http://blog.neco.com The inside scoop of the secondary ticket market Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:37:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Babe Ruth-signed baseballs, while treasured, are not that uncommon.  Ruth happily autographed thousands of them while he played and in the few years after he retired.  Some surely ended up being used in sandlot games, being thrown out by overzealous mothers or meeting some other calamity, but many have survived. But ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/16/original-ruth-bat-hits-auction/ One of the best things about MMA is the sport's connection to the fans.  The big events like UFC 111 in Newark involve more than just the standout card on Saturday, March 27 at the Prudential Center.  Tickets to the fights have been sold out for weeks, but there are ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/14/ufc-events-more-than-fight-night/ As I write this, I'm watching Robert Morris (six lifetime NCAA Tournament trips entering the game) vs. Quinnipiac (zero) in the Northeast Conference championship, another competitive battle in what has been an exciting Championship week.  Though none of my teams were involved (my three favorites went 10-75 on the year), ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/10/ncaa-tourney-expansion-would-burst-bubble/ Here's some great news for MMA fans.  Mike Straka, who as host of "FOX Fight Game" was one of the first "mainstream" reporters to embrace the sport, has joined HDNet and will preside over "Fighting Words with Mike Straka," a 30-minute interview-format program.  Straka, who has covered the sport for ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/09/straka-to-host-new-mma-show-on-hdnet/ I know, I know... it's just a robe that you wear backwards.  But the Snuggie(TM) has hit the pop culture scene as much as any infomercial product ever has.  It's as ubiquitous as The Clapper, the ShamWow, or anything the late, great Billy Mays ever hawked. Before Billy's untimely death, he ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/09/cavs-have-fun-with-guinness-snuggie-record/ This week Wheaties unveiled its newest box cover athletes, winter sports stars Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Seth Wescott.  For me, the Wheaties box and the Sports Illustrated cover hold the same cache -- at any given time, it represents where our sports stars fit into the bigger picture of ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/06/wheaties-box-cover-a-tie-to-past/ One way to gauge if an entertainment entity has moved beyond its core fans to a larger, mainstream audience is to look at the products it licenses outside of the industry.  The broader and more complex the production and distribution chain, the less likely it is that a "niche" industry ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/02/collectibles-wall-graphics-show-ufc-closing-in-on-mainstream/ While the Big East, Big Twelve, SEC and other major conferences get the lions share of attention, college basketball fans who love the game really love Championship Week.  That's because game after game, teams from conferences like the America East, Patriot League and Big South know that their only chance ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/03/01/small-conference-tourneys-best-hoops-action-until-march-madness/ The Baseball Hall of Fame has a poll up on its Website, asking which of four milestones you are most looking forward to seeing this year.  The candidates: Ichiro Suzuki's 10th 200-hit season Alex Rodriguez's 600th home run (17 away) Trevor Hoffman's 600th save (nine away) Juan Pierre's 500th stolen base (41 away) Anyone care ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/02/23/2010-milestones-a-mixed-bag/ Much has been made of the drawn-out negotiations for the services of Johnny Damon this off-season, in particular the belief that he and his agent, Scott Boras, misread the market and left money on the table.  Word is that the Yankees offered the free agent left fielder $14 million for ... http://blog.neco.com/2010/02/22/boras-finds-a-way-to-get-it-done-for-damon-in-detroit/