Chicago Tribune JOSports Article

[trsent]

I still for one find all these 3rd party's authentiction servies a waste of our money. Do yourself a favor a do your own homework!

Do you know some people have families and companies to run who buy high end memorabilia and they would rather pay to have a 3rd party who they trust look at their item than take time from their schedule and do it themselves? Don't you know some of the biggest high end jersey collectors are CEO's of companies and they don't have the time to do their own homework so they build relationships with people they trust and pay them for their service?

Sure, most of us have plenty of time to do our own homework, but there is a niche for an authenticator such as MEARS in this industry.

Not everyone has 24 hours a day available to do their own homework.

There is some good in why there are 3rd party authenticators in the world. Some of them, such as MEARS, make an effort to be correct. Others as documented on this forum just glance at an item and authenticate it in seconds - I do not believe this is what is happening at MEARS.

[otismalibu]

Why so much hate in this world? Shouldn't we all just love one and other?

This question was brought to you by the good folks at Walgreens Pharmacy. If you're not looking at the world through rose colored glasses, we can help.

[trsent]

As I assumed earlier, Troy was taken out of context.

Troy Kinunen of MEARS just emailed me the following:

From my notes on the interview,

“MEARS does not photo match, we use the process of imagery analysis. This includes using the process of mensuration, a concept introduced by retired LTC Dave Grob. With photo matching, you must have an understanding of tagging, sizing, style, lettering, numbering, wear, source/provenance, and imagery analysis. To just take a jersey and match it against a photo is an amateurish way of authenticating. Because without studying the rest of the facts, fraud can be introduced.
There are many collectors out there that truly study their hobby and educate themselves, and do not need the use of authenticators. Actually, if you look back at the 600+ published articles, MEARS has been an industry leader of educating collectors on how to make informed purchase decisions.
MEARS does not just take an item and state is authentic, we try to show you the process of how we came to our conclusion.”

[Cubsfan4life]

As I assumed earlier, Troy was taken out of context.

Troy Kinunen of MEARS just emailed me the following:

From my notes on the interview,

“MEARS does not photo match, we use the process of imagery analysis. This includes using the process of mensuration, a concept introduced by retired LTC Dave Grob. With photo matching, you must have an understanding of tagging, sizing, style, lettering, numbering, wear, source/provenance, and imagery analysis. To just take a jersey and match it against a photo is an amateurish way of authenticating. Because without studying the rest of the facts, fraud can be introduced.
There are many collectors out there that truly study their hobby and educate themselves, and do not need the use of authenticators. Actually, if you look back at the 600+ published articles, MEARS has been an industry leader of educating collectors on how to make informed purchase decisions.
MEARS does not just take an item and state is authentic, we try to show you the process of how we came to our conclusion.”

For an current jersey tagging, sizing, style, lettering, numbering, wear, and source/provenance are pretty easy to find out, so for them to call photomatching amateurish is a joke. It's essentially the same thing as their imagery analysis, but just taking into account the other factors that make a jersey legitimate.

[frikativ54]

But collector Rick Moore of Florida, who said he has bought regularly from JO Sports since 2008, wasn't scared off by the federal case. "It makes no difference to me now," Moore said. "When you were a kid, did you ever steal money off your parents' end table to buy candy or cigarettes? Sure you did. All of us did."

First of all, congrats on being quoted. That's pretty cool. While I respect your right to have different views, I wanted to present my thoughts as well. I agree that we all have done something wrong, from taking a few extra dollars from our parents to trying to get a free bus ride.

However, in my case, such minor offenses never led to my deceiving the public on a wide scale. There's no connection between when I was a teenager and rode on bus transfers that expired a few hours before I boarded and deliberately altering game used memorabilia.

At the very most, my rides cost the bus company $100. And I was a teenager and didn't have the resources that I have now. However, in the case of JO Sports, we are talking about grown men involved in a scheme that cost collectors hundreds of thousands of dollars. In short, it's not the same as teenage indiscretions.

[lakeerie92]

But then again, like I said in the article, Bears jerseys were tough to come by until the the Game Exclusives/ JO era came around, so if you want one where else do you get one (so easily)?

I would imagine with two back to back contracts with companies to sell their jerseys the cat is probably out of the bag that they can make some extra money off of game used memorabilia.

Sending JO packing would open the door for someone else to do things the right way. It would be a great business to jump into if you can raise the capital. Most start ups require time to build, but in this case you already have customers waiting. I understand some collectors standing by JO, they have no other choice because that is who has the access to the items you want.

I cant speak for JO specifically, but for some of these sellers this was not a think of the past. This was still current and rampant in the collection community. Here is just a small sampling of what masauction has been listing on eBay for the past month. This is less than half of what is listed now as "PRO-CUT/Game Issued" and there have been dozens more that have already sold. I will leave it to you to decide what would have happened to these jerseys had these guys not been caught.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Derek-Jeter-...#ht_500wt_1287

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LeBron-James...#ht_500wt_1287

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carmelo-Anth...#ht_500wt_1287

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dirk-Nowitzk...#ht_500wt_1287

[34swtns]

As for Rick Moore's (34swtns) comment "When you were a kid, did you ever steal money for candy or cigs? Sure you do we all did." How can you compare that to what Jo Sports did? They didn't just steal change they stole people's hard earned money and their savings. Now that's not even close to the same.

It was more of a "everybody has done dishonest things and I'm not so self-righteous that I write people off who have engaged in shady behavior".....because that would be everybody. You have....I have.
As long as you're square with me, I'm not concerned about your past.

[Eric]

Picked up by NBC in Chicago

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/griz...135532388.html

[Eric]

And UPI

Bears memorabilia dealer faces sentencing

Published: Dec. 13, 2011 at 3:39 PM

CHICAGO, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A spokesman for the Chicago Bears says the team will reconsider its relationship after the season with a memorabilia company whose owner has admitted fraud.

Jarrod Oldridge's JO Sports has had a series of one-year contracts with the Bears since 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported. He pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of selling jerseys that had been doctored to look as if they had been used in a game and is to be sentenced in May.

The team said Oldridge's wrongdoing predates their relationship.

"The authenticated pieces of inventory that we provide are assured of being accurate," Scott Hagel, a spokesman, said.

Hagel said the team will decide after the season how to "move forward."

Experts say buyers must be careful when they venture into the sports memorabilia market.

"The only way to know if it is for sure is to watch the guy wear it and throw it to you," said Joel Levine, a New York lawyer whose former company, Game Exclusives, had a contract with the Bears during the 2006 season.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2011/...#ixzz1gS9f0EJb

[Preston]

The only thing I wonder is why did the initial report come out what, a month or two ago, why are all these media outlets reporting it just NOW? I mean this isn't breaking news or anything...it's just the timing is really odd, but I'm VERY glad they're starting to really get this out in the mainstream media and get peoples' attention.