From time to time, I come across an eBay listing that makes me chuckle. This one made me roar. CLICK HERE

My colleague, T.S. O’Connell swears that these posters are doctored or something, but I really think that they are actual images of the usually manly-looking Herschel Walker and Dwight Clark (at least the seller describes the poster as being Clark, but he kinda looks like Bruce Jenner).

The person selling these items seems to specialize in vintage football posters, so I have no reason to think these are manipulated images.

Anyway, I came up with a few questions after seeing these images:

No. 1: Did superstar athletes of the 80s wear sports bras on a regular basis?
No. 2: Where is Walker’s neck in that photo?
No. 3: Those shorts have to hurt, don’t they??
No. 4: If that is Clark in the poster, if he was still playing in the NFL, Shawn Merriman would eat him alive, girly, little arms and all.
No. 5: Did Adidas really think these posters would help sell shoes?

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Sometimes it bothers me how irresponsible sellers on eBay can be. Check out this auction for a program signed by Pete Maravich. CLICK HERE

The seller is nice enough to tell us how tough it is to come by a Pistol Pete signature on the Bay, but he fails to show a scan of the signature in his listing.
How does he expect this item to sell?

Also, another favorite of mine is when the seller takes such a horrible photo, you have a hard time making out if the item for sale is a pumpkin or a signed basketball.

Come on people. Use some common sense.



Did you see this article? CLICK HERE

It seems that the Patriots have taken a stand against ticket scalping. I think this is a great idea. Why should some slimy ticket scalper make money off season tickets, when the pro franchises are only charging stadard face value for a ticket.

I am No. 8000-something on the Packers season ticket waiting list and probably won't get them until I am in my 50s. Yet, there are current season ticket holders who sell all their tickets each year to scalpers or on eBay and have no interest in going to the games.

They aren't even fans. They are only in it for the money.

Something tells me each team should follow in the Pats' footsteps and do something.

Not much to write today… Just wanted to makes sure everybody is aware of the auctions that are ending tonight. Premier, Huggins and Scott and American Memorabilia all finish up tonight, so I am sure a lot of collectors will be going into the office tomorrow all groggy from the lack of sleep they will experience.

In an unrelated note, I just got off the phone with Mastro Auctions’ president Doug Allen. Doug and I chatted for about a half hour about the recent Tin Top and tobacco collection he has secured. Before I talked with Allen I thought it was a great find, and after I talked with him today it is even better than I expected. The condition on these babies is amazing.

Stay tuned for more on this. I am preparing a story that will appear in SCD and I will blog about it next week after I get the images from Mastro.

Just when you thought we were pretty much done talking about O.J. Simpson, and his alleged involvement of a robbery at the Palace Station casino in Las Vegas, we have more interesting collectible-related tidbits to touch on.

Today, a few of the pieces that were seized from Simpson showed up on eBay. Click here to view one of the auctions.

I guess the police had a little auction of their own selling the stuff and this is one of the items purchased from the sale.

Also, this case is starting to look worse and worse for The Juice. Click here to see the latest news on Simpson and the case.

I just love these shady dudes that are involved in this thing. A couple of the co-defendants have already reached plea deals and it looks like they are all going to rat on Simpson.

Now, I think O.J. is probably one of the worst guys alive, but in my opinion, he is getting the shaft on this deal. None of these guys have an ounce of credibility, and yet, the authorities seem to be listening to everything they say.

Imagine opening Tuff Stuff or SCD and reading a National Convention or Sportsfest ad stating that Michael Jordan will be one of the autograph guests. Don’t get too excited because it probably isn’t ever going to happen.

Very few celebrities carry the same persona as Jordan, and throughout the years sports fanatics have supported this fact.

Heck, I’m not even really a Jordan fan and I have still purchased his Nike Air Jordan sneakers, bought all his highlight video tapes and even purchased a signed Upper Deck Authenticated Jordan jersey.

So, what is it about MJ’s star power that everyone is so attracted to? Well, for starters Jordan is the undisputable “best” from his sport. Who is the best baseball player ever? Not sure. How ‘bout football? Let me think about that one. And basketball? Michael Jordan is.

Also, Jordan has pretty much always said the "right" thing, and has done it in a “cool” way. Don’t get me wrong. I think Tiger Woods is awesome, but he almost seems too goodie-goodie at times.
Another reason why Jordan is so sought-after, at least in the collecting world, is his exclusivity. For as long as I can remember, Jordan has had an autograph deal with UDA. So, unless you are buying a product put out by Upper Deck, you really have very little chance of obtaining a signature from the six-time NBA World Champion.

That brings me to the point of my rambling. If Jordan did a signing at a card show, how much could he charge?

Keeping in mind  how many Jordan fans there are Worldwide, and the fact that many of them would pay mucho bucks just to be in the same room with him, I truly think that he could sign autographs publicly for $3,000 a piece.

To my knowledge, no athlete, dead or alive, has ever even charged more than $1,000 to sign a piece of sports memorabilia in a public setting, so I fully expect that some of my readers will scoff at my bold prophecy. But, think about it, everybody loves Jordan. Nearly everybody in the world knows who he is. He is probably the most famous man on the planet and one of the least accessible.
Why couldn't he charge that much at a signing?

Maybe I am throwing it out there because I don't think it will ever happen. The days of a superstar athlete signing at a card show is deteriorating at a fast pace.

Muhammad Ali, Brett Favre, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant; the list goes on. These guys don't do public signings. And why don’t they? Simple. They just don’t need the money or the hassle.
In a perfect world these guys would want to sign for their fans out of the goodness of their hearts. Heck, the fans are the ones who made them who they are – superstars, but unfortunately there’s a better chance of Babe Ruth coming back from the dead and signing at the 2008 Chicago National than for one of these guys to do a card show.

Just think of all the really cool pieces that could get signed from his days at UNC and in Chicago.
If Jordan did a signing, it could spark a Bulls Reunion show. How neat would that be? MJ, Ron Harper, Scottie Pippen, Phil Jackson, Dennis Rodman and crew could all be reunited again and accessible to collectors.

It has been reported that astronaut Neil Armstrong was offered $1 million to sign at a public autograph show years ago and he turned it down. Now, I am not sure, but I would assume that Jordan would probably command more than Armstrong. So, what would it take, MJ? How about you sell 1,000 autograph tickets for $3,000 each and make a cool $3 million?I’d love to see it happen.

I was just checking out our new Realized Auction Lot Database at www.scdauctions.com, and thought it would be cool to lay out the highest selling items sold in the past two years, by player.
I picked out my favorites list and listed the results below. The one piece that stood out the most to me was the Bobby Orr jersey.
I would advise everyone to play around with this neat tool. It is free and can be very useful.

Barry Bonds record-breaking HR No. 756 ball - $752,467 - 9/13/2007 - Sotheby's with SCP Auctions

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 9 – $282,588 – 12/14/2006 – Memory Lane

Inaugural home run ball hit by Babe Ruth in the 1933 All-Star Game – $700,000 – 7/11/2006 – Hunt Auctions

1951 Bowman Willie Mays PSA 9 – $93,413 – 4/13/2007 – Memory Lane

Significant Joe DiMaggio 1947 Most Valuable Player Award plaque – $281,750 – 5/19/2006 – Hunt Auctions

Scarce 1913 Boston Garter Ty Cobb – $97,750 – 7/10/2007 – Hunt Auctions

1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner PSA 2 – $294,338 – 12/14/2006 – Memory Lane

Christy Mathewson Single Signed – $114,000 – 8/5/2007 – Mastro Auctions

1932 Jimmie Foxx American League Most Valuable Player – $69,265 – 4/27/2006 – Lelands.com

1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig PSA 10 – $274,950 – 9/15/2007 – Memory Lane

Wilt Chamberlain's "Searcher I" Custom-Made Race Car – $91,000 – 5/10/2006 – Grey Flannel

Bill Russell Early 1960s Celtics game-worn home – $56,596 – 12/7/2006 – Mastro Auctions

1959 Johnny Unitas Game Worn Baltimore Colts Jersey and Pants – $93,196 – 4/28/2006 – Lelands.com

Circa 1974 Joe Namath New York Jets game-used white mesh – $19,550 – 12/6/2006 – Grey Flannel

Mid-1960s Ray Nitschke game-worn jersey – $38,838 – 5/5/2007 – Heritage

Circa 1965 Jim Brown game-worn jersey – $57,867 – 8/25/2006 – Lelands.com

Circa 1985-86 Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Oilers game-used, autographed blue mesh jersey – $88,125 – 9/9/2006 – Grey Flannel

1951 Parkhurst Gordie Howe PSA 8 – $8,384 – 4/13/2007 – Memory Lane

1967-68 Bobby Orr game-worn Boston Bruins home – $179,655 – 4/28/2006 – Lelands.com

1991-92 Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Penguins video-matched 3-patch game-worn jersey – $22,310 – 12/14/2006 – Lelands.com

1984 Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls game-used rookie road MEARS A10 – $70,500 – 4/28/2007 – Robert Edward Auctions

2002 Brett Favre game-used, signed Packers jersey, signed "2002 Game Used Full Game Jersey” – $7,632 – 7/19/2007 – American Memorabilia

1985 Dan Marino Super Bowl XIX game-worn – $33,460 – 5/5/2007 – Heritage

Early 1980s Joe Montana game-worn, signed 49ers jersey, early gamer – $9,611 – 4/7/2006 – American Memorabilia

The man who I talked to last week about his find of more than $1 million in cards just contacted me and notifiy me that he will be using Mastro to organize the sale of thousands of tobacco cards in high-grade condition.

Earlier this year Mastro sold the Lionel Carter collection and this man must have been impressed with the results. I would assume we will get to see another Mastro video focusing on this collection, similar to what the president of Mastro, Doug Allen did with the Carter collection.

I will be getting Allen’s thoughts on this topic later in the week and should have a column about this in the pages of SCD soon.

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By the way… I am still in severe mourning of the Packers loss last night. Talk about giving away a game! The Packers gave away three fumbles and Brett threw two picks. They had more than 90 yards in penalties as well.
That is gonna be a hard one to swallow. They better have a short memory, however, because the Redskins are coming to town this week and they looked darn good against the Lions yesterday.

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Speaking of football... is it me or are there more injuries to major players this year than any other? My fantasy football team is all banged up and it keeps getting worse.
About five of my normal starting players didn’t play over the weekend due to injury.

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Lastly, the image in this blog is a picture of Ashton Kutcher, who attended the game at Lambeau last night, and sat in front of some of my friends.

So, I figured since I was gonna be in the house when Brett broke Marino’s record I would take advantage of the situation to get as many ticket stubs as possible. It’s kind of cool at the Humpty Dome because they don’t tear tickets, so nearly all remain full. In my opinion, that makes for a better collectible… Personal preference.

That said, I made a sign reading “Buying all stubs $5.” I figured there was no way I could go wrong for that price.

At the end of the 1st half, I figured I would start trying to buy some. I have never offered money for people’s stubs at a game before, but I have seen it done. When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were battling in 1998, I saw guys doing this at County Stadium in Milwaukee.

By the beginning of the second half I was able to buy about 30 tickets and ended up with more than 100. I did better than I expected, but the thing that surprised me more than the number I came home with, was the number of people who were completely baffled that I was buying their stubs for cash.

I honestly had about 30 or 40 people asking me what the heck I was doing.

I simply told them that Brett broke the record and that the tickets would be collectors items.

The tickets aren’t going for as much as I thought they would be. On eBay, you can pick them up for around 20. I guess that would still be great profit for only paying $5, but I think I am going to hang on to most of them for a while and see what happens down the road.