The NBA Playoffs are getting home and heavy, as the conference semifinals are underway. Not surprisingly, many of the stars of those teams are also the stars consumers are looking for when picking up NBA jerseys.

Not surprisingly, Kobe Bryant tops this year’s list of most popular NBA jerseys. He overtook the Boston Celtics’ Kevin Garnett. Apparently, Boston fans bought all of their jerseys last year, not to mention he's hurt.  The list is based on sales at the NBA Store in New York City and NBAStore.com from the start of the 2008-09 NBA season through April.

Other jerseys in the Top 10 include, in order, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, Paul Pierce, Nate Robinson, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.

I would guess the James jerseys will eventually lead the pack, especially if he jumps ship from the Cavs for a bigger market. The MVP award won't hurt his sales either.

It's nice to see Chris Paul's jersey do so well. As a great point guard, he's not over-the-top flashy, which usually leads to decreased popularity. But fans realize his elevated status on the court, and that has translated into sales of his jersey.

For the second straight year, I'm surprised that Nate Robinson made the list, bit I guess N.Y. Knicks fans have to cheer for someone.

But the big question is where is Yao Ming? The China sensation should send jersey sales through the roof in Asia. are they not buying on NBAStore.com?  I say that tongue-in-cheek because o the big deal that was made over his arrival in the NBA and how it would make it a global game in terms of spectators.

For now, the international list is headed by Gasol, and he can thank Bryant for that lofty status. 

The annual industry trade conference, known as the Hawaii Trade Conference/Mainland Edition, recently wrapped up in Palm Harbor, Fla. (is that near Hawaii?), and attendees and manufacturers doled out plenty of opinions on what the hobby needs to do to improve its financial picture in these struggling times.

This was after an opening presentation in which a University of Mississippi survey on collecting trading cards showed that 54 percent of hobbyists who responded were spending less on cards than two years ago, with only 22 percent stating they were spending more on cards during the same time period.

The survey also revealed that the majority of those who responded that are no longer collecting made the decision because of the higher costs associated with new products and a belief that the quality and content of cards did not justify the purchase price.

Obviously, this is not a new problem in the hobby, but the survey also revealed that 70 percent of those who said they no longer collect would consider coming back if the prices for new products were lower and they were fewer card products in the market.

And that brings us to the new kid on the block, which is actually mostly made up of familiar tenants on the block – Panini, which is made up of many former Donruss employees. The trade conference was the company’s first public appearance in front of retailers and distributors, and it was the perfect place to clarify some of the company’s product plans for 2009 and beyond.

Panini revealed that the product lineup for the next few months would include familiar football offerings such as Prestige, Elite and Donruss Classics, along with the return of the $1-per-pack Score Football product.
For basketball, Mike Anderson, Panini’s vice president of sales, said an estimated number of releases would be 17, though that was not the official number. Prestige, Elite, Absolute Memorabilia and Certified Materials brands were in the works.

Meanwhile, Upper Deck said set-building themes would be the rallying cry for the rest of the 2009 product lineup. Translation: lower price points that cater to set builders. Senior product manager Karvin Chang said Upper Deck was focused on “delivering more products for more bang for the buck.” He cited Upper Deck’s upcoming O-Pee-Chee Baseball’s 500-card base set as an example.

Upper Deck also said it would also debut some familiar brands, such as Goodwin Champions Baseball and Philadelphia Baseball. 
    
These strategies will be interesting to follow since manufacturers walk the line of offering affordable sets to attract collectors while also having to supply the big “hits” in products, such as autographs and memorabilia cards, that so many collectors demand.

In the end, some retailers walked away with cautious optimism.

“I liked the fact that the Big Three card companies are gravitating toward set building again instead of just the ‘hit’ mentality with most products. I feel better about the direction we’re headed,” said Dan Fox of Fox Sports Cards & Collectibles. 

Though some might be thinking, “They say that every year,” when referring to the manufacturers, perhaps this is the year it has to take place considering the economic climate, which is now facing another hurdle with the swine flu concerns.

In the end, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to fewer collectors, and if things are going to change for the better, people better start listening.

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.