Some New Adds To My Jets PC

This week I was able to add to my New York Jets PC, which I had been neglecting as of late. The adds were in form of a ttm autograph, which kicked off the start of a project I will be working on as well as a late xmas gift from my buddy.

Last year, a coffee table book called The New York Jets: The Complete History was released. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it.

It looks like a decent read and it has some great pictures, many of which I hadn't seen. My friend Mark, who has a similar book about The Mets, suggested I do what he is doing. Mark, also an autograph hound, is trying to get all the players featured in The Mets book to sign the page that they are on. He's doing a very good job with it. He has a lot of signatures in that book. But I wasn't sure I wanted to do that.

For one thing, not a lot of former Jets make as many apperances as the former Mets do. To get that book signed would be a difficult task. And two, how do you display it? I had done this with a wrestling photo book in the 90's to great success. Only problem is I can't really display the pics I got signed. And I have some good ones. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kerry Von Erich, Owen Hart, Davy Boy Smith, to name a few. Cant really display the book. Just allow people to flip through the pages to see the autos. Plus, I really didn't take care of the book. The outside is in rough shape. I won't take the pages out to display though. Rough shape or not, it will stay as is. It's one of my most prized possessions and will stay as is.

Then, an idea came to me via youtube. One of the guys I sub to, Bloodspawn, is working on a Dallas Cowboys book where he is sending book plates through the mail and sticking the plates by the player's picture. Brilliant idea. I just can't do that with this book as there is no room. It's a history of book and theres a lot of text in this book. So, I came up with another idea. I would send the players labels, have them sign that and I'd stick the lable inside the cover. If I ever see a player who is in the book, I'll have the player sign his page, but for now, ttm'ing is the way to go. So I decided to test it on a player I know signs and it worked like a charm.

Former member of the famed New York Sack Exchange, Marty Lyons, signed the above label/book plate in about 5 days. Once I got it, I stuck it inside the cover on the first page like I planned.

I think it looks great. Plus, there is enough room on the page where I can have 2 rows of autographed book plates, right next to each other going down the page. Oh, and I got something else signed.

Mr. Lyons also signed my throwback mini helmet in silver sharpie. Looks better in person than how it looks on the picture, I promise. Still, I wish I had sent a paint pen instead of a sharpie, especially since he returned the Sharpie.



My other add to the New York Jets collection is something of the vintage variety. I love vintage stuff when it comes to the Yankees, Jets, Spider-Man and Batman. I wish I could afford to buy more. I am always thrilled when I can find a deal on something older to add to my collection. If it's free, even better.

My buddy Mark (there he is again), gave me a late christmas gift of something I had been eyeballing on ebay for a while now. He found it in a flea market for dirt cheap.

He got me this vintage Joe Namath puzzle. It was something I have wanted for a while and was absolutely floored when I saw it. I don't have a lot of Namath collectables in my collection, save for the autographs I have, either certified card or IP. Ever since I watched the HBO documentary this past winter, I have wanted to get some of Namath's merchandise for the Jets PC. This puzzle was one of the things I zeroed in on.

I love the simple lettering, plain white background and pic with the Jets logo airbrushed out.

The seller told my buddy that all the pieces were inside the baggie provided.


The box is a little beat up with some stains and dents, but I don't care. It's mine, mine, allll mine! mwhahahahahaha!...excuse me. Got a bit carried away.

Anyway, it still looks great for displaying purposes once I get a cabinet to display all my Jets goodies in. And believe me, I will be displaying the box along side my signed mini helmets, figures and other Jets suff I have gotten over the years.

The Jets have some real nice vintage stuff out there that I would love to get my hands on. From programs to yearbooks. Pennants to pins, I want it all. My love for Gang Green is almost on level with my feelings for the Yankees. I go back to 1980 with the Jets, when they were still in Shea Stadium. I might be the only Yankees fan who loved Shea. Because of my Jets, my first game at Shea wasn't even a Mets game. It was a Jets game.

So, now that I can cross the puzzle off my list, I can go back to trolling on ebay for other vintage Jets items I can add to the collection. Excuse me. I can hear the "bay" calling.

My Three Favorite Signed Mini Helmets

A great game by the Jets.. well, almost. Yeah, they eeked out the win by 2 points over The Colts, but Mark Sanchez drove me absolutely nuts in this game. Over throwing, under throwing recievers, yet when it counted he made the most of his throws. None was more improtant than the throw to Braylon Edwards with under a minute left in the game to give Nick Folk better field position to kick the game winning field goal.

Loved the ground and pound game by LT and Shonne Greene and the defense made the stops when they needed to. Now the Jets play Tom Brady and the New England Patriots next Sat @ 4:30. Not going to be an easy game, especially on the road. If the Jets win this game, then I will be convinced they are Super Bowl bound.

To celebrate tonight's victory, I will show off my three favorite signed IP mini helmets:

Don Maynard-I got this throw back signed by Maynard a few years back at the Long Island Sports Card Show at Hofstra University. Nice guy,but didn't really say much. Still, it was an honor to meet the greatest wide out in Jets history.

Curtis Martin-Remember when I said I didn't get Martin to sign my Jets football when Iwent to training camp? This is why. I managed to get him on this mini helmet. After practice, he ran in from the field and started signing by the stands. I was the last one he signed for. The only bad thing was there was this guy behind me that kept pushing me to get to Martin. There was two small kids in front of me and because of this guy, I kept practically falling on them. I told him to quit it cause of the kids. He actually told me he didnt care about the kids. C-Mart came over and the started to sign for the kids. He actually tried to cut in front of them. I couldnt take the guy's rudeness anymore and put myself in his way so he couldnt get to cut in front of the kids. Martin saw that and said thanks, signed my mini helmet and ran off. The guy behind me was livid and actually followed me out, threatening to kick my butt. Just when I thought I would have to fight this guy,the kids dad showed up. This dude was about 6'6'' and stacked. He was watching froma few rows back and scared the dickens out of this guy without saying a word. The guy ran off and the kids dad wanted to thank me for looking out for his kids. To me, kids come first in this hobby. They are our future and really, I love seeing the smile on a kids face when they meet their favorite athletes for a few seconds. I always try to let a kid go in front of me at a sporting event and if I don't get the auto, then it wasn't meant to be.

Joe Namath-A couple of years back, Namath did a free signing at a Sprint Store in Manhattan. Very rare to see Namath at all anymore much less a free signing. I made sure I took the day off for that one. Funny thing was, practically no one showed up. They were letting people come back for 2nds. I wish I bought a football or jersey to have him sign. Oh well, I'm just glad I got to meet Mr. Jet. I did ask him inscribe Super Bowl III MVP,but he said he couldn't as his older brother would beat the s*&# out of him as he isn't the MVP of his house. Okkkkkkk. I guess that was code for "Steiner Sports has me under contract and I can't inscribe that". Oh well, I'mjust thrilled to have his autograph in my mini helmet collection without having to shell out $400.00 at a convention.

I do like getting mini helmets signed. I think they are a great way to build a football autograph collection. Plus, they don't take up as much room as footballs do. Hopefully, when I do get a man cave, I'll have built the collection and will be able to display them prominatly.

J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!