There's something about getting NFL players in their college uniforms that is unique - kind of like those variant jerseys teams wear, but better. That said, I think the latest news from McFarlane Toys is kinda cool.   
McFarlane's new 2009 College Football line will spotlight current NFL players in their college uniforms.
 
The 2009 College Football line marks the first time college sports have been commemorated in McFarlane Sports Picks action figures.
 
McFarlane Toys has worked through The Collegiate Licensing Company, an IMG company, to license its 2009 College Football line, which will feature 6-inch scale figures of six pro football superstars in their school’s home uniform:
 

• Tom Brady – Michigan
• Ray Lewis – Miami
• Peyton Manning – Tennessee
• Adrian Peterson – Oklahoma
• Hines Ward – Georgia
• JaMarcus Russell – Louisiana State

 
Todd McFarlane had this to say about the line: “Sports fans have been asking us for years to pay tribute to the college teams of the top professional athletes by commemorating them in their college uniforms,” said Todd McFarlane, founder of McFarlane Toys.  “By partnering with the CLC and the colleges, we are now able to bring a new dimension to our Sports Picks’ brand. We are designing a unique player-centric collegiate product that is different from anything else on the market."  
 
These are scheduled to be in stores in August.

I like this idea a lot, as I'm a fan of "retro" wear. I'm not sure the world needs a JaMarcus Russell LSU jersey, however. Didn't he graduate about two years ago to a lot of fanfare with not much to show for it with the Raiders thus far?

When will Bo Jackson, Hershel Walkers and John Elway appear in their college uniforms? 

The Hawaii Trade Conference (Mainland Edition held in Palm Harbor Fla.) was held last week, and among the speeches, seminars, etc., was a presentation by the University of Mississippi on the sports collecting hobby.

To no one's surprise, the survey found that collectors are spending less money on trading cards, that's in part to the current economic climate. But the study found that many collectors (60 percent in each case) didn't collect as much because of the higher costs of packs/boxes and a belief that the quality and content of the cards didn't equate to the price they were being asked to pay.
 
Again, this isn't earth-shattering, you'll find many of these same sentiments on the Tuff Stuff forums regarding box breaks, etc.

In the survey, of those who no longer collect cards, 70 percent of them said they might return to the hobby for new products if prices were lowered and there were fewer of them.

I can see manufacturers moaning about that one. You want us to produce less and lower the price? Just looking at it from a business sense, that wouldn't appease any bottom line.

This is the same thing collectors have been saying for quite some time, and manufacturers nod their head, make some tweaks, but still produce a lot of products and some real high-end ones at that. And they have to. Some collectors want that high-end product, and they will pay for that. You can't take that out of the market. But make sure a balance is attained so everyone can play in the game.

We'll have more from this survey in the weeks ahead, but I'd be interested in your comments on price points, quantity of product, etc.    

When I was ball-playing, driveway master of the basketball court, I used to live for the NBA Playoffs. I didn't have cable, yest I was still able to watch the game. I watched the Portland Trailblazers in the playoffs for years on end with Clyde Drexler, Kevin Duckworth and Terry Porter.

I would go out in the driveway and pretend I was playing as the Trailblazers and "pass" the ball to my teammates in route to another layup.

The basketball playoffs were exciting, fun, found on network television and something my friends and I all talked about the next day.

And so I'm told the NBA Playoffs began over the weekend. While I knew that, I didn't catch anything but highlights. I was inaccessible to cable television and no one I was with cared who won, who dominated the scoring or anything about the NBA playoffs.

The postseason is the shining moment of any sports league, where the best of the best come to shine and everyone is reminded why they love the sport so much.

So what gives? Perhaps it's because the first round of the playoffs features matchups (especially in the East) of top-tier teams playing clubs with sub-.500 records. It's nothing different from the regular season. It's the deeper rounds when the real teams are left standing and the game is elevated to another level.

Perhaps it's that half the game are on TNT, TBS and on after 9 p.m. As a kid, I would have missed nearly all of those games.

I'm not quite sure what it is, but the allure of the NBA postseason seems a little less feverish these days.

A historic moment in sports took place on Friday - did you catch it? One fan caught the historic moment quite literally – 22 year-old Mets fan Chris Matcovich caught Gary Sheffield's 500th career home run.

And then he did the unthinkable – he gave it back to Sheffield in exchange for some signed jerseys and a photo with the surly slugger. How many collectors would have done that?

"I wanted nothing but to just give it back to Gary," Matcovich told reporters. "It was his ball, not mine."

In the stands, where anything goes, that's quite the statement in a "what can I get for it?" world.

Sheffield still didn't know what artifacts he wanted to donate to the HOF after the feat, though I'd guess he's going to keep the ball for himself in a personal museum.

Now if that had been me in the standx, I would have asked the world from Sheffield, like perhaps some signed David Wright jerseys or something. Nah, I'm just kidding. I'm not the type to hoard something for myself just for the almighty dollar. Anyone who enjoys a journalism career knows that's not where the money is, so you can see where our priorities are. And since I'm not a big Sheffield fan in particular, it wouldn't have done much for me (I did like the hands in the air routine like he just hit a walk-off homer in the World Series).

Heck, I'd be happy to just catch a ball in the stands. The closest I got to catching a home run ball was during batting practice and I had to put down my burger first and reach over a railing - to no avail, it bounced off my palm. So I can appreciate those who nab one in the stands, and I appreciate Matcovich's gesture even more.    
 

Bill Russell once said something to the effect of, regarding autographs, that those get these autographs now think they know you or have a piece of you when they get the autograph. He felt it was quite impersonal, which probably led to his stance against autographs for so many years.

I'm not of the opinion that getting an autograph means you own a piece of the person or "know" them. I think it's a memento from them and nothing more. It's different if you can have a lengthy conversation with an athlete to get a true sense of the person – then you might be able to say you know of them based on your experience.

Russell said he'd prefer a handshake and to look in someone's eye than scribble a signature and hand it over. Heck, I think collectors would like that, too. Too often you hear about athletes who don't look up when signing, refuse to sign or are surly when doing anything with the public. If people had the choice, I think they'd prefer to have a conversation with a favorite athlete than simply be shuffled through a line like cattle.

Of course, the problem is that you rarely get that opportunity, and that is why people go the autograph route instead.

If I had the chance to talk to an athlete for a length of time, I'd choose Hank Aaron first. He trials on and off the field and experiences playing the game would be a true treat to listen.

Anyone else have a favorite athlete they'd just like to talk to?   
 

It's amazing how the baseball season just started and already people are writing off certain players or teams. Did I mention the season is barely a week old?

Here in Wisconsin, where the Brewers usually only have a window from April until July to impress the faithful because of the lore of the Green Bay Packers, some radio announcers are already saying something to the effect of, "When does football start?" This, of course, after the Crew has started out with a 2-6 record and looking pretty poor in those outings.

I am curious if this is happening in other cities where the hometown nine has started on fire. Where is the patience in a 162-game season?

And then there are some teams pushing the panic buttons themselves on certain players. The Washington Nationals, for instance, have demoted their leadoff hitter, Lastings Milledge, to the minors. Now I perhaps could see that with a young prospect who is clearly over his head, but Milledge has played on the big stage and has proven he belongs.

I know everyone wants to start out doing well, but this early in the season, some guys are still finding their way around the clubhouse. For those in the Tuff Stuff Fantasy Baseball League, I hope you're not making extreme moves like dumping Ryan Braun to tossing Dice-K to the waiver-wire wolves.

It's a long and beautiful season folks. No need to get too high or too low after one week.

if anyone has any other examples of someone you know getting all jacked up or way too depressed this early, share with the rest of us.   

I managed to attend my first MLB game of the year last night, a poorly pitched affair between the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. It was cold, rainy – but that's why there is a roof in Wisconsin. There's a game played no matter what it's doing outside.

While I walked around some of the new features, which included a new fan store, I was struck by how much I was seeing Topps and Upper Deck in and around the stadium. It started with racks of packs in the team store, and another box of Topps Attax by the checkout counter.

Before the game started, there was an announcement that if a certain player got a hit or home run (I don't remember which) a section in the stands would receive a pack of cards from Upper Deck.

When the lineup was introduced, it was "brought to you by Topps." Each time a player came to bat during the game, a digital card was displayed on the outfield wall with the Topps name prominently displayed.

Perhaps I'm more aware of the names and the trading card angle in this profession, but if anyone says the card companies are non-existent at ballparks, they're wrong – at least in Milwaukee.

Now did this translate into sales? I can't say for certain, and I didn't see any kids flashing the cards around in the stands or the concourses, but the option is there, which is a good thing.

I remember going to Single-A games as a kid and visiting the "fan shop," which consisted if a small booth with glass taller than me so that I would smudge the glass with my nose. I would get some mini helmets and a few packs of cards, which were always right in front to entice me.

Kids can't smudge their faces staring at cards at Miller Park, but at least they can get some cards.  

The NFL Draft is approaching next weekend, and all of the mock drafts are running in full swing prior to the big event. Card manufacturers are starting to gear up, as well. After all, I contend the NFL Draft is the most important draft of all of the major sports for sports card manufacturers and collectors.

The baseball draft might be the biggest in the long run, in terms of possible future stars and their long-term collectibility, but it takes a few years before you see them play, which except for a select few, means they have dropped from the public's eye in that time - if they even make it to the bigs.

The NBA Draft is a pretty big deal because a lot of those players make an immediate impact, but then then you're only talking about maybe 10 immediate impact guys. And the draft itself is only 60 players or so.

But the NFL draft offers the best of all worlds – plenty of talent in terms of sheer quantity and the fact that a good number can make immediate impacts with their respective teams. Just look at the players last year off the top of your head – Forte, Chris Johnson, Eddie Royal, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, DeSean Jackson, Darren McFadden – and those are just some of the offensive players.

All of those players had an immediate impact on the football card market, which also happens to be the second most popular card segment in the hobby, for those who want to argue that the basketball draft has a bigger impact on the sports hobby as a whole.

So it will be fun to see the tops picks in next weekend's draft and then watch as the card companies announce how those picks will be presented in upcoming products.

Let the countdown begin.  

  

As I sit here in the afternoon on Good Friday, while also checking in on the tailgate festivities at the Brewers' Miller Park for Opening Day that I am missing, we decided to open a box of Topps T-51 Murad Basketball.

When it comes to trading cards, I think there are some basics that should be followed. One of those is having the player's name who is featured on the card mentioned somewhere on the front. With a classic style of card that is more art than a photo, you can't always tell who the player is, especially when the uniform number is obscured.

My second rule is when showcasing statistics on the backside, have numbers that are easy to read (and in my opinion, they should have career stats, not just the last year).

Needless to say by that intro, Murad falls flat on both of those. There is no mention of the player on the front. The Middle Eastern art influence is fine, but it doesn't work if I don't know who the player is.

And the stats on the back look like they were printed with a 1985 word processors and all of the "numbers" are spelled out. As in, if the player had 933 assists in his career, it reads, "nine hundred thirty-three assists." Please.

We also received a fancy mini card that is clearly a special insert, as it's housed in a plastic sleeve, but we still don't know who the player is because it doesn't say anywhere on the card.

Again, the look of the cards is great, but to the average collector, the omissions mentioned above will immediately turn them off. This set is for a select group, that's for sure.   

I'm thinking of doing what I consider to be something evil. I'm considering canceling my subscription to my daily newspaper. Now, that's a tough call to make when you work for a publishing company that has been ravaged by people who have gone online to do, well, everything. It's one of the reasons why the magazines you read aren't the 200 pages they used to be. But back to the newspaper. the baseball season kicked off, and I like to read the box scores in the morning while I eat breakfast. Except, my newspaper has decided to run about two box scores and give summaries for the rest. What?! I like to see who is doing well, and not just the guys on my fantasy team. So now I have to log onto my computer and get the results. Perhaps this is only natural, since that's where I get most of my news, too. It seems that whatever I read in the newspaper, I've already read it online. Perhaps it's because I sit in front of a computer all day long as part of my job and then I log in at night to see how those fantasy teams are doing, among other things. Am I addicted? Probably not, but it seems after a weekend of being away from the computer, I want to log on and see my mail and anything exciting going on. And I'm not even of the generation that can't be connected to something electronically 24 hours a day.