Looks like Henry is having fun pointing at the funny parts of the whole issue. Best wishes to him.

-=- Here's something from sports cards news -=-

After a two-year courtship, Upper Deck and Tiger Woods recently

announced a deal that would open the doors for a PGA Tour release

featuring the young superstar.

The bad news followed shortly thereafter, when Beckett.com, the

pricing and grading authority, announced the Upper Deck card will

be designated as his rookie card.

A press release from Hugh Murphy at Beckett said "careful

consideration and analysis of the market led Beckett.com to its

decision. The RC designation is supported by the card collecting

hobby's recognition of Upper Deck as a trusted manufacturer. The

national distribution of the product is due this month."

"This sounds to me like Beckett wants to redefine the Woods rookie

card to cash in on grading and make it bank like PSA [another card

grader] did with the Grand Slam Ventures card," Cataldo said.

(Beckett can't simply designate a card as a rookie card just because it feels like it.)

As the leading online destination for sports collectible enthusiasts,

Beckett.com has a responsibility to collectors to play it straight and,

candidly, this pushes the boundaries way past my comfort zone.

Since Beckett also is the premier publisher of sports collectibles

magazines, it simply should not be in the business of fixing prices and

grading cards.

(In a nutshell, this stinks!)

So can we have a grader announce officially that some unknown chip is indeed real and from Nevada, just because they decided it is? Look what grading has done for the card industry, and we can see some more of the good it will do for chipping. (NO GOOD!)

Beckett above, runs the online service, grading, pricing, and magazines for sports collectibles. Looks like a conflict of interest to me.