Hawaii Trade Conference Cancelled

A couple of notes to wrap up the week....

F & W Media has cancelled the 2010 Hawaii Trade Conference because of "economic conditions and a lack of industry support" according to a post on the Sports Collectors Digest website.

The annual event hosted by the company brought card companies, shop owners and other industry leaders together each year. The event actually moved from Hawaii to Florida a couple of years ago, but retained the name.

Despite its pessimistic outlook for next year, F & W, parent company of SCD, says the event could return in 2011.

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You have to love the restrictions listed under the prices for autograph signings at major shows. Some guests will sign anything--and do it for $15 or $20.  Others have their own quirks.

I just read over the Mounted Memories lineup for next month's Sun-Times show in Chicago.

Randy Johnson charges $199 for a jersey or other "premium" item but the flyer states "Mr. Johnson will not sign jerseys with less than 5 other signatures on them." Huh?

Rod Carew will only sign multi-signed jerseys.

Dwight Clark will actually draw the play that resulted in "The Catch" for $50 but he won't write "The Catch" or the date it happened.

Meadowlark Lemon prefers to be just plain Meadowlark. No asking him to sign his real name (George). Did you know he's an ordained minister now? He will do one free inscription if you ask nicely.

Bob Knight is making a rare appearance, but the coach won't sign any books by Bob Hammel--a writer for the Indianapolis Star--or Joan Mellon and, according to the flyer "will NOT sign any Sports Illustrateds". Somewhere, somehow, the coach perceives SI as a villain. Hammel and Mellon wrote very kind books about Knight. I guess 'A Season on the Brink' is out of the question?

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Oh yeah and one more thing.

Go Packers.