I was in need of a mental break and playing on the PSA message boards and found this post about a grading company called GRA. All of the seller's (gradedrookies) cards are graded by this mystery company and meant to trick people into buying a card they think is legitimately graded and worth big money, but it actually just a poor condition card in a screwdown with a fake lable.

Here's his description: "Winning bidder receives this beautiful investment-quality card which has been graded GEM 10 by Graded Rookies Authenticated (GRA). Along with Beckett and PSA, GRA has established itself as an industry leader in the grading of premium quality sportscards. WHY BUY FROM US? Six simple reasons. QUALITY -- featured by Beckett in the August 2001 Baseball Card Monthly, GRA GEM 10 cards are the best of the best, continually command some of the highest premiums in the hobby, and offer tremendous investment potental. SELECTION -- with over 2000 different cards to choose from, we offer the largest inventory of high-grade sportscards anywhere. You willl find cards here that you won't see anywhere else. PRICE -- we hold the exclusive on-line distribution rights for GRA GEM 10 cards, which means that you will not find these cards sold for less anywhere on the net. TRUST -- we are an eBay Power Seller with a rating over 3300 and near perfect feedback. CUSTOMER SERVICE -- as mail-order specialists, we respond promptly to all e-mails and ship within two business days of receiving payment. THE GRA GUARANTEE -- in the unlikely event that you are not fully satisified with your purchase, simply return it to us within seven days and we will refund your purchase price, no questions asked."

Look at the upper right corner on the Koufax or the centering on the Berra card. Nice. It makes me think of the movie "Tommy Boy" when Chris Farley is trying to sell that old guy brake pads and the guy doesn't like the fact that the guarantee is not on the box. If you've seen it, and I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't, you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, these cards don't even look like they'd be assured of a 5 or 6. And I'd love to get my hands on this Beckett Baseball Aug. 2001 issue that "features" this company.

In unrelated news, I just finished working on a CD project where we put everything 1981-present from the 2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards onto one CD. It'll be offered for sale in the next month or so. It's fully searchable and has most of the sets linked from the chronological index right to the page so it's very easy to find your way around. I'll have more details on it once production is finished and it's offered for sale.

Just four weeks in, you can already spot certain rookies that appear to belong in the league and others that seem like they are lost. Some are predictable, others are surprises. Here are several observations.

The big name running backs have both performed. Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch are both for real. The Vikings need to get Peterson on the field more because it's clear he's a superstar already. He runs hard and fast and has already gained 383 yards. Lynch isn't far behind with 307 yards. Both rookie backs appear to be franchise backs at this point. Nobody else is even close, with undrafted Selvin Young third in rookie rushing with 138 yards.

The rookie receiver studs aren't exactly who you expected at this point. Sure, Calvin Johnson has 189 yards in three games (he missed Week 4 with a back injury) and two touchdowns. And we could have predicted Dwayne Bowe would be solid, but not spectacular like he is so far. Bowe has 299 yards and three TDs already. The surprise of the class has been James Jones, a third-round pick from San Jose State that has 232 yards already in the Packers offense and looks like he's played for years. Other top picks have struggled, including Ted Ginn, who the Dolphins don't even put on the field, Robert Meachem and Craig Davis.

We'll have to wait a while to see the rookie quarterbacks. JaMarcus Russell signed very late, which means he probably won't even get on the field this year. Brady Quinn also signed late, but could see the field shortly. The only guys that have even thrown a pass are Trent Edwards and Kevin Kolb, with Edwards starting for the injured J.P. Losman and winning his first start and throwing for 331 yards.

For teams, there's no bigger surprise than the Packers at 4-0. Dallas, New England and Indy are also undefeated, but that's not a shock to anyone. San Diego already losing more games this season than they did all of last season would blow any Vegas odds, while everyone's sleeper, St. Louis, can't seem to find any offense or stop anyone.

I just got boxes of 2007-08 Topps and Fleer Ultra at my desk. When I first saw them, i thought the year of Greg Oden and Kevin Durant is here, but it's just so depressing now that Oden is out for the season with microfracture surgery. Sure, there are still plenty of reasons to collect him, Durant, and plenty more players from this draft, but i was looking forward to seeing him in the NBA.

First, I was looking forward to seeing the Blazers as a team and that hasn't happened in a long time. LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy joining forces with Oden and some other solid, young players was exciting. We could all watch them struggle early and get better as the season continued. We could see two of the best young big men in the league compliment each other. Now, we'll get to see them struggle another year, but without Oden. The bright side is that they'll probably wind up in the lottery (ok, definitely) and get another high draft pick to add for 2008-09. Roy and Aldridge will also get another year under their belts before they face playoff pressure and added scrutiny. But I wanted to watch Oden this year.

It will also be a great time to wait for his cards to soften up plenty and then pick some of the up. It presents a great opportunity to build a decent Oden collection for way less than they would have had to pay if he were playing. This class is still so loaded it’s tough not to be excited about it. You’ve got to be excited about Kevin Durant, Mike Conley, Al Horford, Jeff Green, Corey Brewer, Acie Law, Joakim Noah, Thaddeus Young, Brandan Wright and maybe even Yi (maybe not).

Portlant area dealers are weeping uncontrollably also about the loss of Oden:

“It will certainly have an effect on basketball sales the rest of the year. Here the impact won’t be so much among serous collectors, but more the non-die-hard collectors. Obviously, with Oden as driving force and him not playing, it’s not going to sell among the more marginal collectors.”

I spoke with Terry Boyd of Big Boyd Sports Cards for about 30 minutes last week and we discussed my blog. I'm still amazed at how someone justifies selling probably $50,000-$100,000 of counterfeit Star Co. cards through eBay. He continued to claim he didn't know they were fakes and doesn't think they are and his primary contention with the whole issue is that "he doesn't have very many left."

Great stuff. Much of the conversation went like this:

Me: You are selling counterfeit goods, which is illegal.
Terry Boyd: How do you know they are counterfeit? PSA and Beckett don't grade them.
Me: Because I used to run a grading company that learned how to tell the difference and worked with Steve Taft to grade them. He now helps GAI. You should send a few of them to GAI because they are fakes.
Terry Boyd: I don't deal with Global.
Me: I'm telling you they are fakes and you refuse to acknowledge it.
Terry Boyd: We only have a few of them left. How do you know for sure they are fakes?
Me: I just explained that to you, plus I've posted pictures on my blog with real ones and fake ones and you have the exact same fakes that we busted two years ago.
Terry Boyd: Well why don't PSA or Beckett grade them?
Me: I have no idea because it's not that tough to tell the difference. My guess is that they don't consider it a big enough part of the market to take the time to learn. I'm telling you they are fake. I know it. Taft knows it. GAI would tell you they are fake and you know that, which is why you refuse to send them in for grading. Are you telling me you are going to keep selling them?
Terry Boyd: Uhhhhh....well.......(he knows I'm recording this)

He indiciated that he has spend "way over $20,000" on those cards, but mysteriously doesn't know who he purchased them from. I told him find out who he bought them from. It's not the end of our conversations, but it's clearly time for the Internet Task Forces in the Ohio to get involved and time for me to call my good friend in the FBI, who orchestrated Operation Bullpen and many other busts.

Here are a few random posts about bigboydsportscards3 from messages boards like PSA, Beckett and Trading Card Central.

"Great post. I must add a few comments since I am one of the more experienced SLU collectors on this board. From what I have seen from 'bigboydsportscards' on ebay, it appears only key HOF SLU cards from 1988 and 1989 were counterfeited. I actually purchased a 1989 Ripken SLU card from 'bigboydsportscards' and these folks did darn good job in reproducing the card. I knew something was up last year as these cards were being sold on a weekly basis."

"Worst thing is he is still selling them. Obviously must know they are fake."

"I sent Terry the link to the blog. He also believes his Star cards to be real. I am sending mine back to him tomorrow on the agreement that once he receives them back I will be getting a full refund."
The great thing about this one is that he takes them back because the buyer says they are fake and issues a refund, then relists them immediately and rips someone else off.

"If you have more than 46,000 feedback, you should know what you're buying and selling, no? There is no NFL logo patch in the world that's real that I've ever seen with a huge 1/1 sticker on the back like that. If you've bought and sold this many cards, you should know what you have and what you're listing and whether its real or not. Not calling him a faker or anything at all, but bigboyd has been around the block."

"I bought a box of 06 contenders from boyd, it was a resealed box also, I sent the box and the cellophane back and eventually got my money back."

"It angers me that this guy is still selling. I bought a Star Jordan from him last summer and waited 6 months to grade. Of course it came back fake. And I had no recourse from eBay and Terry pretty much told me to F off. We should start a post of everyone who's ever been burned by this guy and sue his ass."

"You've been in business for over 11 years and you dont know what a fake is and what isnt? Nor do you pay attention to large buys? Sounds completely shady to me. Bottom line is I think you should pay more attention to what you sell."

"This BigBoyd character is a Big Joke. As Blades said, anyone that refunds automatically if the buyer wants a refund, its just shady, and the fact that the cards get relisted. The Seller is continuing to sell star fakes. SCAMMER!"

"Big Boyd needs to be shut down after all of the crap he's pulled."

I used to collect Star Co. cards back in the day,and I remember the first counterfeit scare in the mid-90s. It was depressing.If you know the cards well enough,you definitely can tell the fakes,but it still became more of a hassle dealing with people and vice versa. Nice blog,and thanks for keeping us informed!"

Who stands to most benefit from Barry Bonds' success? Barry Bonds, of course. Bonds is one of the most avid buyers of his own game-used memorabilia. According to a story on MLB.com, Bonds spends "thousands of dollars every season" buying uniforms, caps, wristbands and more that he uses on the field. "I pay for everything I wear out of pocket except for my shoes; I have a contract for that," Bonds told the website, adding that he writes out a check to the Giants every year to pay for his equipment.

Bonds said somewhere around the time he hit his 600th career home run (Aug. 9, 2002) he began authenticating everything he wears from each home run and stores the items in his home. Items from key moments in his career go on display in a special climate-controlled trophy room in his house. Bonds said items from his 756th career home run will be on display in that room, right next to a display featuring items from his 715th career home run that put him ahead of Babe Ruth on the all-time list.

While game-used Bonds uniforms can sell for more than $10,000 each, he told MLB.com he pays closer to $100 per jersey. "It's not like we have to pay full price," he said.

Bonds hit his 755th home run on Saturday night in San Diego and will try for the 756th tonight at home vs. Washington.