On a recent trip to visit my sons Jon and David in New York City, upon climbing the stars from the "L" train in Brooklyn, I came upon this wonderful old lady sitting in her door step, so I walked up and asked: "I can't help but noticing how happy you look. What is your secret to a long, happy life?""I smoke ten stogies a day," she said. "Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint. All my life I've eaten only junk food and I put away at least a fifth of Jack Daniels every week. On weekends I pop pills, and never do any exercise at all."
Absolutely, absolutely amazing, I thought, and asked, "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"
"Twenty-four," she replied.
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It started out harmlessly enough. Any real Packer fan has to have an authentic Brett Favre jersey. So I went several places locally to price them and an ambulance had to be called -- the sticker shock sent me into fibrillation!
Lessee --Besides other stores jerseys who couldn't even come close, I tried Scheels and even went so far as to stop in at the Packer Pro Shop at the shrine itself on a recent trip to Green Bay.
Favre jerseys, game quality by Reebok (including the tag with the shiny medallion on it -- ooouuuuuuu) are priced at over $200 a piece.
Well,I love you, Brett, but not enough to sell a family member to don a jersey with your number on it. So, of course, I went looking for a bargain on eBay on the internet and therein lies the story.
Not really knowing what I was doing, I was about to learn, over a span of about seven months, the ins and outs of buying quality jerseys.
The first jerseys I ordered were Favre jerseys that are manufactured in South Korea. the price was too good to believe, That should have given it away. I ordered, sight unseen, both a white (away) and a green (home) Favre jersey. the shipping cost me three times what the jersey sold for and upon receiving them, I learned my first lesson: find a reputable dealer in the States.
Then (and this is really embarrassing), I went crazy and began to really collect once I found sources that I could count on at reasonable prices, keeping my bids low and using a service called "eSnipe".
I just took inventory today. Would you believe my closet holds:
#84 - Sterling Sharpe - Green Bay Packers - green (home colors), numerals in white
#84 - Shannon Sharpe - Denver Broncos - home colors, blue with orange trim, numerals in white.
#47 - John Lynch - Denver Broncos - alternate orange - white numerals outlined in blue
#47 - John Lynch - Denver Broncos - Pro Bowl Jersey, Hawaii, 2007
# 8 - Archie Manning - New Orleans Saints - white, black numeral, outlined in old gold
#10 - Eli Manning - New York Giants - home color - blue with white numerals
#18 - Peyton manning - Indianapolis Colts, Blue jersey w/ Superbowl emblem embroidered
#13 - Dan Marino - Miami Dolphins, Aqua jersey w/white numerals, Dolphin symbol embroidered
#4 - Brett Favre - Atlanta Falcons - Red alternate jersey
#4 - Brett Favre - Atlanta Falcons - Black w/ red white on sleeves, new edition
#4 - Brett Favre - Black 1991 Falcons jersey
#4 - Brett Favre - Southern Mississippi State jersey, Black with gold trim
#4 - Brett Favre - Green Bay Packers - white (away) jersey
#4 - Brett Favre - Green Bay Packers - green (home) jersey
#7 - Don Majkowski - Green Bay Pckers - green (home) jersey
#12 - T J Rubley - Green Bay Packers - white (away) jersey
#40 - Pat Tillman - Arizona Cardinals dark red (home) jersey
#25 - Dorsey Levens - Green Bay Packers (green) home jersey
(2) #15 - Bart Starr jerseys - Green Bay Packers (green) home jerseys
#66 - Ray Nitschke - Green Bay Packers - white (away) jersey
(2) #34 - Walter Payton jerseys - Chicago Bears - white and navy (home and away)
#11 - Phil Simms - New York Giants - blue (home) jersey
#16 - Joe Montana - San Francisco 49'ers - red (home) jersey
# 35 - Christian Okoye - Kansas City Chiefs - Red/Gold - (home) jersey
#17 - Dave Kreig - Seattle Seahawks - white (away) jersey
#44 - John Riggins - Washington Redskins - burgundy (home) jersey
#17 - Bily Kilmer - Washington Redskins - burgundy (home) jersey
#72 - Dexter Manley - Washington Redskings - white (away) jersey
#82 - Mike Quick - Philadelphia Eagles - black/dark green, new color scheme, (home) jersey
#12 - Ken stabler - Oakland Raiders - black w/silver numerals, (home) jersey
#75 - Howie Long - Oakland Raiders - silver w/black numerals (away) jersey
#50 - A.J. Hawk - Green Bay Packers - green (home) jersey
#21 - Tikki Barber - New York Giants - white w/ red trim - (away) jersey
#92 - Reggie White - Green Bay Packers - white with 75th Anniversary Packer patch
#32 - Jim Brown - Cleveland Browns - white w/brown numerals, (away)
#34 - Don Chandler - Green Bay Packers - White w/green numerals (away) place kicker, Superbowls !, !!
I am proud to say that you will find absolutely no purple (Vikng) jerseys in my collection! I collected The Shannon Sharpe and Sterling Sharpe jerseys because they are brothers in the league. I collected all three of the Mannings: Archie (father). Peyton (older grother) and Eli (younger brother) as it is pretty unusual to have an entire family represented in the league at one time.
I collected the John Lynch jerseys out of respect for a hell of a ball player who first made his mark at Notre Dame before joining the Buccaneers and then the Denver Broncos.
My Favre collection contains jerseys from all stages of his life save high school.
I am particularly fond of the two Bart Starr jerseys as well as the Ray Nitschke and the Dorsey Levens. The Levens jersey is a "Starter", an authentic jersey of his time.
The New York Giants are well represented by quarterback Phil Simms and recently reitired running back Tikki Barber. I also found it necessary to have a Dave Kreig /Seattle Seahawks jersey as Dave is a Wisconsin boy from the Wausau area who made it big in the big leagues!
I have always had an attraction to the past Redskins teams which explains my Kilmer, Manley, and Riggins jerseys.
It has been great fun, quite an eduation, and I am running out of closet space!
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