Another Great Weekend In October Sports

This weekend did not pass without its share of chills and thrills as we draw closer to Halloween. The Patriots are seemingly unstoppable. The usual Notre Dame vs. USC bonanza was overshadowed by two big SEC matchups, LSU vs. Auburn and Florida vs. Kentucky. And the Red Sox staged a surprising comeback to clinch the ALCS in Game 7. Let's start from the top:

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick seemed incensed at being accused of running up the score in the 49-28 smack-down of their long time division rival the Miami Dolphins, who are still without a win this season. Belichick had apparently reached his mercy point four minutes into the fourth quarter when he pulled his starting QB, and current team hero, Tom Brady from the line, and replaced him with second stringer Matt Cassel. However, when Cassel was picked off on his third snap by Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, who returned the interception for a 36-yard run and touchdown, Belichick hustled Brady right back in, taking no chances on an upset. Perhaps it was smart. Perhaps a bit overkill, as Brady promptly returned the lead to 28 points in a four-play drive.

Brady leads the way for the Patriots with a whopping 27 TD passes in seven games, eleven of which happened in the last eight quarters. He is right on target to break Peyton Manning's single-season mark by 13 TDs, or one more touchdown pass per game. Backing him up are arguably the best offensive and defensive lines in the NFL, who are one point short of averaging 40 points per game. The Patriots are on pace to score 638 points this season, shattering the old league record of 556, which is held by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings. Also, the league record for touchdowns in a season is held at 70 by the 1984 Dolphins, but the Patriots are charging ahead to put up 82.

But enough about pro-football, lets take it down to the NCAA, where upsets have become the norm. I like the way Pat Forde puts it:

“Stranger things have not happened, at least not since 1960. That's the last time a two-loss team claimed any share of a National Title, when Minnesota was crowned No. 1 by the AP..... That also was the only other time when Notre Dame started a season 1-7. So we could officially be in the midst of the weirdest season in 47 years. And in no place is it weirder than the Bloody South.”

The Florida Gators were off last week, giving them a chance to watch then No.1 LSU fall to the dominating powerhouse that is Kentucky. “The Gators are part of a preposterous pileup atop the SEC East – and if the nationwide epidemic of upset losses continues, two-loss Florida would love a shot at a title defense,” said Forde. Florida's preparation paid off as they outscored Kentucky 45-37 this past GameDay Saturday in a true QB heisman-candidate battle for the ages. Florida's sophomore Tim Tebow and Kentucky's senior Andre Woodson dueled it out in front of a rowdy Lexington audience. Woodson had 415 passing yards and five touchdowns against the defending national champs, which is not to go unnoticed, but was overshadowed by Tebow's prowess of the football field. Tebow worked out 334 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns, four throwing and one running. All in all, Tebow has accounted for 27 TDs in seven games, more than the past six quarterbacks to win the Heisman through the same point in the season, which includes Carson Palmer, Jason White, Matt Leinart, and Troy Smith to name a few.

You are reading correctly: Tim Tebow has the same number of TDs in the same number of games currently in the NCAA as Tom Brady does currently in the NFL. I am looking forward to great things from this young QB.

And now to turn to the MLB. The Red Sox clinched the ALCS in Game 7 last night at Fenway Park after being down 1-3 at Jacob's Field, and are set to face the Cinderella story of the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The Rockies have had an unprecedented eight days off after bolting by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-0 NLCS win, but their defense, which in this season earned the highest fielding percentage of any baseball team in history, needs to remain strong. Some believe that this extended rest will hurt the Rockies in the long-run by taking all the momentum out from under them. The Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games but their next opponent is not one to be underestimated. Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett is one of the hottest pitchers in the league, who has the lowest postseason ERA in the last 70 years. Out of the 297 postseason pitches he has thrown, 210 have been strikes. It should be a good match-up between Beckett and the Rockies batting line-up, which has the highest ERA in the league during the second half of the season. They also led the NL in runs scored. When Beckett and the Red Sox last met the Rockies in Fenway, Colorado took two out of three in the series and outscored Boston 20-5. In my opinion, this series will be a rocky road for both teams, most likely resulting in six or seven games, and I honestly cannot choose an easy winner from all of the stats. It may be left up to who simply wants it more.

You may not have a collection of comic books, baseball cards, or antiques, but you have a home full of valuables that you have spent your life collecting. iTaggit will change the way you collect, organize, and enjoy your things.

30 Days Of Night Is Not For The Nyctophobic

In the sleepy and secluded town of Barrow, Alaska-the northernmost settlement in North America-its citizens are preparing for the annual coming of the Dark. It's a bitter time when the sun sets for more than thirty consecutive days and nights, and most of its inhabitants head south. But this winter, the Dark will bring a mysterious group of strangers with it. From across the frozen wasteland, a horrifying evil descends upon Barrow, mercilessly besieging its residents with unrelenting terror and swift death. And as the darkness continues and the thirty days of night seemingly have no end in sight, Barrow's only remaining hope lies with Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) and Deputy Stella Oleson (Melissa George), an estranged husband and wife who are torn between saving the town they love and their own survival.

30 Days of Night author Steve Niles originally conceived of the story in the form of a film, but after meeting a lack of interest in initial pitches to studios, Niles was able to produce it as a three-part comic book mini-series with Ben Templesmith, deciding to collaborate on the project and provide artwork. The film adaptation, released in theaters today, is produced by Columbia Pictures and Ghost House Productions. The screenplay has gone through several versions and writers, including Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie (co-writer for Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl). David Slade is the director, and he casted Josh Hartnett and Melissa George as his leading roles.

(this and more information can be found on the 30 Days of Night Official Site)

You may not have a collection of comic books, baseball cards, or antiques, but you have a home full of valuables that you have spent your life collecting. iTaggit will change the way you collect, organize, and enjoy your things.

Get Your Closet Back In Shape

As the weather changes and the super sales continue through the holiday season, it is quite possible to max out your credit card and your closet space. iTaggit will always be here to help you inventory and organize your collection of clothes, but for the everyday real world, I found these little tips that might help you manage through the muddle.

(as originally written by Nancy Redd at AOL)

Closet Crisis: Not having enough hangers has created piles of clothing on the floor.

Storage Solution: Stock up on good, solid hangers that will keep your clothing in line. Hate hanging clothes? Perhaps you can make it fun with wooden hangers with your favorite sport's team logo or scented hangers for your nicer outfits.

Closet Crisis: Shoes sprawled all around the closet are making it hard to match pairs and are unnecessarily taking up a lot of space.

Storage Solution: Take advantage of an underused space for your shoe storage with a shoe rack over your closet door. You won't believe how much extra room you'll create!

Closet Crisis: Hanging up sweaters stretches them out, but piling them on the floor looks sloppy and is taking up too much space.

Storage Solution: Keep your sweaters organized and in shape with a sweater shelf hanging organizer.

Closet Crisis: Your belts are all over the place and your ties are wrinkled and creased.

Storage Solution: Keep them neat and organized with a motorized tie rack.

Closet Crisis: Bulky coats are taking up too much closet space, and your closet isn't a good place to store your wet umbrellas.

Storage Solution: Bring these items out of your closet, but keep them close by in an attractive wood coat rack and umbrella stand.

Closet Crisis: You've got a really tall closet, and a lot of airspace is being wasted.

Storage Solution: Make the most of your closet height with an add-a-rod, which will give you extra rows to hang up your items.

Closet Crisis: Your extensive hat collection is extending out of your closet and into other spaces.

Storage Solution: A cap rack will keep your hats in pristine condition and out of the way.

Closet Crisis: There just isn't enough room for your out-of-season clothing to stay closeted.

Storage Solution: Keep your unneeded clothing safely stored under your bed or in other locations besides your closet with air-tight space bags.

Closet Crisis: You've got your clothing under control, but you're still misplacing your jewelry.

Storage Solution: A jewelry organizer acts as a mini-closet for all of your jewelry when you're at home or traveling.

Closet Crisis: Your closet just isn't big enough, no matter how much organizing you do.

Storage Solution: Never fear, an extendable-portable garment rack is here to create more space for your storage needs.

Need help getting through your piles of collectibles? Let iTaggit help! We help manage collectibles for those who need it most. Organize collectibles by creating new collections on iTaggit to group them in. Show them off in our Gallery and send them to your friends to check out or add to. Research collectibles like your own through our search option and add to your collection or wish list. Whatever it is that you seek for your collectibles, iTaggit will help you out.

George Lucas Plans 'Star Wars' TV Series

(as originally posted by the Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 17) - The Force may soon be coming to a television near you.

George Lucas said Tuesday he is planning a live-action television series spin-off of the "Star Wars" film franchise. Lucas told The Los Angeles Times he has "just begun work" on the series, which will not include the films' major characters Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas told the Times.

Lucas wouldn't reveal details, but joked that the series would be about "the life of robots."

Lucas already has another television series in the works. Lucas Animation has been working for months on the computer-animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Need help getting through your piles of collectibles? Let iTaggit help! We help manage collections for those who need it most. Organize collections by adding in your item's important information and pictures on iTaggit. Show them off in our Gallery and send them to your friends to check out or add to. Research collections like your own through our search option and add new items you want to your wish list. Whatever it is that you seek for your collections, iTaggit will help you out.

The Underdog In The Rockies

They say that this is the year of upsets in NCAA football. More often than not it seems the underdog becomes the victor. Well, that might be true across the board this year. The Colorado Rockies have a seemingly charmed life, pulling a stunning 21 victories out of their last 22 games, and they show no signs of slowing down. Mind you, this is the same Rockies team that have never won more than 83 games in one season. The same ball club that was a mere four games over .500 on September 15 and nine games under .500 in May. This Rockies team was six games back in the wild-card race in September, which narrowed to four and a half games back with only nine left to play in the season, which narrowed even further to two games back with two games left to play, while simultaneously watching the Padres, the team they were chasing for the wild-card spot, get within one strike of clinching it! Yes, this Rockies team came from two runs behind in the 13^th inning of the 163^rd game of the year to beat out the Padres for their chance to play in the postseason. A chance they have proven they were worthy of receiving.

The Rockies' story is full of great facts and trivia, so hold on to your baseball cards and check this out:

• The Rockies are the first team since the 1935 Chicago Cubs to win at least 21 of 22 after September 1^st, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and are the fifth team in the last 70 years to go 21 of 22 at any point in the season.

• Before this season, the Rockies only had one postseason victory to their name, back in 1995, when they eventually lost to Atlanta in the first round. Now, they have become the second team in history, along with the 1976 Big Red Machine, to sweep their first two postseason series in any given October.

• The Rockies have become the first team ever to find itself two games out of a playoff spot with two games to play and somehow survive to scramble into the World Series.

• They have become the fifth team of all time to make it from last place one year to the World Series the next.

• The Rockies have become the sixth team in history to fall nine games under .500 and still climb out of their hole to make it to the World Series.

• The Rockies trailed in just two of their 38 innings against the Diamondbacks.

• The Rockies' Game 2 was saved by Ryan Speier, who had no prior big-league saves.

• Seth Smith, who hit the game-turning two-run double in Game 4, was previously better known for being Eli Manning's backup quarterback at Ole Miss. It was also his first major league RBI, since he had just been called up from the minors on September 16^th.

• And lastly, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter presided over a temporary renaming of 21^st St. in front of Coors Field to “Rockies Road” before watching the game together.

The Rockies have earned themselves a record eight days off before the beginning of the World Series, which will open in either Boston or Cleveland on October 24^th. So far the Indians lead the ALCS 2-1.

Need help getting through your piles of collectibles? Let iTaggit help! We help manage collections for those who need it most. Organize collections by adding in your item's important information and pictures on iTaggit. Show them off in our Gallery and send them to your friends to check out or add to. Research collections like your own through our search option and add new items you want to your wish list. Whatever it is that you seek for your collections, iTaggit will help you out.

One Of The Greatest Collecting Families Set To Sell A Gauguin

(as originally posted by news-antique.com)

On the evening of November 7, 2007, Sotheby’s in New York will offer for sale Paul Gauguin’s Te Poipoi (The Morning), one of the greatest Tahitian scenes by the artist remaining in private hands. For the past 62 years, this painting was part of one of the most illustrious collections ever formed in America, that of Joan Whitney Payson. Acquired by Mrs. Payson and her husband, Charles, in 1945, this stunning scene of an exotic paradise hung alongside masterpieces by artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and others, and has been consigned for sale by her family. Executed in Tahiti in September or October 1892, the painting is estimated to sell for $40/60 million (£20/30 million)*. Prior to auction, the painting will be on view at Sotheby’s London from October 7-12 and in New York from November 2-7, 2007.

David Norman, Executive Vice President, a Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department Worldwide, said, “Sotheby’s is thrilled to have yet another occasion to represent one of the greatest collecting families in America. Joan Whitney Payson and her brother John Hay Whitney were each the very definition of the enlightened, passionate and daring American collector in the 20th century, and their previous sales, whether directly or indirectly, through Sotheby’s – Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, Pierre-August Renoir’s Au Moulin de la Galette, Pablo Picasso’s Au Lapin Agile and Boy with a Pipe, among others -- represent not only many of the world’s greatest works of art, but also landmarks of the modern art market.

“For Paul Gauguin, the towering figure who provided the bridge from Impressionism to 20th century Modernism, the search to represent the ideal in art took him outside the comforts of western tradition toward the great exoticism of remote Tahiti. In the present work, the artist represents a quintessential Tahitian scene – an unspoiled landscape populated by native women going about their daily routines in the midst of a sun drenched, color-rich paradise.” In Te Poipoi, Gauguin presents a highly idealized version of paradise, untouched by western influence. This stunning canvas was painted on the island’s southern coastal region of Mataiea in September or October 1892, about a year into the artist’s first extended stay in French Polynesia. The title of the painting refers to the still and quiet morning hours when the local people began their day. We can imagine Gauguin’s voyeuristic pleasure in watching this intimate scene of women bathing beneath a canopy of banyan and mango trees. Te Poipoi is a refreshingly modern and daring interpretation of the ritual of the bath, one of the most symbolically loaded themes in the history of western art.

Edgar Degas presented one of the best well-known modern interpretations of this theme by focusing exclusively on the bodies of his young models standing over their metal tubs. Gauguin would have been well-acquainted with these images because he had exhibited with Degas in 1887 at the final Impressionist group exhibition in Paris. When Gauguin returned to France in August 1893, he brought back with him over sixty canvases and selected the best among them, including the present work, for a one-man exhibition at Durand-Ruel. After suffering a number of visits with his estranged family in Copenhagen and a broken leg in a street brawl in Pont Aven, Gauguin longed to return to the South Pacific. In order to raise money for the trip back, he sold several canvases at auction at Hôtel Drouot, including the present work, and in June 1895 set sail for Tahiti, where he would remain for the rest of his life.

Ever wonder "How do I value antiques I have?" Gathered several antique collectibles over the years? Upload them onto iTaggit and let us use our antiques value guide to help give you an estimate on your beloved belongings. It's as easy as posting them in our "What's My Item Worth" collection.

Second-Most Valuable Comic Available Found In Man's Attic

(as originally posted by AP)

Holy collectibles, Batman! A near-mint copy of Detective Comics 27, a pre-World War II comic featuring Batman's debut, was recently found in an attic and sold to a local comic book collector.

The comic is considered to be the second-most valuable available and can fetch up to $500,000. The only comic considered more valuable is Action Comics 1, where Superman makes his first appearance. Collector Todd McDevitt, seen in picture below with comic, said the Batman issue he bought is worth about $250,000, but he won't say how much he paid for it or who sold the book to him.

"It was a typical story of someone cleaning up junk in their attic and finding an old comic book and wondering if this was one of those ones that was worth a lot of money," McDevitt told the Beaver County Times.

McDevitt , owner of the Pittsburgh region's five New Dimension Comics stores, said he has been saving money since 1986 so that he could buy a valuable comic when it appeared.

When the seller walked in with the Batman issue, "my eyes almost popped out of my head," McDevitt said. "I guess I should have been more reserved, but I'm not a very good poker player."

Experts estimate there are between 20 to a few hundred copies of the Batman debut.

McDevitt 's comic now sits safely in an airtight bag in a bank vault. On occasion, he takes it out to show friends and customers.

"I've been toying with the idea of reading it, but I haven't yet," he said. "I'm going to savor it."

Think you have a valuable comic? Get your comics appraisals here on iTaggit!