DAN MATHEWSON Edited the 54 Topps EMAIL RESPONSE Before Posting it

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Posted By: Kenny Cole

This doesn't solve all problems, but here's a proposed solution that makes some degree of sense to me.

Encourage Hannibal to buy ALL AAA "cards." After all, as he so articulately says "I got plenty" of money to do that. Also, Hannibal can't complain that he's been taken by AAA because he admittedly knows that the items he is purchasing are, er, not really worth much of anything. Thus, no one need feel bad about a new collector getting screwed. Hannibal's response sort of reminds me of Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street singing "I Love Trash." If he wants to be Oscar, power to him.

Hannibal is absolutely correct that he is entitled to buy whatever he wants. If he does that with knowledge that the items he is buying are worthless, who are we to criticize? Since he professes to have plenty of money and knowledge, my view is that I hope he buys everything AAA has to offer. By the way, for purposes of this post, I am ignoring the separate issue regarding AAA's destruction of the early guides. While I agree with the sentiment against that, I am presuming that the destruction will continue to occur, and that the only question is who will buy the resulting snippets.

When all is said and done, I would prefer that clued-in guys like Hannibal purchase every AAA item offered on ebay. That would take many of the crap items off the market. It would also help to prevent new collectors, who are perhaps less "sophisticated" than Hannibal, from from buying items which really have no worth whatsoever.

Hannibal can obviously afford it since he's got so much money that he can spend it on worthless items. He's also performed a public service since he's gotten rid of trash that others might otherwise be fooled into buying. Other than the document destruction issue, I can't think of a reason why Hannibal shouldn't be encouraged to continue with his AAA proclivities. All that has happened is that AAA has made money from someone who has proudly admitted to being incredibly stupid.

Although I can't say that the money AAA makes from donks comes close to being deserved, I also can't really say that Hannibal is entitled to continued concern or protection, even from AAA. Assuming he's a buyer (a questionable assumption), he's an idiot and deserves to be treated as such. I can't feel sorry for someone who continues to hit himself in the head with a hammer after being told that it hurts.