hre are a few things that have floated acrossthe desk in the past few days, as I've been a little lax in posting here:

Fleer and Jordan
This year, to create excitement around the release of 2008-09 Fleer Basketball, Upper Deck has bought back 23 unique Fleer cards of Michael Jordan. Recently, Jordan added his signature to each of these cards and now they’ll be randomly inserted into the upcoming release which is scheduled to launch on January 6, 2009.
 
Each of the hard-signed autograph cards will be numbered as 1-of-1s and all will pack out live in the product. Jordan signed some of the cards in blue ink and some in silver, based on the cards’ varying backgrounds.
 
“He was the type of player who never let you down,” said Brandon Miller, Upper Deck brand manager for Basketball. “If he was playing, you had to watch. To be able to procure such a unique variety of Fleer cards of MJ from throughout his career and then have them signed is just awesome. We know collectors love promotions like this so it’s highly likely that they will all be chasing these cards when 2008-09 Fleer Basketball lands in stores.”

Upper Deck and Konami
Upper Deck has filed suit against Konami over Yu-Gi-Oh! While we don't have a lot of gaming presence here, this gist of the story is that Konami is taking over Yu-Gi-Oh from Upper Deck because UD's contract is up with the product. More details to come for those interested.

NFL Staff Cuts
The NFL is cutting more than 10 pf its headquarters staff, which translates to about 150 people. Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reported the NFL is anticipating a $50 million shortfall in budgeted revenues for the cuurent fiscal year.

Big Spender
In auction news of a the non-sport variety, a 1-of-1 Geroge Washington Legendary Cuts Hair Card sold for $12,000 on eBay. For that price, I hope you can make a clone from the strand of hair. 

I'll have more in the coming week. Until then, enjoy thr last bigt of holiday shopping - I'm sure the malls won't be too busy (ha!).