Antique Roadshow Appraisals

I love Phil Mushnick. This guy gets it like no other. I’ve read every word he’s written for a decade or more. No one is more on top of the ways that sports and television is hurting our society and our kids. He’s so right about so many things that it was with some surprise that I read this piece in the Sunday paper and just couldn’t believe how wrong he could get it. Because he reads and answers (most times) his email, I shot him the email you see below.

Click here to open a new window to Phil Mushnick’s column on Antiques Roadshow and the Unitas Jacket

Click here to open a new window to UK Roadshow

Click here to open a new window to Roadshow’s site

Mr. M–

It has finally happened! After years of agreeing with you, I totally disagree with a column. The Roadshow column. You were not close to being fair. Here are my thoughts in no particular order:

Roadshow is one of the few places on TV today where there is no crotch-material; the kind of material that you rightly point out is rampant on TV. Not only that, but you actually LEARN things on Roadshow and now how many shows can you say THAT about? So for that alone, I’m giving them a wide berth. You didn’t.

The show has experts in their field doing the appraisals. That’s what these people do for a living and it is big business. You undercut all of them in one shot and really only gave the Unitas jacket as an example–even though you didn’t follow up on it. You cited the fact that you never see the appraiser offer to buy the item from the layman. Did it occur to you that that may be borderline unethical? And does the fact that you don’t see it in the final edit mean that it can not happen? I’ve no doubt that the appraisers are passing out cards like crazy and doing some business, but it would be gauche to show it that way.

Many times the appraisers are giving a value for insurance. You didn’t do your homework as there are three different numbers you can put on any antique: Insurance value or replacement value, which is typically market value. Auction value, which is more like wholesale because it is net of the hammer premium and seller’s premium. Also, an antique dealer would sell something for retail value, which is 30 to 100% over cost, as they have overhead.

When you go to an auction or follow auctions, you’ll see in the catalog, a minimum bid and a range. The low number, or minimum, is the number where bidding will begin at. If there is no interest, the auctioneer will oftentimes drop below that figure to get the bidding started. If there is no interest at that lower figure, he may withdraw it to protect his consigner.

The range is the proffessioanl estimate of the auctioneer as to where he thinks that hammer price will fall. After looking at this in the glass realm for years and years, I’ve found that one third of the items land in this range; one third above it and one third below it or withdrawn. There’s no way to tell. The batting average of a lifetime expert, is STILL only .333.

Now you say that sports memorabilia is lousy with bad actors and sports stars like Pete Rose who flood their own market with product and depress the demand for their products–and you’re right. It is all so true. But Johnny Unitas is in rarified air as a footballer. He’s a figure of Yogi/Musial type stature at least. And no matter how many things he signs to depress the signature market, he probably only had one of these jackets and it’s a highly personal, life-used item perhaps. So it is possible that in the right room, on a given day, it could be bid up to that figure. And more importantly, as a professional, that appraiser is willing to put that in writing so that the item can be scheduled on home owner’s insurance at that replacement figure. It’s not an exact science.

Do the figures they talk about on that show seem too good to be true? Sure. I get it. But you have to do more homework before ripping that guy and certainly the show. That show is one of the sanest, calmest and learned shows on TV. History, culture, craftsmanship, artistry, engineering and audience participation and learing! Geez, Mushnick, whattayawant!!??

–Fog

Ping Pong Mod

Here they are!  I pulled them out of the rafters, where they have sat since 1980 or so and they would still work fine, no doubt.  The game was beer pong but that’s really not as much fun as this.  You place this on the table a few inches from the end in the center.  Games are to 7 and you have to win by two.  You volley for serve and the winner serves.  He may serve it right at the goal.  If he hits it, it is a point.  If he wins the ping pong point, then he can serve again.  Many times, he will score a direct hit and the ball will carom perfectly up over the goal and then be slammed into HIS goal.  It’s not uncommon for 3, 4 or 5 points to be scored on a single “point”.  The games are fast.  A super-important rule is that neither player can “goal tend”.  You simply can NOT take your paddle and block the incoming ball to the wooden ramp.  To do so is point and loss of serve.  Also; you can not touch your own goal with your hand or paddle in any way.  That is called a “force”, as in, “…you touched it!  I forced you!”.  That lingo developed because you can seemingly spook the other guy into getting too close to his own goal and it sure seems like a “force” when it happens.  A force is a point and loss of serve.

The best type of hit was a hit that struck a glancing blow.  That way, the ball would be unreturnable.  You would win the point and keep the serve.  Now, that said, due to the design of these things, that was hard to do.  Most times, you were dealing with a return, even if you scored.   There were some times though, when you would hit a high ball down on to the other guy’s goal and the carom would come all the way back to your side and if you were good, you could pick it on the volley and score 3, 4, or 5 points without your opponent being able to do a thing about it.  In fact, I have seen some players deliberately cause a force or goal tend when they see that set up taking shape.  Better to give up one and end it than to give up a 4 or 5.

This game was hours of fun.  So, so, so much better than raw ping pong.  So much more exciting.  But you know I wouldn’t expect anyone to believe that unless they saw it firsthand.  You had to play it to “get” it.

Maybe someday, I’ll find the right outlet and market the silly things.  I sure got the angles right, first time, out of the box.  I’ve only made those and they have never needed any maintenance.  Kind of neat.  Of course we haven’t played in over 10 years. 

A View From The Kop

A view from The Kop

There’s been a debt restructuring at Liverpool. All is apparently, well. Hicks has made the right noises regarding his gaffe with talking to Klinsman right under Rafa’s nose. Here’s the quote off Soccernet: ‘Rafa is under contract for two more seasons following this season. I am solidly behind Rafa and am confident of the team’s competitive prospects under his continuing leadership.’

Hicks has hired HKS to build the new Kop. Other than a rebuild or newbuild, of either Wrigley or Fenway, I can’t think of a more hallowed thing in sports than The Kop. Good luck.

Kop Football (Holdings), the American duo’s holding company, also confirmed that Dallas-based architects HKS have won the battle to build Liverpool’s new £300million Stanley Park stadium.

Here is a breakdown of the firms who have handled the ballparks in the park building boom: They have handled Milwaukee, Texas and the renovations on the drab and ho-hum Cell in Chicago. Texas has a nice feel. Miller Park is nice, I suppose. Don’t screw it up, Hicks.

HOK:
AT&T
Busch
Citizens Bank (along with a local firm)
Coors
Great American (along with a local firm)
Minute Maid
Petco
PNC (along with a local firm)
Angel Stadium (late 90′s remodel)
Comerica (along with a local firm)
Jacobs
Camden
US Cellular

Ellerbe Beckett:
Chase
Turner (joint venture)

HKS:
Miller (w/NBBJ & local firm)
Ameriquest (w/other firm)
US Cellular (2001-5 renovations)

NBBJ:
Safeco
Miller (w/HKS & local firm)

 

Hicks and the Boot Room

The American owners of Liverpool really seem to be tearing it up there, don’t they? Now you have Sir Alex chiming in. I have read a few books on the thing and I don’t think people realize how tight and closed Liverpool is. I know the big teams all market that noise as the Yankees do, ad nauseum (have they lost one of those classic games yet?), but with Liverpool, you get the sense that there was real loyalty. For years it was Shankly, Paisley, Moran, Thompson and Roy Evans. Years and years they all worked together. That solidarity with those guys was real. And the players talked it up convincingly. Maybe GreenBay is our closest sports parallel.

But these Texas Yanks, Hicks and his pal, are not handling anything the way it used to be handled and believe me, everyone over there notices. If you’re not careful, you will squander that mystique of how they do things the Liverpool way and you will not be able to sign certain guys; maybe even Scousers who always thought they’d play for Liverpool or Everton. That’s what you risk.

When Steinbrenner came in to the Yanks in 1973 with this couth, he wasn’t trashing the Yankee dynasty of George Weiss, Dan Topping and Del Webb, because CBS had already done that for 10 years. So the continuity isn’t really there in US baseball like it would be at the big clubs: Liverpool, ManU, Arsenal, Celtic, Ranger etc. And realize that by the end of the 1980′s no free agent worth his salt would sign for the Yanks. The word had gotten out. George was hands on and the team was a joke. Don’t go there was the word.

It took George’s banishment in the early 90′s and Michael’s rebuilding with the Jeter/Bernie/Jorge axis to take the stink off the thing and have free agents looking to go there again. It’s a palpable thing is my point.

If you are a rising footballer who grew up on Merseyside, and you have this incredible feeling for the team as you grew up, and then the Americans buy in and undermine Rafa with Klinsman and all that. Do you get turned off to it all? I would.

***

Incidentally, the Metros/RedBulls/Cosmos, whatever, were going to be moving to their new ground in Harrison, NJ for this upcoming season, but in a humorous and stereotypical New Jersey way, environmental cleanup concerns for the land forced another delay. Due to delays in the clean-up of industrial waste at the stadium, Red Bull New York announced that Red Bull Park could be delayed to the 2009 MLS season^.

Construction has since commenced on Red Bull Park on January 3, 2008. Earth moving vehicles and piledrivers have already started work. There are to be 3,000 timber piles driven into the ground to support the new stadium.

Where do you want to build the new ground? Go out in the swamp and drive some piles.

Actually, I think purpose built, smaller, soccer-only grounds is the one last major thing that Americans have not yet tried in pushing football in this country. I think that the atmosphere in the new building will eventually be worth 10,000 fans a night and I’d like to see it all over the country. This is only a 200 million dollar ground when the Yanks and Mets are going to be dropping a billion, just about.

The other big improvement would be to lose the silly playoff structure that makes the season pointless. WHY do Americans recreate the failed business model of the NHL??? Why not look to the Premiership and the league is the league and no playoffs!? You want to have cups, go ahead but leave the goofy playoffs to the NHL.

Gerrard’s First Match-Anfield Road End

Click here to open a link to this book on Amazon

I just got this book off of Amazon used. Don’t know if people realize it or not, but Amazon’s used book functionality is great. Look up the book and then click the “used and new” link somewhat below the top of the page. I’ve noticed that some folks I show that to, don’t realize it is there. It is great. If a book is in print a year or two, most of the time, you can get it for shipping + a buck or two.

So yesterday this came in the mail and I quickly flipped through it and wouldn’t you know, I come on the part where he is describing his first minutes playing with the first team at Anfield. He got 3 or 4 minutes of garbage time at the end of the game. I’ve been to exactly one Liverpool match at Anfield and that was it! And I don’t remember him at all. What I do remember was the nice goal by Paul Ince–one of the best I’ve ever seen, right in front of us at the Anfield Road end. And then 10 minutes later Owen scored a garbage goal from the 6. 2-nill Reds. What a great night. I had taken a weekend trip over to see the match and I think I was still working with Cincinnati Bill and my brother at Baxter Pharm when I went. I looked like hell when I got back because for basically 72 hours, I got like 8 hours of sleep, if that, and really ate little more than Guiness. I look at that trip as being a dividing line in my life.  When I left on the trip, I was young and when I came back, I was not anymore.  Make sense?  Still, it was a riot and I enjoyed the sheer goof of realizing that I had not only seen Owen and Fowler both start, but Stevie came on as well.

One thing I don’t like about the book is that it is written in the vernacular–as if Gerrard were dictating it (probably did) and they leave in all the curse words, that any pro athlete knows so well. Why? Why do that on a book that most kids will be reading? What for?

Gerrard is a special player. Other than Athens last May, he seems to be able to go up another gear for big games. He wills things on the field. I put him in a DiMaggio-esque group of elite guys that can make me pay attention to a game just because they are playing. Jordan. Henry. Cantona. Beckenbauer. Those kind of guys. And yes, Fowler for a few years back there in the 1990′s.

To answer your question, Phil, yes, I saw Liverpool on their American tour in 2004 at Hartford vs Celtic and Giants’ Stadium vs Roma. In fact, if you were at Giants’ Stadium, you got good seats and you saw Michael Owen score his last goal as a Red. We couldn’t make the trip to the SkyDome, because we were in Atlanta, but we thought about it. That tour kicked off the European Cup winning season–they should tour the states every year, no? Instead, they try to build their brand in the Far East. Those guys are already plugged in–there’s sooo much more “space” in the US for P-Ship exposure, I think they should make it a regular thing. At least send the reserves or the U-19 side over each year. I mean, the MLS is a joke. Are the “playoffs” over yet? ahahaha. I love that. Let’s start a league and design the format on the NHL! Yea, that’s a good idea. A long, interminable season that no one cares about and then EVERYBODY qualifies for a long, complex playoff system! Americans will LOVE that! hahahaha… YNWA Stevie.

Good thing I’ve got this TDAmeritrade account…

Because the markets are going wild, everyone is in their online TDAmeritrade account streaming quotes.  It’s to the point that while I can log in, that took 5 minutes and I can’t really get off the home page.  I guess all the nifty streaming tools are robbing all the overhead from the servers and I can’t trade even if I want to.  When the market gets crazed, and the servers have trouble keeping up, you’d think they’d curtail automatically, some of the more heavy handed streaming stuff, to free up resources for people to actually make a trade!

Don’t listen to me.  I’m not Kramer.  But here’s one of my brainstorms.  MRO: Marathon Oil.  Was at 63 a few weeks ago when I told my pop that sometime in the next 5 months, it would be down to 40, at which time it would be a buy and sure to be back at 60+ in the following 12 months.  Easy money, right?  Well, a little after the open today it was at 43.50 and now, it is 46+.  That’s some volatility anyway.  the best thing to do with cash on the sides now is wait….wait….wait…. and laugh.  It’ll all be coming down in the next 60 to 90 days, just slower now that the Fed has panicked and popped a .75 cut in there in the wee small hours.  What would Bono say?  “…Sorry about the rest of the world’s markets…didn’t mean to bug ya…” hahaha.

Crouchy: What can you say?

From soccernet: “Former Aston Villa striker Peter Crouch rescued a Premier League point for Liverpool with a late goal at Anfield tonight. Crouch hooked in right footed from 10 yards in the the 88th minute to avert a disastrous result for under-fire manager Rafael Benitez. “

CueSight Technologies – Better Mousetrap

Click here to open CueSight Technologies (Billiards) in a new window

A while back, we mentioned an innovative company called CueSight Technologies. They are located just out side of Charlotte, NC. The CEO of CueSight has commented on the Pinetar Rag a couple of times and he is an awfully nice guy and was telling us recently that he has sold a few of these cues from folks who read the original post.

Here’s what we were talking about:

To order: the coupon code to take 10% off is “pinetar” (no quotes)

The cue is a wooden cue that is top notch in every way. The only difference is the tip as you can see. The center of the tip has a laser in it and it will show you your aim point on the cue ball. Many, many players do not realize just how much their stroke MOVES their aim point, en-route to the ball.

I for one, realize and work on my tendency to bring my right hand (rear on the cue) in, toward my body as I stroke and that causes my cue tip to move to the right, plain and simple. I also don’t take enough practice strokes to settle myself because after a few of those pure cane sugar root beers they have down at the poolroom, I’m in a jittery, sugary, rush. All in all, it’s bad for my game and my game could use the help.

Now you purists might think the hole in the tip is a terrible thing but think about it. When you need the tip to grab the ball, you are either shooting for good draw, or big follow or even a little swerve. In that case, the contact is going to be off the plum center of the cue anyway, so I don’t think you lose a thing in terms of “contact-friction”, when you actually need it.

There’s one other thing I might be inclined to do with this product and that is to fool around with long shots with no cue ball. Just test your own ability to sight across the table. You know the shot; coast to coast. As TomB said, “…Lotta pumpkin…” (because Tim’s table had pumpkin colored felt). Some nights, that’s all you seem to get left to you. So my thought was to sight across the table at an object ball with the laser and see how well you can keep the laser ON the aimpoint. I’ll bet you the result will shock and horrify you. Then again maybe not.

***

One other point about CueSight Equipment. I found a nice selection of books and videos. That’s not easy. I’ve combed the internet looking for this kind of stuff and usually end up on Amazon slogging through pages and pages of stuff, without knowing where the beginning or end was. Here, they have brought together some decent stuff all in one place.

Click here to go to CueSight Billiards Books and Videos page

Pool is a hard game. Hard. Make no mistake. But you play your whole life and there are many levels. Not all of us want to live over the table and become a road player. You find your level. But to improve is a tricky thing. You can talk to people, and, if they’ll talk you’ll hear all sorts of nonsense. You can watch, and that helps. But a good book can accelerate your development by years. I remember the first pool book I picked up. The first line of that book was “…if you are picking up this book, then you are probably hitting the balls too hard.”

Bingo! Wow. I was impressed. He was right. How did he know? There are times I STILL hit the balls too hard. It’s just a human nature truism, but he came right at you with it. The book was loaded with stuff like throwing the object ball with side English. How bumpers stop working well when they get old or when you hit the ball too hard (a bigger angle? Or does it shallow out?). Now who’s going to tell you all that stuff? The book is.

The other thing I did that improved my game when it was stuck at a level was when my Uncle showed me a game called 21. In that game you can make points by billiard as well as pocketing. Because of the billiard aspect, it was the first time I followed the cue ball closely AFTER the contact with the object ball. [Cue angels singing] I had never really followed it before. The ball banger ALWAYS watches his object ball disappear and ONLY THEN picks the cue ball back up. By then, you’ve missed that crucial billiard angle that it comes off at. You’re never ever going to learn position unless you know that angle the cue ball will come off at. I STILL don’t follow whitey as much as I should.

***

My nephew Max, and I, are developing a new game that is shaping up to be wildly popular (with us anyway). Max is the director of R&D and he has given me the big thumbs up to go and build the prototype. He had fun playing the “proof of concept rig” yesterday with his Uncle. I have been sketching this thing on napkins for 2 years now and decided that it’s time to build the thing or forget it.

Without giving too much away, this is a game that will be about the size of a bumper pool table. It will be floor standing and permanent, like furniture. You can play standing or sitting down. Two people compete at the same time. It can be scored manually (look and see method) or electronically (Max is in favor of some type of auto-scoring system and I told him I could do it). There are many variations of scoring, or game structure that can be devised, much like pool; ie: Rotation, 8-Ball, 9-Ball.

I’ve always felt that golf and pocket billiards (I hate the term “pool”) are cousins and now I think I’ve invented the perfect marriage of the two. A game that will attract both types of enthusiast! A game that could be found in a poolroom as well as the 19th hole at a golf club, not to mention, the potential for home sales and home game rooms.

The thing is not patented, so I must keep my mouth shut. When the prototype is working, I will want some of you NJ locals to come demo it and be my focus group. Scott Taylor, I’d love to show it to you at some point because you have already been down this road and it is an intimidating road, for sure. More to come.

***

One last thing: If you go see the new Rambo movie, well, then, I can’t help you.

Gold Panning & Mrs. Pinetar

Babe Ruth Drank Moxie