Lizard's Rant

Don’t worry, I haven’t been neglecting this blog lately. There just hasn’t been ANY interesting collectibles news lately worth commenting on. Usually a few times a week I see something and say “I need to write an article about that”. Not so much lately. In the interest of not leaving this blog untouched for too long, here are some random thoughts on some of the smaller stories in the hobby right now:

• McFarlane is producing a special Marian Hossa figure limited to 3,000 for the NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. I wonder how many fans will show for Thrashers games this year, considering Atlanta is traditionally the worst sports city in the country and the Thrashers have gotten off to a riveting 0-6 start and fired coach Bob Hartley.
• I really like some of the things Tuff Stuff has done recently. They’re still horribly behind the times, but the free online price guides and the free auction price database are very useful tools.
• The most valuable football card ever just sold for $10,101.51 - a far cry from Honus Wagner, but it’s nice to see some nostalgic football get some attention. The card is from the Mayo Tobacco Company who, in 1894, produced a set of college football cards of Ivy League players. Ivy League college football was by far the most popular brand of football for probably half a century, and it’s a shame collectors don’t pay more attention to it.
• Donruss is back in baseball 2 years after losing their MLBPA license with a high school/college draft picks set. A nice try, but they’re not going to make much of an impact unless they get that license back…just ask 2K Sports how All Pro Football 2K8 worked without the NFL/NFLPA license.
• Beckett did a stupid article about the 12 Greatest Cards of the 21st Century…all seven years of it. They named the Babe Ruth jersey card that Donruss produced as #1, which prompted Donruss to issue a worthless press release.
• Our Price Guide passed the 20,000 registered user mark, which is pretty cool for something that’s less than 6 months old. I want to thank everyone who has registered, told a friend, written a blog post or article, emailed me with suggestions or bugs, or contributed in any other way to the success of the tool.

That’s all I got for now. Hopefully something worth commenting on will happen soon