IP-Chicago and burbs:arfmax:2025

[arfmax]

Friday evening 03-Jan-2025, I was thinking about going to the Windy City Bulls game against the Texas Legends. The Legends roster has Kessler Edwards, and I had three cards for him. But it looks like he is with the Dallas Mavericks at the moment, although it doesn't look like he is playing much there. So, I was going to skip the game when I saw during the day that the Chicago Bulls sent down Matas Buzelis and Julian Phillips for the Friday night game. Went to the game, and prior to the game, Matas was warming up, and when he was finished, he walked by. There were three of us, and we asked him to stop and sign, and he said "after the game". And of course after the game, there were 20 people hanging around, and he completely ignored everyone and went into the locker room. I am getting tired of being passed over by Matas! Anyway, prior to the game, I was able to get two cards signed by Windy City Bulls center Adama Sanogo, and I was also able to get two cards signed by Chicago Bulls 2023 2nd round pick Julian Phillips. Finally, since I knew the Chicago Bulls were not playing that night, often times one of the Chicago Bulls will come to the game to watch and support anyone sent down. So I brought cards for a bunch of them, and at halftime, I saw the 4th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, current Bulls power forward Patrick Williams, and he stopped and signed a card for me. So, not bad all in all.

Photo of the signed cards:




-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 5

[arfmax]

Sunday morning, I went back to the movie theater in Gurnee, IL, where they use one of the big screens to show football games. They were bringing in former Chicago Bears tackle Keith Van Horne and former Green Bay Packers center Frank Winters at the same time. I have been trying to get Winters for awhile, but just never caught up with him. I was able to get 2 cards signed by Winters, and 2 cards signed by Van Horne.

Photo of the autos:




-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 9

[arfmax]

Saturday evening, I went to the Windy City Bulls vs. Greensboro Swarm game in Hoffman Estates. Prior to the game, I was able to get former Michigan center and LA Clippers 2nd round pick Moussa Diabate. I had three cards, and he came over and said he'd sign one. I handed him a silver Sharpie and he signed a Hoops rookie card, but the pen came out terribly, and you couldn't read it. I asked him to sign a different card in blue, which came out fine. So, technically, I got two autographs, but that silver one is terrible. I also got former UNC Wilmington Seahawks guard Jaylen Sims to sign one card. At halftime, I was able to get former Miami Hurricanes guard and Indiana Pacers 2nd round pick Isaiah Wong to sign two cards, and after the game, I was able to get former OKC Thunder 2nd round draft pick Keyontae Johnson to sign three cards. I thanked him for stopping, and he thanked me for having cards of him, which was nice.

Photo of the Swarm autos:



-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 17

[arfmax]

Saturday evening, I went to the Windy City Bulls G League game against the Westchester Knicks. Prior to the game, I was able to get 4 cards signed by former Cleveland Cavs center and current Westchester Knicks head coach DeSagana Diop, 3 cards signed by former 16th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft Chuma Okeke, and 1 card signed by former Texas and UNLV guard Donovan Williams. I was trying to get former Phoenix Suns player TJ Warren, but he had a concussion and didn't travel with the team.

Photo of the Westchester Knicks autos:




-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 25

[jakebrandon]

Nice pickups. Think we won't have a chance with TJ Warren now as the Timberwolves are supposed to sign him to a 10-day contract.

[arfmax]

Saturday evening, went to another Windy City Bulls game. I had nothing for the visitors (Maine Celtics), so thought I would get some Windy City players. Before the game, there wasn't really anyone warming up, and we found out that Adama Sanogo was with the Chicago Bulls, not Windy City for that game, so couldn't get him. However, after the players came out, I waited a bit and saw former Villanova star Ryan Arcidiacono come out in street clothes. He said he hoped to be back at the end of the month, but it was a quick way to get the one card I had of him signed. After the game, which Windy City lost in overtime, I was able to get three cards signed by former TCU star Mike Miles Jr. (who was previously this year on the Iowa Wolves, and signed three cards a few months ago), and then E.J. Liddell stopped and signed one out of two cards for me.

Photo of the Windy City autos:



-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 30

[arfmax]

Super Bowl Sunday, I went to Soldier Field in Chicago for the Verizon Fanfest. The Fanfest was being held in 30 different NFL stadiums around the country, and each one had an ambassador, plus "legends". The ambassador for Chicago was 2024 #9 overall draft pick Rome Odunze. There was no other information on other players or legends in attendance, even when Verizon Fanfest was e-mailed directly. So, I brought a friend and 4 cards for Odunze only. Parking was free, and there was free food as well. I got there about a half hour early and stood outside, until being let in at 3. The event was on multiple floors, but I went to the center which was the (indoor) United Club, and they said Rome Odunze would be coming and would be on one side of the room, and on the other side of the room would be De'Andre Swift. They also said that upstairs was Tom Waddle and Otis Wilson, and on the 3rd floor was Israel Idonije. I was about 10th in line for Odunze, so I waited. They came around and told us he would only take photos, no autographs, so I was disappointed. However, at 4:30 when he came into the area, the first few people handed him things to sign, and he did it, as well as taking pictures. So I was able to get four cards signed, including the two I game my friend to bring up, and then I grabbed some food and went home so I could watch the game. Would have liked to know that De'Andre Swift would be there, but I was thrilled with 4 Odunze autos!

Photo of the Odunze autos:



-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 34

[jakebrandon]

Nice haul! Too bad they didn't give people a heads-up on who was coming. I chose not to make drive to MetLife because I wasn't sure who was coming for the Giants and Jets.

[arfmax]

Wednesday evening, I went to the local casino, for a Meet & Greet with legendary poker player Phil Hellmuth in the poker room of the casino. Poker isn't really my thing, but I had two Goodwin Champions cards of Hellmuth, and so I went. The event was scheduled for 1 hour, started a half hour late and then they went one by one to every poker table in the room to ask if they wanted to come meet Phil, before they got to the line of people who weren't playing. 2 hours later, they finally got to us, and I was able to get two cards signed, and he also had signed a bunch of hats which he gave me one of. He has one of the oddest signatures, I have no idea what I am looking at besides "P".

Photo of the Hellmuth autos:



-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 37

[arfmax]

Saturday evening, I went to the G League game between the Windy City Bulls and the Capital City Go-Go. Unfortunately, none of the Capital City 2-way players were there, and another had just gotten a 10-day contract call up that morning, and another was off at some FIBA tournament or something, so what started out as 8 players I was trying for dwindled a bit. Anyway, after the game, I was able to get former Alabama guard who was drafted in the 1st round of the 2020 NBA Draft, Kira Lewis Jr. to sign 3 cards, former highly touted power forward Michael Foster Jr. signed 2 cards, and former Pitt power forward Mouhamadou Gueye signed one card (I had two on the page, but the other was Atlanta Hawks draft pick Mouhamed Gueye, who is not the same guy). I missed Leaky Black, but I planned on returning on Sunday, as they were playing back to back games.

Photo of the Go-Go autos:



-arfmax
Total IP autos in 2025: 43