answer is, I can't.  Not rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail will keep me from the show this year.  Maybe a Sharknado or a Category-6 off Lake Michigan, but not any of those other things.

This years show seemed to be hyped down compared to previous years.  Maybe it was just me being my usual, recently out of touch blogger/collector but I really didn't see anything ramped up for the show until a few weeks ago.  In most years, I seem to recall hearing about promotions and the like well in advance and seeing much more advertising, at least here locally.  This year, not so much.  But that is okay by me because I will still be there with my traditional rolling bag in hand and my two "helpers" by my side.

The kids love going to these big shows because there is so much stuff to see.  It's like sports crack overload (not to be confused with ADD) for my two young, up and coming sports fanatics.  Not only that, they love to bust wax with me.  They have so much fun doing it and both of them have pretty good luck with the pulls.  A couple years ago, my oldest son, then 7, pulled a Quad Jersey out of an OPC blaster box!  Those odds were like 1:8,000 or something ridiculous like that.  Best part, it was a Crosby, Stamkos, Kane, Tavares one.  Crazy!  My youngest once pulled three autographs out of one of those Championship Series franken-boxes you find in retail stores.  It wasn't one that guaranteed 2 or more autos either.  Just the one that said "a $40 value".  Two of them were nobodies but one was a Johan Franzen from the 2005-06 Parkhurst set.  I let him keep it...in hind-sight, maybe not the best idea.

I might Tweet from the show so if you are following, keep an eye out.  If you aren't following, well I'm not qualified to question your sanity.  I will also be sure to share my experiences later on the blog so stay tuned.

Slowly but surely I'm getting out of my funk.