right or wrong?

[WadeInBmore]

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/man-tries-sell-pat-tillman-game-worn-cleats-225444865.html

This made national news?!

wade

[xpress34]

Wade -

I just finished reading that article before I clicked back into GUU.

As a Disabled Vet, the fact he identifies Tillman as a War Hero in order to raise the value of the cleats disgusting.

Selling the cleats in and of itself I have no problem with.

$3.2 million? Hahaha - I could almost buy GU uniforms from the 1st members of the Baseball HOF for that amount.

Just another idiot looking for attention by putting up an item at an astronomical price.

I did notice that when asked about the high offer of $7k he said any offer he would consider would have to be 7 figures... the seller is out of his mind.

- Smitty

[David]

Yahoo's homemade news features specializes in sensationalistic shallow crap specifically in order to get hits for their ad machine. I kid you not. If they found a photo of Hitler armpit farting or Princess Diana scratching her left boob, that would be the headline article for two weeks. Again, I kit you not. It's all about hits for Yahoo.

[David]

P.s., of course it's okay to sell Tillman's shoes. Just as it's okay to sell Christy Mathewson, General Patton and Stonewall Jackson memorabilia.

[legaleagle92481]

everybody dies so to not sell stuff because the player died is dumb and most athletes who die young die tragically, maybe not in war but its still tragic. however, to price gouge to capitalize on that tragedy is totally wrong. this seller and the guy who is selling Sean Taylor's stuff for similarly crazy prices should be ashamed of themselves. How would they like it if it was their son, brother, father or friend that died tragically?

[David]

Also, Tillman came across as the type of guy who would roll his eyes over this coverage and auctioning of a pair old dirty shoes.

[OaklandAsFan]

I saw this article yesterday and just laughed. I could care less that he is selling them, as someone else already stated people die.

I really could care less that he is gouging the price as well because he is such a tool that he is valuing his possession WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY more than it really is worth. If he wanted anything more than attention he needs to come down about 3,199,000 dollars

[David]

Also, of course, $32 million is a joke of an asking price. $1 million would be a joke of a price.

So from the start you don't know if he's got his head screwed on straight, what's the motive, is he being serious, etc.

[David]

You could put it this way: Unless he's totally delusional, the seller knows he can't get $32 million for the shoes. Thus the price is some sort of grab for attention, perhaps marketing technique.

[Skizzick]

It is perfectly ok to sell the shoes. If you wanna sell something they would easily place in the Smithsonian, that's up to you. And I agree, the price is just an attention grab, but so what? If news companies want to pick this up and give the guy attention, that's on them. If he chooses to bring attention to himself, then he is opening himself up for a world of torment.

[frikativ54]

While I don't have a problem with selling the shoes, I do take issue with the guy's attempting to profit off of a tragedy. His tactics worked, though, as he got media attention for his auction.

[otismalibu]

As a Disabled Vet, the fact he identifies Tillman as a War Hero in order to raise the value of the cleats disgusting.

Really? Four words and an ampersand in the entire description is disgusting? If that's left out, I guarantee you that someone else is disgusted by its omission. I don't think those are really hot keywords for GU collectors.



I do take issue with the guy's attempting to profit off of a tragedy.

He's not selling caskets. He's sat on these for almost 8 years. When will it be OK for me to list my Pistol Pete autograph ball?

I thought his listing pretty much covered the facts, in much less space than the avg. auction house tale. It was a fishing expedition as far as price, but that's pretty common on eBay.

[TriplexXxSports]

You need an option to select - "Just plain STUPID!"

Do as you will with your stuff, but don't be a F*%^#@ C%^)@#%(R about it...

[Skizzick]

Ok, let's play a hypothetical here. Let's say that you had these cleats and you COULD reasonably get $3.2 million for them. Heck, let's say you could get 50k for them. Would you sell them then? I sure as hell would. People are going to say that you are profiting off of somebody's death regardless of when you sell them or for how much. Under the same guidelines, if you ever sold a deceased player's jersey for a price that was higher than if the player were alive, somebody could make the argument that you're profiting off of the player's death.

That being said, the guy isn't going to get anywhere near that number, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody went five figures on it. It's his to sell. Judge all you want, but you would likely do the same thing if you could.

[gadsden86]

I have no issue with it like many others have said he will never get that price. He was a great guy and gave up the game of football to go to the Army that is big. I think he should at least give part of the money he gets to the veterans or another organisation.

[godwulf]

Aside from over-valuing the item, the seller is doing nothing wrong. As others have said, we see dead players' stuff being bought and sold every day of the year. As I recall, Christy Mathewson was another individual whose sacrifice in going to war ultimately cost him his life; do we really need to wait 70 or 80 years till it's okay for anyone to sell any Tillman items?

Yes, we all look with disdain on the vultures who've got stuff up on eBay, with inflated prices, before a player is cold. Cory Lidle and Mike Coolbaugh come to mind. The seller in this instance has owned the cleats for over ten years, and Tillman died eight years ago. The seller has set a silly reserve, but that's his prerogative; to me, it says, if anything, how much he values this item.

If he'd put them on eBay with a begnning bid of $99 and no Reserve, the story - including here, I suspect - would be about what a complete moron he was.

[NEFAN]

I too am a disabled vet. I have no issue with selling them. The asking price means he knows nothing about the hobby. I would donate to the Tillman foundation however if it sold.

[kellsox]

The inclusion of describing tillman as a war hero in the listing is appropriate in my opinion. Any description of a Ted Williams GU item would be incomplete w/o mentioning his contributions in the military. This is no different. The seller listed a rediculous BIN price to capture attention- which is exactly what happened.

[34swtns]

Absolutely nothing wrong with selling the cleats.

His price though, is just insanity.