sportyryan101
06-24-2009, 08:47 PM
Why people ruin our hobby.
By Ryan Walker aka sportyryan101
With all the recent card scandals involving fake cards, collectors don’t know what to do when they come across a card that is too good to be true. I have seen so many sellers on eBay that are willing to ruin the hobby for others just to make a quick buck. Sometimes, it is very easy to spot a fake, like the one below:
http://i.ebayimg.com/06/!BUrfC+g!Wk~$(KGrHgoOKiwEjlLmVWD3BKOsHdNGvw~~_1.JP G
http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif
Other times you can’t tell unless you know that that card doesn’t actually exist, like this card:
http://i.ebayimg.com/06/!BU3D-igBmk~$(KGrHgoH-CoEjlLl)2U9BKPo6R1pgQ~~_1.JPG
Collecting sports cards has been a fun hobby for over 50 years. Now a few cheap people are going to ruin this for all of us? The sad part is that we can’t do anything about it. All the people that make fake cards are going to get away with their crimes, and some will make a fortune doing it.
How do these people sleep at night knowing that they are selling fake cards to innocent collectors around the world? Here is what other collectors have to say about this:
“People that fake patch cards and self-stamp serial numbers...then put them on eBay for thousands of dollars. Just sad” Says one collector on Sportscardforum.com
Another collector says “Greed! I cannot understand why someone would think it is OK to steal from card collectors, but not steal in other ways. It used to be said that if you did not cheat at baseball that you were not trying hard enough to win. Now we want our baseball players not to cheat, but are card collectors and dealers are trying to do so instead? I would hope that some of these thieves get charged for fraud or copyright violations. “
One collector gave me the following as to why people do this: “What makes people do what they do and it lies down to 2 physiological reasons....Fear and Greed. Let’s look at many examples of this. Dictators of countries that rule by an iron fist. Nazi Germany in WWII with Hitler, Castro in Cuba and Stalin Russia. Hitler was fearful of all of the other races. This fear was expressed to Germans and as a result they too became fearful. However, this fear turned itself into greed. This greed was then how the Germans took control of Europe by destroying other countries and the people that lived in those countries. They then want to control others and identify a supreme race. We see this in our current lives with bullies in our schools. They have a fundamental reason why the bully others. In the vast majority of cases it is due to an underlying fear they have. The current economic recession that we are living in. Greed from banks and credit companies lobbying to the US government to increase credit availability. So that one could lend 40x their deposits to borrowers so that in turn they would be able to make hundreds of millions of dollars without safety nets in place or the care that people's pensions or savings are linked to how a company performs. Look at Enron. Greed drove certain CEO's to power, to look good on the bottom line for not only shareholders, but future investors. This type of fear and greed leaks into all levels of our lives and yes, to what we love to do and that being collecting sports cards or other forms of memorabilia. People want to make a quick buck at no matter the cost to others. So, they fake cards or fake jerseys or fake anything to others, so that others believe it to be real. Sometimes these people get so caught in what they are doing that in the end they believe what they are doing is real and right.
In the end no matter what we do or what we say or what we buy, we all have these 2 sides.... fear and greed. It could also be expressed as good on one shoulder and the dark side on the other. Most of us look to what is right or what we call our conscience.”
So, to sum it all up, this quote seems to fit: “It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby!” –Puff Daddy
By Ryan Walker aka sportyryan101
With all the recent card scandals involving fake cards, collectors don’t know what to do when they come across a card that is too good to be true. I have seen so many sellers on eBay that are willing to ruin the hobby for others just to make a quick buck. Sometimes, it is very easy to spot a fake, like the one below:
http://i.ebayimg.com/06/!BUrfC+g!Wk~$(KGrHgoOKiwEjlLmVWD3BKOsHdNGvw~~_1.JP G
http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/s.gif
Other times you can’t tell unless you know that that card doesn’t actually exist, like this card:
http://i.ebayimg.com/06/!BU3D-igBmk~$(KGrHgoH-CoEjlLl)2U9BKPo6R1pgQ~~_1.JPG
Collecting sports cards has been a fun hobby for over 50 years. Now a few cheap people are going to ruin this for all of us? The sad part is that we can’t do anything about it. All the people that make fake cards are going to get away with their crimes, and some will make a fortune doing it.
How do these people sleep at night knowing that they are selling fake cards to innocent collectors around the world? Here is what other collectors have to say about this:
“People that fake patch cards and self-stamp serial numbers...then put them on eBay for thousands of dollars. Just sad” Says one collector on Sportscardforum.com
Another collector says “Greed! I cannot understand why someone would think it is OK to steal from card collectors, but not steal in other ways. It used to be said that if you did not cheat at baseball that you were not trying hard enough to win. Now we want our baseball players not to cheat, but are card collectors and dealers are trying to do so instead? I would hope that some of these thieves get charged for fraud or copyright violations. “
One collector gave me the following as to why people do this: “What makes people do what they do and it lies down to 2 physiological reasons....Fear and Greed. Let’s look at many examples of this. Dictators of countries that rule by an iron fist. Nazi Germany in WWII with Hitler, Castro in Cuba and Stalin Russia. Hitler was fearful of all of the other races. This fear was expressed to Germans and as a result they too became fearful. However, this fear turned itself into greed. This greed was then how the Germans took control of Europe by destroying other countries and the people that lived in those countries. They then want to control others and identify a supreme race. We see this in our current lives with bullies in our schools. They have a fundamental reason why the bully others. In the vast majority of cases it is due to an underlying fear they have. The current economic recession that we are living in. Greed from banks and credit companies lobbying to the US government to increase credit availability. So that one could lend 40x their deposits to borrowers so that in turn they would be able to make hundreds of millions of dollars without safety nets in place or the care that people's pensions or savings are linked to how a company performs. Look at Enron. Greed drove certain CEO's to power, to look good on the bottom line for not only shareholders, but future investors. This type of fear and greed leaks into all levels of our lives and yes, to what we love to do and that being collecting sports cards or other forms of memorabilia. People want to make a quick buck at no matter the cost to others. So, they fake cards or fake jerseys or fake anything to others, so that others believe it to be real. Sometimes these people get so caught in what they are doing that in the end they believe what they are doing is real and right.
In the end no matter what we do or what we say or what we buy, we all have these 2 sides.... fear and greed. It could also be expressed as good on one shoulder and the dark side on the other. Most of us look to what is right or what we call our conscience.”
So, to sum it all up, this quote seems to fit: “It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby!” –Puff Daddy