I just discovered this website - http://autographalert.com/news.html - and all I can say is WOW!!!  Some of the stories here are mind boggling.  The proprietors of the site are dedicated to exposing fraud in the autograph world.  While it focuses more on Presidential and vintage baseball and entertainment autographs (no hockey), the lessons to be learned cover the entire signature collectibles realm.

 

The great thing about this site is all their challenges and innuendo are backed up by facts.  They prove a number of well-known collectible companies to be misleading and downright fraudulent.  They give each company an opportunity to share their side of the story, but seldom receive a response.  The lesson they are trying to teach is just because a company advertises in the trade papers and sets up at the major shows, it does not make them reputable.  I have stated previously that trade papers will not disparage their advertisers, especially in this economy, since it is those same advertisers that are needed to ensure that periodical’s survival.

 

Does a PSA/DNA sticker make an item more valuable?  Read some of these stories and you will learn just how many mistakes this company allegedly makes.  Are you impressed when you see a vintage signature comes with a certificate from James Spence Authentication?  Prepare to be impressed no more.  Other companies that take a beating include R&R Enterprises, University Archives, Memory Lane Auctions, the Universal Autograph Collectors Club (UACC) and American Memorabilia Auctions.

 

There is a lot of reading involved, but what you find will definitely change the way you think about a number of premier authenticators and auction houses, especially those that work in tandem.    

 

According to a recent survey in Card Trade magazine, 78% of all sports hobby stores reported a decline in gross sales last year.  In an unrelated story, 22% of all sports hobby store owners have been found to be chronic liars.

 

Upper Deck Authenticated is offering customers the opportunity to obtain signatures from some of the biggest names in sports.  You can send in your own items to be signed by players that rarely participate in this kind of undertaking.

Rough pricing is as follows (per signature):

 

Michael Jordan - $750-$1,500

Tiger Woods - $1,500-$1,800

Kobe Bryant - $650-$850

LeBron James - $650-$800

Ken Griffey Jr. - $250-$350

 

Interested parties must also adhere to the following guidelines:

The following items will not be allowed to be sent in as part of the Exclusive Signature Program
1. Game Used Items
2. Artwork, original or reproduced.
3. Cross-sport equipment (i.e. Baseball for Michael Jordan, footballs for Tiger Woods)
4. Any Washington Bullets/Wizards memorabilia
5. Golf Balls
6. Pin Flags from Tournaments not won by Tiger Woods
7. Jerseys that do not feature the athlete’s current number
8. Sports Illustrated Magazines
9. Equipment that has been part of an Upper Deck limited edition or core release
10. Trading Cards, Upper Deck or otherwise

 

Talk about a bargain.  What do I do this month, pay down my mortgage or get my Tiger Woods baseball cap signed?  Provided of course that the baseball cap has not already been part of an Upper Deck limited-edition.

 

Card collectors may be interested to know that Inkworks has ceased normal business operations.  They hope to continue producing non-sports sets in the future, but for now have shut down all existing projects.  This includes planned sets for Ghost Whisperer, Lost, Smallville, and Doctor Who.  The company also holds/held licenses for:  Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, X-Files, Twilight, The Spirit, Aliens vs. Predator, Shrek, Jericho, Veronica Mars, Charmed, Naruto, Kung Fu Panda, and most importantly - Family Guy.

 

The CFL played the Grey Cup on November 23, 2008.  The CFL named their coach of the year on March 3, 2009.  I realize it takes a while to count the ballots, but that is ridiculous.

Last week, Serena Williams was voted the 2008 WTA player of the year.  Are they aware it is the end of March/2009?

A plea from the family of legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.  The 98-year old HOF’er is recovering from pneumonia that put him in the hospital.  His family has asked that collectors and fans please refrain from sending him things to sign, as he is no longer able to facilitate such requests.

A couple of weeks ago on American Idol, Randy Jackson twice confused Olivia Newton John with Elton John, and was not corrected by any of the other judges.  Is it true these guys know as much about music as PSA/DNA does about authenticating autographs?

 

Bad news for all you Facebook addicts out there that have a number of hockey players included on your “Friends” list.  It is not really them.  I have spoken with several players who have profiles on the popular social networking site, and they have all let me know that they are not the ones corresponding with fans, who are instead being duped by imposters.  These are most likely harmless acts with no victims, but impersonating someone else could still be construed as a crime.  Obviously some people have far too much time on their hands.

 

A Babe Ruth McFarlane “Super Chase” figurine, limited to 3 copies, was auctioned off last week for the ridiculous price of $13,600 U.S.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2009-McFarlane-BABE-RUTH-SUPER-CHASE-Blue-variant-3_W0QQitemZ290304077394QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item290304077394&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A13%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1309

 

I would normally make a comment about “money better spent”, but I think it is always good for the hobby when there is this much demand for a modern keepsake.  Besides, the buyer may be a big hockey fan.

 

For all you card sharks out there looking to raise money for a good cause, the Shoot For A Cure celebrity poker tournament takes place on May 8^th in Toronto.  You can look forward to sitting at a table with a hockey legend while raising funds for this worthwhile organization.  Please click the link below for more details. 

 

So free agent collegian Christian Hanson is going to sign with the Maple Leafs.  Do you think he’ll be appearing at Frozen Pond anytime soon after the story I wrote about his father, regardless of the fact that it is completely factual?

 

I remember giving this kid a TON of autographs in his pre-teen years, as he was a huge goalie fan and I used to make Dave Hanson happy by always getting a “To Christian” signed photo when I was with Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, etc.  Let’s see if the rookie will remember any of this once he signs his first contract.

 

Reader’s Mailbag -

 

How do you decide what players to bring in to Frozen Pond to sign autographs?

 

It is basic economics – supply and demand.  If we deem there to be enough demand from our customers, than we will bring the athlete in.  Any hot young player is a no-brainer, since existing supply will be negligible while demand will be huge.  Sometimes we are way off in our projected demand (see – Dustin McGowan), but usually we come pretty close to our estimates.

 

There are other players we bring in simply because we want to start a relationship.  It never hurts to bring in a John Mitchell or a David Perron because their upside is huge and we will already have a foot in the door for future dealings.  More often than not these types of signings have turned out to have fruitless returns, but when the risk is low, it never hurts to try.

 

Do some players keep saying no, even though you try to get them to come in?

 

Yes – but not a lot of them.  Some, such as Bob Gainey, have made it abundantly clear they have no interest in doing an autograph session, so I do not bother following up.  Others, such as Rod Gilbert, have had bad experiences previously but have left the door open for a possible signing in the future.  These are the guys that I stay in contact with.

Some players I have approached that have absolutely zero interest include Ken Dryden, Leo Boivin, George Armstrong, and Paul Kariya.

Someone had to watch it, so it may as well have been me.

 

Okay – firstly, I can not be completely objective when I talk about something concerning The Hanson Brothers.  I had a personal and business relationship with them that goes back a number of years and did not end well.  Let me start at the beginning.

 

I first met the Hansons at breakfast in a Toronto hotel in the mid-1990’s.  When I first walked in, I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen.  I mean – here were the Hanson Brothers – eating breakfast.  These guys were my heroes and two of them looked exactly the same as they did in the movie.  I was in my mid-20’s and was hanging out with the stars of Slap Shot.  How cool was that?

I met the boys through their manager.  I had been quoted in an article in The Hockey News as saying that one of my best selling products was a photo signed by The Hanson Brothers.  Their manager called me directly and asked if I wanted to do some business.  Shortly thereafter, I was part of the Hanson Brothers enterprise.  I developed a line of merchandise, including Chiefs jerseys and caps, t-shirts, pucks, pins, etc.  I started promoting them in my catalog and booking appearances on their behalf.  The guys were a lot of fun.  They were fabulous entertainers, great with people, and had no trace of ego.  They also opened a lot of doors for myself and Frozen Pond.

 

The Buffalo Sabres booked them for an appearance and Lindy Ruff asked if they could come into the dressing room and give a pre-game pep talk.  The Hansons had all the players sitting in a semi-circle on the floor and told them the other team “called them names” and the only way to retaliate was by playing “old time hockey”.  Pat LaFontaine asked if he could get his picture taken with them, then gave me his address where to send it.  That’s where Pat and I became friends.  Similar occurrences happened in a number of other cities, as just about everyone wanted a piece of The Hanson Brothers.  Budweiser stepped up to the plate and made them spokesmen for their new Bud Ice beer, and the Hanson phenomena was in full swing.

 

There was a big problem though.  Their manager was a con man.  He didn’t pay his bills, didn’t pay the Hansons, and didn’t pay me.  He booked the Hansons to appear at his brother-in-laws’ restaurant, and they no-showed.  He was a Canadian who lived and worked illegally in the U.S., and eventually the Brothers decided they had had enough.  Steve Carlson (#17) asked me to be their agent. 

 

I told Steve I did not have the time nor the ability to give the fiduciary responsibility of an agent, but I would continue to do bookings on their behalf.  This went on for a number of years, and I never once took a commission on my end.  Whatever appearance fee was arranged was divided by three and each guy was given a check.  We did make money selling merchandise at events, and I also did very well selling Hanson Brother autographs, which I purchased from them on a regular basis.

 

The Hansons though, were far from easy to work with.  Dave Hanson (#16) was an extremely difficult individual.  He would matter-of-factly cancel appearances the day before he was set to appear.  I would plead with him that these promoters had paid long before and had been advertising their appearance for months, but Dave would just tell me that I can’t tell him what to do and he would not show up.  The promoter would be on the hook for his flight as well.  This got to be so routine that I just started booking two of the three Hansons to appear, and would suggest that the team have a promotion whereas a lucky fan would win the right to be the third Hanson Brother and perform on ice with them.  I mean – if you were only able to book Moe and Curly for an appearance during the Stooges heyday, would anyone really care if Larry was unable to attend?  Eventually Dave Hanson promised to behave and I started booking all three players again.

 

But they were still troublesome to work with.  I used to say that “You guys are responsible for 2% of my revenue and 98% of my grief.”  Soon – Steve Carlson asked if he could borrow money to start a new life in Wisconsin.  I even went to his wedding party.  But these nuptials were the beginning of the end of my relationship with the Hansons.  Steve’s wife thought of herself as an intellectual when there couldn’t be anything further from the truth.  Eventually, when Steve talked to me, I noticed the tone in his voice was very different; a lot more abrupt and not nearly as friendly.  After all, Steve had been my buddy for a number of years now.  I would ask him what was wrong and he would always reply that nothing was.  I would ask him if he noticed a deterioration in our relationship and he would respond he did not.

 

Eventually, my phone calls stopped getting returned and I learned that Steve’s wife had now taken over their management.  There was no discussion, no “thanks for your efforts”, and no goodbyes.  Just unreturned phone calls from all three Hansons.  Talk about professional.

 

A short time later, I was told that the Hansons had put up their own website to promote appearances and sell merchandise.  On the FAQ section of the site was a supposed quote from a website that did not even exist, stating that they had never signed autographs before and everything circulating on the aftermarket was fake.  I called and Steve’s wife (finally) picked up the phone.  After I berated her to the point of tears, she passed the phone off to Steve.  I questioned how he could take tens of thousands of autograph dollars from me over a number of years, and then state publically he had never signed autographs.  I had hundreds of pictures from dozens of locations of the Hansons doing just that.

 

Believe it or not, Steve’s response was that he had just read a news story on Operation Bullpen which stated findings from the FBI that up to 90% of autographs circulating the sports collectibles marketplace were fake.  He then concluded that meant 90% of his autographs that I sold were fake too.  Yes – because of this report, largely based on the sale of vintage Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle autographs and with no mention of hockey whatsoever, Steve Carlson was accusing me of selling fake Hanson Brothers autographs.  I almost got a pain in my side from laughing so hard.  My Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky and Patrick Roy autographs were legitimate, but I was forging Steve Carlson signatures???  The funny thing is that I bought autographs from them every time I saw them, whether I needed stock or not.  They were a good investment (at the time), they didn’t cost a lot, and at least two of the three really needed the money.  I was sure treated fairly in exchange, wasn’t I?

 

The Hansons did not just burn a bridge with me though.  They also disrespected their biggest fans and supporters.  Steve’s wife once ordered me to stop selling merchandise to a Hanson Brothers fan site just because “there’s something about him I don’t like.”  Another fan site and their biggest supporter were told not to make any further contact because of an unsolicited quote posted on the site’s chat room, one that was quickly removed.  Under the guidance of Steve Carlson’s wife, the Hanson Brothers had alienated everyone that had supported them over the previous decade.  It seemed no one was allowed to be part of the Hanson Brothers promotion team, except for them.  That attitude continues to this day.

 

I still receive emails asking why Steve’s wife won’t return phone calls or emails from people looking to book them for an appearance.  Does this sound like the actions of an intelligent person?  Is making money now a bad thing?

 

Yet, they continue to lie.  In interviews, Steve Carlson greatly exaggerates the number of appearance requests they receive annually, in fact giving two entirely different numbers in interviews printed only weeks apart.  Recently, the We’re on the Road section of their website had an upcoming appearance listed for April/2008.  Does that sound like someone that gets 285-385 appearance requests per year?  To put things into perspective, we were doing 25-30 appearances a year during their heyday, so the numbers they are throwing around now are truly fictional.  Dave Hanson has just released an autobiography and is on a book tour and I honestly hope it does very well.  Apparently he no longer is being represented by Steve’s wife and must be booked on his own for any potential appearance.  But good luck getting autographs from them, as they don’t sign in quantity and there have been few available in the marketplace for a number of years.  Who exactly are they hurting with this attitude?  They had a good thing going for a number of years; I wonder what made them change their attitude (to their own detriment) so radically.  Their following is way down, as is their income, and they have turned their biggest fans into sworn enemies.

 

Oh – and I never did receive that money back from Steve Carlson.  When I asked about it in that last phone call, I was hung up on.

 

——————————————————-

 

Which brings us to the review for Slap Shot 3 – The Junior League.  The key here is the word “Junior”.  This is nothing more than a kid’s movie, trying to capitalize on the name Slap Shot and The Hanson Brothers, as well as guest starts Doug Gilmour and Mark Messier.  It played like a ninety-minute version of Saved by the Bell, complete with a weak plot, poor dialogue, tons of loose ends, an obvious conclusion, and some horrible acting.  The first hour almost put me to sleep.  I was not inspired, I felt no association with the characters, and except for one scene, I did not so much as chuckle.  The Hansons are starting to look old as well. 

 

The championship game had literally every classic line and scene from the original movie worked into it, with obvious results.  How many times do we need to see a member of the Chiefs skate by the visiting bench with his stick out, and how obvious was it that they were going to refrain and then get back to playing “Old Time Hockey”?  If other sequels could take the basic premise and continue to be successful, why could this one not?  They even stole from another movie, with the winning goal coming on a completely “Youngblood-esque” penalty shot.  I give it two thumbs down, zero stars out of four, and as rotten a tomato as I can possibly give.

 

But the movie was not meant for me, it is meant for children.  And I’m not objective anyways, so who cares what I have to say?

If you don’t laugh, you obviously don’t get my sense of humor.

 

Yesterday (November 3) was Johnny Bower’s 60^th Anniversary.  Heartfelt wishes go out to Johnny and Nancy, two of the greatest people I have ever met.

 

Can you believe a group of kids actually vandalized Don Cherry’s Halloween lawn display?  His pumpkins were smashed (Billy Corrigan was NOT involved) and his goblins were stolen.  Would this group of idiot youth have performed their dastardly act if they knew whose lawn they were desecrating?

Slap Shot 3 is being released on DVD on November 25.  Can you believe someone at Universal Studios actually viewed the time-waster known as Slap Shot 2 and decided that this was a franchise worth pursuing?  Once Steve Carlson (Hanson Brother #17) was finished filming Slap Shot 2 in 2001, he told me that the head honchos at Universal loved it so much they were talking about a full theatrical release and already planning Slap Shots 3-4-5.  I hope Steve has overcome his head injuries.  On a positive note, #3 can’t be worse than the last one. 

 

Sergei Samsonov sure has turned out to be a good signing for the Hurricanes.  One assist in eleven games for the bargain price of $2.3 million a year.  What a waste of talent. 

Shea Weber was voted the NHL’s 3^rd Star for the month of October.  Dig out your Pond Chronicle #23 (2007) and you will see that someone predicted stardom in his future.  I also mentioned Derrick Brassard as a Calder candidate for this season, and he is currently leading all rookies in scoring.  The #2 scorer amongst rookies is Kris Versteeg, #4 is Jannik Hansen, and #9 is Ryan Jones.  All I have to say is – who?

 

First Marc-Andre Fleury and now Manny Legace.  What do these brainiacs think is going to happen when someone unknowingly steps on a carpet while wearing skates?

 

When the price of gas went through the roof, UPS started adding a “Fuel Surcharge” to all packages sent.  Now that gas prices have come down considerably, why are we still paying this fee?  And why have they added an additional $1 fee for all residential deliveries?

 

A bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympics was Chinese trampolinist, Dong Dong.  You would think that if your surname was Dong, your parents could come up with something different for a first name.

I loved seeing Ian Thorpe referred to as a “butterface”.  That may be the first time I’ve ever heard that term used on a man.

 

Beckett Hockey and all other aspects of Beckett Sports were recently sold.  I haven’t seen this reported at all in the media, not even by Beckett.

 

If pitching and defense wins games, then why were the Blue Jays not World Series champions?

 

Is Chad Johnson now signing autographs as Ocho Cinco?  Will the old ones be worth less?  Does anyone have a Mike Jefferson autograph?

 

A store (part of a chain) in the Pittsburgh area recently did a public autograph appearance with some of the Penguins players.  They charged $19 for a personalization and $5 for a Certificate of Authenticity.  I wonder if the holofoil was free?  Soon there will be a surcharge if you want an item signed with your choice of marker.

 

Last year at this time, Simon Gamache was the most popular player on the Maple Leafs, and we made inquiries about bringing him in for an appearance.  Last we heard, his face could be seen on milk cartons.

 

Why does Canada have a Thanksgiving holiday?  Did we have a Plymouth Rock and pilgrims?  Why do we feel the need to steal another country’s holiday and hold it in a different month?

 

Patrick Marleau recently played his 800^th NHL game just a month after his 29^th birthday.  Only Brian Bellows accomplished this feat at a younger age. 

I miss Frank and Gordon, the Bell spokesbeavers.

 

If the Montreal Canadiens were founded on December 9, 1909, then how the heck is this their centennial?  It is their 99^th season in existence, of which they played hockey in 98 of them.  I didn’t realize a 100^th Anniversary celebration lasted for two years.  I guess I should have wished Johnny Bower a happy 60^th last year.