Chicago Day 4 (Jeopardy, Splurges and, most importantly, Ryno)

So, being like a small child, I had a hard time falling asleep on Friday night, what with the being overstimulated by the Convention in general, and the anticipation of the Sandberg encounter the following morning. I spent the majority of the night watching the History Channel, so at least it was somewhat educational experience.
Miraculously, we did manage to get up with the alarm at 7, in order to shower, get ready, go find breakfast and get down to Cubs Jeopardy, the first session of the day. Our original plan was to walk a few blocks for a McDonalds' breakfast, but the temperature had dropped again during the night and the weather outside was frightful, and we sought sanctuary in a Corner Bakery and had oatmeal and hot tea. That hit the spot much more than McDonalds would have.
We were back at the hotel in plenty of time for the Jeopardy, which pitted members of the '09 Cubs versus members of the Cubs from the '80s, hosted by Pat Hughes and refereed by our old friend, Dave Otto. Highlights of the session included Koyie Hill displaying impressive Cub knowledge, Rick Reuschel answering correctly, on more than one occasion, “Me?”....and getting them right, and the current Cubs winning the game. Afterward, there was a riot scene, as a majority of the audience, self included, rushing the stage to try and get an autograph from the newest Cub, Milton Bradley. It was scary for a few minutes, because I am admittedly a die-hard fan, but some of the people in the mob were insane to the point of legitimate fear. I was able to get a baseball signed and escape with all of my limbs intact. I'm not sure that everyone else in the mob was that lucky.
Following Jeopardy, we were beginning to get close to Ryne Sandberg time, so we went back to the room to get the jersey and queue up in the autograph line. The line looked quite daunting, but we work at Disneyland, so lines don't frighten us and we did our time. The only bad part about the session was the fact that there were security guards forcing anyone with a camera to stand behind an arbitrary point, even if it was a member of their party up on the dais getting the autograph. Upon noticing this, Lauren did some on the spot research, and found the best spot to stand and the best ISO speed to try and capture my brush with greatness.
I finally reached the front of the line and was mere moments away from meeting my favorite baseball player and it was actually going to happen. I shook his hand, put the jersey down and asked if he could sign it to me. His handler said that he was unable to, but he did add “HOF 2005” to the signature. I took the minute or so that I had there telling him that I'm sure that he heard it all the time but that he was my favorite all time player and was the reason that I really got into baseball at all, which was true. He thanked me for it, and then, as quickly as it happened, it was over. I can't wait to get the jersey framed and displayed.
Since the line had taken longer than I had initially scheduled it, we had missed one of the sessions that I was hoping to attend, about the Cubs and new media. We decided that it was time for lunch, but first we needed to drop off my new treasure in the room. After that, we reached the showrooms, where I got in line for an Italian beef, while Lauren walked around looking for a hot dog vendor. Unable to find one, she returned to me as I was about to order, and she got an Italian beef as well. They were pretty tasty, but could have definitely used a bit more juice to them.
After lunch, we wandered the floor a little bit, and I got Ferguson Jenkins to sign a ball in exchange for a 20 dollar donation to breast cancer research. Again, a very nice man, and Lauren got another photo of us. Also, at his booth, and unfortunately not drawing much attention at all, was Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters. I would have liked to support him, but I had nothing for him to sign. We basically trolled the floor for most of the afternoon, where we bought a new Cub jersey for Lauren, a button-up Cub sport shirt and Convention t-shirt for me, We later met and got a photo with Lou Brock, and a ball for us by Lee Smith. Funnily enough, for as intimidating as Smith was on the pitcher's mound, he seemed like a very gentle person when we met him, and he spoke with an incredible Cajun accent, and reminded me a bit of Boomhauer from “King of the Hill.”
As we walked, I saw the JDF (Juvenile Diabetes Foundation) booth that is always at the Cub Convention on behalf of Ron Santo. When I have the means to do so, I always like to send a few bucks their way, so with a ten dollar bill in my hand we approached. I handed the gentleman behind the table my money and he asked what items I wanted, as they were selling t-shirts, rubber bracelets and things of that ilk. I told him that I didn't need any of it, and just wanted to give the money. He seemed stunned and we wound up talking for a decent amount of time. It turns out that he grew up just down the freeway from us, in Whittier, and regularly visited his family out here. We got to talking about Disneyland, and Lauren and I told him that we could get him passes for the front of the lines and to shoot us an email when/if he comes out in our direction. He was, again, stunned and told us that he had partial season tickets to Wrigley, and that if we made it back to Chicago (which I am doing my best to facilitate) that we were to email him, and that we would be his guests.
Access to Wrigley Field notwithstanding, it was one of the more meaningful and pleasant conversations that we would have all weekend, and I am glad that we stopped to donate and chat.
One of the rooms on the floor was dedicated to a silent auction, where memorabilia from the various singers of the 7th Inning Stretch had signed, again, with the proceeds going to charity. We went in, basically to browse, when we saw the signed song sheet and signed baseball from Michael McKean's performance, and being as he is one of Lauren's favorite actors, I was compelled to bid on it. The auction was near closing, and there hadn't been much interest, so I was fairly confident that we had won. It was around this time that we would need to confirm our airline reservations for the following day, and I was able to do so from my iPhone, so while we waited for the auction to end, we did just that, and upon returning to the silent auction, saw that we had indeed won. The song sheet was much longer than we had anticipated, and came to the realization that it would need to be shipped home, rather than carried on the plane.
At this point, the Convention day was coming to a close, so we decided to go to the Irish pub/restaurant in the hotel lobby for some dinner. The food was excellent, but the bar was filled with loud, obnoxious drunks hitting on each other in a rather pathetic manner, and requiring Lauren and I to essentially scream at each other, in order to hear what was being said, despite being mere inches from one another. As stated previously, at least the food was good. I had a huge corned beef sandwich and Lauren had the shepherd's pie.
We had initially planned to go to a renowned local ice cream parlor, but by the time that dinner was done, it had began snowing again, and we decided that perhaps a night in would be in our best interest. Fortunately, we had nothing planned the next morning until checking out, but to cruise the show floor and make any last minute purchases, so we were able to have a nice relaxing night and sleep.