August 18, 2008 & August 25, 2008 - Michael Phelps 2008 Beijing Olympics

He Did It! Eight Gold Medals!

I don't care that he can swim like a dolphin. All I want to know is, how can I get away with eating twelve thousand calories a day.

I'm seeing brisk sales of all Michael Phelps issues. We're almost out of stock on all of them. Word has it, that he's already signed an exclusive autograph deal with the fine people at STEINER Sports.

2008 National Sports Collectors Convention

Well, another National has come and gone. I initially planned to write updates during the trip, but we were so extremely busy at booth 655, I hardly had time to walk around.

This year, in conjunction with The Edgeman, and The History Of The Game, we had a massive booth: 100 ft long, 50 ft wide. Outside of the autograph signing area, it was one of the busiest sections of the Stephens Center.

We spent seven hours putting the booth together on the first Monday. This is what it looked like every night before we retired back to the hotel - completely draped in olive drab.

Booth 655 unveiled. An impressive collection of Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and other investment grade autographed items - all PSA/DNA or JSA authenticated. THOTG obtains their inventory in quantity from sources such as Online Authentics, Tri-Star, Steiner, and official autograph agents. They buy surplus items signed at private signings and pass on the savings.

The bargain baseball bins were a hit. Where else could you fish out a Rafael Furcal or Mariano Duncan signed Official AL or NL ball for just seven bucks?

Some pretty good autograph guests this year... Dennis Rodman, Stan Musial, Joe Namath, Refrigerator Perry, among others.

The Chicago Bulls set up a booth that I thought was pretty cool. They had all of the championship trophies displayed.

And before I forget, the food in Chicago is pretty good.

I have not had time to walk around the show because the booth has been extremely busy the last three days. So here's a snapshot of it before the unveiling.

2008 National Sports Collectors Convention

Hello from the Windy City. We are currently at the 2008 National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. It was a beautiful two-day drive from Houston. This is actually the second day that we've been here. Load-in was yesterday, Set-up is today. We're not all settled in yet, but it's already looking to be a great week for sports memorabilia collectors.

The Tuesday Report: June 23, 2008 Tiger Woods

Who knew golf was this exciting?

I used to have a $12 a week driving range habit - a fortune for a poor college student. So I quit, and I haven't picked up a club since. Golf is an extremely satisfying sport to play, but a chore to watch on television. So if I see it on TV, I usually flip the channel - that is -unless Tiger is playing.

An otherwise normal workday became a manic Monday as it was jazzed up with constant U.S. Open updates.

This is Tiger's twentieth cover on Sports Illustrated. He's heading towards Michael Jordan Territory in SI covers. A master of his art, he has already attained Michael Jordan stature as he is a legend of his sport.

We should be getting plenty of these covers in the couple of weeks so check out the site of give us a call.

The Tuesday Report: Three Covers This Week

Sorry for the late post. SI released three SI's last week.

The one we received here in Houston was the Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett cover that most of America should have received.

If you are located in and around the Michigan area, you should have received the Detroit Redwings issue. This one is going to be the collectible issue as die-hard SI collectors who didn't receive this cover will want to get their hands on it.

And last, but not least, Sports Illustrated released a Detroit Redwings Commemorative issue. This issue will be available on the newsstands for the next few weeks so pick one up.

We'll have them available on our website as soon as we get our hands on them.

Ultra Pro Self Sealing Bags

We just got in a few cases of these Ultra-Pro Resealable Magazine Size Comic Bags. They're 8.5"x10.5" and have a self sealing adhesive lip that makes storing and sealing your SI's and other magazines a cinch. I tried some and it made bagging magazines two times faster than normal. Great for those of us who have a lot of magazines to bag. There are other self-sealing magazine bags out on the market, but none of them match the quality of these Ultra-Pro Resealable Magazine Size Comic Bags. They're BRILLIANT!

But, there's one problem...

They don't fit all of our magazines; just the more recent ones because not all SI's are the same size. Ever since the first issue in 1954 (and the DUMMY test issues before that), Sports Illustrated Magazine has been shrinking. As the price of paper goes higher, the size of the magazine grows smaller. It's a gradual shrinking decade by decade.

I was hoping to add these into inventory, but I don't think there will be much of a demand for these. We'll still use them here at the warehouse for all of the newer SI's (2000 to current) but I won't list them on the website.

However, if you find that you have a need for self-sealing magazine bags that ONLY FIT CURRENT SI's (2000-current), give us a call (713-672-2793... ask for Adam or Kurt) or email and we'll ship some to you. 100 for $5 plus priority shipping.

-Adam