Tony's Column Twenty-Eight

Tony’s Column

Back to News & Updates

Nov 25, 2009

Beware the Football Gods

Hey Everyone, Last week I talked about New England’s blunder. This week I want to talk about the greatest comebacks in the NFL. Colts have now twice come back on the Pats by being down 18 and 17 points respectively. The Colts have also been down 21 points to Tampa Bay (the season after the Bucs won the Super bowl) and won that game. Even the Miracle in the Meadowlands comes to mind. The one that keeps getting put at #1 is the Buffalo Bills coming back to beat the Houston Oilers. What NFL Films keep leaving out that the Bills would have lost if the league had kept instant replay in. They had tried instant replay as an experiment in the late 80’s. It was a failure and was taken out. Do you know that it was reinstated a couple of seasons after this game. This game was one of the reasons why. Why would they need instant replay. Well for one thing if you are running down the side lines and you go out of bounds and come back inbound you are not an eligible receiver. Don Beebee did this. He caught the ball for a touch down to start the come back. Then late in the game on 3^rd down, Frank Reich throws a pass for a first down, and on the replay you can see he was a yard past the down marker when he threw the ball. The Bills take the lead on that touchdown and eventually win the game in overtime. Well the football gods did get back at them. They lost 4 superbowls in a row and then there was the miracle in Nashville when the Tennessee Titans (formerly the Houston Oilers) beat the Bills in the playoffs on a play that should never of happened but did even with instant replay. How’s that for Karma. Till Next Time. Tony

Nov 18, 2009

Belichuk’s Blunder

Hi everyone, Well my Saints are 9-0 the best start for them ever. If Indy also 9-0 goes through the season undefeated the New England Patriots only have themselves to blame. Like Rex Ryan did when you guys went 19-1, Belichuk pulled a blunder. What did Rex Ryan (now coach of the NY Jets) do you ask. New England has the ball 4th and 2 at the 12 yard line and Baltimore is up by 4. The Defense knows the what the Pats are going to run and when the Patriots run the play the Defense stops them, the crowd goes wild but wait. The referee says that Baltimore calls a time out just before the ball is snapped. The Players are surprised, the coach is surprised, so who called the time out. Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan did as you can see on the replay. New England gets a second chance at it, the change the play, get the first down, then the touchdown. They win the game and continue on in there quest for the 1st perfect season since the 1972 Dolphins. Players were shocked afterwards because they had played their heart out and one stupid move cost them. Fast forward to Sunday. New England takes an ill-advised time out. Their last one. They are 4-2 and instead of punting the ball, because they decide to go for it. The ball is caught by the line of scrimmage marker but the Colts get a favorable spot. New England can’t challenge the play because they are out of time-outs. Indy gets the ball and score the winning touchdown with about 18 seconds left. The reason why the challenged didn’t come from up in the booth is because the play was before the 2 minute mark of the game. If Indy should go all the way this season and win the Superbowl without a loss and become the only team to go 20-0 (as opposed to the Dolphins 16-0 and a Superbowl in 1972) the Pats can look back at that 4 and 2 and have that go down in History. Well at least they get one more shot to knock off an Unbeaten. If they do it, won’t be that much of a big deal, if the Saint’s finish 15-1 that’s cool. All that really matters is getting to Super bowl and winning that one. Hopefully, they can be 19-1 too, but with a Super ring. Till next time. Tony

Nov 12, 2009

Posters and Bikes

Hi Everyone, 2 things on my mind. I was searching for poster pictures on the net, so I could make a display page for the posters I have one sale (I think I will just have to break down and take photos of some of them), when I stumbled across some weird things. I found a few people on their sites and on ebay selling pages of the Wizard Postermania Magazine. They are passing them off as rare, limited. Granted most of these were used as promo posters for the characters throughout the year they were printed but they were to be, in my opinion, something to put on your wall. I mean you get a picture on one side and one on the other side. $5.99 US for one picture, the whole magazine at the time was $5.99 US. I mean if you really want the picture then you can pay that or you could go to your local comic shop and see if they have a copy of the wizard left or if they have free poster area (like we have) that actually gives them away. Or maybe I’m not thinking like a true retailer and trying to get every last cent out of the paying public no matter what. I was driving to work this morning, and in the city we have what is known as a diamond lane. This lane is for Buses and Bikes and is to keep them flowing during rush hour. This morning a young lady was riding her bike and swerving from the Diamond Lane to the regular lane causing most traffic to stop and start abruptly. When It was my turn to try and pass her I noticed in my mirror that she had her Ipod/phone out and she was trying to find/call someone. Cyclist this summer complain that drivers don’t take them serious. The city even put in special bike lanes for them in the downtown area. If you want to be treated with respect on the road from other motorist, you should consider following the rules of the road. If a light is red for a car it doesn’t mean the red light doesn’t also apply ot you. Texting and driving is bad enough, texting (or whatever she was doing) and biking is even worse. Stupid in fact. Until Next Time. Tony

Nov 6, 2009

Saddest Comic Music in the world.

Hi Everyone, Last weekend, I attend Central Canada Comic Convention (C4 as it’s called) and I was saddened. First of all I wasn’t saddened by the look of the convention area, it was well laid out. What I was sad about was about the lack of comic books that was at the comic convention. There were Lots of Action Figures, Vintage Toys, Sports and Music Memorabilia, T-Shirts. There were people there with comics but not nearly the numbers that they had in the past. One of my customers had noticed that the comics that would have been 50 cents each at other shows, were now $2.00 each ( I saw one guy had comics for $1.00 but the majority were $2.00 each). I was glad to see a couple of out of town dealers and some private guys doing this show but there were a lot of private guys that didn’t have tables this year that have had in the past. For me it was good to see some industry professionals that I hadn’t seen in while (one person it was 20 years (or so) as we discussed fun times in Madison, WI, as I know think of Matt Groening and what could have been had I bought into the whole Simpsons thing). The sad part about it was they were asking me if I remembered what it was like for a professional in the industry and telling me what it is like now. That part also made me sad. It makes me sad because you see someone putting there time effort and love into something only to be jerked around by the present regimes at certain companies. This saddens me because I can see what they are saying just from the sales end and hearing what they are going through because someone let the Lunatics run the asylum shouldn’t happen. And that’s the saddest thing is that the people who love the medium are getting out because people who love the money are taking over. You can tell this if you have read any of their product lately. Till Next Time, Tony.

Nov 4, 2009

Don’t put me in Coach, I’m not ready to pitch.

Hi Everyone, Game 6 in the World Series goes tonight and the Phillies will be looking for at 7 1/2 innings out of Pedro, while the Yankees will be looking for Petitite to Hold the Lead or keep it close until the 6 inning and have Rivera come in the 8 or even the 9th to close things out. The Phillies are learning the hard way the problems the Yankees have had since 2003, you need good middle relief pitching. You need that guy who can take your from inning 5-8 (2 or all 4 innings), so you can bring your closer in to do his job. Twice in this series, the Phillies left a pitcher in too long because they couldn’t trust the Middle relief and the closer. I’m hoping the Yankees can wrap it up tonight because we all know anything can happen in game 7. Till next Time Tony

Oct 23, 2009

The Umpire Strikes Out

Hi Everyone, So the Umpires are only Human after all. I don’t know if any of you caught the baseball playoffs this week (or even last week) but their have been some very bad calls made by the umpires. It’s almost like some of them fell asleep standing up, then woke up and forgot where they were and what they were doing. Most of the reports and fans are calling for instant replay. I think that would be a good idea if they did it right. That would take away from some of the calls the umps make on the field, but wouldn’t you rather have the right call than a Phantom call (See Yankees vs Orioles 1999). At least one of the Umpires admitted his 2 Mistakes. Wait did I say admitted 2 Mistakes. That’s right One man made 2 mistakes. We all know baseball is far from perfect (ie: Steroids, really bad Salary Cap (think non existent)). Well at least in most of the games the calls didn’t effect the game. So the umpire is lucky that you can get away apologizing in a 10-1 game. If it was game seven and that happened, there would be a lynching and no amount of I’m sorry would have helped him. Then again it would usher in instant replay really quick. Till Next Time. Tony

Oct 17, 2009

You say you want a Reserve Evolution

Hi Everyone I would just like to give a little history of the reserve system (or the Pull and Hold as it’s known in the US). This system was originally designed to give customers who couldn’t make it to their local comic store on new comic day (because of work, travel or other commitments during that week) a chance to come in on Friday and Saturday of that week to get their new comics. This was back in the days of store ordering 100’s even thousands of copies of a comic and having it all sold in 24 hours (or less). Over the years it has evolved into a system where people could pick up their comics either weekly, monthly and in some cases when ever. Some stores were really good about it, holding some customers comics for even a year before realizing the customer either stopped or forgot. Some stores after a month would start to sell of issues in delinquent accounts to other customers who need them, other stores would inflate the price so you would be paying back issue prices on it if your comics went past 1 month. Then over the years stores decide that maybe in order to increase customers they should offer a discount. This is how the present model in our fair city still works. Did some of you know that most comic stores in US have dropped the Pull and Hold or if they have it they get the customer to pay half each month before they place order. When I was at a comic conference last year I was surprised at how many retailers had dropped their subscriptions services with the exception of mail order. I am not thinking of doing this but however I do not think the present model that has been going on since the mid eighties is working anymore. I do think that now is the time to tinker with the model and go to something more productive. Sounds Ominous, maybe. Just a rant, possibly, or maybe this is the start of something that is coming down the pike. Stay tuned. Until Next Time. Tony

Oct 10, 2009

Thanksgiving Snowjob

Hi Everyone, your not going to believe this unless you are here on the prairies but we received snow last night, a lot of snow. This was not expected especially with having our 1st 30 degree temperatures just 2 weeks ago. If this is global warming you can keep it. At least by the typing of this half the snow seems to have melted but considering we only had 3 weeks of Summer Weather this summer, it seems a little quick to go from Summer to winter in only 2 weeks. Here’s hoping to mild temperatures until lets say next November. Yeah your right probably not. Until Next time. Tony

Oct 7, 2009

Shame on you, Sportsnet.

Hey Everyone, If you live in Western Canada and are not a fan of Hockey, you would have been not too happy with Sportsnet cutting away from the baseball game to go directly to the Hockey game. I’m a hockey fan and a big fan of the Canadiens and I don’t mind the flames either but this was a clinching game that went into extra innings. I would have been content with them showing the remainder of the game then going to the hockey game but they didn’t. Plus they replay the game at Midnight anyways with out all the stoppages, so I wouldn't have missed much. Anyways today I am on the side of all the upset baseball fans who didn’t get the chance to see the ending of the game and Sportsnet, shame on you. Reminds me of the Heidi Bowl. Till next time. Tony

Back to Archives