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Plastic DogI never used to really care one way or another about Texas until my roommate from college moved there and became brainwashed by the entire experience. Texas this, Texas that, "go Horns" ad nauseum. I actually used to route for the Longhorns in sports. But a couple of Bushes later and exposure to a few more rabid fans has me pretty cynical on the whole place. I'm sure I would love it if I ever moved there. But I won't ever move there, and so I continue to despise the place. Please let me continue to enjoy this one simple pleasure.
Here's my take on grading companies. Not sure which one was first, but I know Alan Hager was early in the game. He moved from coins over to cards, applied similar philosophies (and ethical standards), and ASA was born. He sold the patents for the holders to PSA or CSA or whoever. I will not go into a diatribe about my experiences with ASA at this point; I've said it all before (plus Hager actually gave me a full refund for 3 trimmed US Caramels just last month after I managed to contact him - 8 years after I originally purchased the cards in one of his auctions. No kidding.)
Anyway, I think that greed and need went hand and hand. Fake Roses in the 80s, altered Mantles in the 90s and other problems necessitated grading companies, but very little was graded for awhile (even when PSA started out - at the time I lived in California and saw pretty much the extent of their business at area regional and national shows). Pesonally, I always thought that PSA's holders were ugly, which is why I never got my stuff graded. However, I think that the continuing climb in prices throughout the 90s, combined with the increase in mail-order purchases (and in recent years internet purchases), increased the need and fed the greed. Some are greedier than others (anybody from PRO or NASA out there?). Today, I think that the companies can only stay in business by doing everything possible to ensure their integrity. PSA seems to be losing quite a lot of collectors' confidence. I honestly don't trust their grading anymore on anything prior to 1948. And I think that they're really questionable when it comes to impartiality in their relationship with high-volume customers. SGC has its problems, but they're the only company that I at least trust most of the time.