[Please enjoy this bonus episode of our Patreon-exclusive Country Club Atmosphere podcast. If you like what you hear and want more, sign up for the Country Club tier at Patreon.com/IslandersAnxiety to access the full archive of Country Club Atmosphere episodes.]

Mike and Dan talk about fan conventions, one Mike created and one where Dan finished a quest that took over 30 years to complete.

Years ago, Mike was one of the driving forces behind FrancesaCon, a day-long celebration of New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa. What started as a loose bar crawl turned into three jam-packed dates over three years at another NYC institution, Irving Plaza, and even earned participation by Da Pope himself. Luminaries like Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, boxing champ Amir Khan and football Hall of Famer Jack Youngblood all attended and FrancesaCon hit the big time, even getting covered by ESPN and other outlets. Mike tells the full story about how the con came about, the relationships he made along the way that are still going and some of the funny behind-the-scenes stories from those wild times.

Dan's con story is much different. At a local comic con in April, he found the missing piece to a collection that he had been growing since he was eight years old. As the feeling of relief and happiness washed over him, so did a little confusion as to what to do next. After decades of comic cons all over the area, this small New Jersey one stands as the most important in his life.

And, of course, as is tradition on this non-hockey podcast, the Islanders do come up a few times.

No matter what world a convention is in, the best part is gathering with people who "get you," and feeling free to be in a world you truly feel comfortable in.

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