Tightening the Vice

After the events of the last few days have transpired, its been like Christmas a month early for me. Whether its the storied history of creditless facebiting by Beckett's Chris Olds off of blogs like this one, Fielder's Choice, Trader's Cracks, etc, Mario stealing back, and now the removal of Mario from the Beckett "Circle of Trust," I think its time to recognize that maybe those douchebags arent the number one authority anymore. I knew and publicized this fact the minute SCU was born, but now its even more public and grown beyond just me.

What does Beckett do to respond? Do they reach out and try to invite others in to show that things are finally heading in a better direction? Do they finally admit that they are about as in touch with the hobby as my 87 year old grandma? No. They dont. Instead they continue to copy and paste blogosphere-wide, and call in every favor they have with their Bosom Buddies like DLP Baseball, DLP football, and Topps Baseball and Football. This is where the Prime Cuts, the National Treaures and the 2009 Topps exclusive previews came from.

I am fucking elated because not only do we see that they are circling the drain (much rejoicing), but they are no longer afraid to show that they are flailing around trying to grab on to something like a dog running on a linoleum floor. Sources from the sphere have told me that they have gone around calling everyone in the hobby and crying like little 4 year old girls to give them exclusives that are now being shown all over the blogs.

People like UD have obviously stopped dealing with Beckett and refuse to send them any more boxes, and so far the exclusives have been slim. Mario, on the other hand has reaped the benefits (much rejoicing), and now Beckett is pisssssssed.

All I have to say is that what goes around comes around you souless douchebags. You hold yourself with arrogance and conceitedness, and you end up fucked. Exactly what you deserve. Its not eBay or blogs that are your problem, its the way you have handled every situation. People in the INDUSTRY (not blogs) have used the language "fucking retards" when describing Beckett, that they are the "dorky kid your mom forces you to play with" and I agree. Again, this is from people in the INDUSTRY, not people like me.

Keep on burning those bridges and we can see where you end up.

More reading:
[Wax Heaven][Houston Collector's blog][VOTC: The Anti-Beckett][Sport Lizard's Rant][Fielder's Choice][Acheiver Card Blog][Treasure Never Buried][Need Mo Morneau]

SCU Video Blog 2

A Comment On Sponsorship

Lazy Saturday it ain't! Holy fuck. I get up this morning and I immediately get a message from a few people that Mario at Wax Heaven has gone Upper Deck. That, as they put it, it is now "Upper Deck Wax Heaven." I had no idea what was going on, but after I started reading the 10 or so letters I had from people after my chats were done, I saw what they were talking about.

To the chagrin of most of the bloggers out there, Mario is now going to be busting some boxes that are being sent by the PR department at UD. He says that he had been waiting quite a while, and now he is on board as a net reviewer for the baseball products. People are quite angry because Mario's objectivity has been compromised in their minds, though I don't think they quite understand a few things.

First off, I deplore the sending out of free boxes to any non customer and public face by any manufacturer, as that is completely against what I stand for and I have acted accordingly. Two things come from this mantra, first Mario is not me, and he has the choice to do what he thinks is best for his site. As one of the faces of the blogging world to the public, I am against this, but that isn't the whole story. Unlike Beckett and other hobby sources, Mario does everything he does on his own time, much like I do. He has built his site from the ground up and has refused all ad revenue and everything that could make his site profitable. I think it would be nice to pay him back a bit for what he has done.

Secondly, he already has busted quite a few Upper Deck products that he himself paid for and given them objective reviews, or at least as objective as one can be. Will that goal of objectivity be undermined by this deal? Im not sure. However, if there is one person in the 'shpere who deserves this, its him. He also is a very accessible guy, so if you dont like what he does with this, let him know.

Lastly, many other bloggers who may or may not deserve this have asked for a similar deal on a number of occasions. I know this for a fact, and some even posted on his announcement. Thats fine, it is their decision, not mine. If Upper Deck starts painting the net with their logo, I wont comment on it because I know how hard it is to maintain a blog. Dont expect to see a sponsorship logo here though, I dont roll like that. However, that doesnt mean I will chastise others for making a different decision.

I Think This Needs Some Discussion

After the recent poll's deciding victory for the positive impact that card blogging has had on the hobby, I am not going to make some argument for the 4-10 people who voted negative, nor the 14-20 who voted indifferently. I do want to go over some philosophies regarding this voting structure as I assume that the people voted the way they did for a certain reason.

I want to start with the people who voted positively, which is where I stand myself. Card blogging has been great for the hobby and it has been around before a lot of you think it has. It has brought about a lot of discussion as well, as I know that manufacturers and hobby insiders all either have blogs or read blogs every day. It is basically free market research, and you can see a sliver of the market without even going to a store. What are the hot topics? Where are the mistakes? Who do we need to hold accountable for our actions? All of these questions are answered in the blogs.

Also, with upwards of 10 million people visiting sports blogs alone every day, you can expect that there are a lot of people who read what we write. Mario at Wax Heaven has been lucky enough to have been featured on some of the biggest sports blogs around on multiple occasions. There have been close to 400,000 visitors to his site. That is awesome. Yesterday, SCU was featured on deadspin, which was also very cool, and I can tell you that we have at least 10-15 new readers from the emails I got. Card blogs are most definitely reaching people.

Card blogs have also exposed the soft underbelly of the hobby on a regular basis, and that is something that benefits EVERYONE. Sports Card Info has made it their goal to keep everyone informed, and I think that is pretty important, as information is always at a premium for the uninformed. Plus, considering how many "im new" emails I get every day, I think its great that card blogs are becoming a resource for people rather than for profit magazines and websites. I love getting "Im new" emails because I can show these people a world of information they could never get from Beckett or Tuff Stuff. We answer to NO ONE, and I think that kind of lack of ties makes the news here as great and informative as it can be.

For those people who voted indifferent, however, ill agree with you on some points. Typically we only reach around 500-1000 people a day, most of whom are probably other bloggers who have a vested interest to check the other blogs. I know I sure do. To only reach that many people per day in a multi billion dollar industry is less than a sliver of the complete demographic. Yes, we need to reach more people. Yes, we need more sources to help us. Yes, we need to do a better job of making our message heard. But the reality is that the wrong people have the reigns on the uninformed public, and that sucks. Also, the bloggers who have made an impact on the mainstream media are not spreading any kind of good word. For "those people" the hobby has been business as usual and that is the info they spread. Worlds without cardshops being the destruction of the hobby, price guides being the best source of pricing info for any collector, "prices may be going up, but at least I still have my 1979 topps baseball cards to brighten my day..." type of things. When that is the face of the bloggers, yes, we have not made any sort of impact at all.

Moving onto the negative people, I know two of the votes were out of spite, one was from Beckett, and im not sure about the others. I keep track of IP addresses for the site, and the Beckett admins are so fucking dumb that they think I cant tell when they are here. Either way, I want to discuss why those votes may have counted, had they actually been real. I think there is a negative aspect to blogging, because of the amount of work it takes and because the companies can use it against us. Beckett has their own blog, and though it is not as widely read, its still a face for people to see when they try to break in to collecting again. Also, a lot of blogs, especially this one, can get whiny and too condecending at times. I am a huge perpetrator of this, and I get that I should focus on positive stuff too as it would help bolster some better feelings. A lot of my detractors say I don’t like anything about collecting and that is not true. I wouldn’t spend the time or money I have spent if I hated everything. Yet, that is the message that people get here, and that is a definite negative impact.

Overall, when one blogs, it becomes more about the person than about the hobby. In real life, I am just as opinionated on most topics as I am on the ones I discuss here. Stupid people bug me just as much on main street as they do on blog street. Ha.

As cathartic of an experience as it is, the true focus should be improving the things we want. I think I have made more progress than I expected I would, and I definitely never expected to be featured on deadspin or talk to the brand managers for any manufacturers. Really, as long as people are trying to improve that’s all that matters, we spend enough money to deserve that kind of respect. I know Upper Deck has made a commitment to that, surprised as some of you may be, and they know its not about shutting me up, but rather making good products so I never have to start talking in the first place. This is something Beckett refuses to understand. As recent as yesterday, I received emails from my sources saying they are trying to think of ways to make me quiet rather than improve their product so I don’t need to destroy them here.

After being here in blog land for around 6 months, its time to show you guys what blogs can really do. We are coming into the meat of Football season with Limited and Gridiron Gear coming up and SPA and Ultimate on the horizon, and you can bet I will give you what you want to know. Holy Hitter will continue his group breaks, so make sure to sign up, and Will will continue to contribute as he has. The thing I can promise, though, is that this site will continue to grow beyond your wildest expectations. I still have a few aces up my sleeve.

For Your Approval...

Just wanted to give a link over to Sports Lizard's Rant again, if not only so you guys go check out what Adam McFarland has to say. He is a very eloquent writer, and doesnt hesitate to let loose on the people that need to be let loose on.

He just posted an article about Bloggers changing the face of the industry, and I agree with him 100%. Hopefully his oracle is right and we do have the power to change some of the problematic things that happen daily in this industry.

Also, make sure you check out the links I have posted on the side of the page, at least to see what other people, besides myself, have to say. I love that Mario at Wax Heaven has created the sports card blog directory, as it has given collectors an enormous list of people to get their information from who do not have "Beckett" in their job title.