Finally some official UFL news!

I've been reading for a few weeks now an official announcement was coming from the UFL. Many speculated it was going to be the end of the league as they had announce Spring ball would likly happen. Here is is January and nothing had been announce. Today, we finally received official word from the United Football league. Commissioner Michael Huyghue resigned today leaving things wide open for the future. Oursportscentral.com reports , Huyghue as saying "The UFL has experienced funding issues and at this juncture it seems most prudent that I step aside while the owners work to raise the necessary funds to conduct a fourth season."

The article also quoted UFL owners Bill Hambrecht and Bill Mayer:

'UFL owner and founder BILL HAMBRECHT said: "We are greatly indebted to Michael for taking an idea and turning it into a reality against very challenging circumstances. We remain committed to taking the league forward and are moving ahead to fund a fourth season, but we would not be here today without his steadfast leadership."

Chairman of the UFL owners group BILL MAYER added: "I want to personally thank Michael for providing the steady leadership needed to launch the UFL and take it to it's current position. It was not an easy task. The owner group is committed to go forward with the league and play our fourth season this fall."'

Regardless - Spring ball will not be happening in 2012. We will have to wait and see if Fall ball will be returning. As for the Omaha Nighthawks, a 'for lease' sign is in the window of the teams office in downtown Omaha. From my understanding all off the teams staff have moved on to other opportunities. Some will come back if the league does play again and others have moved on completely.

As for this fan, if they play... I'll be there. If they don't and the league folds, I'll still have one of the largest Omaha Nighthawks autograph collections and a pretty impressive collection of UFL merchandise for a sports bars someday! If your interested in purchasing it... let me know. :)

Central US Conventions and Annual Events

For a complete list of Conventions, events and festivals, visit the tab at the top of the page.

1/27/12-1/29/12 Vermincon, Vermillion SD - Gaming
2/10/12-2/12/12 Gamicon, Iowa City IA - Gaming
2/11/12-2/12/12Sci-fi Expo, Irvin TX - Sci Fi - Media
2/17/12-2/19/12 Visioncon, Springfield MO - Literary, Arts and Media
2/25/12 Fargo Moorehead Comic Com Fargo ND - Comics
3/2/12-3/4/12 Kearney Game Fest, Kearney NE - Gaming
3/9/12-3/12/12 MarsCon, Bloomington MN - Literary, Arts and Media
3/16/12-3/18/12 Wondercon, Anaheim CA - Comics and Media
3/16/12-3/18/12 All-Con, Dallas TX - Literary and Arts
3/24-3/25/12 Planet Comicon, Overland Park KS - Comics and Media
3/24/12-3/25/12 Creations Twilight Convention, Chicago IL - Media
3/30/12-4/1/12 Fields of Honor, Des Moines IA - Gaming
3/30/12-4/1/12 Spring Recruits, Lee Summit MO - Gaming
3/30/12-4/1/12 Anime Detour, Bloomington MN - Anime
4/6/12-4/8/12 Minicon, Minneapolis, MN - Literary and Art
4/13-12-4/15/12 Constellation, Lincoln, NE - Literary and Arts
4/13/12-4/15/12 C2e2, Chicago,IL Comics and Media
4/14/12-4/15/12 Crations Vampire Diaries Convention, Chicago IL - Media
4/20/12-4/22/12 Willycon, Wayne, NE - Literary and Art
4/20/12-4/22/12 MAGE Spring con, South Sioux City NE Gaming
4/20/12-422/12 Starfest, Denver, CO - Comics, Horror, Media and Robotics
5/4/12-5/6/12 Demicon, Des Moines,IA Literary and Arts
5/5/12 Free Comic Book Day, Everywhere - Comics
5/19-20/12 Dallas Comic Con, Dallas, TX - Comics and Media
5/19/12-5/20/12 Creations Twilight Con, Kansas City MO - Media
5/25/12-5/27/12 Conquest, Kansas City, MO Literary and Art
6/1/12-6/3/12 Duckon, Schaumburg, IL - Literary and Art
6/29/12-6/30/12 Trek Fest, Riverside, IA (The Birthplace of Captain Kirk!) Festival
7/5/12-7/8/12 Convergence, St Paul, MN - Literary, Arts and Media
7/12/12-7/15/12 Comic Con, San Diego, CA - Comics and Media
7/27/12-7/29/12 OSFest, Omaha NE - Literary and Arts
7/27/12-7/29/12 Anime Iowa, Coralville IA - Anime
8/9/12-8/12/12 Chicago Comic Con, Chicago IL - Comics and Media
8/16/12-8/19/12 GENCON, Indianapolis, In - Gaming
8/17/12-8/19/12 CREATIONS Stargate Convention, Chicago IL - Media
8/24/12-8/26/12 Cryptic Con, Kansas City MO - Horror
8/31/12-9/3/12 Magecon South, South Sioux City NE - Gaming
8/31/12-9/3/12 Dragoncon, Atlanta GA - Media
9/21/12-9/23/12 Fencon, Dallas TX - Literary and Arts
9/28/12-9/30/12 Fall Field of Honor, Des Moines IA - Gaming
10/5/12 - 10/7/12 Nukecon,Omaha NE - Gaming
10/12/12-10/14/12 Archcon, St. Louis MO - Literary and Art
10/19/12-10/21/12 Valleycon, Fargo ND - Media
10/?/12 Mile High Con, Denver CO - Literary and Art
10/26/12-10/28/12 Ausin Comic Con, Austin TX - Comics and Media
10/26/12-10/28/12 A Salute to Supernatual, Chicago IL - Media
11/?/12 Nebraskon, Omaha, NE - Anime
11/2/12-11/4/12 Iowa ICON, Cedar Rapids IA - Literary and Arts
11/?/11 Comic Book ICON, Altoona, IA - Comics

More UFL and Omaha nighthawks news, well sorta... ok, Not really!

In the last few months, many players from the Omaha Nighthawks have went back to the NFL. Most recently Quarterback Troy Smith signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Story Here)

Today, we learn a key part of the Nighthawks is also going back to the NFL. General Manager Rick Mueller, the man responsible for assembling and recruiting players to the team, was hired on to the Philadelphia Eagles as part of the Eagles scouting staff. This is sad news for this Nighthawk fan. Rick was always open to fan interaction. He never sugar coated any answers to questions asked and was always straight forward. He had a knack for bringing players and landing some serious deals.


To continue on from an earlier post where I talked about the UFL and weather or not it was shut down. Things continue to look bleak for the UFL. In addition to ending the season short, losing players, staff, fans, teams and the league not paying bills, mass exodus of merchandise at the close of said shortened season and what ever else I'm forgetting; There still is no official word from UFL officials on the fate of the league. Links on the official UFL website are broken for every major story or bio. Little or no information is out there period, anywhere. There has been no tweets or mention of news on any of the leagues social media sites other than fan postings on news such as Mueller's hiring or the general rants of the UFL being dead.

Another thing I forgot to mention, which seems to also play into things locally in Omaha, is the stadium situation. We all know the UFL was looking at playing in the spring. The big question was where do they play in Omaha. We know MECA won't let them play football at TD Ameritrade park during baseball season, especially before the their golden goose... The College World Series. Another possible solution was maybe play at UNO's Caniglia Field. UNO recently had cut the football program and the stadium now sits empty. With the addition of more bleachers, this would be a very viable option. Well, the Omaha World Herald ran a story HERE about the stadiums future. It seems everything but football is being considered for the space. So much for that idea.

Well, anyways, I guess thats it. Normally, no news is good news but I think it this case... things are done! At least we still have the Omaha Beef! (Which looks like I'm getting season tickets very soon)

Oh! I took some great photos from the sideline of the last game. Once I get through them all, I'll post them up. My guess is as a memorial...

Flash Back Friday: June 23rd 2009 - Day 5 of building R2-TD

Not a lot of photos tonight. The batteries died in the Camera. Anyways... just about done with the frame.
Below, Moose helps me snap a few peices in.

The almost completed frame.

We would of finished it tonight but the router bit fell out and boy was it hot! We had to let it cool before we started up again. It got late so now we will finish the top and bottum circles next Tuesday since Trek Fest is this weekend. Than is should be ready to glue.

Flash Back Friday - June 21st 2009: Day 4 of building R2-TD

Wow... what a day! Moose, Brad, Jason N. and I started around noon at Moose's cutting strips of wood so we could begin cutting four frames out.

After a few hours, we had all the wood cut. We double checked all the measurements one last time against the plans and was ready to head to Brad's to begin notching the frames.

Once at Brad's we paused for lunch than the fun began. Moose and I cut out templates for the notches while Jason and Brad worked on thier skirts for the frames.

We ended up working on all the pieces about eight hours today and still don't have all of them done. Heres myself admiring all we got done.

After we finished up for the day, we ended up taking a swim to unwind!

Anyways, the day was super productive and with any luck we'll have some of the frames glued and together this next week.

OH YEAH!! I almost forgot. I got to meet KITT and B9 today also!

KITT even over saw some of our work to make sure everything was going smooth. We may of missed a step with out him there! :)

Next build night is Tuesday so I'll have more for sure than!

Memories

I got a random text the other day from a very dear friend. It simply said "FIREHOUSE ROCKS!" It was completely out of no where. I responded back - "Hello Random text." LOL! After a bit, she responded back she was listening to her MP3 player and Firehouse was one. It reminded her of a time we had went to go see the band many years ago and she just wanted me to know she was thinking about me. (insert warm fuzzies)

Needless to say I still have my concert ticket stub from the show. I save pretty every stub weather it be from a concert, movie or sporting event... I still have it somewhere. Usually, I toss them in a basket I have over by my desk. That night, I dug the basket out and went through all my stubs. Memories flooded back. Some, I don't remember going to but I have the stub.... Some I don't want to admit I went to... LOL!

Anyways, I have this large frame I saved from the trash and had nothing that fit in it. So I took all my ticket stubs and randomly placed them on it. Now, I can flash back more often!

Dr. San Guinary's Super Hero Blood Drive - Kypton Comics 1-21-12

Kypton Comics hosted its very first Blood drive with Dr. San Guinary's Super Hero Blood Drive on Saturday January 21st. The day was jammed packed with with fun and excitement. R2-TD as well as members of the Central Garrison of the 501st, the Central Base of the Rebel legion and several other local costumers came out and supported the event. Local character Artist Wayne Sealy was drawing for everyone who stopped by. I'm happy to report, the event which was scheduled to bring in 25 pints of blood, brought in 32 pints! Thanks to everyone who came out to make this event a huge success!

Flash Back Friday: June 17th 2009 - Day 3 of building R2-TD

Tonight was an incredibly busy build night. Jason, Moose, Jen, Brad, Steve, Logan and myself all had things going on.
Steve worked on some more on my foot pegs. Here he is boring them out.

Jason, Brad, Jen and myself started cutting circles for four frames.

After we had all the circles cut. We routed them smooth and made sure all were the same size.

Last but not least. We glued some more on Leg 2. Than we cleaned up for the night.

Things are really coming together fast. We plan to meet up this weekend and hope to have the rest of the frame cut out so next week we can start gluing.

Flash Back Friday: June 9th 2009 - Day 2 of building R2-TD

Day 2 of R2. I think I've decided to name him R2-TD with the nickname Touch Down. Tonights build was again productive. I finished glueing the legs and they will be dry soon so I can put the finishing touches on them.

Then I started making the mounts where the dome will rotate from. It took a few tries to get the holes lined up but I was able to finish it with a little help from my friend Jason. Here's a picture of the parts made tonight.

We also picked up a sheet of ply wood to start on the frame. Here's Moose getting ready to cut the first pieces.

Once the frame is complete, this is what it should look like.

Are you ready for some football? IFL, UFL and some ex's?

ESPN Dallas Fort Worth is reporting here Terrell Owens is to play for the IFL's Allen Wranglers this spring. No word yet if TO will be making road trips to Omaha to face the Omaha Beef or to Grand Island to play the Nebraska Danger. People in the Omaha area saw first hand what some star power can do to a football team with the Omaha Nighthawks in its first year when it brought in Ahman Green, Jeff Garcia, Cato June, Robert Ferguson and many other NFL vets. Either way, sounds interesting and could be exciting to see what happens.

Speaking of the Nighthawks. Rumors swirled for the last few days that the United Football League had folded after it's 3rd year. Social Media and the UFL website have had little to no updates for months fueling the debate. Nighthawks head coach Joe Moglia had recently taken a head coaching job for a college team and no replacement has been named. Also, Virginia Destroyers Head coach Marty Schottenheimer and Sacramento Mountain Lions Head coach Dennis Green are in news in the hunt for NFL coaching jobs. Than to top it all off, Las Vegas Locos employee Patrick Dux(who has worked in the UFL from the very beginning at the California Redwoods before the Locos) tweeted from @PatrickDux on JANUARY 13 "Crazy day. The UFL shutdown today and J Fisher took a job with the Rams. The team that beat the @tennesseetitans in the super bowl." Than "#FF @adambergen @AndraeT81 @madbacker56 @BobbyRome @krisLgriffin53 @DezSherrod84 UFL shutdown today." Than "Spyder0033 Adrian Awasom
IT'S OFFICIAL ... !!! ... R.I.P. @UFL ... Special Shot Out to Michael Hughes For Single Handedly Killing Da Golden Goose ... #UFL"
Today, Dux reported on his twitter account the "#UFLISDEAD". A follower of his than asked if official word had come out and his response was "no & there never will be. All I know is everyone on payroll was terminated on Friday. I saw both emails from the league and trinet." Amongst other things Dux and many Locos's players have been stating how they have not been paid as of today for the last season. To top it off, Nation Hahn, director of Digital media for the UFL stated on twitter (@UFLNationHah) "I am, and will remain, part of the #UFL family, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds." right after a post about his new job... "Follow my new adventure with @newkind via @nationhahn" Hahn also said on the UFL Access forums "The UFL has not folded, it is still operating. Changes continue to happen behind the scenes. I hope that the UFL plays in 2012, it still has a chance." The Still has a chance part is what gets me the most. Doesn't look to promising.

The last thing I want to mention is something that has really been bothering me in the media latly. Mostly I see this on the Omaha World Herald reporting of Former Nebraska Cornhuskers. They report all former players as Ex's. EX Husker so and so did this. To me, an EX is someone who quit the team or left before finishing, Not someone who finished, graduated and was on good terms. A prime example, the Headline today EX-Huskers to Open Dunkin Donuts.... sounds negative to me. In fact, what did they played for Nebraska even have to do with the story. What about the Houston Texans? That was Browns last football gig. No mention of that. Oh well, Maybe I'll write Warren Buffet a letter now that he owns that rag of a newspaper and complain.

2 out of 3 aint bad!

So Monday, I had a Doctor visit for a follow up on my blood pressure. It was also time to do the blood work for the year to see how my cholesterol and blood sugars were doing. The good Doc was concerned for the last few years and has been watching all 3. The good news is all 3 went down and 2 or f the 3 were great news. Cholesterol was down 4 years in a row. Blood Sugar is down after going up the last 2 years. That was a big one for me and scared me the most. My family has a history of getting Diabetes at age 37. It looks like I am the first one from my Mothers side to break that trend. Well, I shouldnt say that. I dont turn 38 until May but still I'm on the right path. Blood Pressure was also down but not enough to cut the meds he has me on. The only bad thing he had for me was I was 9 pounds from my last visit. Oh well. I'll live with it for now. Just gotta keep chugging along, watching what I'm eating and getting in the exercise and everything will be just fine!

Inscription and name removal from Glossy Photos

While more a Flash Back Friday as I made this post September 20th 2009, I thought I'd re-post this one right away and get it back out there.

So many times celebrities insist on having your photo personalized. Many collectors like myself do not usually like to have many photos personalized. Today I'm going to show one of the many ways you can remove a personalization from a glossy photo. I haven't tried it on anything other than glossy photos so experiment at your own risk.

I start with a photo, EXPO dry erase marker (usually the color of the ink I'm removing just in case) and a non-lint cloth. I tend to use an old wash cloth usually.

You'll want to try a spot first to make sure the maker will come off. Once your sure it will come off, Trace or black out the area you want to remove.

Once the part you want to remove is covered, take you cloth and slowly wipe the maker away. It may smear a little so you'll want to careful not to get it on any part of the signature or writing you want to keep.

After your finished wiping everything off, you should have a clear photo.

Now you have non-personalized photo.

Flash Back Friday: June 28th 2009 - Trek Fest 2009

We made it home from Trek Fest in one piece. It took a little longer than we thought to get there. Dawn overheated on the way so we had to stop and cool her down. She was one the verge of heat stroke I believe. Guess I'll have to get the AC fixed in the van, it made for a hot, long ride. Anyways, I was surprised when we actually got there .


Riverside, IA is pretty small. It reminded me of the town I went to high school in. One main street and a few buisnesses. I believe the population is around 900. Also, the movie "Fanboys" was not filmed there. "Fanboys" made it look bigger! There was a show called "Invasion Iowa" with William Shatner done there and also an "Extreme Home Makeover".

We were really late and missed the parade in the morning and the presention of the Honorary Membership to the 501st legion to George Takei for his voice work in the "Clone Wars" cartoon series. In fact I almost missed the Q & A I paid to attend even but I'll get to that in a moment.

When we first pulled into town, we hooked up with my friend Logan. He pointed out where a lot of the local points of interest were and we ran out to get pictures really quick.

Some of the floats from the parade were still around so we took some pics of them also.

Once we saw the town, we headed to the Q & A. Dawn went off and gambled in the Casino while I went and geeked out. I missed about half of the Q&A but still got to hear George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Keonig answer a few questions and tell a few stories. I was most impressed with Nichelle. She is truely an amazing women! After they were done, they held a photo and autrograph session. It was the first time Riverside had organized one of these and you could kinda tell. There were a lot of hickups but everything worked it's self out in the end. I added Nichelle and George to my cast shot and than had all three sign a group shot.