DUE TO BAD WEATHER, CENA COULDN’T MAKE HIS SIGNING
- 06/24/2006 (1:49:08 pm)
- Mike Siciliano
…..
DUE TO BAD WEATHER CENA DIDN'T MAKE SIGNING......
People who read my columns regularly know how much of a mark I am for the former 2 time WWE Champion John Cena. If you keep up with the internet sites, or my columns, you'd probably know last night, John was scheduled to appear at New York Sports Works in Massapequa, NY at the Sunrise Mall alongside Raw Diva Maria Kanellis.
That was, until all hell broke loose.
It was the usual cash cow of a signing crowd for my good friends at NYSW, and the crowd was surprisingly well behaved in the new layout that has been provided in a different part of the mall. When boundaries are provided, more often than not, security becomes a lot easier. Of course, it didn't help that dummy me decided to drop one of the retaining walls by leaning on it, BOOM! Talk about embarrassing.
That turned out to be the least embarrassing thing that happened tonight.
By 6:30, things were starting to get restless. AC was nowhere to be found, and neither were the WWE superstars. I am not a patient man by trade, by any sense, but we had already been on line for close to 4 1/2 hours, so time was a luxury I was forced to adapt to. Then word came down that the stars were going to be 90 minutes behind schedule. With the weather forecast being less than promising, and obviously knowing how insane these individuals schedules can be, I didn't say a word. I did notice a significant amount of grumbling from the crowd however.
By 7 pm, one hour after the signing was supposed to start, the store owner came in and tried to explain to the throng that John Cena's flight was cancelled due to circumstances beyond his control. What boggles my mind is, a good portion of the throng of people there were angry at Alex for the fact that he didn't deliver on the promise of the Doctor of Thugonomics appearing. Alex offered a myriad of options to the crowd in the area, but he could barely be heard because most of the people refused to be quiet, grumbling about the fact that this is, to my knowledge, the first time something like this has happened in close to two years that I have been attending these signings.
Now, it was offered to the fans who stayed a free autograph with Maria. Although my kids were a little stressed out, and their father was significantly paranoid to a level that can only be described as "diamonds out of somewhere...", I wanted to at least try and get something out of the 5 plus hours I waited in that line on that carpeting with no AC, taking down a wall, and having to deal with a leak, of proportions I won't elaborate in to here.
My wife, grateful to her I am, took my kids outside to cool off in the AC. And, funny as it would be, as I was beginning to lose my patience and think about leaving, the word came down that Maria had arrived. The ironic part is, as my family was loading our stuff in to our car, Maria showed up, and my youngest son Jon held the door open for her.
Shortly thereafter, she had arrived in the autograph lineup, and we went up and got our promo pic with the lovely diva. She spent a couple of minutes speaking with my kids and my wife, and I got the pic that I had waited for. In the interim, I was informed by both my wife, and the rep from WWE, who's name I wish I knew, that John Cena had been in contact with them, informing them that he was still sitting on the runway in Charlotte, trying to get on a plane to come to New York.
I give the WWE a lot of credit for coming through with something out of what had to be a surrealistic nightmare. I give New York Sports Works the kudos they deserve for offering options for the crowd with regard to getting what they spent their hard earned money for. Rest assured I will be in attendance for when John Cena and whomever else comes with him at that time.
I do not give the kudos to a lot of the fair weather fans that came to the show who lost their collective minds when this nightmare occurred. There is only so much that can be explained and controlled by the powers that be, and truth be told, when there's a storm bearing down on the Northeast corridor, and you're trying to fly in to that storm, sometimes, it just doesn't work. I can relate to that from experience, just ask me in an email about the Blizzard I literally got a boost from as I was traveling on one of the last planes out of JFK to Rochester, New York to visit my then girlfriend and current wife.
In closing, a thank you needs to go out to my kids for dealing with my insanity throughout the whole mess last night. I could say I was a little disappointed, which I was, but I can also say that I understood all that had occurred, and respect the candor that was shown by all parties involved. I will continue to promote the signings at New York Sports Works, and respectfully say this. When you're there, show the respect for all parties that are involved that you would expect shown to yourself. It's only fair, and proper in every sense of the word.
That was, until all hell broke loose.
It was the usual cash cow of a signing crowd for my good friends at NYSW, and the crowd was surprisingly well behaved in the new layout that has been provided in a different part of the mall. When boundaries are provided, more often than not, security becomes a lot easier. Of course, it didn't help that dummy me decided to drop one of the retaining walls by leaning on it, BOOM! Talk about embarrassing.
That turned out to be the least embarrassing thing that happened tonight.
By 6:30, things were starting to get restless. AC was nowhere to be found, and neither were the WWE superstars. I am not a patient man by trade, by any sense, but we had already been on line for close to 4 1/2 hours, so time was a luxury I was forced to adapt to. Then word came down that the stars were going to be 90 minutes behind schedule. With the weather forecast being less than promising, and obviously knowing how insane these individuals schedules can be, I didn't say a word. I did notice a significant amount of grumbling from the crowd however.
By 7 pm, one hour after the signing was supposed to start, the store owner came in and tried to explain to the throng that John Cena's flight was cancelled due to circumstances beyond his control. What boggles my mind is, a good portion of the throng of people there were angry at Alex for the fact that he didn't deliver on the promise of the Doctor of Thugonomics appearing. Alex offered a myriad of options to the crowd in the area, but he could barely be heard because most of the people refused to be quiet, grumbling about the fact that this is, to my knowledge, the first time something like this has happened in close to two years that I have been attending these signings.
Now, it was offered to the fans who stayed a free autograph with Maria. Although my kids were a little stressed out, and their father was significantly paranoid to a level that can only be described as "diamonds out of somewhere...", I wanted to at least try and get something out of the 5 plus hours I waited in that line on that carpeting with no AC, taking down a wall, and having to deal with a leak, of proportions I won't elaborate in to here.
My wife, grateful to her I am, took my kids outside to cool off in the AC. And, funny as it would be, as I was beginning to lose my patience and think about leaving, the word came down that Maria had arrived. The ironic part is, as my family was loading our stuff in to our car, Maria showed up, and my youngest son Jon held the door open for her.
Shortly thereafter, she had arrived in the autograph lineup, and we went up and got our promo pic with the lovely diva. She spent a couple of minutes speaking with my kids and my wife, and I got the pic that I had waited for. In the interim, I was informed by both my wife, and the rep from WWE, who's name I wish I knew, that John Cena had been in contact with them, informing them that he was still sitting on the runway in Charlotte, trying to get on a plane to come to New York.
I give the WWE a lot of credit for coming through with something out of what had to be a surrealistic nightmare. I give New York Sports Works the kudos they deserve for offering options for the crowd with regard to getting what they spent their hard earned money for. Rest assured I will be in attendance for when John Cena and whomever else comes with him at that time.
I do not give the kudos to a lot of the fair weather fans that came to the show who lost their collective minds when this nightmare occurred. There is only so much that can be explained and controlled by the powers that be, and truth be told, when there's a storm bearing down on the Northeast corridor, and you're trying to fly in to that storm, sometimes, it just doesn't work. I can relate to that from experience, just ask me in an email about the Blizzard I literally got a boost from as I was traveling on one of the last planes out of JFK to Rochester, New York to visit my then girlfriend and current wife.
In closing, a thank you needs to go out to my kids for dealing with my insanity throughout the whole mess last night. I could say I was a little disappointed, which I was, but I can also say that I understood all that had occurred, and respect the candor that was shown by all parties involved. I will continue to promote the signings at New York Sports Works, and respectfully say this. When you're there, show the respect for all parties that are involved that you would expect shown to yourself. It's only fair, and proper in every sense of the word.
For people who may want to get in contact with me, my email is [email protected] and my myspace is http://www.myspace.com/mikesiciliano
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