If you're somebody who has ever uttered the words "they call themselves experts, I know more than they do, I must be an expert, too," you're going to love the January issue of Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly.

The January issue, which will be out on newsstands on Dec. 16, will let you lock horns with our panel of experts, as we look into our crystal balls and predict how the sports world and the hobby will play out in 2009. It's called "Exposing the Experts" and if you can take down our panel, you could win an outstanding prize package valued at more than $1,000.

Whether it's LeBron edging Kobe for MVP honors or UD SP Rookie Threads edging out Topps Stadium Club for best overall product, you pick the winners and then see how your predictions faired against our experts. Each week starting Jan. 5, we will unveil a new question on the website and let visitors to www.tuffstuff.com have their say as well. We'll display the visitor votes, our expert panel's votes and then compare them all to those who answered via the survey in the Jan. issue. As the answers to the questions are revealed, we'll post the results on www.tuffstuff.com so you can see how you are stacking up against the competition. The person who has answered the most questions after all 25 answers are revealed wins the prize package.

The details of the contest are still being finalized right now but once everything becomes official, I'll make sure they become available to you so you can take your shot at "Exposing the Experts" and win some great prizes in the process. Stay tuned.

As many of you know, each day on www.tuffstuff.com we give away signed memorabilia featuring your favorite stars. The beauty of this contest is it's totally free, easy to enter, and there is no limit to the amount of prizes you can win.

Simply go to the Home Page on www.tuffstuff.com and click on the Sweepstakes logo and enter your contact information. Or for those of you who simply can't wait, click here and enter now.

We typically give away one authentic signed 8-by-10 photo featuring a variety of stars from Football, Baseball or Basketball. We just added several new stars to the mix including: Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, future Hall of Famers Ladainian Tomlinson and Marshall Faulk along with current stars of the game such as Drew Brees, Marc Bulger, Santonio Holmes, Dwayne Jarrett and DeAngelo Williams.

So if you like free memorabilia valued between $25-$200, your chance to win is just a click away. Make sure you play the Sweepstakes every day to increase your odds of winning and if you win,keep playing every day because there is no limit to the number of times you can win. Spread the word, it's the easiest contest on the Internet with the best chance to win.

Just got done reading a recent story about how hobby retailers were tallying up their receipts from the month of September with many of them reporting their worst month ever. What a shocker? Join the club. Go figure. Didn't see that one coming. Pick your cliche or makeup a new one, but things are leaking pretty bleak in the hobby and just about everywhere else right now, but let's not act surprised.

While I'm sympathetic to business owners who are struggling, I have no compassion for any dealer who was banking on a big September only to be surprised when the numbers didn't jive. I'm by no means a big investor type or even somebody who follows basic economic trends that closely, but even the most clueless of people out there could have predicted this one coming.

September is typically a slow month for dealers anyway because of kids returning to school and the back-to-school expenses that goes along with that, but recent tragedies (Hurricane Ike and Gustav) coupled with an economy that is weaker than a Jamie Moyer fastball, and you have a recipe for disaster for those making a living off of other's disposable income.

I have no real advice for dealers or anybody else struggling to make ends meet right now other than hang in there, invest wisely, and plan for the worst. That way, when things do go bad, you don't have to act surprised.

Heard a lot of NL Cy Young talk as of late and I'm not sure what some people are thinking as far as their choices. Don't get me wrong, I believe this is one of the tightest years in recent memory, but I also believe when you analyze the numbers of each candidate you'll find a clear-cut winner.

We can probably all agree that the three pitchers in the race are Johan Santana, Tim Lincecum and Brandon Webb. That part is fairly easy with CC Sabathia and Ryan Dempster also receiving some votes.

Those making a case for Santana immediately point to the Mets ineffective bullpen as the reason for him posting 15 wins (15-7) instead of 20-plus and I wholeheartedly agree that New York's inability to close out games this year cost him several victories. While his league-best 2.64 ERA and 197 strikeouts are impressive, he did have the sixth-best run-producing offense on his side which somewhat cancels out the bullpen issues theory. Consider the Mets scored 787 runs this year while the Diamondbacks scored 734 (20th) and the inemic Giants offense managed just 629 (29th) runs or less than four on average per contest.

Webb was easily the best pitcher in all of baseball throughout the first three months of the season but his second half was nothing to get too excited about as my Fantasy team can attest to. His 22-7 mark is tied with Cleveland's Cliff Lee for Major League honors and his 3.24 ERA is ninth best in the NL but back-to-back subpar outings in late August coupled with his overall dip in the second half ended his hope of winning the award for the second straight season.

Not exactly sure what criteria will be used for each person voting for the award on Sunday but you'll notice there's no mention of team records listed in mine (at least not until later). The reason for that is simple, no pitcher, not even Young himself, could turn the 2008 Giants into contenders, not even Lincecum, although he did all he could every fifth day.

The hard-throwing 24-year-old gets my fictional vote because of the fact he almost single-handedly kept what amounts to a glorified Double-A squad from losing the 100 games like many predicted they would. His 15-7 record is all the more impressive when considering the little run support he got and his 2.66 ERA was just slightly higher than Santana's. Factor in Lincecum led all of MLB with a whopping 252 Ks (best in Giants history) which was 46 more than second-place finisher Cincy rookie Edison Volquez, he also added eight double-digit strikeout performances and an impressive 1.18 WHIP to boot. Also consider that Lincecum allowed three or fewer earned runs in 24 of his 33 starts thus far, including 14 straight to open the season, never missed a start and logged 220 innings overall, and it's really an open and shut case that Lincecum was the NL's best pitcher this year.

And if you still can't wrap your arms around my choice, just remember he played for the Giants, the 70-88 San Francisco Giants.

Disagree with my pick, let me know where I went wrong. You've got until Sunday to change my mind, then I have to turn in my imaginary ballot.