The Collectible Final Four

WSJ.com
By BETH DECARBO
April 4, 2008

“March Madness doesn’t play out solely on the basketball court. Just ask the folks at eBay, where memorabilia from the Final Four teams is up for sale.

“There’s been a huge upswing in listings,” says Karen Bard, the online auction site’s pop culture expert. “Memorabilia from Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis have flooded eBay.”

Based on sales between Feb. 27 and April 1, the rankings show the Kansas Jayhawks in first place with 1,670 items sold, with an average selling price of $20.59.

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In Cyberspace, anyone can buy into the hottest scandal

BostonHerald.com
By Tony Massarotti
Sunday, April 6, 2008

“Americans love a scandal, particularly if they can own a piece of it. As such, maybe it is no surprise that some such items – memorabilia featuring the signatures of both Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee – are among the hottest properties on the Internet.”

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baltimoresun.com
By Kevin Cowherd | Sun reporter
March 29, 2008

“For collectors of Orioles memorabilia, these are tough times.

…And at Arena Sports Cards and Games in Eldersburg, owner Dave Palasek laments that the famous Topps baseball card company, in its new Baseball Card History series, features 50 current well-known players “and not one Baltimore Oriole.”

“No one on the team has any national appeal,” he says. “You gotta have national appeal for collectors to care about you.”

A search on eBay seems to turn up a few more items at any given point:

• VINCE LOMBARDI GREEN BAY PACKERS 1968 SUPER BOWL POSTER
• Vince Lombardi Poster/Inspirational Quote/Trophy
• Old 1963 Vince Lombardi Packers Schedule Poster REPRO
• New York Giants '56 Poster FRANK GIFFORD Vince Lombardi
• NEW YORK GIANTS '56 POSTER Frank GIFFORD Vince LOMBARDI
• VINCE LOMBARDI LITHOGRAPH POSTER PRT IN PACKERS JERSEY

“Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach. He was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL from 1959-67, winning five league championships during his 9 years. Following a one-year retirement from coaching in 1968, he returned as head coach of the Washington Redskins for the 1969 season. Lombardi’s record in the post-season was 9-1, the loss coming in the first of those games, the 1960 NFL championship.

With the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi went on to accomplish a 105-35-6 record as head coach (.750, discarding ties as was the NFL policy); and he never suffered a losing season. He led the Packers to a still-unmatched three consecutive NFL championships in 1965, 1966, and 1967; winning the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi’s popularity was so great that Richard Nixon supposedly considered him as a running mate for the 1968 election, only to be reminded by an advisor that Lombardi was a Kennedy Democrat who had campaigned on behalf of Wisconsin U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (although Lombardi’s wife, father and brother were Republicans).

Vince Lombardi has become virtually synonymous with the NFL. This began during his career: he was featured as the face of the NFL on the cover of Time on December 22, 1962 as part of the magazine’s cover story on “The Sport of the ’60s”. Lombardi’s players were wholeheartedly devoted to him, and his emphasis on hard work and dedication endeared him to millions who admired his values.

In addition to Lombardi’s contributions to the history of professional football, Lombardi is legendary for his coaching philosophy and motivational skills. Many of Lombardi’s speeches continue to be quoted frequently today, and he is well known as being unequivocally committed to winning. One of his most famous maxims is “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing”, although he did not coin the phrase and the exact words he used are disputed. “Lombardi time” is the principle that one should arrive 10-15 minutes early, or else be considered late.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Vince Lombardi“.

The official Vince Lombardi website can be found here at: www.vincelombardi.com.

NJ.com
Saturday, February 09, 2008
BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

“”It’s amazing how much stuff came together in the past few days, a myriad of things,” said Brandon Steiner, chief executive of Steiner Sports, the company that will sell a majority of the signed collectibles from the Giants’ Super Bowl XLII victory.

…So how does one separate the valuable from the valueless and figure out what kind of keepsake is good for taking up space on a mantel for the next 50 years, and what piece might actually produce a return if a buyer decided to sell?”

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So what’s the answer to the question? The story goes on to relate that the best move is to have an autographed collectible, and the more autographs on the item, the better.

Early wins convinces legions to buy merchandise, support switch to Hendrick

Independent Tribune
By Josh McCann
Sunday, February 17, 2008

“CONCORD – Three white jackets and two T-shirts bearing Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s new No. 88 hang on display at the front of the NASCAR SpeedPark shop at Concord Mills.

Leading up to Earnhardt Jr.’s debut with owner Rick Hendrick today in the season-opening Daytona 500, the SpeedPark is having trouble keeping 88 gear in stock, marketing manager Jyl Deering said

“It flies out of here like there’s no tomorrow,” Deering said. “We can’t keep it in house.”

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Hypedupsports.com announces Upper Deck authenticated customer send-in program featuring Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

Billings, MT (PRWEB) February 14, 2008 — Hypedupsports.com is offering its customers an opportunity to send memorabilia to Upper Deck for their top athletes to autograph. These exclusive athletes include Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

“This is a great opportunity to make memorabilia unique and special,” said Cody Rose, CEO and founder of Hyped Up Sports. Every item signed will be witnessed by an Upper Deck representative and authenticated immediately. To take advantage of this program, the customer has to email hypedupsports@yahoo.com, log onto www.hypedupsports.com, or call 406-697-9188 and give a description of the item that they would like signed. This is done so Hyped Up Sports can verify that the collectible will be on the athletes signing schedule. Then a private checkout page will be issued to the customer along with all of the shipping information. The tentative signing schedule for Michael Jordan is late February. Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant are set for spring, either April or May. Tiger Woods is set for late July. An exact date is not issued because the athletes have their own schedules.

Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant are able to sign any piece of memorabilia. A few of the popular items include jerseys, balls, cards, photos and paintings. Product availability is extremely limited so customers need to act fast if they wish to take advantage of the program. Hypedupsports.com has already begun receiving orders.

Hypedupsports.com is a new online business out of Billings, MT, that deals with rare and authentic sports memorabilia. CEO, Cody Rose, has 12 years experience dealing with collectibles and recently became affiliated with Upper Deck. Through their partnership with Upper Deck, www.hypedupsports.com has taken its business to another level. Their website, and online marketplace, features hundreds of authenticated autographed memorabilia. This is quickly becoming the number one site for collectors and fans alike.

January 24th, 2008
by Hanna Scott/KTAR

“Super Bowl XLII is having an impact on just about everything in the Valley, including the trash. Some Glendale homes will have a souvenir for a long time. “As a part of the Super Bowl celebration for the City of Glendale, we developed in recognition of Super Bowl 42, 420 containers that are stamped on the side, ‘Glendale’s Got Game,’” the city’s Stewart Kent said in explaining some new garbage cans.”

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Well, you just know someone is going to swipe your garbage container if you end up with one of these….

Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
Thursday January 17, 2008

“Talk about bad timing. When Mastro Auctions, the country’s largest auction house for rare, vintage sports memorabilia, decided to set the date of its recent auction for December 12-15, no one could have known that the Mitchell Report, listing 89 major league players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, would be released smack in the middle.

What was a seismic announcement for the sports world had aftershocks in the memorabilia market – immediately. At the auction, prices for the memorabilia from two of the players named in the report, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, were dramatically lower than had been expected.”

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KVAL CBS 13
Jan 9, 2008
By Meghan Kalkstein

“Eugene – A Junction City man is $10,000 richer tonight thanks to a rare find at a Eugene store.

Hoping to collect Brady and crew, Chris Worley bought the 2007 Donruss NFL playoffs football set.

Collector Harold Thompson says the double rainbow on this one sets it above the rest.

“This is the best set that they put out. It’s numbered one of one, it’s a NFL platinum, holfoil on a double rainbow film board,” says Thompson.”

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