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Three weeks ago, I wrote an article entitled Sports Card Girl is a Scam. In it, I raised some questions about  new card blogger SportsCardGirl–real name allegedly Brandy Ruth–and the legitimacy of “her” online business.

Some bloggers agreed with the points I raised, others disagreed, and most didn’t really care. But Sports Card Girl…well, “she” tried to bully me. Which is ironic given this August 25th exchange on Twitter:

captainbohica: wow. care to respond to this accusation @SportsCardGirl ?
http://tinyurl.com/255bep8 #collect

SportsCardGirl: @captainbohica wow I appreciate someone taking the time to write about me!!! So much of that is wrong it’s not even funny.

SportsCardGirl: @captainbohica that guy can think what he wants. Shame on him for trying to make it even harder for a girl collector, no wonder there’s few

So, Sports Card Girl said that “she” appreciated the free publicity, that I was wrong and that I could think what I want.

But later that same day, “she” sent me this email, accusing me of defamation and threatening to take legal action…

This is all wrong for three reasons:

1. Viewpoint. I did not attack any of “her” viewpoints. I just raised questions about the legitimacy of her business and the security of her website.

2. Defamation–with a capital D, no less–is being libelous. Calling Joe Schmoe is a liar without proof is defamation. Saying that Joe Schmoe–or Brandy Ruth–writes grammatically poor English and has an unsecured website is not libel because they are proven facts.

3. Copyright Infringement: “Her” images that I used in my previous post are not Copyright Infringement (again, capitalized for some reason) because they fall under fair use, which means that you are allowed to use copyrighted works for purposes of review, criticism or news reporting…or even parody.

Since I had done nothing wrong–and she had done nothing to address any of the issues I raised in my article–I decided to ignore her email. But 5 days later, I was threatened again:

Again, I don’t know why words like My Logo are capitalized. And how much time do I have-72 hours or 72 days? I don’t think Sports Card Girl knows for sure, either. In “her” first email, “she” threatened to send “her” lawyers (plural) after me; now it’s just one copyright lawyer. If “she” really did have one or more lawyers, then they’d probably draft a better letter than this one.

It gets better. A few minutes later, “she” also emailed the company that hosts my website:

“All of these are the offenders…” Wow, I guess her lawyers / copyright lawyer / legal team didn’t proofread this message too well either.

Obviously, my web host took no action, because no law was transgressed. And the emails stopped after that. But like I said before, I have to call people on their bullshit. I am not vindictive, but I don’t take kindly to threats, either.

In closing, I would like to reiterate a few important points to my fellow legitimate bloggers:

1. Using an image for purpose of review, criticism, news reporting–and even parody–is not copyright infringement, as those are protected by fair use.

2. If you are going to threaten someone with legal action, make sure you know the law first.

3. Defamation is when you write/say hurtful or incorrect statements about someone–not when you write/say something factual that they disagree with or don’t like.

4. When someone gets mad at what you said or wrote, but does not address the issues you raise, then you are probably right.

Normally, I’m pretty a pretty laid back person–but once in a while someone on the blogosphere makes me mad, and then I have to call them on their bullshit. Such was the case last year when another hockey blogger stole content from my site. What is irritating me now is a relatively new person on the sports card blog scene, a fabrication known as Sports Card Girl.

Be warned–do not buy anything from Sports Card Girl. Her website is not secure, and the whole thing smells of a scam.

Sport Card Girl started following my blog last week. Whenever I get a new follower, I immediately check out their blog or website. Upon looking at “her” site, many of the links were broken. Intrigued, I did a bit more digging around. Here is what I figured out.

#1 – Too good to be true

Yes, it is completely possible that a super-attractive woman would like sports cards AND blogging AND also happen to run an online retail store. Possible, but highly unlikely.

Many companies have hired attractive women to promote their goods. My old boss–who once worked for Marvel Comics–told me that he used to hire Playboy Magazine models to work at the Marvel Comics booth at Comic-Con. Sex sells.

And those Topps “Rip Party” videos feature an attractive model/spokeswoman. Everyone does this–from beer companies to automobile manufacturers.

The pretty girl that you see on the Sports Card Girl website is just a spokesmodel.  No harm in that, but it gets better (and worse!)

#2 – Her name is Brandy Ruth
Well, that’s the “character’s” name,  Brandy Ruth. And she is an attractive woman–a “babe,” you could say. Babe Ruth. Obviously, an alias–and a poor one at that.

#3 – Have you seen the videos?
Pretending to be the blogger that “she” isn’t, Sport Card Girl has a website, a Twitter account, and a blog that features videos of the model opening packs of cards and such.

One video is particularly telling, where the pretty girl opens up a box that has a signed football helmet inside. Once she gets the box opened, she goes straight for the certificate to read off that it is a Cedrick Benson autograph. Most REAL collectors would look at the item first, and then the certificate of authenticity.

In another video, the footage is flipped. You can tell because the text on the cards is backwards.

This just gets funnier and funnier.

#4 – Her website uses a foreign IP address
A foreign IP means that “her” website is hosted overseas. Why, when there are tons of web hosts in the United States? Over the weekend, fellow blogger and Twitter user Project1962 brought this matter to light, and questioned “her” use of a foreign IP:

Aug. 20, 3:09 PM – @SportsCardGirl what’s your true story? Why the suspicious IP address and the overabundance of stuff for sale?

Aug. 20, 6:28 PM – @Project1962 I hire people to help promote my site (who doesn’t outsource). I have all this stuff to sell because I’m starting a business

Aug. 20, 6:41 PM – @SportsCardGirl Fair enough. It still doesn’t explain the foreign IP address. Not hating, just questioning.

Aug. 20, 6:43 PM – @SportsCardGirl To me it looks like a dist. trying to use a pretty face to boost sales. I could be terribly wrong but that’s my thinking.

Aug. 21, 10:17 AM – @Project1962 i have outsourced to other countries for building links for my site (main purpose of building up search engine rankings)

Aug. 21, 10:18 AM – @Project1962 well, I am trying to turn my hobby into a business. After all, who wants to work for someone else? This is 2yr in makings 4 me

Sports Card Girl didn’t really explain that too well, did “she?” Why a foreign-hosted website? And how can a new business afford a TON of product and to outsource for help with search engine rankings? If none of that is suspicious to you, read on…

#5 – “She” writes like an ESL student…and a man

In my August 14 write-up about the upcoming Ultimate Memorabilia 10 set from ITG, Sports Card Girl gave this lively response:

“Cool cards, but expensive hobby, that best way to have it like what they have said is a group break. And it is fun doing it also.”

A day later, she replied to a thread on The Real DFG:

“I like your story, it is true that a woman [sic] are hard to understand (you can’t read their minds). Just be thankful and place the cards that matters [sic] to you. Keep it simple but contented.”

What…? I know we live in the age of LOLspeak and Tweeting. But who really wrote this? This “broken English” grammar ties in nicely with the website having a foreign IP address.

And what REAL woman (singular) would talk about women (plural) in the third person? According to my girlfriend, an actual woman would say “us” or “we” when referring to women as a collective group.

#6 – “Her” site is NOT secure
Thus far, all of these points have been to prove that Sports Card Girl is not a real person, but a fabrication–a model/actress and a piss-poor social media user. Most likely, this is the efforts of two or more people here. “She” likes and agrees with everything on other blogs, and seems to have an awful lot of trading cards for sale. So I tried to buy something, and noticed that the pages that collect personal data (name, address, payment information) are not secure. 

A secure page starts with https in the address bar–the “s” stands for secure. Here is an example of a secure web page:

A non-secure page starts with http–no “s”–and is fine for most web pages so long as you are not entering any personal data. Here is an example of a non-secure web page:

Pages that collect personal data on the Sports Card Girl website–as illustrated above–are not secure. Name, email password–all that stuff could easily be intercepted by a hacker if you input it into that site.

All online sellers have to have a detailed Privacy Policy–a page that tells the visitor what information is collected, why it is collected, how it is stored and for what purpose it could be used for. An example would be stating that the site collects a username and password to expedite future purchases. The Privacy Policy on the Sports Card Girl website tell us nothing–literally:

No Privacy Policy and no secure server for ordering. That’s two strikes. Having worked in e-commerce for 6 years, I have spent quite a bit of time writing and revising privacy policies for my former company’s various websites. No credible business collects personal data without telling you how it is used.

Of course, credit card information should never be entered on an unsecure page. Strangely, payment information is collected on another site, which brings me to my final point…

#7 – Who is really selling these cards?
I decided to go through the order process, and bail out once it asked for a credit card number. I added two items to my cart:

• 2004-05 Upper Deck Exquisite Basketball Cards Hobby Box/Pack @ $2,300.00
• 2010 Donruss (Panini) Classics Football Hobby Box @ $99.99

I tried creating an account on “her” site, and that did not work (strike three!).

But I was still able to check out my $2,400 “order.” After filling out a a fake name, I was told that the final step of my order would take me to Amazon.com

Upon clicking to Amazon.com, I discovered that one box of cards would be shipped by an Amazon.com Marketplace seller named hotwheelskingdom, while the other box would be fulfilled by Georgetown Card Exchange, Inc.

I went back and tried ordering a different product to see what happened, and according to the Amazon checkout it would be fulfilled by Charm City Cards. 

So, who is really selling these cards?

Is Sports Card Girl just a front for a conglomerate of Amazon Marketplace sellers who need someone sexy to sell their stuff?

Or is “she” really a third party that is trying to cull personal data from sports card collectors easily hypnotized by boobs?

Last week, the Chicago Blackhawks signed free agent winger Fernando Pisani to a 1-year deal.TSN reported this signing on August 18, and pretty much every article has pointed back to TSN’s report–even NHL.com, who you think would really be in the know on these things. The Blackhawks have yet to mention Pisani anywhere on their website. It’s almost been a week, and yet nothing concrete. Continue reading “‘Hawks sign ulcerative colitis spokesman to 1-year deal”

The 2010-11 season marks the 100th Anniversary of hockey cards. A century ago, the first set of hockey cards–now known as the C56 set–was released by Imperial Tobacco. One hockey card was placed in each pack of cigarettes to keep the cigs from breaking.

To commemorate this, In The Game is kicking it old school–way old school. Their Ultimate Memorabilia 10 hockey set will feature a base card design that looks like the century old portraits of the C56 set. But there’s a twist–apparently, the set will feature relatively newer players like Mario Lemieux (above) and Ted Lindsay (left). Redemption cards for graded copies of 1910-11 C56 cards will be randomly inserted.

The look of this set excites me. I love painted cards, such as the old Hockey Hall of Fame Postcards, Donruss Ice Kings/Ice Masters–even those Upper Deck checklists from the early 1990s. The thought of collecting a set that looks pre-World War One is enticing.

However, I have never bought Ultimate Memorabilia before. It seems like a very expensive product (several hundred dollars for a 5-pack box). And since I’m more interested in the base cards then memorabilia cards, I don’t know how re-sell-able (if that’s even a word) the memorabilia inserts are.

Has anyone collected Ultimate Memorabilia in the past? How was the set? How much did a box cost? Are the memorabilia insert cards easy to re-sell, or hard to because they don’t have the team logos? 

I am so not a jersey card kind of guy, so shelling out hundreds of dollars to go after “base” cards doesn’t seem like the greatest idea. Then again, I’ve never bought any of ITG’s memorabilia products. Maybe I’ll like them if I try them.

A plethora of computer problems have have kept me from posting my recap about the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks Convention (aka “Hawks Con”).

Problem 1: My video editing software keeps crashing. Coincidentally, my girlfriend had the same problem with her video editing software too.

Problem 2: The flatbed scanner I ordered from NewEgg.com hasn’t arrived yet. My old scanner still works, but the scan quality sucks.

Problem 3: I’ve tried running MalwareBytes (a free malware-removal software) and my computer crashed.

Problem 4: I tried burning things to DVD–so as to free up some space on the hard drive–and that crashed my computer too.

Anyway, once I get to the bottom of these problems, expect a full day-by-day recap that will include video, scans of items I got autographed, a few cool stories and some neat purchases.

In other news, the Blackhawks signed Marty Turco, which means they won’t be re-signing Antti Niemi. They can’t afford him, since the Cup-winning goalie is set to make $2.75 million per year, thanks to his arbitration hearing.

What I don’t understand is, why did the ‘Hawks tie up $3.5 million per year re-signing defenseman Nicklas Hjalmarsson? Hjalmarsson was the 4th or 5th defender on the team, and had he gone to San Jose the Blackhawks would have had the money to re-sign Niemi AND get some compensation from the Sharks. I’d rather have a number one goalie for $2.75 mil than a 4th defender for $750,000 more. Plus, the ‘Hawks have a top defensive prospect in Nick Leddy, who left college after his freshman year to join the ‘Hawks this fall.

The Blackhawks still haven’t confirmed exactly WHO will be signing autographs at the 2010 Blackhawks Convention–or Hawks Con, as I’m gonna call it–this weekend. According to a source of mine, the team won’t let fans know until the convention actually starts on Friday. Continue reading “Who’s Signing ‘Graphs at the ‘Hawks Con?”

A few quick thoughts on what’s going down in HAWKeyTown…

Stanley Cup visiting Elmwood Park – The Stanley Cup will be in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park on Wednesday, July 28.. However, the Cup will be at a private event, held at First Security Bank. The Wirtz family owns First Security Bank.

Who’s Signing Autographs? – As of Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks still haven’t told us who will be signing autographs at the Blackhawks Convention this upcoming weekend. Sure, some are a given (Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito), but who else? Maybe I’ll just bring one card of every Blackhawk ever, just to be safe. The team did announce a pretty explicit autograph policy, though.

Training Camp Fest – On September 18, the Blackhawks will hold a Training Camp Festival. Seriously. For $5, you can watch the team practice. There is also a charity run/walk/skate event, and a 3-on-3 street hockey tournament. Tickets can be bought here.

Easy Come, Easy Go– Last month, the Chicago Blackhawks traded away three good players and a prospect for Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin. Last week, the ‘Hawks traded Reasoner to the Florida Panthers for Jeff Taffe. Guess Reasoner’s $1 million annual salary was taking up too much cap space. Funny, though, because the ‘Hawks made a big deal about acquiring Reasoner, going so far as to “Photoshop” him into the Indian-head sweater (above). But Reasoner’s subsequent trade to the Panthers was nary a mention on the ‘Hawks home page.

JR in the HOF – Former Chicago Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame last week. Roenick was a favorite player of mine, so I certainly hope that he will make it into the “real” Hall of Fame when he is eligible in 2012. For those who missed it, I posted a Career in Cards about Roneick earlier this month.

On Thursday, I received my passes to the third annual Chicago Blackhawks Convention–a full 8 days before the convention starts. Last year, I got the passes barely 2 days before the convention started. Of course, the team’s last-minute mailing practices last summer cost Dale Tallon his job.

Anyway, here is what the front of the pass looks like. As you can see, it has a large shiny object on it.

Yup, they put a HOLOGRAM sticker in the upper right corner. It really makes the pass feel both classy and official. Continue reading “2010 Blackhawks Convention – Passes”

I noticed an interesting trend at my local Target retail store–last year’s Upper Deck cards are back on the shelves at lower prices.

Here is a tin of 2008-09 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Cards–you know, the series that no one bought–for $12.99.

This perplexes the hell out of me. As my girlfriend can attest, I practically memorize the trading card aisle at my local Target store. Every time we go there–about once a week–I beeline for the cards, hoping to find something new and cool to purchase. I don’t recall 8-pack tins being sold at Target last year.

So, my theory is that Upper Deck had a bunch of unsold 24-pack boxes sent back to them, repacked the packs in tins and sent them back at a reduced price. Further supporting this idea is that these are 8-card packs, and not the standard 5-card packs usually found in tins and blasters.

That might also explain this blaster box of 2008-09 Upper Deck Ice.

I also don’t recall Ice being sold in blaster boxes during the 2008-09 season. Either Upper Deck had a ton of last year’s Ice sitting around their warehouse, or a retailer returned them en masse.

Upper Deck’s “Extreme Value” wasn’t just limited to hockey cards. Old football cards have also found their way to the shelves.

How about that? Nine packs of football cards for $6.99. But if this is 50% off, then the normal blaster price for football is $14, and not $20 like a hockey blaster. Man, even at full price you football collectors have it so good.

I also spotted this complete football factory set for $14.99. It even includes 2 jersey cards. Granted, it is from 2008–like the football blaster–but $15 for a complete set is more of a deal than $13 for 8 hockey packs.

Has anyone else spotted “old” cards from the past year or two making a comeback on the shelves of your local retail store? I guess selling off old cards at half-price is one way Upper Deck is raising the funds to pay off their lawsuits, eh?