San Diego Comic-Con is a magical place.  Spending four days there can be an entirely surreal experience, and you can't come back home without a handful of stories to tell.  If I hadn't had to cover the event for BuddyTV, it would have been easy to enjoy myself by simply walking around and people watching.  You have the obsessive comic book fans, the costumes, the spectrum of celebrities and quasi-celebrities in attendance, as well as the sheer spectacle of the massive event.  Below, you will find my five biggest memories from Comic-Con that have nothing to do with the actual panels or events I attended.  Even if you don't like comic books, the San Diego Comic-Con is something that everyone should try and attend, if only once.  Believe me, it's worth it. 

#1 – A Delightful Celebrity Sighting

Celebrity sightings are always one of the highlights of an event like Comic-Con.  After doing a fair number of these events, I've become somewhat immune to these sightings.  After a while, the feeling of being star struck kind of passes.  But, this is generally only the case when I expect to see someone.  However, the random sightings are still exhilarating, especially when they're really random.  If you're at Comic-Con for four days, like I was, you're going to have your share of encounters.  On Day 2, I was walking hurriedly to a panel, when I looked to my right in the big upstairs autograph signing hall, and was delighted to see Guy Ritchie, Ludacris, Jeremy Piven, Gerard Butler and Idris Elba signing autographs in support of the upcoming film Rockinrolla.  Like twenty feet away. That was a nice surprise.

But, my favorite sighting of the weekend came outside of the expansive San Diego Convention Center.  I had just eaten a little breakfast and was walking from inside the Gaslamp District towards the Con.  Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a familiar face eating breakfast all by his lonesome.  It was Maurice Cheeks, former NBA point guard and current coach of the upstart Philadelphia 76ers.  I love this guy, and I couldn't help myself:

Me: “Maurice Cheeks!”

Maurice looks up, perhaps a bit startled.  He goes back to his food.

Me: “Maurice – great work with the Sixers.  Damn, you guys were exciting this year.”

Maurice smiles faintly, “Thanks...thanks, man.” 

I freeze, searching for something to say, then awkwardly walk away.  I have no idea why Mo was there (maybe he likes comic books), but I bet I was one of the few conventioneers who recognized him. 

Just for fun, here's a video showing why we all should unconditionally love Mo:





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-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer