Another eBay rip-off from my blog; Same Seller

  I first found this seller back in November of 2012.  He was taking the pictures of the 88-89 OPC Tribute set I was posting to my blog and then selling them as his own on eBay.  Some of the listings were the exact same picture he lifted off my blog but most were ones were he replaced the pictures but kept the framework.  Some of his work was quite sloppy.  The shadow of the name box was often cropped very poorly. 
  I contacted him, he denied it.  I sent him a link to my blog with proof, he never replied.
  So I started putting a Blargh copymark across the pictures I posted of new custom cards.  It seemed to work, until I did a search on eBay and found this from the same seller as before.

  Which looks like it may be an exact copy of this picture from a post in October of 2012..

  Okay, before I call this eBay seller a piece of shit, let's try to verify it.  When I did my 1980s OPC, I did the entire template.  I didn't scan a Canadiens card from the set, cut out the picture and put in a new one.  I do all the lines and shapes to make the boxes to be as close to the original card as possible.  So odds of his lines being the exact same as mine are highly unlikely.  Ditto for the font and text.  The picture below is his card layered on top of mine (without the Blargh mark), with his set at 50% opacity.

 

  Gee, what a surprise, it's identical.  What are the odds of that?  But how did he get a copy without the big Blargh across the top?  Even if he photoshopped it, the lines wouldn't match exactly the same.  And why remove the OPC symbol on the bottom?  I did originally post the picture without the Blargh mark on it but added it a few weeks later after finding the eBay copies of my pictures.  If he saved a copy back in October of 2012, then why wait until now to post it on eBay?
  I did some checking and I found out that Blogger stores all your pictures you uploaded in a Picasso album.  I am not sure if someone can access it, but the original 83-84 Roy, without the big Blargh, was still online in the Picasso album.  I have gone through and deleted anything I don't want copied.  While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if any one makes money off me ripping off OPC, then it should be me

I Would Love Not to Hate This Card

    I was browsing eBay and I came across this card.

  This is the type of card I have been looking for.  I remember cheering for the Calgary Flames in the late 80s.  I remember watching Steve Smith's gaffe, the Monday Night Miracle and Brian Skrudland's overtime goal in 1986.  It was bitter disappointment.  I lived near Edmonton at the time and my favorite team was the New York Islanders, followed closely by whoever was playing the Oilers.  After that play-off run, the Flames became my Campbell Conference team. 
  In 1989, the Flames were a powerhouse.  Gretzky was out of Edmonton and it seemed the time was right for another deep play-off run.  The Flames almost never made out of the first round.  It took a puck off the skate of Joel Otto in overtime of game seven for the Flames to beat the Vancouver Canucks, a team that was 43 points behind the Flames in the regular season standings.
  The second round would have the Flames face their old nemesis, Wayne Gretzky, but without the supporting cast he had in Edmonton, The Great One couldn't hold back the Flames.  Gretzky had points on nine of the Los Angeles Kings eleven goals.  The Flames would sweep the Kings in four games.
  The Campbell Conference final would match the Flames up with an unlikely foe.  Back in 1989, the first two rounds was within each division.  The other division in the Campbell Conference was the lowly Norris division.  In the regular season, the Detroit Red Wings won the division with 80 points, but it was the cinderella Chicago Black Hawks who won in the play-offs.  The Black Hawks had 66 points in the regular season, the lowest of all play-off teams.  They were dispatched by the Flames in five games.
  Then came the rematch, Calgary Flames versus the Montreal Canadiens.  By far, the top two teams in the regular season and play-offs.  The Canadiens had beaten the Flames in 1986, and early on, the series was looking just like that one.  The Flames won the first game and then would lose the the next two.  In 1986 Skrudland won Game 2 in overtime for the Canadiens, in 1989, Ryan Walter would be an OT hero in Game 3.   Unlike 1986, the Flames had a deeper team and found a way to win the next three games, including two in Montreal, to win the Stanley Cup.

   There were alot of great players on the 1989 Flames.  First off, you have the four Hall of Famers on the card, Joe Mullen, Doug Gilmour, Al MacInnis and Lanny McDonald.  Then you also have Theo Fleury, Mike Vernon, Gary Suter, Joe Nieuwendyk, Hakan Loob, Rob Ramage and Joel Otto.
  I really wanted that Fab Four Fabrics card but I can't stand cards that should players in one team's jersey but then includes a jersey piece that is from another team.  Mullen's piece is from a St. Louis Blues jersey and McDonald's appears to be from a  Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, or considering it's Upper Deck, an alumni game.  I checked eBay for another one and I did find another, but this time Gilmour's jersey was black.  Must have been from his short-lived Black Hawks days.
  So I fixed the card.  This is how it should look like.  Four jersey pieces that all appear to be Flames jerseys.  

  What do you think?  Does matching the player picture to the jersey piece colour factor into your decision to buy a card? 

The Islanders other Potivn

  No, not Jean.  Its Felix Potvin.  Felix "the Cat" spent two half-seasons playing for the Islanders.  During the 1990s, Potvin was a fixture between the pipes for the Toronto Maple Leafs, leading the league in GAA in 1993 and helping the Leafs reach back-to-back conference finals in 1993 and 1994.  Although by the end of his tenure with the Leafs, he led the NHL is losses in back-to-back seasons.  The Leafs made two major moves in the summer of 1998, hiring Pat Quinn and signing free agent Curtis Joseph.  Potvin was regulated to back-up.  Frustrated by rarely playing and no news on the trade front, Potvin walked out on the team in December.
  It took over a month before the Leafs were able to deal Potvin.  His destination was the New York Islanders.  Potvin's days on the island were forgettable.  He lost his first five games and injured his groin in his eighth, forcing him to miss two months.  The following season was no better.  He struggled on a poor Islanders team and the back up was the Islanders goalie of the future, who was fast tracking himself to the starting gig.  A week before Christmas, Potvin was traded to the Vancouver Canucks.  (Milbury would later trade goalie of the future Roberto Loungo that summer to make room for the future goalie of the future, Rick Dipietro.  WTG Mike!)  With the exception of a spectacular late season run and play-offs in 2001 after being traded to the Los Angeles Kings, Potvin played out his career as a journeyman goalie.
  During his time with the Islanders, Potvin played 33 games, won 7, lost 21, and tied 4.  I barely remember Potvin as an Islander, but those were dark days indeed.  Although once I saw this card, I had to have it.  I was randomly searching different players when I found it on eBay.  I have always liked Potvin and I loved that his card had a swatch that appears to be from an Islanders jersey.  I also have a fondness for stick cards.  The only thing I don't like is that the stick seems like it from the middle of the stick, meaning the inside of the stick.  It seems to be a theme for the SPX cards of that year.  Next on the list is a Joey MacDonald New York Islanders jersey card.  Anyone?

Suspicious eBay Listing

  I was always a bit concerned that my 88-89 OPC Tribute would be copied and reproduced.  I thought people might print them off for themselves.  In the end, I decided "whatever".  As long as they aren't passing them off as their own or trying to sell them.  When I think about it, all I am doing is reproducing someone else work anyways and then adding in someone else's picture I found on the internet.  Although I do put a lot of work into the templates.  I don't scan a card, erase the picture and then put in a new one.  Every template started as a blank file.  I guess you can call them original duplicates, but I do consider the templates my own.
  Today I was on eBay looking to see if a certain player had any cards listed.  The cards he had listed was a custom card.  I have seen this seller before and I decided to see what else he had.  What I saw looked too familiar.  He had several 88-89 OPC cards.  The pictures on them were not the ones I used but the card design just looked way too familiar.  Upon further checking, I am pretty sure he copied my file.

  Compare the two sets of cards above.  My version is on the left and his is on the right.  Notice how similar the borders, fonts and positioning of the logo are.  When I did the tribute set, the hardest part was the Pin and the shadow.  Let's put my picture on top of his and set mine to 50% opacity and compare.

  Upon comparison, every lines up exactly with the exception of the pin marks that cover the player picture.  My picture has the shadow on top of the player picture, but his doesn't.  The first reason that jumps to mind is because when he removed the picture from my version, he also had to remove the shadow.  Compare side by side and the with mine over top at 50% opacity. 

  The shadow lines up perfectly.  Even where the shadow dots met the upper border of the picture.  To do the shadow I used the pencil tool, did a bunch of dots and then used the copy and paste.  I had to adjust the size of the shadow dots as I got to the bottom of the shadow as well.   Even the marks on the Pin are exactly the same.  I had a hell of a time with the pin originally since using the paint dump tool would results in more and more of the black marks inside the pin to be colored over.  The pin marks were made with the pencil tool set at 1 pixel. 
  Also, of interest is the use of trademark on the team logo.  On some team logos, I erased the trademark and on others I left it.  The original 88-89 set had trademarks on all the logos.  For both mine and his cards, there is a trademark for the Penguins and Canadiens.  For the Oilers card, there is not a trademark for either.
  Here the link for the one of his auctions. His user ID is norm202020.

 Part of me feels pissed about this.  Part of me feels flattered.  Part of me thinks it's the pot calling the kettle black.  Do you think he has copied my cards and put in his own player picture?  Or just a coincidence?  What do you think of custom cards and selling them?  How would you feel in this situation?

Whoops, I did it again

  Every now and then I'll buy a card without seeing it.  Sometimes it's just base cards from Sportlots.com but other times I buy cards off of SportsCardForum without seeing a scan.  When the cards come in the mail, it's like ripping into a wax pack, except you know what you're getting, but you still don't know what they look like.  I bought a 2003-04 Topps Pristine Marty Turco autograph as part of a lot purchase from a member on SportsCardForum.  A week later, I saw an awesome looking Turco autograph on eBay and my opening bid won the auction.  The card in the auction?

  The nice thing is that this is a great looking card.  A scan does not do it justice.  Its shininess can only be appreciated in person.  Also, I spent a little over $5 total on the pair, so it is an easy mistake to swallow.  Unfortunately Turco's return to the NHL has not been as pleasant.  He sports the worst save percentage of any goalie who has played over 100mins this season. His return to the NHL has actually cost him 3 spots on the all-time career GAA leaders, dropping him down to 17th overall.  The only good thing that could occur if the Bruins repeat, will be if Turco gets his name on the Cup.

  Update:  Argh.  After posting this, I found out Turco is not eligible to play in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Since he was signed after the trade deadline, he cannot play in the play-offs.  That sucks.

eBay: Star Lot

  Every now and then, I play the role of the sucker, and I am a sucker for those random lots.  Sometimes I am such a sucker, I will buy 5 or how ever many it takes to get the bonus card.  This lot was for 6 star cards.  No game-used or inserts promised.  It cost me about $2.50 with s/h.  So what did I get?

Star Lot from eBay

• 99-00 Be A Player Patrik Stefan
• 00-01 OPC Ed Belfour
• 97-98 Pacific Revolution Mark Recchi
• 99-99 Topps Gold Label Eric Lindros
• 01-02 UD MVP Peter Bondra
• 99-00 SPA Martin Brodeur

  I really like the Lindros Gold Label card.  It fulfills the shiny quota.  The Recchi Revoltion card has a funky design, so I liked that one too.  I used to be a Brodeur collecting during my first hockey phase so it's always nice to get a Brodeur.
  But why was Patrik Stefan included in a Star lot? Yes, it is his rookie card but seriously, it's Patrik Stefan.  If he is a star then Alexander Daigle, Brian Lawton and Greg Joly must be in the Hall of Fame.

  Oh, I almost forget about the last card.  

  You're welcomed.

eBay: John Leclair Lot

A sample of my John LeClair Lot

  How many times have you bought something off eBay and when it finally arrives, you wonder, "Why did I buy this?"  For some reason last month I had a thought that I didn't have many John LeClair cards and that getting more would be a good idea.  I bought a 30 card lot for $5, including S/H, and now that they have arrived, I don't know what I am going to do with them.  There a few cool looking cards and I guess I could try to send a couple out TTM to get signed.

  Nothing against Leclair, he was a 3 time 50 goal scorer at a time when the "Neutral Zone Trap" was starting to be a household name.  He also won a cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.  A star of the 90s, he finished with 406 career goals.  LeClair was a 1st or 2nd team all-star from 1995 to 1999.  Leclair is best known by some as a Eric Lindros' wingman on the Legion of Doom line.

The Legion of Doom, with cameos by the Hartford Whalers and some god awful NY Islander jerseys.