BOB BRILL'S BLOG

Time [GMT -7] : 06 Sep , 12:35:00


31 Jan 2006 07:26:20 pm
EDITORIAL REPLY


THE FOLLOWING IS AN EDITORIAL REPLY TO OUR BLOG POST ON THE CURRENT SITUATION WITH UPPER DECK LEGENDARY CUTS AND SUSPECT AUTOGRAPHS OF VINTAGE/RETIRED PLAYERS. THE REPLY IS FROM LONG TIME COLLECTOR AND AUTOGRAPH DEALER, THEO CHEN. CHEN PREVIOUSLY WORKED FOR BECKETT PUBLICATIONS AND UPPER DECK. As a former employee of both Beckett and Upper Deck Authenticated, I fully appreciate the lengths to which card companies go in the pursuit of innovation. And as a lifetime autograph collector and full time autograph dealer, I must also say that any manufacturer or retailer of signatures puts their reputation on the line each time they pass their product along to the end consumer. A single well publicized misstep could have enormous consequences, as evidenced by this latest scandal. I completely agree with Mr. Brill's analysis and suggestions, but I would like to add that this situation also magnifies another industry problem: the loose usage of the terms "authenticated" and "certified" with regard to both autographed cards and autographed memorabilia. It is one thing for a company to procure autographs in person from a living athlete. It is quite another to buy autographs on the open market, regardless of how much expertise you think you have. Even the most respected authenticators cannot say with 100% certainty that their opinions are 100% accurate 100% of the time. I have seen in person or on eBay three PSA/DNA (perhaps the authenticator with the best reputation) so-called authenticated Tiger Woods autographs that looked obviously fake to me, and I know his autograph about as well as anyone. I've gotten him in person dozens of times, from as far back as 1995 to as recently as this past Saturday. One of my customers recently submitted a Michael Jordan autographed jersey to PSA/DNA that I obtained in person in front of numerous witnesses, yet it came back with a letter listing 10 supposed reasons why it wasn't real. If PSA/DNA can't be trusted with Jordan and Woods, the most-faked living athletes in the world, what does that tell you? Obviously, no one is perfect -- any full time autograph dealer who says he or she has never sold a fake autograph is not being totally candid. I rely on two decades of collecting experience to guide my business, but I would never claim to be perfect, and I am very careful not to overuse terms like "authenticated" and "certified." I wish I could say the same for the rest of the industry, starting with eBay. It's frankly a joke that eBay has a separate category for "Authenticator Pre-Certified" and lumps in third party authenticators like GAI and PSA/DNA in with companies that conduct paid signings like Mounted Memories, Steiner, Tri-Star and UDA. There's a reason that newspapers have distinct sections for news and editorials; the former is based on facts, the latter on opinions. Upper Deck is currently paying the price for daring to cross that bright line with their entire reputation at stake, but they are not alone. The entire sports memorabilia business has just received a wake-up call thanks to HBO. If the industry continues to mix up facts with opinions, and loosely use labels like "authenticated" and "certified" interchangeably and irresponsibly, consumer distrust will only continue to grow. Theo Chen (owner) http://AutographsForSale.com The Web's #1 Place for Authentic Autographs

		Category : General \| Posted By : kckings \| Comments[0] \| Trackbacks [6714]


30 Jan 2006 05:26:21 pm
UPPER DECK NEEDS TO MAKE AMENDS QUICKLY


THE FOLLOWING IS AN EDITORIAL BY BOB BRILL AND WE INVITE RESPONSES BY RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS EITHER PRO OR CON THIS ISSUE AS PUBLISHED. EMAIL US AT info@kckings.com IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT IN AN EDITORIAL FORM ON THIS MATTER. THANK YOU The Upper Deck Card Company is in a precarious situation. One of the most respected companies when it comes to autographs, it is now being seen many of the vintage cut autographs placed on UD Legendary Cuts cards may be forgeries. Key experts and authenticators in the industry pointed to several which contain forged autographs including one card which has two suspect autographs and sold for $85,000! The company still has not straightened this one out with the collector who is not happy at the moment. As you can imagine he is working through his attorney. Upper Deck must now come forward and do several things. First they must take care of this one collector. They they must seek a recall of all the cuts released in this product. They must pay to have authenticators such as PSA, JSA, Simon, GAI or other respected names certify or reject each and every one of these autographs. It can be done with a deadline of two years and on the UD website. Those which are bad the company must buy back at a substantial price. Then it would be prudent for Upper Deck to reimburse every hobby dealer who bought and sold these boxes and every consumer who purchased a box, with some sort of compensation for pack purchasers. Then Upper Deck must reveal where these autographs came from and set up a contract with a respected authenticator to look at every autograph the company wants to put in future products. If it doesn't pass it doesn't get used. Total cost of the program should be about $20 million in rough numbers. If something such as this isn't done, this industry and especially this company could suffer greatly. We need Upper Deck in this industry, but we need a company the consumer and the dealer can trust above all. Upper Deck can regain consumers and dealer confidence, but it will take lots of time and lots of hard spent dollars to make it happen.

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25 Jan 2006 01:54:03 pm
UPPER DECK MAY TAKE HUGE HIT IN LATEST CONTROVERSY


Something really amazing seems to be happening in the sprotscard industry as of late and it involves one of the biggest problems our industry faces; forged autographs. A segment of Real Sports, the HBO television program, discussed the problems with autographs lately, flowing mainly through eBay. The segement showed how loaded with phony signatures eBay actually is. This was the focus of the piece for the most part, but toward the end what slipped through and seems to have come almost a part of the piece by accident was an Upper Deck card. The card featured four cut signatures; Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Honus Wagner. It of course came with the Upper Deck guarantee all were legitimate. However, the man being interviewed by Real Sports, calling himself "Eddie" said at least two of the autographs were forged. Eddie is a convicted criminal caught in an FBI bust several years ago. He is out of jail now as are most of the others nabbed in a huge forgery ring. Real Sports sent scans of the card to PSA/DNA and others. The autographs did not pass the test and are being considered forgeries by most industry experts until Upper Deck has a chance to test them as well. The card is owned by Kevin Demitros who paid $85,000 for it in an eBay auction. He is scheduled to meet with UD and has an attorney now to help with this. How could this happen, and now that it has happened is it an isolated case? It may or may not be. We've been emailed several other scans of cut sigantures from the same Upper Deck Legendary Cuts product which we were are told are suspect. One is a Ted Williams, the other is Connie Mack. We have asked the authenticator we consider no.1 in the industry to take a look and will report that story in TBR: The Brill Report (www.kckings/hobbynewsandfun.php) when we have the results. Meanwhile, if there are more "bad" autographs in this product the damage it could do to Upper Deck and the industry as a whole will be considerable. The number of lawsuits filed by collectors holding these cards might be overwhelming even for Upper Deck. This could be such a massive problem it could sink a lot of hobby stores around the country. Upper Deck should not underestimate the current problem if it does exist. If there are many of these cards which contain forgeries there just might not be an Upper Deck as we know it in the future.

		Category : General \| Posted By : kckings \| Comments[0] \| Trackbacks [5743]


20 Jan 2006 09:33:11 am
ON TURNING 65


My big brother is turning 65 this month and we've always been able to joke about life. I thought I would share this little essence of growing older thought I had with my readers. I sent this to my brother along with some goodies for his birthday. I hope you don't mind. ONE THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT WHEN WE ARE SMALL WE WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW OLD WE ARE. AT AGE 3, WE HOLD UP 3 FINGERS AT AGE 6, WE POINT OUT WE’RE 6 ½ YEARS OLD AT AGE 12, WE POINT OUT WE’RE GOING TO BE A TEENAGER AT AGE 18, FINALLY GET TO VOTE AT AGE 21, WE BRAG WE CAN LEGALLY DRINK BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN AT 25 WE STOP PEOPLE FROM TELLING US WE’VE BEEN AROUND FOR A “QUARTER OF A CENTURY.” AT 29 WE WORRY THAT WE’RE ALMOST 30 AND WE AREN’T MILLIONAIRES. ALL OF A SUDDEN AT 31 WE DON’T TELL PEOPLE HOW OLD WE ARE. AT 39 WE SAY WE’LL BE 39 FOREVER AT 40 WE SAY WE ARE 39 AT 45 THINGS START TO LOOK PRETTY GOOD FINANCIALLY AND WE JUST DON’T DISCUSS OUR AGE AT 49 WE START COLORING OUR HAIR FOR GOOD HOPING NO ONE WILL NOTICE. AT 50 WE GET OUR FIRST “OLD FARTS PARTY” WHERE EVERYONE WEARS BLACK AND MAKES FUN OF OUR GRAY HAIR OR LACK OF IT. AT 55 WE GET A LETTER FROM A.A.R.P. AND WE THROW IT AWAY HOPING NO ONE WILL NOTICE. AT 60 WE REALLY START TO WORRY BECAUSE WE’RE SUPPOSED TO RETIRE IN FIVE YEARS AT 64 PEOPLE START SENDING US “OLD FART” BIRTH DAY CARDS. AT 65 WE GET REALLY OBNOXIOUS LETTERS LIKE THIS ONE AT 66 ALL OF A SUDDEN WE START TELLING PEOPLE HOW OLD WE ARE FOR REAL. IT’S SORT OF A “WOW I MADE IT TO ANOTHER YEAR!” SIGH OF RELIEF SORT OF THING. AT 70 NOW WE’RE REALLY BRAGGING, “WHODA THUNK IT?” AT 80 THE ENTIRE WORLD KNOWS WE’RE OLD, WE’RE 80 AND DON’T MESS WITH US AT 85 WE SAY “LOOK AT ME, I’M 85 YEARS OLD!” PROUDLY AT 90 WE’RE STILL BRAGGING BUT EVERY DAY WE START THE DAY WITH “HEY I’M STILL ALIVE, COOL.” AT 95 WE START LOOKING AROUND FOR OUR FRIENDS AND REALIZE THEY ALL DIED 10 YEARS AGO. AT 100 WE … WELL, I DON’T KNOW ANYONE WHO IS 100 YEARS OLD SO YOU’LL HAVE TO TELL ME WHEN YOU GET THERE. JUST REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE 100, I’LL STILL BE YOUNGER THAN YOU AT 88!! LOVE, YOUR LITTLE BROTHER

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18 Jan 2006 12:09:59 am
THE GLORY OF 'GLORY ROAD'


There are those who believe "Hoosiers" is the greatest sports film of all time. I am not one of them. However, if Hoosiers is no. 1, "Glory Road" is right up there as well. This is a solid movie with more social impact and more description than probably any other sports film in history which comes to mind. Glory Road is the story of Don "the Bear" Haskins who took the head coaching job at Texas Western (later UTEP, University of Texas at El Paso) and won an NCAA National Championship by starting five black players. Not an unusual occurrance today, but in 1966 this was a first. When Haskins' Miners took the court against an all-white Kentucky team led by legendary coach Adolph Rupp (played remarkably well by John Voight) it marked the very first time more than two black players started a championship game. There were seven black players on the squad which again was unheard of and more than any other school in the nation outside of obviously black institutions. The story of how Haskins found the players, molded them together into a unit and came from out of nowhere to win is just flat out impressively told. While many people know of the team's winning, perhaps most of them didn't realize the terrible things this team, the coach and his family went through to make this happen. The film shows it all. The story of this one season, and more importantly this one final game, is as key to the sport of basketball as Jackie Robinson was to baseball just 20 years earlier. It is hard to imagine it was only 20 years previous Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Although there were black players in college basketball and the NBA in the mid-1960's, this one game set the stage for the future and changed everything. The great thing about Glory Road is it encompasses the entire story and tells it in an often humorous way. It makes you laugh and it makes you cry. I know of folks who don't like sports films but said they cried at least twice during this powerful movie. Josh Lucas handles the role of Haskins very well and is the heart and soul of the movie. The rest of the cast performs perfectly and while the big names are not there, these guys will be actors you will remember when looking back. If you go, make sure you stay through the credits as there are cameo interviews with the real players and coach Haskins running through the credits. They talk about the impact this one game had on the future of the sport. How this game opened the doors to the NBA and college basketball of today. NBA Coach Pat Riley is one of them. Riley started on the losing Kentucky team. Go see it. Even if you are not a sports fan. Glory Road deserves a look. You won't be disappointed. Also look for a cameo of the real Don Haskins. He's in an early scene pumping gas and asks Josh Lucas (playing Haskins) if he wants him to "fill it up" at the gas station. COOL move for the real man.

		Category : General \| Posted By : kckings \| Comments[1] \| Trackbacks [5254]


12 Jan 2006 02:29:27 pm
THE NFL DRAFT WILL BE INTERESTING


The NFL Draft is already shaping up as one of the best of all time and while I don't have the space or time to look at all the key picks I will concentrate on the four most talked about. There still needs to be a Super Bowl Champion crowned before the final picks are laid out but the key to this coming draft is the Houston Texans. The Texans have a quarterback who is solid in David Carr. He's only 26 and if he had a line in front of him probably would be a top notch QB. But he doesn't and a running back like Reggie Bush, while a natural for this offense, still needs a line. When Vince Young became available to the NFL Draft this put a real quirk into the mix. Should the Texans draft the University of Texas star for his local appeal? Should they trade the pick? Should they pick up Bush or start over with Young and trade Carr? They need linemen. Vince Young is still somewhat raw so if they do pick him they are not winning for a while but the people of Houston will be thrilled beyond thrills. If it's me I'm picking Young, trading Carr to the Raiders for a couple of lineman and a pick, and building a strong team. But that is me. Reggie Bush will drop to third if that happens because the Saints need a QB more than anything and Matt Leinert is the pick. Reggie Bush to the Titans and my grand hope is the Pittsburgh Steelers will trade up to get Lendale White. I think he is the perfect running back for that team and I like him as a future star in the NFL. Matt Leinert may be kicking himself for spending another year at USC taking ball room dancing. He didn't win a third National Championship, he did not win a second Heisman Trophy and he will not be the no. 1 pick as he probably would have been last season. Instead what he got was one less year of NFL salary and he did not get no. 1 pick money from the NFL. But he can dance a little better which might help him avoid blitzing linebackers in the NFL. The ball is in Houston's court and what they do will determine the picks for every other NFL team. It should be interesting.

		Category : General \| Posted By : kckings \| Comments[0] \| Trackbacks [4281]


10 Jan 2006 09:02:19 pm
VALENTINES DAY IS HERE! ALMOST.


If this seems a little early for a Valentine’s Day story, it isn’t. I walked into a local grocery store on New Years Day (January 1, 2006) and the displays for Valentine’s Day were fully set up. JANUARY ONE! Yikes. I thought about it for a moment and realized we had begun running our holiday sales November first at our own store. This made me feel quite good as I realized I was doing the same thing the big boys were doing; getting a jump on the season. I’ve never been one to say “okay, it’s July 4th, let’s put out the Halloween costumes” but I have to admit it worked better for us this year by starting our sales early. It did seem a bit strange…offering holiday sales through December 31, starting November one, but it did give us those extra selling days for sales. We actually sold more memorabilia this year for the holidays than last. This is the name of the game isn’t it? Sell more stuff. We sold several items we’ve had in our store for 6, 7 and even 8 years! The old saying is “if you can’t sell it during the holidays you’ll never sell it.” Well, we did, several years later. I guess I said all of that to say this; there never is a time too early to make a sale. You have things in a retail store to sell, so selling them now or selling them three months from now doesn’t matter. Having a sale early on does make sense. Getting a jump on the competition makes even better sense, and the fact people came in early made them realize it might be a good thing to buy now. It may not be there later. So it’s a good thing and we can look forward to holiday sales earlier from now on. But I still can’t get used to pink hearts and candy kisses on January ONE. Amazing.

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05 Jan 2006 09:48:32 pm
SYRIANA: POWERFUL, REAL AND ANOTHER CLOONEY HIT


As I reported in my last blog we saw two movies most recently which we felt ripe for review. The second of which is Syriana. Syriana is a dark film directed by and starring one of the top box office draws of recent times, George Clooney. Clooney really made a name for himself with “Good Night, Good Luck,” which we gave high critical praise to right here. He gets the same with Syriana. Syriana is today, it is real, and it is well acted, well written and powerful. It is basically the story of how oil, big oil companies and the US government control parts of the world, people and economies all in the name of energy; mainly oil. And it is about the people in the region caught in the middle with their own agenda – good or bad. The film is shot in semi-documentary style similar to that which Clooney used in Good Night, Good Luck. He draws on that experience and while not over doing it, does it well. He plays a role as a CIA agent in the Middle East who is going through a change of life, questioning himself, his motives and his involvement with his own country and what he has seen it become. While his is a strong and important role, he is not the main character. All characters play equal and equally important parts in this film. This is hard to do without slighting anyone but Clooney does it masterfully. It is truly a strong work but shy of calling it a work of art. It is brutal, it is honest and is based on events we all see everyday in the news. His friend and working actor Matt Damon plays an important role not unlike his other characters Clooney has had him play previously. This one is much more serious however. This story centers on a small oil company gaining the rights to an oil kingdom’s fields when there is no way it could have pulled it off. It had help and from the beginning merges with another oil company to keep its end of the bargain. The deal is predicated on the simple decision the kingdom has made to sell much of what it has to China. China, having an economy growing at a rate faster than any other in the world. It will grow faster only if it gets more oil. Eerily in recent weeks China and India (in real life) signed a deal with British Petroleum to take over oil fields in Syria, thus providing those two hugely consuming nations key access to middle eastern oil. Did someone on the writing end of this movie have some inside information, or just some good insight to what was about to happen? Not likely but it is extremely interesting on the timing. Getting back to Syriana, make no mistake about it, this is a politically charged film with an agenda. The agenda is defensible certainly and I see it as an important film for the new century. The side story of a young Pakistani man working in the oil fields losing his job (because of the China deal) and being led onward by Moslem extremists is frightening in itself. The real life drama being played out in Syriana is most moving and very disturbing. I recommend this film to anyone and everyone. It is intelligent, well acted, very balanced in the story telling and quick paced. It is the quickest two hours you will spend. Clooney has two masterpieces on his hands this year. I don’t say this very often but given the choice he is one of two directors I personally would like to work with. The other being Ron Howard. They have become two of our very best. We need more like them.

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03 Jan 2006 11:47:35 pm
NARNIA: CHILD LIKE BUT NOT CHILDISH FOR ALL TO ENJOY


First, let me apologize to our loyal readers. The holidays were kind of crazy and I just didn’t get down to blogging as I should, so hopefully you didn’t get too angry tuning in here to see the same old blog. We are starting anew for the new year with the promise of at least one new blog every other day. I promise. Saw two films of which we will look at one today. To quickly sum up The Chronicles of Narnia, is to say “Great film for kids, good for adults.” If you can look away from some of the underdone computer animation (we’ve seen much better) you can really live and learn from the CS Lewis classic come to film. It’s not Lord of the Rings. Not by any means. However, this Lewis tale is one of his best. Typical of mainstream Lewis it is the classic battle between good and evil as you might perceive them to be. Early on in nearly all Lewis writings there is a doubter and young Edward comes to doubting in the first scene of the film. Set in WW2 England it doesn’t take the picture long to get to out of war torn Europe and into the fantasyland of Narnia, a mythical world where the White Witch who calls herself Queen of Narnia spins her spells. It takes quite a bit longer but not annoyingly so to get the rest of our little group of children to the good guys gang. To speak of Narnia in any other terms than “fairy tale” would do it injustice. Lewis, applauded by most Christian groups, weaves his tale of good versus evil and light versus dark in such a convincing way the message is clear. The film maker in this case does it quite right without getting too overly preachy. Remember, this film is a strong children’s film. A child gets the message. The adult may simply enjoy the story. It is a good story, with or without the computers, but I didn’t expect Santa Claus to come popping up. You must go into this film expecting fantasy. If you don’t you will pick it apart mercilessly. If you do, you will very likely enjoy the night out.

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