Sports Collectible Show - Newsletter History

May 9th, 2018 (April 2018 newsletter)

Before I get started with my usual nonsense - in case you hadn't heard, our good friend Tom Shelton passed away last week. He and his son David have been long-time supporters of our show, and he will be missed. Heartfelt sympathies to David and all of Tom's family and friends.

Let's take a look at the latest sports news. In NFL news, the big story was, of course, the "draft". I know it was a big story because ESPN spent approximately 80,000 hours discussing it beforehand and is still discussing it constantly two weeks later. What's interesting to me is that the draft was hardly over (the transistors hadn't even cooled down yet) and here comes Mel Kiper Jr. (he's called "Jr" to distinguish him from Mel Kiper Sr, Mel Kiper III, and all the other Mel Kipers on the air) with his "projected" draft for NEXT YEAR. I'm not kidding. But, he was followed by Todd McShay, who, not to be outdone, has found a fourth-grader somewhere who weighs 65 pounds and runs the 40 in a minute and a half. Todd projects him as a first-rounder in 2028 or so.

The NBA playoffs are going on. I hope everyone is enjoying Lebron James as much as I am, as he dominates game after game for 48 (or 53) minutes then wins it with a last-second spectacular shot.Go Cavs! Peaking at the right time!

In MLB, the Braves are in first place! Let me say that again: the Braves are in first place! I know, the year is still young, and they may not finish in first. But then again, maybe they will. Meanwhile, the Washington Nits and the NY Mutts are trailing behind. I know, maybe they'll get better. But we can always hope not!

I know you've been watching the NHL playoffs with as much enthusiasm as I have. Hockey is the one sport I know of where, if you're watching on TV, it's impossible to see the hockeyball, or "puck", so you only know when a "goal" is made is when the light goes on. Hockey apparently has, like, three rules which, as in soccer ("futbol"), make no sense. Every once in a while the referee will stop play for no apparent reason, and two opposing players will "face off" for the "puck". "Face off" apparently has taken on a whole new meaning for a player named Brad Marchand who has been licking opposing players' faces. That's what I want in my sports - more face licking!

This month's trivia question goes all the way back to an NFL game played on November 17, 1968. Why is this game still remembered even today? And do you know who was playing?

In keeping with the fact that we are supposed to be about sports collectibles, I'm starting a new feature to talk about collecting news that you may have missed. So:

In the Ohtani world, Shohei has signed an exclusive agreement with Topps Authentics for autographed memorabilia, so that's where you'll get your signed bats, jerseys and baseballs. In other Ohtani news, the first 2018 Bowman Chrome Ohtani Red Refractor rookie auto (numbered to 5) has sold on Ebay for $30,000. That's speculation! In other news, Saquon Barkley has signed an exclusive agreement with Panini for cards and memorabilia. Upper Deck has released a set of non-sport cards from the very popular movie "Black Panther".

In my exhaustive and exhausting world-wide search for unusual sporting events, I've run across "swamp soccer", which as you might guess is soccer (or "futbol") played in a bog or swamp. And, HAHA! - you thought soccer couldn't get any slower. The sport apparently originated in Finland, but moved because (I'm guessing here) there were only like three non-frozen days in Finland each year. The "officially recognized global body" for Swamp Soccer is now (wait for it) Swamp Soccer UK Ltd, based in Scotland. Those Brits again!

For your holiday news, of course, the 13th is Mother's Day. Even I can't make fun of that, so we'll let it go. Other May holidays include: "International Audit Month", which I'm sure is loads of fun (as Dave Barry reported, "Nobody ever said let's go pick up some accountants and have some fun" - thanks, Dave); "Older Americans Month", which I think all of you should celebrate by taking an older American out to dinner every night (hint: I'm older and was born an American); "Root Canal Awareness Week" (I think I'd rather watch a soccer game); "World Naked Gardening Day", which should probably NOT be celebrated by older Americans; and finally, and in all seriousness, "National Nurses Day and Week", because I've spent a whole lot of time with nurses in the last year or so, and they do a great job!

The game was between Oakland and the NY Jets. Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to win 43-32. But many football fans did not see this finish, because the TV broadcaster, NBC, chose to switch the East Coast from the game to a scheduled broadcast of the the TV film "Heidi". Football fans were not happy.

June 9th, 2018 (May 2018 newsletter)

Let's take a look at the latest sports news. MLB had their player draft this week. It wasn't quite as big a deal as the NFL draft, but, of course, to the talking heads of sports reporting NOTHING is as important as the NFL ("In today's stories, Aaron Judge hit eight home runs in last night's game, Steph Curry scored 243 points in the NBA finals, in the Belmont Stakes, Justify's jockey Mike Smith fell off his mount and outran all the horses to the finish line to be the first human ever to win a Triple Crown race, but we start with our top most toppest super biggest story, which we will discuss for our first three hours: Is Kirk Cousins worth 28 million dollars?"). But the men of the MLB channel soldiered on as if more than maybe 28 casual fans were watching. As you card collectors know, baseball prospects are a wait-and-see thing, much more so than football draftees, who generally either hit or miss pretty quickly.

In sadder baseball news, Shohei Ohtani has suffered a second-degree UCL sprain, which may require Tommy John surgery. This could be especially bad news if you're one of those who spent $30K for his autograph.

The NBA playoffs are over. Sadly for me, it shows again that unlike in those old Western movies, in real life the good guys don't always win. Regardless of that, it's been a pleasure for me to watch a superstar practically single-handedly drag a less-talented team into the finals. I'm speaking, of course, of J.R. Smith. Haha! No, I'm talking of Lebron. (J.R. in game one accomplished one of the all-time bonehead plays, which may have made a difference in how the series went. But probably not.) Lebron just had no consistent help, unlike the Warriors who were apparently under some sort of magic spell which caused the ball to go into the net no matter how bizarre the shot may have been.

The "World Cup" is about to start - or, I should say, the "FIFA World Cup" to distinguish it from all the other world cups out there. The first round includes such eagerly anticipated matchups as the Morocco Casbahs vs the Iranian Atom Bombs and the Egyptian Mummies vs the Uruguay We're Not In Africa. I've had some trouble sleeping recently, so I'm looking forward to the broadcasts.

I ran across this month's trivia question in Street and Smith's new football annual, so I'm assuming they are correct. Of the four Pac-12 schools in California, only one has never had a former QB to start and win a Super Bowl game. Name that school. (see answer below)

I reported some months ago on a UFC fighter who knocked himself out during a match. Apparently it's not that unusual. Earlier this month a fellow named Jarred Brooks body-slammed himself into the ring floor and immediately went to tweet-tweet land. Of course, his opponent kept on pounding Jarred in the head, saying later "I knew he wasn't dead yet, so naturally I continued to fight".

Of course, you saw that the '52 Mantle graded PSA Mint 9 sold in April for $2.88M. That's impressive. You may, however, have missed the Jeter '93 SP rookie graded PSA 10 that sold in May for a few bucks short of $100,000. That's pretty impressive, too. In the "why couldn't it be me" category, a shop owner in Vancouver, WA opened a box of 2017 Panini National Treasures baseball and found a dual card of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig cut sigs. (I might expect to pull a dual auto of, oh, I don't know, Adam Dunn and Juan Pierre, say.) This is interesting: the NBA finals just ended last night, and already Panini has partnered with somebody named Fanatics to produce a 30-card set dedicated to the champion Warriors. Don't suppose they expected this for some reason? I personally will NOT be buying this set. I think as soon as you open the box, Draymond Green already has three technical fouls. In grading news, it's reported that Beckett has suspended their popular 10-day grading service option due to an "extensive backlog" of orders. Finally, it's amazing how astounding collections that are hidden away for decades can still appear. Here's an example you might want to peruse: Click here
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I just can't get away from the United Kingdom when looking for unusual sports. They apparently have Snail Racing over there. That's right - the competitors line up their gastropods on some sort of course, and faster than you can say, well, the entire first volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, they are off and running, so to speak. My sources report that it exceeds the excitement of watching golf, or even - well, I won't say it. Oh, heck, yes I will - even soccer! At the end of the race the losers are served up with a nice butter sauce. The snails, I mean, not their owners.

In holidays coming up this month, on the 27th there's "Decide To Be Married Day", which I believe is followed on the 28th by "How Drunk Was I Yesterday Day"; on the 12th we have "National Jerky Day", which I believe relates to that mystery food beloved by Sasquatch, and NOT to your behavior; today (the 9th) is "World Bike Naked Day", which we all know is NOT for everybody; and, finally, the 29th is "National Drive Your Corvette to Work Day" - if you don't have a Corvette of your own, go find somebody else's and drive it to work - if you don't work, then drive it to Idaho or somewhere foreign like that.

USC.

August 8th, 2018 (July 2018 newsletter)

Welcome to the last dying days of summer, although summer is not dying without putting up a fight - day after day of high temperatures and high humidity, punctuated with pretty much everyday storms and heavy rains, at least here in our part of the world. But at least some of you will very soon be back in the air-conditioned schoolroom where you can comfortably sleep. Once again I'm late with this newsletter, but what do you want for free?

Like last month, I find it slow going in the world of sports. In Major League Baseball - try to stay awake here, please - the Phillies and the Braves are still at or near first place in the NL east. This, of course, was predicted before the season by all the "experts", er, not so much. Many of those same "experts" predicted a World Series berth for the Washington Nits, who are, of course, in "grave danger" (Yes, I said "grave danger" - I LOVE that courtroom scene) of completely missing the playoffs - "A consummation devoutly to be wished", as my former schoolmate Willy Shakespeare once said.

In fun news, Lance Armstrong had a crash while biking on a trail in Colorado. He went to the hospital to have his "head checked". Many people are thinking, gee, can't imagine very many people we'd rather see in a bike crash than Lance Armstrong. It's just too bad the bike didn't back up and run over him three or four times.

Of course, I can't ignore the NFL, whose season has started, at least in the sense that some "preseason" games have been played. Many people take these "preseason" games very seriously, apparently believing that they (the games, not the people) actually matter. Occasionally, of course, there's a starting quarterback decision which gets resolved in preseason, but generally the preseason, it seems to me, is good for two things: one, who's going to be the team's fifth string offensive tackle, and two, who's going to be injured seriously enough to miss the entire season. Welcome to the NFL, Derrius Guice!

In NCAA football, well, I'm reluctant to go there. But ... the Urban Meyer Ohio State story dominates the news. Urban seems to be one of those coaches to whom protecting the program is more important than any sort of "do the right thing" action. His time at Florida was filled with arrests and failed drug tests, not to mention the suspected involvement there of the beloved Aaron Hernandez in a still-unsolved shooting. But he wins.

But I'll conclude on a happy note. We're all thrilled, I'm sure, that France won the "World Cup" by defeating Croatia 4-2 in the final, proving once again that soccer, or "futbol", is the favorite sport of countries that don't otherwise matter. My sources report that France's goals were scored by Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan. Opps, sorry, I was misinformed. France's goal scorers were Mandzukic, Griezmann, Pogba and Mbappe, all traditional French names.

Here's a multi-part question. Explain these new-age baseball statistical measures and give examples of each: for hitting, wRC+, for defense, FSR and for pitching, xFIP. Hahahaha! Just kidding! Here's the real question. What pro sports team has had the same nickname in the same city for the longest time? (see answer below)

I know that some of you were lucky enough to go to the National in Cleveland earlier this month. I hope you did well whether you were buying, selling or trading (or all of the above) and that you had loads of fun. I was fortunate enough to go to the two in Baltimore (2010 and 2012) and had a great time. Hope you weren't taken in by the vendor who apparently was arrested for selling fake autos. Apparently a big draw at the National was the display of the 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani Superfractor Autograph. This 1/1 card graded 9.5 has been reported to be worth $100,000, possibly, I guess, in Monopoly money. In other news, perhaps of interest only to me, a 1952 Topps #407 Eddie Mathews (PSA 7) sold this week in a Memory Lane Auction for $17,380. If any of you bought this card as a birthday present for me, I'll be looking for you at the show this week.

From Wikipedia: "The English (naturally) game of dwile flonking (also dwyle flunking) is an East Anglian pub sport, involving two teams of twelve players, each taking a turn to dance around the other while attempting to avoid a beer-soaked dwile (cloth) thrown by the non-dancing team." (Read more here). Next time I'm in the Wasena Tap Room I'll see if I can get a game of this going. Of course, I'll have to find a couple dozen Brits.

In holidays coming up this month, the 9th through the 18th is "Elvis Week" - pay attention, he might make an appearance at a 7-11 near you; the 5th is "National Underwear Day" - feel free to wear anything you like, just don't let the rest of us see it; the 8th was "National Cat Day", which as I always say, should be everyday; the 31st is "Love Litigating Lawyers Day", a day which is celebrated by NOBODY; hope you celebrated responsibly on the 3rd, "International Beer Day", which was followed on the 4th by (remember I'm not making any of this up) "International Hangover Day". And we must not forget that holiest of days, August 7, which is my birthday (and has been for a number of years).

Founded in 1883, the Philadelphia Phillies hold the record for the longest time in the same city with the same name.

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