Happy Birthday, Tony!

Today, my pal Tony joins Club 61. I wil celebrate it with you tomorrow at Northwestern softball, but I salute you here.

We still don't know exactly when or where we met. It was either at a wrestling show, softball game or comic con. We became friendly at Chicago Bandits softball games. We really connected at a convention when we waited to meet former Chicago Bear Chris Zorich. Since then, we have done a lot of fun stuff and we have a lot more to do, even if you move to Gettysburg.

Happy birthday, Fed. Enjoy your day with your wife, but we'll have some fun tomorrow.

Tony and me in Rosemont, IL-February 2026.

David Arquette at Flashback Weekend 2026

 A couple months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting David Arquette. I thank Mike and Mia Kerz organizers of Flashback Weekend for making tiis happen.

Arquette has such an interesting background. Most people know of his famous actress relatives, but lesser known is his grandfather Charley Weaver, who was a regular on tv's Hollywood Squares.

Last year, I learned Arquette owns the rights to Bozo. That is why Joey D'Auria is now making appearances. D'Auria told us he owes it to Arquette.

Arquette is also a former champ in wrestling. In the later years of World Championship Wrestling, Arquette, a noted wrestling fan, was brought in for appearances. Somehow it morphed into him "accidentally" winning the title. Wrestling fan purists hate this, but the sanctity of wrestling was lost years ago. For his part, Arquette has always been respectful and didn't want to be champ. He gets unfairly criticize for this, but he maintains a positive approach.

I did not mention the wrestling when I met him. I am sure he hears enough of that. Despite his long line of fans, Arquette took time to make each encounter special.

For more info on Flashback, go to flashbackweekend.com. Check back here for more of my recaps.

David Arquette and me in Rosemont, ILAugust 2026.

Nate Robinson at Bulls Fest 2026

When I saw Nate Robinson listed as one of the Chicago Bulls appearing at Bulls Fest 2026, i had forgotten he played for the team. That didn't stop me from meeting him though.

Robinson starred at the University of Washington, before being selected by the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft. He went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA for seven teams, including the Bulls. Robinson spent the entire 2012-2013 season with the Bulls, playing all 82 games and averaging 13.1 points per game, his second highest average. He played in two games with the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2015-2016 season to finish his career.

More notably, we won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest three times. He is listed as 5'9" on basketball-reference.com. I think that is slightly generous, which makes his three wins even more impressive.

While these photo ops don't allow much time for chats, I got a bit extra time, because he received a phone call right as I met him. He ended the call quickly and apologized to me, which was very nice of him.

It was cool to meet Robinson. He's the type of player who wouldn't usually make appearances around the area. Fortunately, Bulls Fest brings back some interesting players.

Nate Robinson and me in Chicago, IL-August 2026.

Friend Encounters: Tony Schiavone and Steven

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends meeting celebrities.

Today is another case of my friend being a celebrity, too. Artist Steve Walden would probably humbly eschew that label though.

Steven is a fantastic artist. You can see some of his work in the background of the picture. Those paintings are his recreations of sports trading cards, but he is not limited to just that. His art spans all genres. Mixed in with the many colorful fun booths at conventions, Steven's always stand out.

I'm not the only person who loves his art. At the recent sports convention, veteran broadcaster Tony Schiavone visited Steven's booth. With his background in wrestling and baseball, Tony is right in the target range of Steven's audience. I'm sure he was just as happy to see Steven's work as Steven was to meet him. I know other athletes and several hundred fans also checked out Steven's work there, too.

For for info on Steven's art, go to stevenwaldenart.com. Check back here for my other Friend Encounters.

Tony Schiavone and Steven in Rosemont, IL-August 2026.

Celebrity Jersey Cards #823: Joel Quenneville & Ryan Poles

Celebrity Jersey Cards is a weekly series featuring celebrities wearing sports jerseys. I am continuing my season-long alphabetical march through all MLB teams. Today, I feature two Chicago sports executives.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Joel Quenneville went on to a 13 year playing career before becoming a successful coach in the NHL. After stints with St. Louis and Colorado, Coach Q led the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup titles during his 13 seasons with the team. After leaving the Hawks, Coach Q had a stint with Florida before joining Anaheim. He tossed a ceremonial pitch for the White Sox to earn his Celebrity Jersey Card.

A native of New York, Ryan Poles played guard for Boston College. As an undrafted free agent, he signed with the Chicago Bears, but did not make the team. Instead, he returned to BC as an assistant for one season. He then joined the Kansas City Chiefs. After 13 seasons with the Chiefs, he was named GM for the Bears. He earned his celebrity Jersey Card by making a ceremonial pitch for the White Sox. Hopefully his pitches to free agents aren't just ceremonial.

Cards That Never Were: Dave Pagan Topps 1974, '76 and '78

Cards That Never Were is a recurring series in which I create virtual trading cards for players missed in various sets. It is a concept I borrowed from far to many folks to list, but I appreciate all of their efforts.

Pitcher Dave Pagan was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent. After making his MLB debut with the Yankees, he remained in the Bronx until being traded to the Baltimore Orioles in a big 10 player trade midway through the '76 season. He didn't stay with Baltimore long, as the Seattle Mariners selected him in the Expansion Draft. He also didn't stick with the Mariners for long, being traded midway through the 1977 season to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After two seasons in the minors, Pagan retired. All told, in parts of five seasons, he appeared in 85 games, going 4-9 with a 4.96 ERA.

For his effort, Topps gave Pagan cards in its odd year sets of 1975 and '77. I wanted to fill the gaps, but could never find a workable picture of him with the Pirates. Gio of When Topps Had (Base)Balls also had a hard time finding one, but eventually he did and before I did. Therefore, here are his creations. Gio's site has thousands of other creations, too.

Bells of the Chicago Snowballs

The Chicago Snowballs are a coed baseball entertainment team. They are a little bit of baseball and a little bit of entertainment, but a lot of fun. Think Savannah Bananas.

One of the talented women on the tam is Bells. We met Bells on the concourse at Joliet Slammers Stadium prior to a game. We soon learned all the players were mingling with fans when they weren't taking batting practice.

During the game, we saw Bella in action. After she got on base and headed for home, she did backflips from third base to home plate to score. That was one of the most impressive things I have seen on any sports field.

Bells is actually Bella Kmilek, a talented college softball player. With the new women's pro baseball league debuting this year and Athletes Unlimited Softball League growing, I wonder is Bella will leave the Snowballs for one of those leagues. Either way, I home to see Bella in action somewhere next year.

For more info on the Snowballs, go to chicagosnowballs.com. Also, check back here for my recurring coverag eof the team.

Tony, Bells and me in Joliet, IL-August 2026.

This isn't Right

When driving to see my niece, i saw this building on the near southwest side of Chicago. It immediately bugged me and I had to take a picture.

What is the deal on those weird windows? I have never seen windows angled as such. They don't seem to be on a staircase, because the windows below wouldn't fit there. It doesn't appear to be an artsy building where the windows could be part of the creativity.

What is the deal?

I didn't have time to see what the building was, but I plan to learn that upon my next trip to that area. I don't know if I would be allowed in (depends on what the business is) to see what the deal is on those windows.

Rest assured, when I find more info on this building and those windows, I will report it back here. Until then, does it bother you as much as it bugs me?

Tsunami of the Chicago Snowballs

My coverage of the Chicago Snowballs continues with Tsunami. As good of a player as Tsunami is, this story isn't really about his playing.

When Tony and I attended our first Snowballs game, the first opponent we saw was Tsunami of the Rocket Squirrels. The Snowballs usually play the Squirrels, although they do pay other opponents on occasion. We briefly chatted before he had to attend to his baseball duties.

While I went for sodas, Tony saw a woman he thought looked like his late mother. He actually approached her and learned she had the same first name as his mom and came from the same area of Italy. Later it got odder as we learned she is Tsunami's mom.

Those coincidences made a good story. I love when the mere timing of things brings about such events. We were supposed to go to our first game a couple weeks prior, but rain forced us to reschedule. If we had gotten to the field just a minute later, we would not have met Tsunami. If we sat in a different area, Tony wouldn't have seen the woman.

I don't want to shortchange Tsunami though. He is an excellent and entertaining player. Back several years, he was captain of his high school's baseball team.

For more info on the team, go to chicagosnowballs.com. Check back here for my recurring coverage.

Tony, Johnny and me in Joliet, IL-August 2026.

Talking Travel with Ken Smoller

In 2000 three of my friends and I drove to Cleveland for an Indiana game. By 2020, the group had grown to as large as 12 on one trip. All told, we have visited 34 baseball stadiums, some now gone. With those and other trips I have made, my stadium total is about 50. That's only 2,650 or so behind Ken Smoller.

The "Stadium Vagabond" has been to more than 2,700 stadiums all over the world. On his website, the opening statement reads "exploring the world through the prism of sports stadiums." With that unique take on travel, I invited Ken to talk with me on Talking Travel for Global Traveler.

A writer and photographer, Smoller started his journey as a student at the University of Michigan. That journey has led him across the world to 26 different countries and 48 states, with plans to reach the last two in the near future. 

Along with his stadiumvagabond.com site, Smoller also wrote Last Comiskey, based on the documentary about the last year of Comiskey Park documentary, which featured a lot of Smoller's photographs. Currently, Smoller is working on a book about all of the stadiums of Illinois.

See the full story and interview on globaltravelerusa.com. Be sure to subscribe to the GT YouTube channel.