*** The following is a comment from long-time customer and friend Frank Parrella about our National Blog entry.

I read your blog and have a comment to make about your observation relative to the gate. I believe the prepay package contained a daily entrance fee of $15.00. If you did not purchase the package your entrance fee at the door was $17.50 according to the daily add I saw in the Cleveland newspaper. This is pretty steep for even a large show such as the National. This may he a contributing factor to lower attendance. You probably will get the same die hard collectors to attend. But at those prices it may be hard to attract new collectors. At home I do not even attend these Sports shows (they are about one-one hundredth the size of the National) anymore (even though the entrance fee has been reduced from $2.00 to zero for the past several years) because of the quality of the product for sale and the lack of dealer participation. The card hobby especially has taken a dive because the market place had just been flooded up until last year with more cards than one could collect even if he had the time and resources. The card companies ruined the card portion of the hobby. I agree that we must continue to support the hobby but from my perspective it may very well be thru telephone purchases with reputable dealers such as yourself.

***** I haven't been able to make an update to either the Blog or our Online Store. The last few weeks have been pretty hectic. We were at the National in Cleveland for over a week. On Friday August 3, 2007, I became a grandpa for the first time. My son and daughter-in-law presented us with a new baby grandson name John Raymond Criscione. We rushed to get home from the National and I met him for the first time on August 6. He's a beauty and the love of my life already, so please excuse me for a little while as I am walking in the clouds. I'll get back to regular posting soon.