Share What You Know – Of Comic Books and Super Bowls

Good evening, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling lively tonight? I certainly hope so.

You may remember my earlier posts about Renaissance Weekends. Let me return to that subject.

Part of attending a Renaissance Weekend is the obligation to speak briefly on some subject. This helps others get to know you and to find people who have similar interests. It also makes for some fascinating opportunities to learn.

Everyone fills out a biographical form, and Phil Lader picks out something that he thinks will interest others. For many years, I was asked to head up the panel to recommend investments for the upcoming year. In those days, one of the more reliable indicators for the future year’s stock market results was who won the Super Bowl. I always mentioned that item, and often spent the next few days discussing why this might work. That discussion would lead to mentioning that I had gone to several Super Bowl games, and more discussions would follow. It was a great icebreaker.

After a few years, I found that role confining so I asked Phil to put me up to talk about anything but investments. Instead, he made me the specialist on comic book collections, one of my many hobbies. I found myself now becoming acquainted with other closet comic book fans and lots of youngsters. It was a lot more fun.

Interestingly, I have rarely found anyone who didn’t relate with interest to either Super Bowl games or comic book collecting. Go figure. I never would have expected those interests to be my claims to fame with so many people. Many people I don’t see very often will start out the conversation by asking me if I plan to go to the next Super Bowl and whether or not I still collect comic books.

You never know where this will lead. My Harvard classmate, Andy Tobias heard about my collecting and wrote about me in one of his investment books. Since then, we’ve had many interesting chats about writing non-fiction books and even more people ask me about my comic books.

So one thing can lead to another.

Be sure to remind me to tell you how you may be able to attend a Super Bowl game for a cash outlay of five dollars and be able to show a profit within an hour after the game is over.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell