Arizona Meeting and NASO Summit Starts Slow, Finishes Strong

Ever have one of those days where everything that could go wrong does go wrong? This was our Saturday morning when 1,100 officials showed up in Tucson for a mandatory meeting just prior to the NASO Summit.

What happened? The shipping company who handles shipments for the hotel where the meeting took place did not have our items and materials for us when promised, then everything started earlier than it was supposed to.

Not to worry, everything finally arrived at 10:30am and things could only go up from there despite it taking us a while to gradually set up as we were meeting with people. (Actually, there was a time where it appeared that everything had been lost. If that had been the case, the whole trip would have been basically worthless. So, things could have certainly been worse.)


Overhead View of Exhibit Area - Arizona Meeting
(Us on the left)
We sure did see many officials that day, more than we ever have at an event of this type. Besides most officials being there for football, many were interested in the baseball items we brought as well. What gained the most interest? The Diamond Silver Frame Umpire Mask, Wilson Titanium Mask and Ultimate Shirts (all sports) plus New Balance and Reebok plate and field shoes.


Kirby Bollnow and I
Kirby is a football official from Arizona who has also been a good customer of ours for the past year. I always enjoy meeting customers face-to-face, especially for the first time, as it makes the sometimes impersonal experience of ordering online much less so.


Richard Jackson and I
Richard is a football official and customer from Phoenix who says "love your shirts and my New Balance 995". We were looking out for him as he was the only one who had previously commented on our Facebook page that he would be stopping by.


Federico Orozco and I
I met Federico at the NCAA Umpire Clinic in Chicago in January where we talked for a while there and at the NASO Summit. He is a native of Tucson and currently resides in Pennsylvania. Federico is also one of those multi-sport officials that we like having around.


Richard "Dick" Davidson and I
It's always good seeing Dick Davidson. This is my 3rd year in a row seeing him at the NASO Summit. Dick is a baseball umpire and football official from New York with a big heart and big supporter of Umps Care (formerly Blue for Kids), the MLB Umpires' charity that we support.