Excuse my childish term, but HOLY CRAP! The very man that has been recognized for authenticating many items as legit even though many autograph experts don't agree with his assessments, Donald Frangipani, is suing HBO for its report that was featured on "Real Sports" about counterfeit autographs.

I'm looking for a link to the actual video of the story, but I think it may have been taken off of Youtube for some reason.

I don't want to write too much about "The Donald" because he might come after me next, but all kidding aside, he doesn't have the best reputation in the hobby, to say the least.

This is the entire list of the people named in the lawsuit. I want to point out that PSA/DNA, JSA and Richard Simon are also big names in the hobby that many of you will recognize.

HBO; BRYANT GUMBEL; RICK BERNSTEIN; Case No.:
ROSS GRENBURG;KIRBY BRADLEY; ANDREW
BENNETT;JOE PERSKIE; TRES DRISCOLL;
and ARMEN KETEYLAN,COLLECTORS UNIVERSE
INC., d/b/a PSA/DNA AUTHENTICATION SERVICES;
JAMES J. SPENCE, LLC, aka JAMES SPENCE
AUTHENTICATION; JAMES SPENCE,
individually; RICHARD SIMON SPORTS;
RICHARD SIMON, individually;

Anyway, I just got off the phone with "The Donald" and to my surprise, when asked if he was still active in the hobby as an authenticator, he said he was.

"I'm doing 40 pieces right now for different clients," said Frangipani. "Of course (I'm still active in the hobby)."

Frangipani was actually very pleasant to Gavel Chat on the phone.

All I know is that this is a little scary for people involved in the hobby. If "The Donald" can sue these folks, I would have to think that anyone could get sued (which I guess is obviously true).

This will be very interesting to see how it ends up. If it goes to trial, I would be very surprised, but weirder things have happened.

I asked "The Donald" whether he thought it would go to trial and he said "positively."

I wonder if he is good (or should I say bad?) at predicting the future as well as he is at authenticating.

Click here for a very interesting Q and A that Rocky Landsverk did with "The Donald" in 2005.