Roger A. Ott ll wrote: "Considering I met a man last year who does beautiful landscapes and wildlife drawings in pen and ink with his mouth due to the fact that he's paralyzed from the neck down, I'd say Burne Hogarth was full of it.  You draw how you draw."

A similar point occured to me shortly afterwards.  Drawing is more about the perception of things, "seeing them in your head" and then finding a means of communicating them back as representational images... How you put the marks on the paper is secondary to how you're translating the flow of visual information, and "solving problems" along the way.  I believe Mr. Hogarth's point had to do with holding the insturment loosely so as not to obsess over detail and control to the point where you render your arm rigid and incapable of making broader, more expressive strokes and gestures... In any case, he was holding court and it was his court to hold.  I would not have contradicted him, regardless.

But your point is absolutely true and well-made!

You now what bothers me the most?  Crazy fans that expect too much and make it uncomfortable for the pros at cons (Like that? Pros at cons) so that I now will probably never get a chance to meet JB in person.

Stupid, right, that a grown man (me) wants to meet another grown man (JB) just to shake hands and say thanks for doing what you do?  Maybe get a pic and have a book signed and personalized for me.

Maybe I am the crazy fan.

Another late visiter to the thread, but I guess I may have a unique perspective.

I did a few book signings locally in 1999 after a basketball I wrote was published, and people were very courteous to me so I enjoyed it a lot.

However, as a fan I've also seen instances and heard stories about rude fans who expect to much.

What you should expect is - A) to follow the rules [don't ask to be an exception]; B) common courtesy [there's not really any excuse not to be curteous to someone who enjoys your work], C) that sometimes you just catch someebody on a bad day, so don't read to much into it.

Probaby the best experience that I had was when I met Jerry Colangelo, the former owner of the Phoenix Suns & Arizona Diamondbacks.  I made sure I was at the end of the line so I could ask him a couple of questions, and had a nice (brief) chat with him.  But I don;t expect that kind of interaction from anyone.

"Come back in five years and I'll break your hands."

That's hilarious!

There was an interview I heard from a wrestler I like. When it got to fan/wrestler relations he said this.

"The wrestlers should stop trying to act like they are better than the fans and the fans should show wrestlers some respect. Nobody is better than anybody else."

I think that statement can be used in any type of fan/actor,writer etc relationship.

Follow the Golden rule and everything is super special awesome.  

EDIT: I think the lesson from the bad day theroy. Is you should always try to be nice to people. Because you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Wallace - The name of my book is THE COMPENDIUM OF PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL, and I also did a chapter on pro basketball from 1896 to 1953 in TOTAL BASKETBALL: THE ULTIMATE BASKETBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Both opportunities sprang forth because of the work I did starting a pro basketball historical society back in 1997 - http://www.APBR.org