I Get Letters: Fisking The Nitwit who Hacked into Adam Gellman's Gmail Account.

When I received this, I knew it couldn't possibly have come from Adam Gellman of Sports Cards Uncensored. Apparently, someone in southern Illinois hacked into Gellman's GMail account and had a little fun at his expense. To his credit, Gellman publicly and privately apologized to all.

On a personal note, Adam Gellman is a stand-up guy. He's a bit abrasive at times, but writes one of the best blogs in The Hobby -- even if it is R-rated.

With that said, whaddaya say we have a little fun with this Mr. Hacker, m-kay?

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Personally, I cant stand people who exclusively buy retail products.

Immediately, with this single declarative sentence, Gellman's Hacker has managed to alienate a large swath of baseball card collectors. I'm guessing that Mr. Hacker lives in either an urban, suburban, or exurban area and not some place like rural America where the only place you can buy baseball cards in a brick-and-mortar environment is a place like K-Mart or Wal-Mart.

Mr. Hacker, whoever and wherever you are, do me a favor. Next time your travels take you to the Nebraska sandhills, or West Texas, or rural North Carolina (to use a few personal examples), look in the local phone book under "Sports Collectibles" and count the number of Hobby stores. Then, compare and contrast that with the number of big box stores.

There are plenty of places in fly-over country where Wal-Mart IS the local Hobby shop, and plenty of collectors who exclusively buy their cards there.

Why give your money to target (sic) or wal mart (sic) when you can support a card shop who sells a better product at a better price?

"Better product" and "better price" are both subjective statements of opinion; not set-in-stone facts. Just because you believe something to be true, doesn't necessarily mean that it actually is. And just because Mr. Hacker thinks Hobby packs are "better" than Blasters doesn't mean they are. That's just, like, your opinion, man.

For example, I said that there are many products where Blasters are a much better value than Hobby. Take last year's UD Masterpieces, for example. I'd much rather pay $2.99 for retail pack (knowing full well that the only cards I'd get are base cards) then spend $7 for Hobby and be stuck with a bunch of parallels and gamers that I don't want. If all you want are base cards, then why pay for something you don't want? This is my opinion, which is something that Mr. Hacker obviously disagrees with.

Besides, not all card shops are good and worthy of support. I can think of at least four in the area I live that, for various reasons, I no longer patronize.

Hell, I would much rather support internet box sellers like Chris Hart at Blowout than target (sic).

Just like you are entitled to your own opinion, you're also entitled to spend your money with whomever you want, on whatever you want. It's a free country, and it's how a free-market economy works.

Yet, for some reason, the idiots who dominate this blogosphere think it is some sort of mission to ONLY buy retail products, even going so far as posting some long winded false expectations post or some shit like that.

And who would they be? Mr. Hacker, you failed to list even one "idiot" who is on this "mission." So, Mr. Hacker; step up and take the Pepsi Challenge. Name three "idiots who dominate the blogosphere" who are on a "mission to ONLY buy retail products." Go on, I'll give you few seconds to think about it -- and if you list me as one of your answers, you are incorrect. You have thirty seconds, good luck!



Then, when I say that spending all the money they do on blasters, trading through the mail, etc is a bad idea when they can buy the complete set on eBay for 30 dollars, Mr Doucheface Chris Harris tries to rally the troops with "real collectors dont buy hand collated sets."

First of all Nibblenuts, that's MISTER DOUCHEFACE to you. And if you are going to quote me, then you need to quote me directly. Here's what I actually wrote:

"Real collectors don't buy hand-collated sets of current year product."

That elimination of those last four words is what we call in this business a "lie by omission."

But with that said, I have a bit of a mea cupla. (Mr. Hacker, a mea culpa is Latin for, oh never mind.) In retrospect, if I had known that the SPs in UD Masterpieces retail were 1:8, instead of the 1:2 as I was led to believe, then, yes, I might have bought a hand-collated set for $30 on eBay.

Fuck that shit. Fuck him. The youth and hobby he is trying to relive by building sets died 10 years ago.

Funny thing is, ten years ago folks like Gellman's Hacker were saying the exact same things on r.c.c.d. and the old Beckett Boards.

Really. I guess some things never change.

But I digress. If set building really "died 10 years ago," then why is it that, year-after-year, five of The Hobby's best selling products are: Topps' flagship, Upper Deck's flagship, Topps Heritage, Upper Deck Goudey, and Topps Allen & Ginter? all products taylor-made for set collectors. Riddle me that, jerky.

Listen, once grandma is dead you dont try to prop her up at the table for thanksgiving dinner. You let her go.

And 10 years from now, when Mr. Hacker has long-left The Hobby (and he will), I'll still be collecting my 2018 Upper Deck base set. And you know what, I might just build it exclusively through Wal-Mart Blasters!

Always Be Collecting,
Chris Harris
www.stalegum.com