SCD, Coach's Corner & TS O'Connell

[sports-rings]

Hi everyone, I am a new member to this forum and this looks like a great place to learn and exchange ideas.

I am Mike, the ring guy and I have been a very vocal contributor over at TS O'Connell's blog and comment section at the SCD web site. Like so many others, I was disgusted and upset with Coach's Corner being allowed to advertise in Sports Collector's Digest. As many of you know, Coach's Corner sells counterfeit autographs that are authenticated by STAT and Christopher Morales. Well to make a long story short, TS O'Connell did not like the constant criticism he was receiving in the comments section of his blog and he had told some of us that there was nothing he could do. He continued not to ignore our questions and pleas for help on this matter and finally shut down the comments section of his blog last week. This outraged many of us in the hobby. I decided that we needed to be heard and needed to educate the hobby and keep pressure on these creeps. I took my existing web site www.sports-rings.com and put a blog on the web site to deal with the problems Coach's Corner is having on our hobby, and how SCD and TS O'Connell are making it worse.

Please help us get the word out to the hobby. Please check out and contribute your posts to my blog.

Another person who is also trying to make a difference is Tom Tresh. His video's at youtube are terrific.

Please check us out and voice your comments:

my site: www.sports-rings.com

tom's site: http://www.youtube.com/user/TomTresh2

[69Cubfan]

I just finished a lengthy email to Dean Listle publisher of SCD telling him that I will not be renewing my subscription to SCD when it runs out next month due in large part for ignoring all our fellow collectors and subscribers in trying to clear up this forgery game that Coaches Corner continues to run in their auctions. I told him that he has a responsibilty to help clean up the autograph forgery problem when one arises. I know it probably wont do any good as he wont even spend the time to read it, but it was worth a try. I also challenged him to print it in a future edition with a response from him. We'll see. Just trying to do my part for my fellow collectors. Gary

[khkco4bls]

ive already cancelled mine because of coaches corner and that scd isn't what it used to be.

[sports-rings]

Dear 69cubfan,

can you please send me a copy of your letter that you sent to the publisher? I would like to feature it in my next blog. I am not a very good writer and would appreciate the content.

I mentioned my website in the first post and there is an email address there.

Thank You,

Mike the ring guy.

[69Cubfan]

No problem Mike, I just forwarded it to your email address.

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by khkco4bls

ive already cancelled mine because of coaches corner.

I did the same thing last year. When my renewal came up, I wrote on it
That I won't buy or read the paper until C.C. is gone, and enclosed it in
the envelope.
Granted it probably was thrown away seconds after it was opened.
But I figured my small protest was better then just tossing the renewal
slip in the trash.

I was a steady subscriber to SCD since 1981

[slidekellyslide]

I hadn't been a subscriber to SCD for a long time, but I did purchase it regularly at my local card shop because it gave me a reason to stop by and say hello to the owner since I don't collect modern cards it was one of the few things I still spent money on in his store. I stopped buying it though when I found out about what CC was doing thanks to that 700+ post thread on the main board.

[E93]

I cancelled my subscription about a year ago for the same reason.
JimB

[keithsky]

I cancelled my subscription to SCD last month after about 20 years getting it and emailed Dean the guy in charge telling him my reasons and didn't even hear back. You would think a loyal subcriber for 20 they would at least try and talk me into staying but nothing no contact at all. According to some of you guys here and on other websites I have been reading about that cancelled there subscription SCD never contatced them either to try and get them to stay. Guess they don't care about loyal customers. We paid there salary for all these years and they don't even want to keep us.

[RobertGT]

Thanks so much to all of you dedicated and passionate folks for doing the type of investigative work that SCD clearly has no interest in pursuing, and that this hobby so desperately needs. Unfortunately for everyone, fraud and shady business practices are pervasive in this hobby, but you would never know that by reading this total joke of a magazine. SCD instead chooses to bury its head in the sand and act as the official public relations mouthpiece for its dealer buddies and the auction house industry.

Take a look at the typical cover story from SCD. Is it a hard-hitting article explaining the allegations surrounding the shocking and sudden exit of hobby icon Bill Mastro from the industry? No.

Instead we get the same tired, recycled articles about 1967 Topps or 1955 Bowman with absurd, irrelevant comments about this players's sideburns or that guy's batting stance and zero information of any usefulness to today's collector. And O'Connell is the king of the long, clunky, poorly written sentence with big words used improperly.

And now this business with Coach's Corner and shutting down comments is the final straw. I was willing to hang on as a subscriber even with the useless editorial content, but what I can't condone is a magazine that's willing to compromise its own ethics and deceive its readers for the sake of the almighty buck.

Regards.

[DJR]

.

[keithsky]

I feel bad for all the auction companies that advertise with SCD and the thousands and thousands of dollars they have spent over the years promoting there auctions and building there business then SCD decides to get in the auction business and can advertsie for free as many pages as they want in SCD. Nothing like screwing your faithfull advertisers that have been supporting and paying the SCD bills for years. If I was an auction company I would be ticked.

[sports-rings]

Leon,

it is lot, 243. They just wrote me back after I told them I would be heading over to the forums to warn people. They told me they were waiting to hear from a ring expert for varification. Funny thing was I sent pictures of a real ring and the differences are very apparant.

Here is what the ring is supposed to look like:




The ring they have looks in the auction looks like:

[Leon]

I added a better pic of their auction ring.....lets see how this goes....I have no issue whatsoever of alerting folks to hobby issues, advertiser or not. I think they will do the right thing but their communication does seem to be a little slow in some respects....best regards

[sports-rings]

sorry, i hit it 2 times.

[sports-rings]

Hi Everyone,

thanks for the quality responses and for your help. I just wrote a new blog and put two Letters-to-the-Publisher on the blog.

Please check it out: www.sports-riings.com (look for the blog tag on the right).

Also, I know this is off topic but I could use some advise. I am a ring collector and have had nothing but good experiences with Lelands in the past. They now have a ring in their auction that is a copy, not a real player ring. Honestly, it is easy to make this mistake, if you don't have a real ring to compare too. A week ago, I sent photos of a real ring where you can clearly see that their ring in the auction is no good. They have yet to respond to me or to take off the ring from their site. Should I start a new post and alert people, or do I need to relax and give them some time as the auction does not end for a while.

thanks

Mike the ring guy.

[Leon]

As they are an advertiser I too will try to help. Can you tell me what lot # the ring in question is? No need to post a seperate thread (yet) unless you really want too....I do believe it will be taken care of. I have been communicating with Josh lately, about something else, and have apprised him of this situation. A lot # will help though...regards