Curt, check the bid history again. Brandon DID bid on the ball, and was the underbidder.
As he said, he put in a healthy bid in an attempt to keep anyone else from being stuck with the ball. As of midnight the night before, he was $100 over the next highest bidder, and remained the high bidder until Wit beat him out with a snipe that went off 3 seconds before the auction ended. All of that can be seen just looking at the bid history.
Now why in the world would someone wanting to sell a fake ball bid on his own ball in that way? And before anyone suggests it, this is clearly not shill bidding. Nobody in their right mind attempts to run up the bid price by throwing down a bid that would triple the highest bid showing at that point. There were no bid retractions, no nibbling at the bids to drive the price up, really no reason to think that it was anything other than what Brandon says: an attempt to keep an unthinking friend/ex-partner from committing fraud upon an unsuspecting buyer.
And keep in mind that this single bid, which seemed to safely be holding as the high bid right up until the end, was placed nearly 14 hours before post #1 in this thread. So it's not a case of "the heat is on, I better pull this before I get caught."
Also, Brett asked why he didn't catch the ball the first time it was listed. Go back and check that listing (item # 290923317483), and you will see that it was up for less than 24 hours before the seller ended it early (listed as a Buy It Now on May 28 at 13:11 and ended early May 29 at 11:48, then re-listed 4 minutes later at Auction at 11:52). I don't know what Brett's habits are when it comes to searching eBay, but even for the categories that I scour diligently, there are plenty of times that I am distracted for a day or more and items slip by me. I don't find it so implausible that an item that was up for less than 24 hours might escape anyone's notice.
I say all this based just on the evidence visible in the listing and bid history on eBay, which anyone can check. It's not supposition based on whether the pronoun he used was singular or plural or any other grammar Brandon used. Keep in mind that he was under a great deal of pressure at the time, and responding as quickly as possible. His grammar has never been perfect, (better than some who post here, but still not perfect, sorry Brandon
), and it's not likely that he would stop and use grammar check before hitting "submit."
Aside from that, I can say from personal experience that I have had numerous dealings with Brandon over the last year or so, and there have been many many times where he could have easily taken advantage of me for many times the amount of money involved in this transaction. In all of my dealings with him, I have never gotten any sense of anything underhanded going on with him, and he has never failed to provide help or information when called upon.
And it's not just me, or even a select few, that he has helped. He has provided help and advice regarding ball identification and dating here on the boards numerous times, to anyone who asked, and does so in a definitive manner, showing examples and giving detailed responses where appropriate so that you don't have to just "take his word for it as the expert." You can actually go and do your own independent research and arrive at the same assessments that he presents. It's just that most of us (often myself included) are too lazy to put in the hours of research necessary to develop our own expertise. It's much easier to just yell, "Hey Brandon," get a free quick opinion, maybe throw him a "thanks" and then move on.
I don't have a problem with people asking questions about anything, and this transaction certainly deserved the red flag originally raised. The rate at which it went from simply asking a question to completely trashing a valued board member, his reputation, his expertise, and his book (which hasn't even come out yet!), all the while rejecting all attempts to answer the rapid-fire questions being leveled at him and completely ignoring his request to be allowed time to personally deal with the fiasco his friend created, is nothing short of shameful. Bottom line is, I daresay we all have had friends who did something stupid at some point without thinking how it would affect us. That in this case, that the friend is also an ex-business partner, and that neither of them thought to cancel all the old eBay and Paypal accounts and start fresh with their separate ventures, is especially unfortunate as it gives rise to this kind of speculation. Having stupid friends isn't criminal though. It's hard enough to keep intelligent friends in line. Idiots are impossible, and I'm not going to kick a guy in the nuts because his (now ex-)friend proved to be a dishonest moron.
Lance F!ttro