Do Yourself a Favor and Read This

For those of you who have been following the recent media blasts about the decline of the sports card industry, I would read this article to get the other side of the story. Some of you will probably shrug it off as a post designed to give false hope, but after recent conversations with Chris Carlin, I doubt that was the point in any way. Chris is a straight shooter, and although he is responsible for the marketability of his brands, he also knows his shit.

Last month, many mainstream outlets incorrectly reported that card shops had declined from 15,000 stores to under 500 over the last few years. The reports were based on arbitrary faulty numbers perpetrated by hobby blog villain TS O'connell of SCD, despite the fact that he had not done any actual research on the matter. Contrary to O'Connell's ideas of what was going on, Carlin did a great job of setting the record straight, as well as showing that the sky is not even close to falling (UD works directly with 1500 shops in the US and Canada alone).

Sadly, these scary "figures" have led to a lot of paranoia on blogs and message boards, most of which was focused on the supposed dying of the hobby. People had started crying about how the inflated number of sets and lack of kids had contributed to a decline in the collecting populace as well as the industry. Although things have changed from the days of the investment crazed 90s, both the hobby and the industry are in little jeopardy of going under. If card shops only lost 5% of their volume (per Carlin's research), during a crippling recession, I would say that is amazing, to say the least. Its actually even more impressive if the original prognosis was a loss of 30-40% total. Add in the thousands of online retailers and ebay stores, and the number is going to be a lot more than any research done by media that is disconnected or unrelated to the hobby. The fact is, regardless of any paranoid chicken little coverage, people still love collecting, writing about, and buying cards.

I think its safe to say that this hobby is never going to die. Collecting based things usually don’t, even when there is no one to produce new stuff. The industry itself may go, eventually, but the actual people who drive it will always create a market for trading, buying and selling. The problem has never been kids or a pollution of products, in fact, the problem has probably been the value that the cards carry. As the reality of the overproduced cards of the nineties were actualized as less valuable than fire kindling, the collectors who staked their involvement in collecting on the amount they were going to make, left quickly. What was left behind were people who loved cards, as always, as well as a few people who realized that investing was bad, but collecting was fun. This is what led from having 15,000 shops to a few thousand.

As with any collectible, there will always be people in it for the money, however, as we have seen, a lot of people are in it for the love of the game too. The proof is in the blogs and boards, as membership and production has skyrocketed lately. When people realize that they can cater their experience to themselves rather than relying on a money driven, conflict of interest laden magazine, good things happen. Also, with a worldwide marketplace like eBay, there is now a way to get whatever you want, whenever you want it.

Bottom line, as far as I am concerned, there has never been a better time to collect.

Week 3 Rookie Honors Up At Upper Deck Blog

Matt Stafford has been named rookie of the week over at Upper Deck, so if you have his cards in your profile, there will be prizes you can win. Check out the write up over at the UD Blog, and also check out the previous ones by clicking on my name at the top, or the link below.

UD Blog: Week 3 Rookie Of The Week

My UD Blog Articles

Upper Deck Blog: SP Authentic Retrospective

Yes, yes, everyone knows that I love SPA. Its my favorite set of the year, so I put together a look back at the different rookie patches and rookie auto patches as a complement to the recent previews. You can take a look at the article over on the UD blog, hopefully the set will live up to my expectations this year. Looks pretty good so far.

SP Authentic Rookies: A Retrospective

New UD Blog Post: Buying Tiger Now

A while back, I wrote about how Tiger is THE athlete to buy, and now that he is back in force, its even more apparent. I adapted the article for UD to post on their blog, be sure to check out some of the ridiculous pieces they have available. If I had the money, I think a Tiger auto would be the first thing on my list, as I know it is an amazing centerpiece for my autograph collection. If I had lots of money to burn, I wouldnt think twice about buying one of the framed Masters pin flags that UD has for sale. Simply awesome looking.

Tiger has always been my favorite golfer, bringing flash to a game that has been lacking it since Nicklaus retired. My dad and I have actually seen Tiger and Jack play at a tournament in Minnesota a few years ago, and since then, I have always been in awe of their skill at one of the hardest games around. In his career Tiger has brought the sport to a different level, and it shows in the value of his autograph. Be sure to check out my thoughts on it.

UD Blog: The Value Of A Tiger Woods Autograph

New NCC Post: A Definitive Hobby Glossary

Over the last few weeks I have been compiling some definitions of terms that may have an overwhelming effect on collectors who are coming back to the hobby, or people who are new. For the next New Collector Corner post on the Upper Deck Blog, I posted all of the different official terms I could think of with pictures to follow along. Hopefully, we can use it for helping people get acclimated a tad faster than they would by scouring blogs and message boards for definitions.

Check out the first New Collector Corner article HERE.

Check out the second in the series HERE.

UD Blog: 1998 Vikings Revisted

Last week, I had an epiphany about my experience during the 1998 season in Minnesota when cleaning out my DVR. After watching a documentary on the exploits of the team, I sat down and wrote for a few hours about my experience being at all the games. Im really pleased with the outcome, hopefully you guys are too.

Check it out here.

NOTE: Yes, I know the Vikings suck. Its part of being a Minnesota sports fan, and I thrive on the disappointment.

The UD Blog and Educating The Masses

A couple of weeks ago, Toby from the UD blog asked me to put together a piece designed to help new collectors start up in the hobby. We settled on a series that should be published periodically focusing on questions a lot of people have, mainly with transitioning from a love of sports to a love of cards.

The first article is up now, I encourage you to check it out. I know a few other card bloggers are also working on posts as well, so be sure to keep checking out the updates.

Im personally glad that UD has reached out to the network of people around the net to get some outside perspective on the hobby. Kudos to them for tapping into our vast body of knowledge.

You can follow the Upper Deck Blog at upperdeckblog.com or on twitter at twitter.com/upperdeckblog.