Blackhawks Convention July 30th-August 1st

[Guest]

[quote name="Pez68"]



Same exact length as the other ones? LOL



Seriously man, why would I make this shit up? There were two sticks sitting there in the Buf pile of game used sticks, exactly as I describe. My buddy pointed them out to me, asking why they weren't taped. I looked at all of them closely trying to answer. I had no explanation for him... His next question was "How do you even know these ARE game used?" to which the woman behind the table replied with "We give you a COA." He's like, "So we just take your word for it?" She just stopped talking to him after that... We moved on as we had people behind us in line. That's what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. :lol:[/quote]



Not sure how much you collect but thats what you do for every ITEM that's AUTHENTICATED from EVERY SPORT!



I didn't see a "pile" of Buff sticks anywhere. They were individual sticks sold. Either way that's how sports memorabilia is sold dude. Come see my basement sometime, you'll understand. Trust me. Also if you noticed Buff is one of the ONLY Hawks that use a two piece stick. No WAY does he spend the time to put those together and NOT use them. He has an end so some of his sticks were chopped.



Just like this....





The Indian Head from the last Locker room floor. Could it have been faked, sure. It's COA! Not to mention one of two in existence and the other one is on the current locker room floor.

 

[IceHogsFan]

Did you get the sewing done to it yet?

 

[Pez68]

LOL, I realize that... I'm sure that the large majority of this stuff is 100% legit. I'm not saying the sticks you bought are fakes or anything of the sort. Those sticks sitting there without being taped as Buf would use them in a game, just got me thinking. Hockey players are anal about their sticks, and there's no way he uses those sticks like that. So how can they truly be "game used" unless they were modified before being sold? Not sure when you did your browsing of that auction table, but this was early Friday afternoon, and there were only a handful of people there, and basically zero bids on anything. I think it was during the opening ceremony actually. They had 4-5 Buf sticks sitting on the table together. They actually had multiples of all of the game used sticks sitting there, for the most part.



P.S. Aren't you the one that said they turned a silent auction into a LIVE auction after the silent auction had expired, obviously because they weren't happy with the highest silent auction bid? Why would faking game used equipment be beyond their shady behavior? LOL

 

[Guest]

[quote name="IceHogsFan"]Did you get the sewing done to it yet?[/quote]



No, but ironically I met a guy this weekend that owns a carpet restoration company I might give a shot. I don't trust anyone with it is my problem.

 

[Guest]

[quote name="Pez68"]LOL, I realize that... I'm sure that the large majority of this stuff is 100% legit. I'm not saying the sticks you bought are fakes or anything of the sort. Those sticks sitting there without being taped as Buf would use them in a game, just got me thinking. Hockey players are anal about their sticks, and there's no way he uses those sticks like that. So how can they truly be "game used" unless they were modified before being sold? Not sure when you did your browsing of that auction table, but this was early Friday afternoon, and there were only a handful of people there, and basically zero bids on anything. I think it was during the opening ceremony actually. They had 4-5 Buf sticks sitting on the table together. They actually had multiples of all of the game used sticks sitting there, for the most part.



P.S. Aren't you the one that said they turned a silent auction into a LIVE auction after the silent auction had expired, obviously because they weren't happy with the highest silent auction bid? Why would faking game used equipment be beyond their shady behavior? LOL[/quote]



That was because the previous day there was one douche bag that held the pen away from the other bidder and would not let them place a bid in the last moments.

 

[whalerhawk]

After reading through this thread, I'm glad I didn't go. With a 7 month old, we knew it would be next to impossible to make it down there and enjoy ourselves. We knew there would be way too many people. I also don't have the cash right now to bid in the silent auctions (I was the one bidding last year against Maiden for the Hjarmarsson before the bidding got too rich for my blood). I might be the only one who actually goes for the seminars because I couldn't give a shit about autographs. However, seeing as though the seminars were tough to get into as well, it seems like a tremendous waste of time to be honest.



I do miss hanging out at Kitty O'Shea's, however. Then again, we don't live in River North anymore either, so just getting to the Hilton would have been a bigger hassle than in year's past as well.

 

[Pez68]

[quote name="whalerhawk"]After reading through this thread, I'm glad I didn't go. With a 7 month old, we knew it would be next to impossible to make it down there and enjoy ourselves. We knew there would be way too many people. I also don't have the cash right now to bid in the silent auctions (I was the one bidding last year against Maiden for the Hjarmarsson before the bidding got too rich for my blood). I might be the only one who actually goes for the seminars because I couldn't give a shit about autographs. However, seeing as though the seminars were tough to get into as well, it seems like a tremendous waste of time to be honest.



I do miss hanging out at Kitty O'Shea's, however. Then again, we don't live in River North anymore either, so just getting to the Hilton would have been a bigger hassle than in year's past as well.[/quote]



Having been once now, I don't see myself wasting the time and money to go again. With what I experienced this year, it just isn't worth it. With the baby, you wouldn't have enjoyed yourselves much at all. No room for any kind of stroller, so you would have been carrying the baby all night, and there was just too much waiting in lines for my tastes. As has been said numerous times, just way too many fucking people for this shithole hotel.

 

[whiteevo]

since i'm not as rich as some of the guys on here, i just went primarily to check out what equipment was available. not to display but to use in some shitty mens leagues around my way. hopefully one day i can afford some of that auction stuff. had lots of fun just checking the stuff out anyways.



showing how much of a nerd i am, i was excited to get a pair of the third jersey socks to use. never seen those available before, score! picked up a pair of sopel warrior gloves when they marked them down yesterday too (in true sopel fashion i took a slapshot off the ankle last night in a game too, haha). deal of the weekend for me though was picking up TWO havlat bauer one95 sticks for $100, unreal deal. also picked up a authetic versteeg third jersey for half off at the hawkquarters store, they were blowing out all of the bye bye guys stuff.



all that said, this event has gone down hill every year. i like to get auto's especially on jerseys i have. after getting the program friday and seeing who was signing it was kinda a letdown. john scott signing twice? really? ugh. didn't win any scratch offs nor did i stay at the hilton so that sucked. i did manage to get my beach, daze and savard jerseys signed so that was cool. savard really went all out and personalized it too, kinda made my day.



just like everyone else said the venue sucks, crowd mostly sucks, waiting twice for an auto sucks. while sitting on my ass in the overflow room waiting for the opening ceremony to begin (which i thought was corny too), some dickhead who outta know better, was looking thru his program at the signing schedule and said "i don't know who any of these guys are??" it was at that point i knew the bandwagon was full.



another thing i hated was at every damn seminar i went to, kid after cute kid would only ask the question "can i have your autograph" or some woman would ask for a hug. it got old quick.



about 90% sure we wont be back next year unless there are big changes.

 

[FlaHawkFan]

[quote name="R K"]I won't even get into the UN ORGANIZED event they just put on. You'd think after the THIRD CONVENTION they'd have grasped the concept but yet each year it has gotten WORSE, not better.



First suggestion try finding a FUCKING VENUE that can accommodate all the TICKETS YOU FUCKING SELL.



Right off the bat over 2/3rds of ALL fans buying tickets will not see the opening Ceremony. The Grand Ballroom sits 2000 people. The seminars, well that's another sad story for fans.[/quote]



The convention was awful. We went to the opening ceremony, caught two of the seminars on Saturday and toured the vendor area (very cool, best part of the event for us), then skipped yesterday and simply enjoyed the City. We stayed at the Hilton last year and hated it so this year we stayed at Palmer House (yeah, also a Hilton but MUCH nicer) and got some good exercise walking back and forth.



I wish we'd been able to meet up with you folks at Kitty's. As I said earlier, we were lucky enough to see the Cup at Kitty's Thursday night, but otherwise it was jammed enough that we stayed away. And did Patron shots elsewhere. Hee.



Maybe next year during Convention weekend, all of us could just meet up at Kitty's and skip the convention and enjoy ourselves.



BTW, has anyone noticed how many mutant fans the Hawks have? I'm probably one but damn, at least I don't get up and ask the same question during EVERY SINGLE SEMINAR. And I do not ask the players for hugs. Sheesh.

 

[Guest]

You should have come into KITTY's!!!



We were there both nights!!

 

[ericalynn]

[quote name="mill500"]



A fine time indeed. Who knew Erica was a NASCAR fan?



Just getting ready to head down now for Round 2.[/quote]



A HUGE NASCAR fan, Mill. I have all the requisite, obnoxious stickers on my car bumper, believe me.......gotta represent, y'know? (And quickly getting into IRL, too...hope I didn't drive you (too) crazy asking you questions about Indycar....)



I wasn't planning on going originally; like a fool I waited too long to buy a pass, thinking I'd have more time. I did, however, consider doing what FlahawkFan suggested:



"Maybe next year during Convention weekend, all of us could just meet up at Kitty's and skip the convention and enjoy ourselves."



But thanks to Puckjim (who spells my name wrong, LOL!) and Stu (LOVE you! Hope you liked the "sweet tea"), I was able to get in so I could hit the vendor room and pick up some old hockey cards from my own personal "starter fan" team....Secord, Larmer, and others from the 80's.



And seeing everyone in Kitty's was absolutely GREAT; RK, Mrs. RK, IceHogsFan, Stu and her great family, Puckjim, Phranck, Beastkeeper, Jako (with his weird---and oddly attractive---new "look"), Mary, the Millers (all of them).....I know I'm missing people, and I apologize for that.....seeing everybody again was wonderful. Count me in for the next roadtrip to wherever wins the consensus vote here (since St. Louis is not looking good anymore. Unless it's Detroit...sorry, but even I'm afraid to go there....)



As for what everyone has said (complained) about the event handling...yeah, it's true. So true that, for the first time, I didn't even TRY to go to any "seminars", and I always go to those. I saw the opening ceremonies on the flat screen in the overflow ballroom.

But at least---thanks to my excellent "connections"--the Stu family--I got to sit in the FRONT ROW, (a la Bob Uecker) :clap: And it was great.



The venue choice obviously needs to change. McCormick would be an excellent idea, as has been suggested. (Side note: as for what pez68 said



You have to think McDonough has some handshake politics keeping the conventions there. I saw him in Kitty O'Shea's eating lunch twice this weekend, and he was talking to what I assume was the owner almost the entire time he was in there. I imagine this is a HUGE weekend for Kitty O'Shea's, and the Hilton in general. You have 10,000+ Hawks fans going in and out of there all weekend. The liquor profits alone for the weekend have to be in the millions...





...if the guy you mean is the one I'm thinking of, that guy is ALWAYS there because he is the top manager of Kitty's and he's kind of a douche...I only say that because I had a long talk with him last year at the HawksCon and he made a point of ripping on the other F&B outlets in the Hilton....ok, explanation: I WORK FOR A 4-STAR DOWNTOWN HOTEL (only reason I was chatting him up) and it's kind of bizarre to hear a manager bash his own hotel's other Food and Beverage outlets, even the ones he's not in charge of..."cross sell" is usually the name of the game, at least at my hotel it is. Doesn't even matter if he might be right...you don't say stuff like that to a "guest"...your employees maybe, but not to a guest. (He's not the "owner", and unless things have radically changed since last year, Kitty's is a "Hilton" restaurant (I know, because that's what I was asking him), and he works for the Hilton.



Anyway, Mrs. RK had said that RK had "a bad day" when I saw them on Saturday afternoon...now I know what she was talking about!



And as for the Hilton staff being....less than helpful.....(to "paraphrase" RK):



One of the paper towel dispensers malfunctioned in the ladies room, and a housekeeper came in and seemed satisfied that the other one was working ok. Then a housekeeping supervisor came in to look at the broken one and complained loudly about it. At first, it sounded like she was blaming the guests for not knowing how to use it right (sensor model---put your hand in front and paper comes out, duh); in retrospect, I think she was complaining about someone not setting the paper in correctly. (She was from Africa, or one of the islands or something, so her English was accented.) Whatever...still highly unprofessional to be bitching in earshot of guests.



I just hope that pez68 filled out one of those nice little cards that asks how you enjoyed your stay...my hotel absolutely freaks out over those when they're negative. (I assume the same about the Hilton, but then again....)



I hope that every Blackhawk fan (particularly the power-wielding sth) complains to the Hawks management about the current venue arrangements, and demands that it be changed for next year.



And I hope that everyone who got screwed out of their exec floor rooms pulls a supreme Beastkeeper move and complains (and threatens) to the high heavens until the walls fall down.



(On top of all of the other annoyances of the weekend, to have sub-standard rooms AND

your special reservations completely disregarded? Bullshit!)



Time for a new venue.



Lastly....again...so great to see all of you! (note to Jako: DRAG Ymono there next year if you have to!) Also...praying that T-bird can come...and Mr. and Mrs. Chasman were missed, too...and (if Klem was there) I missed him....damn!

 

[klemmer]

[quote name="ericalynn"]



A HUGE NASCAR fan, Mill. I have all the requisite, obnoxious stickers on my car bumper, believe me.......gotta represent, y'know? (And quickly getting into IRL, too...hope I didn't drive you (too) crazy asking you questions about Indycar....)



I wasn't planning on going originally; like a fool I waited too long to buy a pass, thinking I'd have more time. I did, however, consider doing what FlahawkFan suggested:



"Maybe next year during Convention weekend, all of us could just meet up at Kitty's and skip the convention and enjoy ourselves."



But thanks to Puckjim (who spells my name wrong, LOL!) and Stu (LOVE you! Hope you liked the "sweet tea"), I was able to get in so I could hit the vendor room and pick up some old hockey cards from my own personal "starter fan" team....Secord, Larmer, and others from the 80's.



And seeing everyone in Kitty's was absolutely GREAT; RK, Mrs. RK, IceHogsFan, Stu and her great family, Puckjim, Phranck, Beastkeeper, Jako (with his weird---and oddly attractive---new "look"), Mary, the Millers (all of them).....I know I'm missing people, and I apologize for that.....seeing everybody again was wonderful. Count me in for the next roadtrip to wherever wins the consensus vote here (since St. Louis is not looking good anymore. Unless it's Detroit...sorry, but even I'm afraid to go there....)



As for what everyone has said (complained) about the event handling...yeah, it's true. So true that, for the first time, I didn't even TRY to go to any "seminars", and I always go to those. I saw the opening ceremonies on the flat screen in the overflow ballroom.

But at least---thanks to my excellent "connections"--the Stu family--I got to sit in the FRONT ROW, (a la Bob Uecker) :clap: And it was great.



The venue choice obviously needs to change. McCormick would be an excellent idea, as has been suggested. (Side note: as for what pez68 said



You have to think McDonough has some handshake politics keeping the conventions there. I saw him in Kitty O'Shea's eating lunch twice this weekend, and he was talking to what I assume was the owner almost the entire time he was in there. I imagine this is a HUGE weekend for Kitty O'Shea's, and the Hilton in general. You have 10,000+ Hawks fans going in and out of there all weekend. The liquor profits alone for the weekend have to be in the millions...





...if the guy you mean is the one I'm thinking of, that guy is ALWAYS there because he is the top manager of Kitty's and he's kind of a douche...I only say that because I had a long talk with him last year at the HawksCon and he made a point of ripping on the other F&B outlets in the Hilton....ok, explanation: I WORK FOR A 4-STAR DOWNTOWN HOTEL (only reason I was chatting him up) and it's kind of bizarre to hear a manager bash his own hotel's other Food and Beverage outlets, even the ones he's not in charge of..."cross sell" is usually the name of the game, at least at my hotel it is. Doesn't even matter if he might be right...you don't say stuff like that to a "guest"...your employees maybe, but not to a guest. (He's not the "owner", and unless things have radically changed since last year, Kitty's is a "Hilton" restaurant (I know, because that's what I was asking him), and he works for the Hilton.



Anyway, Mrs. RK had said that RK had "a bad day" when I saw them on Saturday afternoon...now I know what she was talking about!



And as for the Hilton staff being....less than helpful.....(to "paraphrase" RK):



One of the paper towel dispensers malfunctioned in the ladies room, and a housekeeper came in and seemed satisfied that the other one was working ok. Then a housekeeping supervisor came in to look at the broken one and complained loudly about it. At first, it sounded like she was blaming the guests for not knowing how to use it right (sensor model---put your hand in front and paper comes out, duh); in retrospect, I think she was complaining about someone not setting the paper in correctly. (She was from Africa, or one of the islands or something, so her English was accented.) Whatever...still highly unprofessional to be bitching in earshot of guests.



I just hope that pez68 filled out one of those nice little cards that asks how you enjoyed your stay...my hotel absolutely freaks out over those when they're negative. (I assume the same about the Hilton, but then again....)



I hope that every Blackhawk fan (particularly the power-wielding sth) complains to the Hawks management about the current venue arrangements, and demands that it be changed for next year.



And I hope that everyone who got screwed out of their exec floor rooms pulls a supreme Beastkeeper move and complains (and threatens) to the high heavens until the walls fall down.



(On top of all of the other annoyances of the weekend, to have sub-standard rooms AND

your special reservations completely disregarded? Bullshit!)



Time for a new venue.



Lastly....again...so great to see all of you! (note to Jako: DRAG Ymono there next year if you have to!) Also...praying that T-bird can come...and Mr. and Mrs. Chasman were missed, too...and (if Klem was there) I missed him....damn![/quote]



I might go up for the party next year, but don't see myself being in that crowd... That says, it REALLY bites to know that "Mr. Goalie" was there. I'd give anything to meet him.

 

[GoBucky]

I agree that it sucks that they changed the silent auction rule, but it was a necessary change. There were people stealing pens, hovering over the sheets, bullying and threatening people a minute before the end of the auction. It had to be done. It really kept control yesterday afternoon, and prices were about 25% lower than Saturday. I got a pair of Duncs and Toews skates to add to the basement at a pretty good price.

 

[GoBucky]

[quote name="Pez68"]



Same exact length as the other ones? LOL



Seriously man, why would I make this shit up? There were two sticks sitting there in the Buf pile of game used sticks, exactly as I describe. My buddy pointed them out to me, asking why they weren't taped. I looked at all of them closely trying to answer. I had no explanation for him... His next question was "How do you even know these ARE game used?" to which the woman behind the table replied with "We give you a COA." He's like, "So we just take your word for it?" She just stopped talking to him after that... We moved on as we had people behind us in line. That's what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. :lol:[/quote]



I am close friends with a few of the equiptment guys, and I guarantee you that everything auctioned off as Game Used was Game Used.

 

[BigPete]

So here is the BigPete convention wrap up I know you have all been dieing to read [that's sarcasm fuckers...]:



Melissa and I got there plenty early on Friday to register and check in to the hotel. We walked around briefly and rested a bit in the room (I threw out my back last week). Headed downstairs and got in to line to go into the Grand Ballroom for opening ceremonies and ten seconds later they announce in a very non-chalante and weak manner that there was no more room in the ballroom. Not a single person mentioned the Continental Ballroom having video streaming of the event. Walking away I noticed a sign saying as much and we headed over to give it a shot. Got a spot on the wall up front, but then was subjected to extremely loud highlight reel footage while waiting for the opening ceremony. Nothing special about that except having a team/hotel usher like guy (that looked like an old Polish Chicago cop) yelling at people to get away from the wall (to which I said fuck-off), they also set up the screens on the wrong wall so people in the back could hardly see. During the ceremony Edzo told Kaner he was getting a surprise since they lost the game winning goal so we got all excited thinking someone found the puck and they were giving it to him on a plaque...nope, they had Pat hit the goal light/buzzer so everyone could celebrate. Gay, but I get why they did it.



I won't go into detail about the rest of the convention, but let's just say there were not enough players there to make it worth while. This was for obvious reasons, but it still sucked. We only saw the Olympics discussion which turned into Q&A about winning the Cup, not the games. The autograph set up seemed like a bad idea with the wristbands and all but I think it flowed better through the day once you got over the morning "pre-line" to into the autograph lines.



My huge problem with everything? They had an army of ushers (you know the minimum wage, inner city kind) that never told you shit about where to go or how to get there until you did something wrong and they got the chance to yell at you...can you fucking believe that? A paying customer got yelled at by some low budget degenerate for using the wrong fucking entrance!@#%!^$ Argh! On top of that they were all standing around with their thumbs up their asses while huge piles of garbage grew in every nook and cranny of the autograph room. They should have been told to make it disappear...



Melissa and I saw Ron and Michelle about four times in the halls or elevators, but did not run into any one else save Jerry Tibstra's wife at their booth.



So in conclusion, we are not going back again next year. We have better things to do. On a positive note, I talked to Jim Cornelison about taking over when he retires I got Seabs autograph in person, we saw some Transformers3 filming, ate great dinners at Buddy Guy's Legends (newly renovated) and at a completely empty South Water Street Kitchen (empty due to movie filming). We also had a corner 17th floor room, but at the price for the room and valet...let's just say I could buy a day with the Cup for what we spent.

So again, we won't be back but the experience didn't suck so much that I regret going.

 

[JOVE23]

[quote name="R K"]You should have come into KITTY's!!!



We were there both nights!![/quote]



I know this wasn't directed at me but I would have loved to have run into a few of you guys! I was in Kitty's but too late realized I didn't know what any of you looked liked and vice versa!

 

[Guest]

[quote name="JOVE23"]



I know this wasn't directed at me but I would have loved to have run into a few of you guys! I was in Kitty's but too late realized I didn't know what any of you looked liked and vice versa![/quote]



We were the goofy group in the two tables when you walked in from the Hotel. Larmer/Foley/Dennis Hull/Koroll were on the other side Sat night. And a bunch of the marketing folks for the Hawks.



Always a great time with great friends. The 12yr old Jako is priceless!

 

[phranchk]

I bid on several game used jerseys but didn't win any. Came very close to the Sopel Helsinki jersey.

I did however walk away with Huet's Graf Ultra G50 skates for 1/3 of their retail value. They fit me great and don't have much wear on them. I plan on using the hell out of them.

 

[Guest]

[quote name="phranchk"]I bid on several game used jerseys but didn't win any. Came very close to the Sopel Helsinki jersey.

I did however walk away with Huet's Graf Ultra G50 skates for 1/3 of their retail value. They fit me great and don't have much wear on them. I plan on using the hell out of them.[/quote]



Funny I didn't win the Seabrook Jersey....!

 

[Maiden]

[quote name="R K"]



Funny I didn't win the Seabrook Jersey....![/quote]



I know who did................