Trek Expo - Part 3 William Shatner

Continuing my Trek Expo posts, I want to share some stories from those that spoke during the day.

William Shatner
It seemed that I heard things about him that implied he was stuck up or full of himself and such. So, while I thought it was neat that I was going to get to hear William Shatner I wasn't on the edge of my seat about it.

Now that I have heard him my opinion of him is totally changed. He seemed like a great guy and I didn't catch the stuck up/full of himself vibe at all. He even added an extra photo op and autograph session to his time so that everyone could get their pic and autograph. I thought that was nice of him. Especially since it must be strange putting your arm around strangers for pictures all day long. Weird.

When he got on stage he talked about how nice it was to be there and how it was even more nice because his Son-in-Law (Joel Gretsch, V) was also there and it was nice to spend some time with him, just the two of them.

He talked about how he was in Canada for the Olympics and someone came up to him and told him they had four tickets to the Canada/USA hockey match. These tickets were valued at $40,000 A PIECE! This guy was offering him $160,000 worth of tickets. He was very excited. The next day he was at dinner with his wife and daughters and Sons-in-law and grand kids (13 people total). He said he had to make an executive decision and decided that he and his wife and two sons-in-law would take the four tickets and go to the Hockey game.

Later his daughter pulled him aside and mentioned that his two grandsons would really love to go to the hockey game and shouldn't they get the chance. So, he changed his mind and instead of the two sons-in-law he gave the tickets to the grandsons. Also, his wife decided that she really didn't need to go and thought that Joel (son-in-law) would enjoy the ticket more. So now it was Bill, Joel and two Grandsons going to the game.

The next day they were rehearsing his part in the closing ceremony and the man with the tickets came up to him. "I have bad news." he said. "The tickets have been sold. We don't have them anymore."

He said to the man with(out) the tickets. "Look, I already told everyone about these tickets and I don't want to do the actor thing and say 'I'm not going on unless . . .' but I Need Four tickets to this game and I REALLY need Six!"

The guy told him he would see what he could do and later came and said that he could get him three tickets. He said he really didn't want to do the actor thing and say 'I'm not going on unless . . .' but I Need Four tickets to this game and I REALLY need Six!"

Although at $40,000 per ticket it was lucky he was getting three tickets so now  the two grandsons and Bill were going to the game. But he decided that if his wife could be so sweet he would be too and once again Joel was given a ticket. So, Joel and the two grandsons going to the game.

Anyway, to make a LONG story just a tad bit less long. They finally ended up with SIX tickets to the game. So the two grandsons, two sons-in-law and Bill and his wife got to go.

At this point Joel Gretsch joined him on stage to add his own little tidbit about the hockey tickets. When Joel first discovered he was going to receive a ticket he said he sent out about 100 text messages telling everyone he was going to the game. Then, of course, he had to send them all messages telling them that he wasn't really going because the tickets were going to the grandsons. But then Bill's wife offered him her ticket so he sent the message that said he was going again. However, then there were only three tickets and he wasn't going. But then Bill gave up his ticket and he was going. He got very tired of sending messages.