Before I even start this, you gotta know back in the early 80s, I used to live in Houston. A good buddy of mine, Big Rick, and I were bartenders, as usual, having too much fun. Since then, Rick's moved to Dallas with his wife Cindy and his two beautiful babies. So, when I heard I was heading down to the Twelfth Annual Tri-Star Collectors Show-- Now, we are talking about the biggest show, with the biggest names anywhere in the Southwest-- I had to call my boy, Big Rick, to come down and join DDP for the ride. I got in Saturday morning at eleven o'clock and was picked up by this guy named Mark who told the people at Tri-Star, Jeff Rosenberg, Bobby Mintz and Mandy Fuerst that he would work for nothing this week as long as he could hang out with me. I guess Mark is the right name. Only kidding, he was a really great guy.

As soon as Leon Spinks got in, we all hopped in the limo and headed over to the George B. Brown Convention Center where I met up with RichInKC's cohort in crime, Brian Bentley, and his lovely wife, Melinda and a buddy of theirs, Kevin V. Also there was my cohort in crime, and favorite photographer, Ross Forman. These collectibles events are a great experience for the people who are fans. The people who run the events from Bob and Jeff right on down to the vendors all seem to have a great attitude. The basic vibe I got was an attitude of "treat people like you'd like to be treated". For all the huge stars that were in this building, I myself didn't see any huge egos at all, just a bunch of really cool people. It's events like these collectibles shows that let people get close to their heroes and in turn, I guess, fulfill some of their dreams. That's enough of the ga-ga stuff.

Some of the things that happened at the show that stand out in my head, and there were over twelve hundred people I saw in those two days, one little girl who had to be about three years old (pictured, right). This mom and dad had four beautiful little girls and Cassie (the three year old) sitting on mom's shoulder. When she got up to me, without being coaxed, she connected the dots and threw the Diamond sign together. I told Ross, get this picture and I ran down off the platform to stand next to her while she was on her mom's shoulders. When I got to her, and they were about to take the picture, she stopped making the sign and threw her arms around my neck and wouldn't let go. It was hysterical. I took pictures with the whole family and it will all be posted.

Another funny thing was a lot of people wanted to get pictures wearing the U.S. Heavyweight belt and yes, there were many pictures with many people in the Diamond Cutter. Now let's talk about what happened behind the scenes. When I first walked into the building, I was running a little late. (Can you believe that?) And Ross wanted me to meet Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves. I was thanking Chipper for making the Diamond Cutter sign that is already posted in the Diamond Mine when he said to me, "You've got some line out there, man. Every ten minutes or so, these people start chanting, "DDP!" I could tell that he was a little bit amazed, but still happy for me at the same time. Great guy.

As I was going to walk through the curtain, I hear some big guy go "Hey Double D, how's your ribs?" I look up and it's James Worthy. My buddy, Big Rick, popped. I walked over, shook hands, introduced him to Rick and walked out to sign autographs. Rick looked at me and said, "I can't believe James Worthy knows who you are." Rick got people's names so that I could put my signature and talk to the people and take pictures.

I heard Jabbar was about to leave, so I slid into the back and got a picture with him before he left. He was very quiet and at the same time, very polite. I have a lot of respect for what he has accomplished in his life, so I was pretty much in and out. After finishing signing autographs that day, we got some shots with James Worthy. My favorite picture is James wearing the U.S. Heavyweight strap. Here's a guy whose got more world title rings than I can count, wearing the U.S. strap and loving it. Great guy. From there we went back to the hotel, got changed, and went to the reception where I first met the Golden Girls. Glacier had met these girls last month and told me they were "the bomb", and he was right. I must have poured five pitchers of beers for these girls, youngest one has got to be in her seventies, and they were going beer for beer with me. Got some great pictures, and left for the game.

The game wasn't much to speak of, as most of the Houston team is hurt. Utah basically manhandled them. The highlight of the night, though, was while we were sitting about seven rows behind the Utah bench, on one of the timeouts Karl Malone noticed me in the crowd and made the Diamond Cutter sign. My buddy, Ross, said "Get him to do it again on the next time out and we will get a picture of it." And we did. It's classic. From there, they sent us backstage passes for after the game. One of the guys I got to go was Jeff Rosenberg's dad, Butch. A real fun guy to be around. So me, Butch, Big Mark, and Mandy headed back to the locker room right before the end of the game. As we walked to the lockers, everyone was throwing up the Diamond Cutter sign. When Karl came out of the locker room, the first thing he did was walk up to me, shake my hand, and give me a hug. He goes, "I love what you do, bro," and I could only reciprocate. We had a great talk and the inside scoop is this: I asked him if he had a bike, he said, "I got six of them." I started laughing my ass off. So, I invited him to Sturgis for next year, and he's coming. He gave me his home number and I can see the Mailman and the Diamond Man becoming bros. As Karl was leaving, Antoine Carr comes blowing around the corner, throws out the Diamond Cutter sign and yells BANG only about as loud as I can do it. We got some shots. As he was leaving, I see the legendary Rick Barry walking down the tunnel. Rick, without question, when I was a kid was definitely one of my idols. He was as nice and as real a guy as I have ever met. He was there to get great sports moments that you remember for his radio show. While talking to me about that, I told him about mine, which was Herschel Walker being the first to do the Diamond Cutter sign after his 64 yard run against the Jaguars. He liked it so much, he put it on tape. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the legendary Calvin Murphy. When Calvin came over, I got pictures in the middle of him and Rick. Good Gawd!

From there, I hear Charles Barkley wants me to come back to the locker room. Soon as I walk in, I see Kevin Willis who is a buddy of mine from back when he played with the Hawks. We BSed a bit and headed over to Charles who is definitely my kind of guy. As he's shaking my hand with one hand, he's handing me a beer with the other. We laughed and talked about some of the things that is happening in wrestling when who walks in, but to me one of the greatest Iron Men of all time, Warren Moon. If I could have had a camera rolling, to hear Moon and Barkley go back and forth about who is the greatest athlete, basketball players or football players, it would be worth a bundle-- pure comedy. You can tell those two guys really respect each other. I got some great shots with Barkley and Moon and everybody. It was an incredible day, and I hadn't even headed out to the bars yet.

We had a great time that night out in the nightclubs and finally got to bed by 4 AM. The next thing I remember, Big Rick was kicking the door to wake me up because it was already 11:10 AM and I had taken all the phones off the hook. After eating some breakfast, we headed back for Day 2. The first person I saw there was Rick Barry. We chatted awhile, got some more pictures and headed out to sign some more autographs. Today, Ozzie Smith was to my left. I heard Johnny Unitas was leaving, and I hadn't met him yet, but I broke away from the people to go backstage to meet the Great One. After getting pictures with Johnny, I went back and signed everything until there were none left. Ozzie was leaving at about the same time and we got a chance to talk. What a class act! Got some great shots with him and then moved over to meet Cy Young Winner Roger Clemens. Got a great shot between Ozzie and Roger. Afterwards, while Roger was signing me a picture, he asked me if I would sign one for his four boys. I said, "You have four boys?" He said, "I sure do" and I replied "You really are a stud, aren't ya." Another great guy. I also got to meet Oscar Robertson and Earl Weaver briefly, and both were great guys. The only person I didn't get to meet, but he sent me over an autograph, was Tommy Morrison. On the autograph, though, he had incorporated BANG, so I guess he's watching. I am looking forward to meeting him the next time. As I was about to leave, I met the WNBA Champion Houston Comets players who got a great response there. The starting five of the Comets, the coach and WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper all get a big pop. I couldn't help but think that the girls from a League Of Their Own helped the woman's basketball of today break some ground. It's good to see the female basketball players getting the respect that they deserve. So, if ya go to one of these shows, and I will be at the one in San Francisco, don't forget to check out the ladies from a League Of Their Own. I gotta promo my girls.

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