In my three-year involvement, I’ve met a lot of great people as a result of Extra Life. None two greater than Brad and Max, the hosts of the 2idiot Gamers Podcast. These guys not only secured an exhibitor booth, just to give away fliers, but they did it without promoting themselves, or their show. Very generous. That was Thursday. On Friday, the booth was taken away and replaced by a teeth whitening booth. At a comic convention.

A freaking TEETH. WHITENING. BOOTH. Yet, they went on. Handing out fliers, without a booth, but with one purpose. To bring Extra Life to the masses.

Then I found out about this BS and all hell broke loose. Join us, after the jump.

I’ve neglected to name the official title of the Con in my posts for one reason. We were screwed by them. Brad and Max went out of their way, took time out of their lives and gave it to a great cause.

Extra Life.

They asked for nothing in return. They properly registered for an Exhibitor table and received one. Heck, the Con’s official website prominently displayed the Extra Life Logo. We were in. And then we weren’t. Or were we?

When Brad and Max were done handing out fliers on Thursday, they had a booth smack dab in the center of where all the “celebrities” sit and sign autographs and take pictures. There were the D-lister’s like Adrianne Curry, Lorenzo Lamas, Angie Everheart, and a bunch of old people who had been in movies years ago, like the kids from the original Willy Wonka movie, except old and odd. This is the high-traffic area of the Con, not only do people flock to the area to get pictures with John “Bo Duke” Schneider from Dukes of Hazzard (who coincidentally is a co-founder of the Childrens’ Miracle Network), or whatever actor you wanted. It was a great location, needless to say.

The next day, the guys got to the Con about 30 minutes before it opened and their space was simply gone. Replaced by a teeth whitening booth. I’m not even kidding. After dealing with some of the Con’s organizers that were less than sympathetic, they directed our heroes to a table, not a booth, but a table to set up. Not only was this not a booth, but it had trash all over it, because it was a common seating area near the Snack stand were people ate overpriced and terrible food, while taking a break from the Con’s festivities. Brad and Max didn’t flinch. They set up shop and kept going…. Until the Union flunky came by and said that the table was to be used elsewhere, dumped the trash on the ground and took the table from out under them.

And it gets better.

Unfortunately, I was out all day Friday. I found out Saturday morning at 8 am. Fortunately, I had been in contact with some of the Con’s organizers in the weeks leading up, who were excited for the coverage of the show. By 8:30, I was on the phone with the arrogant A-hole and by 9:30 we got a new spot on the show floor.

Turns out, it was the exact same spot where we were put the day before, except, without the trash. What could we do? At least we had a spot and we stole electricity that the Union charges $180 bucks, just so you can plug something into something. Remember, this IS Chicago. Screw ‘em.

It was the best we could do, but we went with it. We set up a tablecloth, two lap tops and 500 fliers later, I think we made a dent, and maybe even a few new gamers. Throughout, Brad and Max didn’t flinch or give up in the face of adversity. Normal people would have thrown their hands up and walked out.

Bravo guys.

Check out their fledgling podcast at 2idiotgamers.com and tell them thanks for kicking ass and raising money to help kids that need it the most.

Thank you Brad and Max!