by Mike Fruitman
I understand that some more intelligent marketing guru came up with “Feeling Kinda Sunday” for NFL fans everywhere, but when you kick off the season on a Wednesday night, it’s what you get.
Plain and simple, these days no sport dives the hobby like the NFL and when you start things off with the world champion New York Giants vs. the Dallas Cowboys, people are going to pay attention.
Apparently Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Kevin Ogletree got the memo and decided to throw a little coming out party on national television. In his previous 31 NFL games, he had caught exactly ZERO touchdowns, only to come up with a pair of TDs as he helped lead Dallas to an upset victory on the road.
Ok, ok, ok…I do not think for a minute that you did not come here for ESPN updates, but with each NFL game garnering so much more attention than games in other sports; it only takes a one game performance like his to turn his singles into the cardboard flavor of the week.
Come on, admit it. How many of you collectors went into your “I wouldn’t even send these to Checkoutmycards.com” bin right after the game? How many of you card store owners did not unlock your doors until you were sure Kevin’s autographed singles were no longer in your $5 signed card section?
Apparently the eBay world took note of his play with his singles seeing an immediate rise. Just a little bit of time meant a 3X price bump on his 2009 Elite Status autographed rookie card.
While $28.95 was probably more than this seller thought he would get the day before for this card, another one of the 24 made, moved for a far more impressive $75.00 just a number of hours later.
Going back to July 8 (at the time I wrote this), he had 174 rookie labeled items that had been listed. Compare that to the 199 items currently listed and it is clear that some of you did some quick posting after some successful rummaging.
It is this type of immediate response to incredible on field play that drives collectors to NFL releases. While Kevin’s cards might be back in $5 autographed card bins by week #3, this week at least he is potentially the hobby’s next Miles Austin or Calvin Johnson.
I am not going to sit here and attempt to share who will be the next “gotta have” player based on his week 1 play (heck, I don’t even play fantasy football), but it is always easy this time of the year to get excited about what the next 17 weeks of regular season action will bring us.
Mike Fruitman owns Mike’s Stadium Sportscards in Aurora, Colo. You can read his column here every week, focusing on what products are selling best in hobby shops. Enjoy new arrivals and big hits from Mike’s on Twitter. Mike’s is always looking for more friends on Facebook and you can email him at [email protected]
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