Doug McDermott - Dallas Mavericks

1) Doug McDermott is a small forward playing for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. He has also played for the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Chicago Bulls.

2) McDermott attended Creighton University where he was a three time consensus All-American and ended his career as the fifth leading scorer in NCAA history. McDermott was named the National College Player of the Year in his senior season.

3) Doug was coached by his father, Greg McDermott, throughout his entire college career at Creighton University.

D: What is your favorite fruit and vegetable to eat?

DM: I love strawberries and oranges and for a vegetable I really like sweet potatoes.

D's Follow Up: I really like strawberries and oranges. Strawberries are my favorite. I like the sweet ones that taste like lollipops. I don't like sweet potatoes at all. I've tried them but they're not good.


J: What other sports are your favorite to play?

DM: I love to play golf and I was also a baseball player.

J's Follow Up: I'm a golfer and I love to golf too. Baseball is not really one of my favorite sports to play but I'll watch it sometimes. 

We met Doug McDermott in January of 2016 at the Sideline Marketing store in South Barrington when Doug was still a member of the Chicago Bulls. He spent the second half of last season with Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder and this year he was with New York Knicks before the trade deadline. He was recently traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

Jordan was excited to wear his #3 McDermott jersey to this signing that he got for Christmas and to meet one of his favorite Bulls players. Danny had just begun watching basketball and although he is a Warriors fan first, the Bulls come in second on his list of favorite teams and he was excited to meet his first NBA player. 

Doug did not disappoint and was excited to meet J and D and gave Jordan a compliment on his jersey. It was McDermott's second season in the NBA and there were not a ton of #3 Bulls jerseys with his name on them yet in the streets of Chicagoland. Doug signed for about an hour and met with about 100 fans on January 16th, 2016. 

The boys love to ask professional athletes about their favorite healthy foods and Doug mentioned strawberries and oranges were his top fruits. Those fruits happen to be our family's favorites as well and you can find them in our house nearly 365 days a year.

On the other hand, we only have one fan of sweet potatoes in the house and that is mom. The only time we see sweet potatoes is at Thanksgiving dinner or I will occasionally order up sweet potato french fries. 

Finally, Jordan asked Doug about other sports he loves to play. The three of us boys love to golf whenever we can. Jordan and Danny can play free at the Lake County courses all throughout spring, summer and fall and we like to take advantage of that perk. If Doug ever makes a return trip to Chicago, he is always welcome to join in with us! Although we wish Doug was still in a Bulls uniform, we wish him the best of luck in Dallas with the Mavericks.

Chicago Bulls - Denzel Valentine, Lauri Markkanen, Jerian Grant, Cristiano Felecio, Paul Zipser

1) Denzel Valentine, Lauri Markkanen, Jerian Grant, Cristiano Felecio and Paul Zipser are all members of the Chicago Bulls 2017-18 team.

2) As of 1/7/18, the Chicago Bulls have won 14 games and loss 26 but have been on the rise with a 7 game win streak and 3 game win streak just weeks ago.

3) The Chicago Bulls have won a total of six NBA championships (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998) and have played basketball since 1966.

D: Who was your favorite basketball player growing up?

Jerian Grant: I was big fan of Tracy McGrady.

J: I know that Tracy McGrady was one of the best. My favorites are Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Paul George.

D: I don't know who Tracy McGrady is and I've never heard of him. My dad said he was good and played in the NBA when Kobe Bryant was playing. He said he's also a Hall of Fame player.

Lauri Markkanen - Lebron.

J: I think it's interesting because he grew up in Finland. Lebron is one of the best and most famous so I can see why he liked him.

D: Lebron is too good. He's close to being the best player in the NBA ever behind Michael Jordan.

Cristiano Felicio: Kevin Garnett.

J: Kevin Garnett is also one of my favorite players ever. Garnett is probably Felecio's height so I can see why he would like to be like Kevin Garnett.

D: Kevin Garnett is good at basketball and Felicio is good too so that's probably why he liked him.

Denzel Valentine: Lebron.  

J: Lebron does a lot of dunking and also shoots threes too. Denzel shoots a lot of threes like Lebron. Most people like Lebron because he's one of the best players today.

D: It seems like everybody likes Lebron James. My favorite player is Steph Curry and Lebron James is number five behind James Harden, Damian Lillard, Nikola Mirotic and Kriss Dunn too. Lebron is definitely one of the greatest though.

Paul Zipser: Lebron.

J: A lot of people like Lebron James but I'm more of a fan of Michael Jordan. He must have watched the NBA growing up in Germany to know about Lebron.

D: I'm sure Zipser liked Lebron because he is so good. He probably liked him because they play the same position too.

Thanks to our friend Chris Rhode (@crhode1), we had the experience of a lifetime as we sat in the 11th row center court at the Chicago Bulls vs. Portland Trailblazers game on January 1st. We couldn't think of a better way to ring in the new year than with our good friend watching the Bulls from the best seats we've ever been in.

Jordan and I have had a couple of opportunities to sit in 100 level seats in previous years, so we had a good idea of when to arrive at the stadium and where to stand to have a chance to meet the players as they run to and from the court before the game. It was also Danny's first ever Bulls game, so we were hoping he could see his heroes up close and personal and give him the best experience possible. Chris and I were nearby as multiple players stopped to sign autographs for the boys and Danny made sure to ask every player who their favorite player was growing up.

The favorite player named by most players was Lebron James. Considering the majority of the players on the team were in middle school and high school while Lebron was playing in Cleveland to start his career and then made it to 3 straight Finals appearances with the Miami Heat, it comes as little surprise to us that they all loved King James. Lebron was winning MVPs, making All-Star teams...trying to win titles : )...and was and still is the face of the NBA, so it's understandable that most young athletes would gravitate to Lebron James.

Unfortunately, on New Years Day, the Bulls lost in overtime to the Blazers but we had a great time and took advantage of the amazing seats we were given. We look forward to our next Bulls game, although it's more likely that the next one will have everyone's noses bleeding by the time we make it up to our seats. Thank you @crhode1 for a night we will never forget! 

Ariya Daivari - WWE Superstar (Cruiserweight Division)

(Photo courtesy of http://www.wwe.com/superstars/ariya-daivari)

1) Ariya Daivari is an Iranian/American professional wrestler for WWE who performs on 205 Live and RAW in the cruiserweight division.

2) Daivari made his main roster debut on RAW in October of 2016 where he lost by submission to Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins.

3) Ariya's finishing moves include the Cobra clutch, Persian Lion Splash (Frog Splash) and a Hammerlock twisted into a short-arm lariat.

D: Who were your favorite wrestlers to watch when you were growing up?

AD: Number one was Triple H. Number two was the Macho Man Randy Savage and number three was The Rock. Those were my favorites growing up.

D's Follow Up: Triple H is good. Macho Man Randy Savage is great. And The Rock is great. My favorites are Aj Styles, Randy Orton and Kane.


J: Did you play any sports while growing up?

AD: In high school I was a wrestler. In 4th grade I started in martial arts and continued on with it. 

J's Follow Up: It makes sense that he's a wrestler because he wrestled in high school. In martial arts you work on skills to defend yourself and strike and in wrestling he does offense and defense too. 

The guys and I had the opportunity to meet WWE superstar Ariya Daivari after his appearance in Chicago on RAW the previous night. Ariya took part in the Miracle on 34th Street Fight with his partners Enzo Amore and Drew Gulak as they faced off against Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali and Akira Tozawa. In a hard fought match including the use of presents, Christmas trees, ornaments and more, Cedric Alexander ultimately pinned Enzo Amore for the win.

This was the first time we watched RAW live in person with our entire family. Jen and I gifted the boys the tickets on Christmas morning and they were excited to know that the event was just a few short hours away from starting. We braved the freezing cold temperature and enjoyed watching our favorite superstars for over 3 hours.

Ariya took the time to say hi to Danny and Jordan and answer their questions the following morning. Danny loves to ask athletes about their favorite athletes growing up, so he wanted to know Ariya's favorite wrestlers. We all agree that Triple H, Macho Man and The Rock are three of the greatest wrestlers of all time. My favorites include Mr. Perfect, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Roman Reigns. Jordan's favorites include Mick Foley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes.

It comes as no surprise to us that Ariya was a wrestler in high school and that he took part in martial arts beginning in the fourth grade. We can see how the skills from martial arts would translate well into professional wrestling. Ariya's brother is also a former WWE professional wrestler, so wrestling runs in the family. 

Thanks to Ariya for meeting with us and taking the time to answer our questions. We wish him the best in the Cruiserweight division and we hope that he can earn an opportunity to compete for the Cruiserweight Championship soon. 

Adam Shaheen - Chicago Bears

1) Adam Shaheen is a rookie tight end for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted in the second round (45th overall pick) of the 2017 NFL Draft.

2) Adam ran a 4.79 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. He believes with a few months training he could post a faster 40 time than he ran at the combine.

3) Shaheen played basketball in his first year of college and decided to transfer to Ashland University in Ohio where he walked on to the football team. Adam played three years of football for the Eagles and decided to forgo his senior season to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

D: What are your favorite healthy foods in each food group of My Plate?

AS: My favorites are bananas (Fruits), broccoli (Vegetables), yogurt (Dairy), chicken (Protein) and I love any type of bread (Grains).

D's Follow Up: I love Bananas, Broccoli, Yogurt, and I like English muffins for grains. And for protein I like Steak.

J: Who did you look up to while growing up? 

AS: I looked up to my dad when I was a kid and I looked up to Randy Moss as a football player. He was my favorite.

J's Follow Up: First of all, that makes lot of sense because I look up to my dad and my mom too. I look up to my parents because they believe in me and they are nice to me. For football, I look up to Jerry Rice and Lebron James for basketball. Lebron doesn't just brag about his skills, he's a really nice guy. He stands up to bullying and does a lot for people in Cleveland.

Occasionally, the boys and I make questionable decisions because we are so passionate about meeting our favorite athletes. This happened a few weeks ago when the first major snowfall came down. Most people were driving home to get warm with the snow falling down while we decided to stick with our commitment and drive through the snow to get to Bergie's Sports Card Dugout in Highland Park to meet Bears rookie tight end Adam Shaheen. It took us over an hour to get to Highland Park, which would typically take us 35 minutes. This was the first signing where we e-mailed ahead of time to notify that we would be attending and we did not need to pay until we arrived on the day of the event. Due to the weather, nearly all scheduled attendees cancelled. Thankfully, we decided to brave the elements and it turned out to be a night we will never forget.

We arrived at Bergie's fifteen minutes early and we were told that Adam was in the house and down the hallway. The boys came ready to ask Adam questions as we walked into the room to see Adam signing jerseys, photos, numbers and more. He was excited to see Jordan and Danny (even in the Packers shirt lol) and was more than happy to answer the boys' questions. Adam and Bergie said we were welcome to stay as long as we would like and the boys were in charge of entertainment. We had a big decision to make... do we go back out into the traffic and snow or do we spend an hour with an NFL player on a school night? We ended up staying for an hour and fifteen minutes talking with Adam and we feel like we may know Adam better than his fellow Bears teammates know him.

We learned a lot about Adam but one topic we talked the most about was food. Adam's favorite restaurants happen to be our family's favorite two restaurants. Referred to by NFL scouts as the "Chipotle Prospect" because he gained 70 pounds throughout his career in college, Adam credited his weight gain to his frequent appearances at the local Chipotle. I understand his infatuation with Chipotle as you will find me at the Deerfield location on weekdays at least 2-3 times a week. Chipotle is also a favorite of Jen who sticks to a vegetarian diet and the boys love the kids meals with quesadillas and carnitas. We love everything about Chipotle.

Not only does Adam Shaheen love Chipotle but his favorite restaurant is Pita Inn. He notes that he visits the Mundelein location at least 2-3 times a week or whenever he gets hungry. Once again, we are on board with this selection because we visit Pita Inn 2-3 times a week too and our good friend Wally runs the show over in Mundelein where they make the best food in the area. Shaheen noted he is of Lebanese descent and Pita Inn provides the type of Mediterranean food he grew up on. His order consists of the Combination Platter, 4 pita bread, tabouleh salad and a small order of hummus. Adam loves put it all together and make 4 giant sandwiches. We love Pita Inn like Adam and we hope to be there one day when Adam is eating his giant meal. We look forward to connecting with Adam again and we can't thank him enough for giving us an incredible experience!

Mitchell Trubisky - Chicago Bears

1) Mitchell Trubisky (#10) is the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted with the second overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.

2) Mitchell spent four seasons playing football at the University of North Carolina. As a redshirt junior, he took over the starting job where he started all thirteen games and threw for 3,748 passing yards with 30 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

3) Trubisky grew up in Ohio where he was a youth and high school football star along with Kansas City Chiefs running back, Kareem Hunt. Mitchell was named 2012 Ohio Mr. Football during his senior season and left as the area's all-time leader in passing yards.

D: This is a card of Akiem Hicks favorite foods. We are trying to make one of you. Can you tell us what your favorites foods are?

MT: Sure! Let's see. Broccoli is my favorite veggie too. I drink tons of milk. For grains I do oatmeal and cereal. I like steak and chicken for protein. I go to Chipotle 3-4 days a week.

D's Follow Up: Oh man, I love broccoli and steak and I really LOVE milk. I LOVE cereal and I LOVE chipotle. I get a kids meal and get carnitas, cheese, rice, quesadilla and blueberries too. I LIKE EATING FOOD LIKE A FOOTBALL PLAYER AND IT'S ALL GOOD!

J: Did you ever go to Cedar Point (Ohio) as a kid and what was your favorite ride?

MT: Of course, I love Cedar Point. I would say Top Thrill Dragster is my favorite. 

J's Follow Up: It's a funny story. At first I was scared to ride the Dragster when we went, then I thought, ok, maybe I'll do it. When I finally decided I wanted to ride the Dragster, it was closed. When I came back later, the line was all the way to Cuba! We decided not to wait but it looked really cool 👍 Next time we go, I'll ride it.

On Tuesday, December 5th, 2017, our family visited the new Sports N' More store inside Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills to meet Bears rookie QB Mitchell Trubisky at his first public signing. Mitchell has been at the top of our list of athletes to meet since the night the Bears traded up to the number two overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft to make him the quarterback of the future in Chicago. Trubisky has made nine career starts to date and has shown steady improvement with each game in his rookie season in the NFL. Mitchell has Bears fans all over the country excited about the future of this young team.

We were fortunate to have the first ticket number to meet Mitchell for a photo and to have our picture signed. As Jen, the boys and I made our way to the back of the store, we were instantly greeted by Mitchell who proceeded to introduce himself to each of us. This was the first time an athlete ever shook our hand and reminded us of their name. It was refreshing to see that Mitchell wanted to get to know all of us too.

Danny and Jordan were excited to ask Mitchell their questions and he was more than happy to oblige. As an Ohio native, we assumed that Mitchell had visited Cedar Point growing up and Jordan was curious to see if he would share his favorite ride. Last summer, Jen and the boys along with their Grandma, took a road trip to ride some amazing thrill rides at Cedar Point amusement park. They are very familiar with each of the top rides at the park in Ohio. Mitchell said Top Thrill Dragster is his #1 ride and as it turns out it was one of the only rides the boys and Jen didn't ride when they visited. I hope to accompany them on the next trip to Cedar Point and we will make it a point to visit the "Trubisky Dragster" as soon as we enter!

Next up was D who shared his healthy eating card of Akiem Hicks and was hoping Mitchell would share some of his favorite healthy foods that he likes to put on his plate. Again, Mitchell was excited to tell Danny about his favorites which include broccoli, steak, chicken, oatmeal, cereal, and milk. We also learned that Mitchell loves Chipotle and he typically visits 3-4 times a week. Chipotle is one of our family favorites and we hope to run into Mitchell on one of his visits in the future. We'd certainly love to talk Ohio, football and more while having a burrito with Mr. Trubisky. 

Mitchell Trubisky was as nice as advertised and looks to be the leader the Chicago Bears have been searching for the past few years. We had an experience we will never forget and we can't say enough positive things about the young quarterback from Ohio. Bears fans have a lot to look forward to with Mitchell Trubisky leading the team into the future! #BearDown

Lauri Markannen - Chicago Bulls

1) Lauri Markkanen is a rookie power forward for the Chicago Bulls who was the 7th overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft.

2) Markkanen grew up in Jyväskylä in Finland where he played for the Finnish team, HBA-Märsky from 2014-2016.

3) Lauri is one of the top rookies in the NBA this season. To start his career, he set the NBA rookie record by making ten 3-pointers in his first three games.

D: Do you have a favorite fruit, vegetable and dairy product? 

LM: Bananas. I don't eat dairy.

D's Follow Up: I sort of like bananas. I eat them but they are not my favorite. Strawberries are my favorite fruit.

J: At what age did you start playing basketball?

LM: I started playing at 6 years old.

J's Follow Up: I started watching sports and playing sports when I was six years old too. He was probably my size now when he was six years old because he's so tall. 

We were excited to meet one of the young star players for the Chicago Bulls, Lauri Markkanen, on Saturday, December 2nd. The boys and I typically decide how far we'll travel to meet an athlete based on how good we think they will be and how big of a fan we are of the athlete. We think Markkanen has a chance to be great and we have been impressed by the way he plays the game in his short time in Chicago. When we heard he would be making his first public appearance at Mongo McMichael's restaurant in Romeoville, we thought we would take the opportunity and go on the adventure. With Mongo McMichael's located an hour from home, we ventured out on the road and left the house with high expectations.

As we arrived, we were surprised that it wasn't too busy and it looked like the boys would get some individual attention from Lauri. We are not sure exactly why the event unfolded the way it did but it was the quickest we were ever sent through the line at an autograph signing that we can remember. We understand that Lauri's English is a work in progress but he didn't seem too thrilled to be there and the workers at the event pushed us through as quickly as they could. He and the Bulls had recently finished playing back to back nights against Denver and Sacramento on Thursday and Friday, so we can understand if he was a little exhausted from the games. Both were heart breaking one point losses too. With roughly 50 fans in attendance and Markkanen scheduled to sign for an hour, it seemed like the boys would have time to say hi and potentially take a picture with him. That wasn't the case.

We enjoyed the atmosphere at Mongo McMichael's restaurant and we give their cheese pizza two thumbs up. The venue was the perfect place for the signing and the boys and I made our way to the party room where we were ticket #35. Danny started off by saying hi and asked his typical healthy food question. We are not sure how much English he understands but he did mention he likes bananas. We were thankful to get that response. He chose not to share his favorite vegetable and he also noted he does not eat dairy. Jordan jumped in to ask Lauri when he started playing basketball as they were moving us along and he noted he was six years old. We imagine that a six year old Lauri Markkanen is probably the size of a typical 10-11 year old because he now stands at a towering seven feet tall!

We are fans of Lauri as a basketball player and we choose to believe that the people in charge of the signing were the ones who wanted to move the fans along and were in a bad mood. They did have hundreds of items located in the back that they wanted him to sign that they will sell off in the future. Luckily for us, we are treated great during most athlete appearances and we leave with great memories. The boys noted that they did enjoy taking their first trip to Romeoville and we had fun hanging at Mongo's restaurant. We wish Lauri and the young Bulls much success in the future!