My trip to the National

I had planned on blogging during the week while we were at the National, however I had no internet connection for my iPad so you all had to live in suspense or follow my tweets for sneak peeks of what was going on.

One of my favorite parts of the National is getting to see friends that I talk to all the time but live far away. Another favorite is getting to meet new friends that I have made since the last national. I had a blast going to Wrigley Field with the David from Long Fly Ball to Because (@LongFlyBall), his wife, and the guys from Freedom Cardboard. Somehow me and Wes ended up walking out onto to Wrigley Field.

Long story short, Wes was told that we could watch the guys in the cage in the outfield… Next thing we know, we are being roped off and waiting with a bunch of little league kids, coaches and parents. So we just tried to blend in and go with it. I got dirt on my pants, but it blew off before I could make National worn pants cards of myself.

I also got a whole mess of cards from other bloggers and even people I had just met. The generosity of the collecting group is one of the most humbling and amazing things about making so many good friends. We all need to remember to pay it forward when we get something of value before putting it on eBay that there may be a friend of ours that would love to have it but maybe can’t afford it or just wouldn’t go out and buy it.

We saw a dude that looked dead on the subway, except we are pretty sure he lived once the ambulance (pronounced: am-ba-lance) arrived. He definitely looked dead. I hope he is okay.

Freedom Cardboard held it’s first annual (at least I think it’s going to be an annual event) meet-up at a bar in Chicago and it had a great turnout, looked like about 60 people. They had a ton of prizes to give away and I even won two of the prizes. One was a hobby box of 2010 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects and the other was a National exclusive bubble mailer from Leaf with a signed card inside… The card was 4/5 and this was what it was:

I already flipped it on eBay to recoup some of the money I spent this week. There were plenty of boxes and autographs given away at the event, and there was even a foot race between two moderators in the parking lot after the event.

We drove in circles a lot, we got lost on the subway a few times but all in all we had a ton of fun and some good laughs. I will post my loot from the National later tonight or tomorrow morning, it’s pretty awesome. If you have a post with your loot let us know so we can check it out.