Story 2, Memorabilia Collecting

Sports Memorabilia More Than Just a Hobby

            Cards, autographs and bobble-heads are not just for kids anymore. Some of the top collectors of the world happen to be of an older demographic. Some collectors even have the child like mentality, being excited to open up a fresh pack of Upper Deck cards revealing the glossy print of a famous ball player and releasing that new card smell.
             Bigger collectors, and I mean bigger, run their own businesses or even own one of the largest collections in the world. Memorabilia collectors use eBay as their outlet to sell a portion of their collection. Some of them can also be prominent sellers in the industry.
             Locally, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is one of Chicago’s largest collections of sports memorabilia. I have contacted the Hall of Fame and plan to tour within the week. I also plan to go around some card collecting stores and contact some buyers and sellers of sports memorabilia.
             What the focus of this story is the art of sports collecting. How do collectors get what they have such as autographs, jerseys, and rare items? Is collecting really worth it these days especially the state of the economy and possibly a sidebar to the authentication process of autographs and game used pieces.
             The only difficulty I see with this story is finding the right people to talk to and getting the people to talk about what they do in order to get what they have. Their tricks of the trade so to speak.  

Tiger Not an Ambassador for African Americans

Eric Casillias, who filled in for Tirico and Van Pelt on ESPN Radio 1000 on Wednesday April 7, 2009, said this and I quote, “Tiger Woods does not advocate for African Americans in golf, and that is okay with me. Woods is not obligated to do it, but it would be nice if he did.” 

Now I do agree that Woods does not push for more African-Americans to play golf, but who really cares? I sure don’t. Why should he use his ethnicity as a crutch to push for more African Americans to play golf?

Woods already does plenty in the youth community, helping underprivileged kids learn about the game and how to play it. And yes that does even include African American children who take part in the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Woods is undoubtedly the face of golf now and many years to come, just as Michael Jordan is to basketball. But Jordan was never really an advocate to get African Americans into the game. Why should he be? I’d hate to sound politically incorrect, but correct me if I’m wrong when I say this. African American players dominate most of the NBA. So Jordan didn’t have to do anything to get African Americans involved in his game.

Professional golf has one of the most diverse fields of players on the tour. There are players from all across the world. Yes, the amount of African American golfers is few. Even I can’t name another African American on the tour other than Tiger.

Race should never be an issue in the sport. The love of the game and the passion to win should be the overall factor for getting involved with the sport in the first place. And for the record, Tiger Woods is not only African American, but he is also Asian as well. Some people tend to forget that he is a “Cablanasian.”