Issue w/ Buccaneers 1998 game used player jerseys

[Dewey2007]

I have recently been looking into acquiring a game used Chidi Ahanotu Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey and both Mears and BPH have game used/dated 1998 jerseys for sale. In doing some research I found out that Ahanotu only played in the first 4 games that season before having shoulder surgery on 10/14/98 and being placed on Injured Reserve on 10/28/98.

http://www.sptimes.com/Sports/101598/Surgery_ends_Ahanotu_.html (http://www.sptimes.com/Sports/101598/Surgery_ends_Ahanotu_.html)

http://www.sptimes.com/Sports/102898/Ex_Oiler_Mix_signs_se.html

The issue with both of these jerseys is that they were apparently dated as game used by the Bucs equipment manager on 11/22/98 & 12/7/98. Now unless I've overlooked something, playing in these game would have been pretty tough for Ahanotu to pull off since you are ineligible to play the rest of the season after being placed on IR. Anyhow, I sent e-mails to both Mears and BPH letting them know about this info I came across. BPH does not have their jersey listed on-line but Mears currently does.

I guess this just points out how easy it would be for someone (not the current sellers) to write a game used date on a jersey like these since that was common practice by the Bucs EM from what I understand. Kinda like forging an autograph I guess. Both BPH and Mears handle so many jerseys that to me something like this might be easy to overlook.

Anyhow, I'm not posting this to try and make it look like BPH or Mears are trying to pull one over on anyone. I have personally bought two jerseys from Kim at BPH and have been very happy with both. I just wanted to share this info with the forum so no one purchases one of these Ahanotu jerseys under the assumption they were used in the games attributed to them.

[34swtns]

I used to own a similar jersey: '98 Ahanotu Adidas home jersey with the tag dated to a game that he couldn't possibly have played in due to the injury. I sold it once I learned this, (for a loss, of course).

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/34swtns/th_DSC03299.jpg (http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/34swtns/DSC03299.jpg) http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/34swtns/th_DSC03298.jpg (http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/34swtns/DSC03298.jpg)


The jersey that BPH is selling isn't the one I owned (the writing on their tag is much darker than it was on mine) and I can't look at Mears' example because there's no way I'm gonna pay $40 just to be able to look at their auctions.

[nyjetsfan14]

That is some interesting stuff indeed. Have you received any replies from MEARS or BPH yet Dewey? Does their description indicate any use/wear on the jerseys? I wonder why the Bucs EM would write such if he knew a player did not play in a certain game? Maybe it was just a practice to write what game that jersey was designated for? I am not overly familiar with Bucs gamers and have never seen others where the EM actually writes on the jersey a game date, does anybody know how long he has been doing this? It is on the tagging I assume? And lastly I wonder if Bucs/NFL collectors use his markings as an authentication ingrediant?

[34swtns]

That is some interesting stuff indeed. Have you received any replies from MEARS or BPH yet Dewey? Does their description indicate any use/wear on the jerseys? I wonder why the Bucs EM would write such if he knew a player did not play in a certain game? Maybe it was just a practice to write what game that jersey was designated for? I am not overly familiar with Bucs gamers and have never seen others where the EM actually writes on the jersey a game date, does anybody know how long he has been doing this? It is on the tagging I assume? And lastly I wonder if Bucs/NFL collectors use his markings as an authentication ingrediant?

The EM in question was named Darin Kerns, (hence the "DK" initials on the jocktags), and he was replaced after only a couple of years with the Bucs. The short version of the popular story is that the Bucs ordered tons of extra jerseys from Adidas during the 1998-2000 seasons and the majority of them left "via the backdoor" without ever being used.

[Dewey2007]

That is some interesting stuff indeed. Have you received any replies from MEARS or BPH yet Dewey? Does their description indicate any use/wear on the jerseys? I wonder why the Bucs EM would write such if he knew a player did not play in a certain game? Maybe it was just a practice to write what game that jersey was designated for? I am not overly familiar with Bucs gamers and have never seen others where the EM actually writes on the jersey a game date, does anybody know how long he has been doing this? It is on the tagging I assume? And lastly I wonder if Bucs/NFL collectors use his markings as an authentication ingrediant?

I contacted BPH and they changed their listing right away on the '98 Ahanotu to game issued unused jersey. I have yet to hear from Mears and I believe they still have their jersey listed.

I also discovered another Bucs jersey BPH had listed as game used because of the date written on the tagging by the equipment manager. It was a Bert Emanuel jersey dated to 10/4/98. Problem is he was injured for 4 games early in the season and did not play in this game attributed to the jersey. BPH pulled that one right away too. My theory at least with the Emanuel jersey is he may have suited up for the game although he didn't play and the jersey got lumped in with all the others and got marked as game used. Who knows but it appears the equipment manager back then was liberal on some of the jerseys he game dated.

No excuses on the Ahanotu jerseys though since he was on the IR from very early in the season.

[Dewey2007]

I can't look at Mears' example because there's no way I'm gonna pay $40 just to be able to look at their auctions.[/QUOTE]

You can view the Mears jersey by going to: mearsonline.com

No need to pay $40 to view the non-auction jerseys they have for sale.

[34swtns]

Got it, and thanks.

WOW......Mears wants $325 for that Ahanotu??!!

Not even if it were sewn together with platinum thread. It's worth $125 on a good day.

And $300 for a '98-'00 pre-season benchwarmer? Crackpipes aplenty over there, apparently. $75-$100 on that one......TOPS.

In general, the prices on their Buccaneers items seem to be on the high side, to say the least.

Craziness........people really need to take a good hard look at like-items on the market before they go posting stuff for sale like it's priceless.

[grandpahoo]

Got it, and thanks.

WOW......Mears wants $325 for that Ahanotu??!!

Not even if it were sewn together with platinum thread. It's worth $125 on a good day.

And $300 for a '98-'00 pre-season benchwarmer? Crackpipes aplenty over there, apparently. $75-$100 on that one......TOPS.

In general, the prices on their Buccaneers items seem to be on the high side, to say the least.

Craziness........people really need to take a good hard look at like-items on the market before they go posting stuff for sale like it's priceless.

Agreed on some of their prices. They have two jerseys that I'd be interested in (Germane Crowell and Wali Rainer) if their prices weren't so ridiculous (a combined $700).

[Made in Motown]

Agreed on some of their prices. They have two jerseys that I'd be interested in (Germane Crowell and Wali Rainer) if their prices weren't so ridiculous (a combined $700).

WOW! Those prices are nuts - I paid $275 combined for my '97 Crowell set. That '94 Lions M. Riley (whoever that is) was on ebay last year for $75 which I thought was too much & they want $375 for it????

[34swtns]

The folks at Mears are very attached to their items.
Hate to see 'em go, apparently.

[34swtns]

Back to the Bucs.........I forgot to metion that the same over-abundance of jerseys can be seen in examples from the 1996 season, (the final season in the orange uni's). Mr. Kerns' tenure with the Bucs began in 1997, however, a glut of '96-season jerseys flooded the market shortly thereafter and are still fairly common today. I've seen enough '96 Hardy Nickerson jerseys to outfit a whole team.

[Dewey2007]

Just wanted to offer a follow-up to this thread. Troy Kinunen of Mears sent me a nice e-mailed regarding this issue of the Ahanotu jersey I brought to their attention and they amended their listing somewhat based on the information I had presented to them.

Funny thing is they changed the listing but didn't change the price. I guess business is business!

[DK]

Let me clarify this since I was the Equipment Manager in question. First of all nothing "LEFT THRU THE BACK DOOR". Every single jersey was inventoried and accounted for DIRECTLY to the Glazers. Trust me, they know where every penny is at all times. I was accountable for every jersey and every single jersey from my tenure there was accounted for. I ordered off a list given to me by the Glazers themselves a jersey for every game for every player they told me to order one for at the beggining of the season. If a player did not play, I was instructed to keep that jersey with the others and turn them in all together, which I did. Nothing shady went on from my end. What the Glazers did with all of these jerseys is none of my business. I have no beef with them. But I can assure you, they sold them off to dealers in quantites and used some for chartiable auctions which in turn end up getting sold again. I did exactly what I was instructed to do from their end. I was told to ID each jersey so THEY would know for their purposes if a jersey was authentic or not once it hit the market. This is 100% the truth.

[DK]

And as for the 1996 Hardy Nickerson jerseys, those also were turned over to the Glazers. There were so many because my predecessor before was told the same thing and he did the same thing I did. The owners were 100% involved with every jersey during my tenure. They were very good to me. It is their team, they can do whatever they wish with them and they did. Nothing shady went on.

[jake33]

DK, I was wondering if you had any idea why since 2001 game used bucs jerseys are alost impossible to find?

[34swtns]

DK, thanks for taking the time to post your side of the story.

I have a few Bucs uniform related questions should you care to answer them. Please drop me a line at rickdrums99@yahoo.com .

[DK]

I am done discussing this issue after this post because there is no more information for me to give you and I have moved on from that part of my career. I have told you 100% accurate information. Andrea Trestcastro, Bucs Director of Security was given the jerseys to secure for the owners. What HE did with them or the Glazers, again I don't know. None of my business. I don't know any more than what I've told you.
Why there are not alot of 2001 is very simple. The Glazers realized the huge amounts of jerseys they were collecting and stopped doing that. At the time, we were still in the old One Buc facility and had zero space. Also, they realized this was a very expensive and time consuming endeavor to do on a weekly basis and I also informed them that the players did not like it because many wanted to wear their exact same jersey every game so I can't tell you the exact year they stopped doing that but it was around 2000 or so. If I remember correctly, and I have had a lot of seasons for me since then, I think they started allowing the players to keep their jerseys. Only ONE set was purchased a year but we did have a back up as well. Ok thats it. Hope that helps.

[RKGIBSON]

DK,

Nice to see you on here. I have one question if you could. Did the jerseys come into the the Buc's facility as blank jerseys and they were trimmed out there or did they come in with numbers?

Thanks,
Roger
irestorecars@sbcglobal.net

[jake33]

DK, do you have any buccaneers jerseys in your possesion that you'd be willing to sell? Thanks for your responses. My number is 608-780-0013 or you can email me at 608-780-0013

[DK]

Ok I will answer a few questions. But I do want to end this. NO I have nor ever had any jerseys for sale. They were never my property in the first place nor did I view them as such. Like I stated before, I don't know why the general public thinks that jerseys just come and go without no one noticing and the eq. guy can and would be stupid enough to sell them out the back door. Maybe they did back in the day, but every single item is accounted for once the team order is placed. Every single jersey during my tenure there was expected to be accounted for and it was. Many times these jerseys end up in auctions and being sold FROM the players themselves either through there charity or through the team when selling them off. To answer the other question, every jersey I had was made at the Wilson factory. No blanks were used at any point because there was no need. We had way to many jerseys for such a small place to store. The only exception was I had to get one made for Bill Clinton on a visit to One Buc. The reason there was and is a massive influx of Buc's jerseys from my tenure on the market now is the owners. They wanted to do it and were excited about the winning we were doing and wanted to set up the jerseys that way so we did it. It was time consuming and expensive and the players knew exactly what was going on and they were kind of pissed about it at the owners. That's all I got folks.

DK

[34swtns]

I specifically remember a number of occasions between 1999-2000 when local DJ, Bubba the Love Sponge mentioned your name on-air in regards to his source for getting any NFL jersey he wanted. He referred to you as "Kernsey" and did so quite often, in fact. I personally saw many of the jerseys hanging in his former restaurant "Bubba's Ale House" in New Port Richey. They weren't retail authentics but actual game-issued jerseys.

[34swtns]

Can I assume that's a "no comment"?

[DK]

That is an absolute lie. Yes I was friends with him. At no time did he ever receive Equipment from me, other than a pair of pants from a Pro Bowl that a player did not want. If you can prove this, than do it. But I know you can't because it is fabricated. And even if you did come up with something, it could have been purchased via a collector via thru the Glazers. The Glazers have the inventory list and everything during my tenure was accounted for.
Trust me, if I was doing anything illegal or shady, I wouldn't have lasted 20 years in the business. And I am currently at a great job in my industry. Nice try.....

[dcrules01]

Why are you accusing him of lying? All he is doing is passing along information that he was giving.34 is a stand up guy true to his word I have dealt with him on a few transactions and even had the pleasure of speaking to him through a few conversation over the phone.He is very educated in the Game Used area of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers items.I highly doubt he would make this up all he was doing is asking you a simple question and you are getting all bent out of shape.

[jppopma]

Is he accussing 34 of lying, or moreso saying that the claim made on the radio is a lie? If it's the later, we all know how much hype and BS is included in radio shows. Heck, a sport talk radio host could go on and say he is wearing a Babe Ruth gamer on the air...or maybe one has before.

[34swtns]

I absolutely stand by my question/statement.
Maybe you might want to try remembering a little harder. Myself and a couple hundred thousand of Bubba's listeners heard your name countless times on the air during the period in question regarding your ability to get game jerseys. What reason would I have for making up a story like that? Personally, I couldn't give a damn if you gave him 1 jersey or 100. I just know what most people in the Tampa Bay area heard time and again and wanted to hear your explanation. Now, if you say there was nothing "shady" going on then that's between you, Bubba and God so you should make sure all 3 of you understand and accept your version of the story. But from what we all heard and saw down here, Bubba collected guitars and football jerseys, all of which were displayed on the walls of his restaurant. He made no attempt to hide the fact that there was a guy who worked for Dean Guitars in Plant City who provided him with guitars to have autographed and it was you who provided him with NFL jerseys.
I'm simply recounting what I and the entire area was told on the radio MANY times.