Views and observations from AC - share your experience at the National!

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Originally Posted by Michael B

My observations on The National. Some will be very contrary to others post.
Full disclosure: I do not collect cards and have no interest in owning any. When I did TTM and hotel in person in Boston in the 1980’s and early 1990’s I would pick up some cards to get signed but did not buy any to collect. By default I now have about 50 as they were in a group of items I purchased (T218, Ardath Photocards and Sporting Champions, Geoffrey Phillips Olympic Champions of 1928, Senior Service Sporting Stars, Churchman Kings of Speed).

I never expect to find much in my area of collecting but I go anyway. It is not just the having, but the hunt. Additionally, there are a few friends that I meet up with who I only see a few times a year. Other than the 5 Spencer Haywood signatures I paid for my total outlay for two days was $40.00.

I tried to walk down every aisle except the ‘breakers pavillion’. In my opinion that is wasted space that could be better served by allowing more dealers. When the NSCC has a waiting list of legitimate dealers why on God’s green earth would they give the booths to them. Nothing but a bunch of glorified snake oil salesmen and fluffers. They open a pack and it is a relic card of the third string quarterback of (pick a team) and they act like they just found a 5 ounce gold bar.

I call bull on those who said parking as tough. I had pointed out in one of the other threads that there was a website that showed all of the parking along with prices. I parked at The Wave parking garage on Fairmount Ave which is the continuation of Baltic Ave. It is 6 stories and about two blocks from the convention center on the other side of the Sheraton. If you stood on the sidewalk in front of the convention center and looked at 2 o’clock you could see it. I parked from 8:50 am to 8 pm on Friday and it was $12.00. Saturday 8:30 am to about 6 and it was $8.00. I befriended one of the parking attendants and he gave me a prime first floor spot on Saturday while waving everyone else to higher floors. As a bonus, White House Subs is on the other side of the garage.

I do agree that internet and cell phone service was crap. Connections were spotty at best. I would suspect that if you set up your own wifi hotspot with a VPN it would have been no better. I called Jonathan Sterling on Friday so that we could meet up and talk old basketball. I found a good spot inside with service and got him on the phone. I could not hear him and could not get back in touch.

There were more slabs that Arlington National Cemetery.

Many, many, many cards were priced. Even though I don’t collect cards I still tried to look in many display cases to ensure I did not miss anything.

All of the youngers and a few olders carrying nuclear footballs looked silly, but that is what they do in the changing landscape. I did see a great percentage of them trying to sell rather than buy. They did have a tendency to gather in packs like lemurs and block the aisles. I saw more than a few groups put their cases down on a dealer’s table and start trading. If I was a dealer, that would not be happening. The only real annoying ones were those with rolling file cabinets. Most of them were oblivious. One person was rolling around one of those music amp size cases with two smaller cases on top.

As one other poster stated, the prices were across the spectrum. I saw a lot of $1 items, quite a few booths with 20%, 30% and even 50% off signs. One booth had a large amount of graded cards at $20 each.

As for the PAMS (Pissers and Moaners) who complain that everything is overpriced, glad you stayed away, it was crowded enough without you and your attitude. I used more colorful language with all of the Net54 dealers I talked to.

I don’t usually buy food inside convention centers. Generally not very good and a bit pricey. If you wanted to walk 10 minutes there were enough options. The lines for food did seem to stretch quite long.

Since I did not expect to find much I made a concerted effort to seek out every member who was a dealer and had listed their booths in one of the threads. I wrote my own list to follow. I made sure to say I was Net54 and that I was trying to meet everyone of them. I met the following:

Steve Sabow – He had a very nice booth with a wide variety of items.

Scott Russell – Mainly auction preview items including one item that fit into my collecting focus.

Tony Gordon

Glenn and Lisa Mechanick

Robert Klevens (Prestige) – impressive display of Japanese baseball. He tried to help me interpret a signature, but it turned out to be Chinese.

Chris Bland (Lutfa Sportscards) - We talked about photo collecting. He is getting into it.

Justin Burleson – He was subletting from Rhys Yeakley. When I got there on Friday Rhys had already left and gave the rest of his space to another dealer. From what I gathered Rhys did not set up at all.

Scott Brockelman - He had traded some t206’s for a Babe Ruth photo. We discussed the possible value of it.

Ed Hans - His booth, along with Gary Nuchereno, was an endcap along with Scott’s booth.

Bill Broadhead – big display of prewar (WWI) cards.

Al Crisafulli (Love of the Game)

Don Hontz (Dons Cards) – we got to talk about his city, Portland, Maine. One of my favorite small cities that has changed quite a bit over the years.

Andy Aaronstein – He is working for Al at LOTG. I had swung back by that booth as I thought A.J. Johnson, who I never met, was in that area. Andy and I had a long conversation about photography copyright and storage.

I tried to find Howard Chasser, but I could not find his booth. The numbers in the row did not seem to go as high as the number he listed.

I also got to meet Bob C., Paul P and Tyler. There were one or two others I met but neglected to write down their names. One person, possibly Paul P?, knew my full name. I was very impressed as I introduced myself with my screen name.

It was a pleasure to meet all of the members there. If I was a card collector I would have no problem purchasing from any of them.

My big $25 purchase:

Attachment 527529

Michael B! Sorry to have missed you. I was indeed set up at Love of the Game booth. I did get in a little late one day (can't remember which) after getting locked out of my room (key got demagnetized) at Caesars after a late night 3:30am poker game.

Can't remember who said it but the 15,000 nerds and 5 hot girlfriend comment made me spit out my drink. Have to hand it to the wives/girlfriends who brave the huddled masses. I did see one lady following her husband, dutifully managing a multi page want list with pencil in hand making checks as they walked. Thought that was pretty cool.

I felt bad for the people trying to park at the convention center. I walked down from Caesars and it was a total nightmare in the streets on Thurs/Fri with cars backed up for miles trying to get in. Like someone else said, there were tons of other parking options close by but maybe many out of towners didn't know about those.

I compare AC to downtown Vegas where you have some of the older hotels. As long as you stay in the vicinity of the hotel at night you're fine. Don't think you'd want to walk too far afield at night (but that's the case in most major cities). I ended up walking by myself on the boardwalk at night twice from Tropicana to Caesars and didn't feel unsafe at all.

I had a fantastic time just being around all the other card nerds like myself. I sold a couple things and ended up finding a card I'd been wanting for awhile (You da man Don Hontz!)

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

Michael B! Sorry to have missed you. I was indeed set up at Love of the Game booth. I did get in a little late one day (can't remember which) after getting locked out of my room (key got demagnetized) at Caesars after a late night 3:30am poker game.

Can't remember who said it but the 15,000 nerds and 5 hot girlfriend comment made me spit out my drink. Have to hand it to the wives/girlfriends who brave the huddled masses. I did see one lady following her husband, dutifully managing a multi page want list with pencil in hand making checks as they walked. Thought that was pretty cool.

I felt bad for the people trying to park at the convention center. I walked down from Caesars and it was a total nightmare in the streets on Thurs/Fri with cars backed up for miles trying to get in. Like someone else said, there were tons of other parking options close by but maybe many out of towners didn't know about those.

I compare AC to downtown Vegas where you have some of the older hotels. As long as you stay in the vicinity of the hotel at night you're fine. Don't think you'd want to walk too far afield at night (but that's the case in most major cities). I ended up walking by myself on the boardwalk at night twice from Tropicana to Caesars and didn't feel unsafe at all.

I had a fantastic time just being around all the other card nerds like myself. I sold a couple things and ended up finding a card I'd been wanting for awhile (You da man Don Hontz!)

A.J., Sorry I missed you. I had written out my Net54 dealer list on an index card and was crossing out the names as I went along. When I flipped over the card and saw you were with Al I walked back there. Andy Aaronstein said he did not know who you were. Maybe brain freeze on his part, but that led to an introduction to him. Perhaps in Chicago about 358 days from now.

[tschock]

A few post AC National thoughts.

• The worst thing was the cell/internet service on the floor. Oh, it was available, but you could never tell WHEN it was going to be available. Paper want lists ruled the day.
  
  
• The second worst thing. Hand dryers in the restrooms that didn't actually dry your hands. Cold air coming out with the force of a baby breathing does not do a good job. Long T-shirts were the preferred utilitarian fashion.
  
  
• AC dangerous? Really? Who walks around outside at night anyway? I mean if you have an energy left and your feet aren't killing you, you weren't spending enough time walking the floor.
  
  
• If you got there when the show opened, there was plenty of places to park. (And if you stayed until the show closed, you wouldn't have to worry about how dangerous it is to walk around AC because you'd be too beat to be able to.)

[Donscards]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

Michael B! Sorry to have missed you. I was indeed set up at Love of the Game booth. I did get in a little late one day (can't remember which) after getting locked out of my room (key got demagnetized) at Caesars after a late night 3:30am poker game.

Can't remember who said it but the 15,000 nerds and 5 hot girlfriend comment made me spit out my drink. Have to hand it to the wives/girlfriends who brave the huddled masses. I did see one lady following her husband, dutifully managing a multi page want list with pencil in hand making checks as they walked. Thought that was pretty cool.

I felt bad for the people trying to park at the convention center. I walked down from Caesars and it was a total nightmare in the streets on Thurs/Fri with cars backed up for miles trying to get in. Like someone else said, there were tons of other parking options close by but maybe many out of towners didn't know about those.

I compare AC to downtown Vegas where you have some of the older hotels. As long as you stay in the vicinity of the hotel at night you're fine. Don't think you'd want to walk too far afield at night (but that's the case in most major cities). I ended up walking by myself on the boardwalk at night twice from Tropicana to Caesars and didn't feel unsafe at all.

I had a fantastic time just being around all the other card nerds like myself. I sold a couple things and ended up finding a card I'd been wanting for awhile (You da man Don Hontz!)

AJ Glad you like the Ryan RC -Good seeing you again and nice chat--see you in Chicago.