I was about to crash. I really need to sleep. I’ve slept MAYBE two of the last 30+ hours. Not for any reason other than I have trouble sleeping sometimes, but still, I was just going to check my blog links real quick, read my friend’s column, and then, mercifully, go to sleep. Had I not had stomach *issues*(saying any more would be TMI) stemming from the cream of mushroom soup I had for dinner, I would have been asleep sooner still and never even made it to the blogosphere tonight.
As you know from a couple posts ago, I’ve got bigger things on my mind right now. A new post on that will be coming tomorrow probably. Oh lordy is that business ever getting interesting. But back to my SCB links right now, which haven’t been touched in probably close to two days. It seems I missed out on a pretty big s***storm while I was away. All the big names, the stars and unlisted stars of our little corner of cyberspace as it were, as well as pretty much everyone else that hangs out around here, got their say. How exciting.
I don’t know if it’s too late to have my say, nor do I care. What I read is bugging the crap out of me, so I will give my entirely unsolicited thoughts; I won’t be able to sleep well if it’s still on my mind anyway. Wouldn’t be the first, and won’t be the last time I’m late to the party with an entry. Maybe if there’s not closure for everyone just yet, this’ll be it. With everything tediously said, here’s what I have to say.
In the red corner, we have Wax Heaven, the numero uno sports card blog on the web, recently sponsored by Upper Deck, run by Mr. Hard Luck himself, Mario Alejandro.
In the blue corner, JV of Treasures Never Buried, actually inspired by much supported by Wax Heaven itself, and quite possibly the most well-written sports card-centric blog going today.
I wonder if I didn’t put them in the wrong colored corners in regards to their political stances. Oh well gentlemen, my blog, my rules.
Anyway, the problem between them… Mario, for whatever reason was less than forthcoming about three boxes of cards in question in the past few months. JV noticed this and brought it, all but kicking and screaming, to the forefront. Mario skated around the issue, seemingly frustrating JV to no end. I think we all know Mario didn’t say where they came from because it would have started the controversy train early. And clearly becoming Upper Deck’s box breaker was meant to be a surprise.
We should’ve all been aware that there was a certain Upper Deck-ness to Mario’s blog, because people within the company had the foresight to send him press releases and such, while Topps hasn’t seemed intrested in our existence out here in blogland at all. It didn’t seem to be any big secret that people within Upper Deck were droppng the knowledge. I recall mention of ol’ boy Mario knowing someone there, and people from UD have popped up in comments section more than once. Perhaps it is ultimately Topps who were the ones with the foresight, for once, to not even bother messing around with it. Maybe I’m giving them too much credit though. They do have that doofy “Rip Master” guy after all, so I probably am. They don’t factor into this anyway though, so whatever.
Ultimately, what matters here is Mario DID in fact lie, whether intentionally misleading or not, and JV called him on it, and for skating around the issue, which was entirely just, but in a way that was oddly loud and harsh.
When Mario said that he had in fact received the boxes from Upper Deck, I admit I felt something go off in my head, but it didn’t register as suspicion. It was just “Huh, that didn’t seem to make sense. Oh well…”. I pretty much completely missed the suspicious elements of the boxes in question when they appeared. They seemed vaguely amiss for some reason, but didn’t come close to raising any red flags. Honestly, I was more concerned with the fact that something good actually happened to Mario and family for once. It has been one helluva year for them. But back to the matter at hand…
What we have here is Mario being less than truthful for what seem to me to be fairly obvious and somewhat justifiable reasons, and JV justly calling him out for lying and then (fairly succussfully) trying to take the focus off himself and his actions, if harshly and not in a very appropriate way. That’s all there really is to what happened. The why and reactions though are what we need to look at now though.
First of all, for the people calling JV jealous… um, no. There is literally NOTHING I can think of that he’s said to back up that claim. It reads more like heartbroken to me. JV said it himself, Wax Heaven was an integral part of him becoming a blogger in the first place, and giving him many of his hits. The guy that “made him”, for lack of a better term, betrayed his trust. Yes, as JV has repeatedly stated, Mario’s blog is #1 and should be held to the highest standard amongst us so long as he is THE MAN amongst us and continues to post regularly, personal life hell or not, Tatiana.
Really though, it feels more like the reason JV really went the extra mile on all the research and effort he put into things… is to call out his (sorta) “mentor” because his actions, which WERE questionable, really bothered and perhaps even hurt him. The reason he’s all but cussing you out in the comments, Tatiana, is because this was a quite possibly very personal thing for him. If the person that was the reason you did something meaningful… and helped you get to a point where you were a fairly big deal in that field, did something that really bothered you, and wouldn’t even give you the time of day… who wouldn’t feel hurt and betrayed by that? And as right or wrong as the reason(s) and the way JV went about everything may be (pretty much all wrong, in my opinion), JV did shine a light on something that someone less self-aware *cough*like me*cough* needed to know about.
Remember, the whole steroid thing in baseball didn’t start for the good of keeping young people off the juice, it was because hallowed records were being straight up OBLITERATED at a nigh-impossible rate. The real positives didn’t come until later.
Lest you think I’m bias towards either, I feel both were at fault, Mario for not being truthful in the first place and then skewing the issues, JV for acting on impulse, being way too rash and hotheaded. However, while they may never be on especially friendly terms again (not to mention them with me if they don’t like this post…) there is a quite simple thing to do next that may ease whatever hard feelings remain *gets out his Mario and JV hand puppets* (No I don’t really have puppets of them, smart***… :P):
Mario- “I should have said where the boxes came from in the first place. I shouldn’t have tried to downplay it, making you look like a hater jerk in the process, either. I’m sorry.”
JV- “I should have gone to you to find out what the deal was first. And if I still felt the need to go public, I should have been less rash and more focused in the explanations for my arguments. I’m sorry too.”
*Mario and JV hug it out*
… Yeah, don’t expect that to happen, but just admit *to each other* what you may have done wrong, even if you may not have realized you done wrong at the time. Let bygones be bygones and don’t hold any ill will toward each other. Maybe it can’t go back to how it was before, but there is no need for there to be a grudge held by either of you afterward.
I try my best to stay positive and focus on the positive aspects of others, so this won’t change my opinion of either of them. I can only hope to become close to as good a men as they both are. I’m sure they will both come out of this a bit more jaded and untrusting, but they will still both be aces to this little chump. I like and respect both Mario and JV and enjoy reading their blogs. I hope neither loses any readership over this and that they both continue to prosper. They are two of the best at what they do, and I wish them well. I still hope be able to trade with both of them (again in Mario’s case) sometime, as well as Dayf, who I had my own little issue with. Maybe I’m weird, but unless I’m attacked personally and in mean spirit, I can deal with you. Let’s all just try to get along and trade some cool cards, shall we?
Can I please go to sleep now? I’m missing out on dreaming about someone dear to me.
Until our next,
Me
Life and Baseball Cards 