Thoughts as 2012 Comes To An End

Hurricane Sandy and Sandy Hook Elementary School don't just share a name. They share a call to our collective consciousness as 2012 comes to an end.

I don't often share my social and political views publicly, although those close to me will certainly tell you I am not afraid to discuss them privately. But I cannot close the year, and MeiGray will be closing today for the New Year holiday before reopening on Wednesday, January 2, without mentioning that I don't consider the two Sandys just a coincidence.

Our world is changing. Sometimes it changes by the whims of Mother Nature, sometimes it changes because of the work of our darkest and neediest souls, and sometimes it changes simply because nothing ever stays the same.

We need to be more unselfish. We need to be more vigilant. We need to be more compromising. We need to recognize that a polarized culture contributes to divisiveness, which more often than not leads to more pain. I don't profess to have the answers. I just know we have to start dealing more reasonably with the questions.

Our Game-Worn Hobby reflects much of the best of our society and provides parallels. It's a hobby that enjoys sports, that provides a diversion from life's every day stresses, that relies on us working together to properly authenticate and collectively .... collect.

Happy New Year, everybody.
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The charity auction to help Wheeling Nailers power forward Chris Kushneriuk with his medical bills while he battles cancer ended last night. Thanks so much to all of you who bid.

For Chris' two 2011-12 Wheeling Nailers jerseys, which had been available for nearly a year on our website at $295 each, we raised $1,337.

His black jersey sold for $797
His white jersey sold for $540.

MeiGray will be sending a check for $1,337, with heartfelt hope from the game-worn collecting community, to help with Chris' exorbitant medical bills.

This is what makes our game-worn community great.

Thanks again,

If it's too good to be true ...

Scams are on my mind today.

I know someone who was victimized recently by a phone call solicitation scam.

I've been reading on another sports memorabilia Forum of a major sportscards scam.

The game-worn jersey hobby is still recovering from the damage done by a years-old fake game use scam.

The easiest way to avoid being scammed is by staying vigilant, staying skeptical, and asking questions. For years MeiGray has begged collectors to ask the tough questions. We believe that answering the tough questions with sensible and legitimate answers is the only way to gain credibility.

That and a money-back guarantee. That and a system that proves reliable. That and a reputation that is enhanced transaction after transaction after transaction.

We believe that collectors can sift through the fraudulent merchandise being offered by asking the questions and listening to the answers.

The answers don't sound legit, odds are the memorabilia won't be legit, either.

We understand that many protential "finds" make it hard not to take chances. But we also know that if something sounds "too good to be true" it usually is.

Now enjoy the Holiday Season. We will break until after the New Year.

Happy Holidays to all of you from all of us at MeiGray.

Talking Tebow ... Everyone Else Does

I grew up loving Joe Namath and the NY Jets.

So even though I gravitated to the NY Giants when my son Dave (known as The Professor in Section 137 for his football acumen) started loving football in the late 1990s and we started going to all the Giants games, I can't let a Jets QB Controversy go without a few thoughts..

Especially when I can mix business (MeiGray sold one 2012 NY Jets white Tebow game-worn jersey for $7,000) with the pleasure of following NFL football.

I understand the fascination with Tebow, the absolute joy he brought fans (including my nephew Cullen) in Florida throughout his college career as a Gator. I understand why collectors would spend $5K, $10K, $15K on a jersey Tebow wore in college, or during his scintillating 2011 season in Denver.

What I cannot understand is how and why the NY Jets spoiled a season by bringing Tebow in and disrespecting a good player and a good man by the way they handled him all year long.

Tebow is a polarizing athlete. He does not possess prototypical QB skills. He throws poorly, does not have an NFL-caliber arm. But he runs well, has terrific football instincts, and he wins. He has won throughout his career.

What were the Jets thinking in 2012? No matter whose call the addition of Tebow was _ ownership to add juice to the off-season and sell tickets; the GM to give head coach Rex Ryan a unique weapon, or Ryan himself to push QB Mark Sanchez _ the personnel move was atrocious because it exposed the Jets' two biggest problems:

1. Poor management
2. Poor coaching

You cannot add a player whose very addition to the locker room adversely affects your starting quarterback.
You cannot add a player whose abilities are not maximized by the offensive coordinator and the playbook.

You cannot go 15 weeks into an NFL season, spending $2.668,750 against the salary cap for a player you won't use as your No. 2 quarterback despite being No. 2 on the depth chart, and who offensive coordinator Tony Sparano can't incorporate into an offense that is starving for creativity.

And if this coaching staff had any read on their incumbent No. 1, Sanchez, they should have known that Tebow over his shoulder was not going to improve his play. And that's what happened.

Benching Sanchez for the final two games of a forgotten season and giving the starting job to the No. 3, second-year QB Greg McElroy, was insulting to Tebow. It was unfair. It sends a message to the Jets' players that anybody could be unceremoniously discarded

Tebow is better than McElroy. Tebow took the 2011 Denver Broncos to the playoffs and shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers in his first NFL playoff start. I don't care if Tebow can't throw well, or can't read defenses well, or won't ever win a Super Bowl. He earned the right to start Sunday because of the honorable way he handled a horrible situation.

Is Rex Ryan afraid Tebow would do well and make him look bad? If so, he is not an NFL-caliber head coach ... which I believe he is not. He's a great defensive coordinator who is in over his head as a head coach.

Is the personnel department legitimately assessing that Tebow is not as good as Greg McElroy? If so, why was he on the team all season?

Either way, the Jets botched Tebow Time. After they release him, or trade him for a seventh-round draft choice, they had better hope he doesn't lead the 2013 Jacksonville Jaguars to the playoffs.

I Once Designed a Hockey Logo

Icethetics.info is a great website, a great blog that does an excellent job on hockey jerseys. They mention MeiGray from time to time, and we appreciate it.

This morning, they posted their Top 10 NHL logos of all time:

1. Hartford Whalers
2. Minnesota Wild
3. Montreal Canadiens
4. Colorado Avalanche
5. St. Louis Blues
6. New Jersey Devils
7. Boston Bruins
8, Chicago Blackhawks
9. Colorado Rockies
10. Philadelphia Flyers

I like most of the choices, but my point here is not to quibble. Their selection of the Hartford Whalers logo as the best of all-time due to the subtly of the logo and the use of every inch of negative space reminded me of my first and only experience with logo design.

It was entirely by accident.

It was the Summer of 1980. I had just finished my rookie season as a hockey writer at the Binghamton Sun-Bulletin, covering the American Hockey League's Broome Dusters.

The Dusters franchise had been purchased by Howard Baldwin and the Hartford Whalers, and the big discussion publicly and behind the scenes was what to call the new team.

Binghamton, NY first got a hockey team in 1973-74, when Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena was built and the blue-collar city that sat on the Southern Tier of NY State joined the North American Hockey League. They named their team the Broome Dusters. Professional cartoonist Johnny Hart created the first logo using the character from his caveman comic strip, B.C., which many people thought stood for the  prehistoric calendar but  also stood for the initials of Hart's hometown Broome County.

Anyway, the Dusters' name and logo were iconic in minor-league circles, and the city was torn. Should the new owners of the team keep the name, or create a new National League identity by going with Binghamton Whalers?

Being young, although I had lived in Binghamton through four years of college and my first year in the business, I thought the team deserved a fresh identity. I also thought the city of Binghamton needed a little name recognition. I wrote that in the paper.

A few of the veteran reporters, including my competitor on the rival Binghamton Press, a great guy named Charlie Jaworski, hoped the team would maintain tradition and stay named the Broome Dusters. The city, the Whalers' ownership and the two papers all agreed to hold a public Name The Team contest, allowing fans to cast ballots.

On the day both papers began printing the ballot, I had a brainstorm. I won't deny I had a little help from someone I can't remember. The brainstorm was to flip the Hartford Whaler logo on its side. By rounding out a few of the angled edges, the H became a B, the whale tail remained and ... Presto ... identifiable logo with a link to the parent club, but a fresh and original look.

The town went for it. The new name won in a landslide. And I still have a home and road game-worn jersey from the only team for whose logo I am partially responsible.

Help A Collector Recover from Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy devastated the Rockaway Point, New York, home of one of our fellow collectors. He’s trying to rebuild his life, and we’d like to help.

Luckily, not all of his game-worn jerseys were lost in the storm and subsequent fires that ripped through his neighborhood. After he dug out the jerseys that were not lost or damaged, he asked us to help him sell what he recovered from his collection.

Please help by purchasing one of these. We have priced them very reasonably so that they will sell quickly, so that the collector will have the money he needs to recover from the storm’s damage.

These jerseys are available on-line at www.meigray.com. They are categorized by team, and are listed with double asterisks after the player’s name.

Thanks for helping ...

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Speaking of helping, the charity auction to help Chris krush Cancer, the auction for ECHL forward Chris Kushneriuk, is off to a fantastic start thanks to the generous bids of several collectors.

With 13 days to go, Kushneriuk's black Wheeling Nailers jersey is at $555. His white Nailers jersey is at $500. All proceeds from the sale of these two jerseys Chris wore last season will go toward the colossal medical bills Kushneriuk is facing as he battles the disease.

How Many Is Too Many? How Many is Not Enough?

Got into an interesting conversation with an Orlando fan Saturday night between periods at Amway Center.

She wanted to know how many different jerseys the team would be wearing that season. I told her that besides the two homes and two roads (first half and second half), the old alternate, the opening night special set with the unique Opening Night patch, the team would also be announcing a variety of special one-night jerseys.

1. Military Night, the camouflage jersey worn Nov. 10 and 11 and auctioned last Saturday.
2. Hockey Fights Cancer, a pink jersey.
3. Vintage Jersey
4. Old Time Hockey Jersey
5. St, Patrick's Day Jersey
6. Shirts Off Their Backs

While this might seem like a lot of different fabric, I pointed out that that Solar Bears Care, the team's lucky ticket holders, and a variety of charities will benefit from this inventory.

And I pointed out that in this era of collecting, there is a benefit to balancing the supply-demand ratio. I told her that if the team only wore one or two special jerseys, the auctions might bring crazy results from deep-pocketed fans who would outbid everyone else to get one of these rare sweaters.

And that's the key ... recognizing the balance between too few (which could prompt a dramatic increase in the price of one) and too many (which would flood the market).

MeiGray carefully ponders this with each team we partner with ... based on the size of the fan base, size of the collector base, and the charitable component of each deal.

Let's all help Chris krush Cancer

MeiGray is standing up for Chris Kushneriuk And we're asking our great hobby to help by bidding heavily in a charity auction hosted by MeiGray and NHL Auctions.

Here's the link:

http://auction.nhl.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/User?id=meiECHL2&wl=12717464&type=L

Kushneriuk is a 25-year-old power forward from Ottawa who played last season for the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers.

Late in the 2011-12 season, after battling an injury, the Robert Morris University grad got the news that no one wants to hear. He was diagnosed with cancer. Although it appeared that he had beaten it, the recent news hasn't been as positive, and Chris has found himself in yet another upward battle.

However, Kushneriuk remains upbeat that he will come out on top once again. To do so he must now travel to Indianapolis in order to receive treatments that will ultimately save his life.

Unfortunately with no insurance in the United States his medical expenses will be extraordinarily large, therefore needing all the financial support he can get.

Chris turns 26 on Christmas Eve. We'd like to give him a great birthday present from our collecting community by auctioning off his home and road Wheeling Nailer game-worn jerseys from the first half of the 2011-12 season, his Set 1s.

MeiGray is donating these jerseys, with the proceeds from this charity auction going to help fund Chris' medical expenses.

Please help by bidding aggressively. Chris is an aggressive forward who is going to aggressively fight his disease. Let's help him fight.

The 2013 NHL Season?

With today's word that the NHL has cancelled games through December 30 due to the lockout, it seems as if any season, if there is a season, will begin in January 2013.

The first NHL lockout of commissioner Gary Bettman's tenure occured in 1994, and the 1994-95 NHL season was truncated to 48 games with a schedule that began on January 20, 1995.

That's the night the New York Rangers raised their first banner in 54 years.

The Los Angeles Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup five months ago and are anxiously waiting to raise their first Stanley Cup banner ever, the first in their 45 years of existence. Will they get to do it in 2013?

Time's running out ... but here's one prediction: This lockout, despite the breakdown last week, and despite the enmity between the sides, is going to be settled in time to save the season.

I have no inside information, no sources telling me so. I just have a gut feeling, a hunch, that the intelligent people on both sides of the issue understand the consequences of cancelling an entire season in this economic climate.

There's a deal to be struck that enables both sides to benefit financially ... if they work quickly.

Live from Orlando: My Favorite Type of Auction

ECHL Game-Worn Jersey Authentication Program Director Jason Rubin and I will be in Orlando, Florida tomorrow night, hosting our first live Solar Bears-MeiGray Program Game-Worn Jersey Auction in Amway Center when the Solar Bears meet the Fort Wayne Komets at 7 pm.

The game-worn military-themed Camouflage Jerseys (worn on November 10 and 11 by the Solar Bears) will be on the concourse throughout the evening, on display and up for bid.

In-arena auctions are my favorite. For a number of reasons.

1. The jerseys are all on display, available for examination.
2. The collectors are there to place their bids on a clipboard bearing each player's name. Bidders can ask questions, get answers, and consider their strategy throughout the night without the pressure of a hammer ending the auction.
3. The final minutes after the game ends when bidders surround the clipboards on the tables and place their final bids makes for some exciting last-second decisions.

It makes for a very fair, reasoned, and entertaining evening. With 20 jerseys up for bid, collectors who might not win their first choice have other options. And for every collector thinking he or she can hide a clipboard to discourage other bids (tee, hee), there are watchful eyes everywhere making sure the auction is fair and square.

It's a lot of fun. See you tomorrow.

We're Learning, Too

MeiGray entered the hobby in 1997, and began our NHL-MGG Authentication Program in 2002-03.

In the 10 years since, we've learned plenty about what hockey collectors are looking for in terms of authenticity. We know that game use and the number of times a jersey is worn is one of the most important factors in the value and desirability of hockey jerseys.

Now that we've struck deals with the NFL's San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins, we are offering unwashed jerseys worn in specific games for the first time since 2003. That year, we offered the unique set of patched jerseys worn by the Philadelphia Eagles in their Inaugural Game at Lincoln Financial Field and they sold out immediately.

We're wondering if football collectors value game use as much as historical significance? What's more important, seeing the jersey pounded with use, or seeing the player's productivity in the jersey. Is it whether the team won or lost? Stats? Grass stains?

Let us know. We're learning, too.
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If you have not checked out gameusedcollector.com yet, go directly to their website and join. It's an exciting new website that offers collectors new and old, experienced and novice, a chance to interact with fellow collectors. Good luck, GUC.
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The last 48 hours have been full of intrigue, as the NHL and NHLPA have spent hours and hours trying to hammer out a new CBA. Like the rest of the hockey world, we're keeping our hopes up that there will be a 2012-13 NHL season.
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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Got three different jerseys from three different collectors for authentication today.

Jersey 1, purchased off ebay, no other information provided by collector submitting for authentication. He received no provenance from the seller, no supporting documents, nothing but a shirt with no evidence that it was used in a National Hockey League game.

Jersey 2, purchased with a batch of jerseys years ago, with no other information provided by the collector submitting for authentication. He received no provenance from the seller, no supporting documents, nothing but a shirt with glaringly fraudulent game use, no other marks, no evidence it was used in a National Hockey League game. The jersey looked very much like a jersey sold in a popular retail store that also customizes jerseys for NHL teams.

Jersey 3, acquired as a gift from a player, with a dated letter from the player. Characteristics of the jersey look consistent with a game-worn jersey. Reputable player, reputable story on the letter, quite likely at first glance a game-worn jersey.

My reason for describing these three? Supporting information does matter. When you buy a jersey, ask about the jersey. Ask questions of provenance, obtain supporting information. Letters of authenticity are as good as the information and warranties contained within them.

Into The Belly of the Beast

As a Washington Redskins partner, I felt honored to be invited onto the field and into their VIP Partner Hospitality Room prior to Monday Night's game with the New York Giants.

As a NY Giants fan, it was quite a night at FedEx Field.

MeiGray would like nothing more than to see its partners succeed, and here's to hoping the Redskins make the playoffs. As the NFC East champion? As an NFC wild card?

As a NY Giants fan, it was quite a game at FedEx Field.

The interest in and the value of Robert Griffin III's game-worn jerseys seem to go up and up and up each week, with the way he's been playing and the way the Redskins have been winning.

Alfred Morris, Pierre Garcon, London Fletcher ... rookies and vets helping to turn the fortunes of one of the NFL's greatest franchises. MeiGray's glad to be a part of it, and hope to be for years to come.

As a NY Giants fan, it was quite a schizophrenic trip home from FedEx Field.