Or, And in this corner...

The gauntlet has been thrown.

Someone put their money where their mouth is and that someone is Steve Borock. I too once did that by meeting with CGC to try to get a job. I flew down to Florida to try my hand at grading. The three days there were great, but alas due to reasons that I will not disclose I did not get the job, although I was good enough to be offered one.

I do know more about the grading practices and "secret sauce" of CGC but will not discuss that either. The signing of non-disclosures have nothing to do with it...ok maybe just a little. The first time I heard CGC (Paul Litch) use the terminology of Secret Sauce was about four years ago at Wizard World Philadelphia. I always wanted to write a journal with that as a tilte. I never did. Recently I heard Steve Borock use the same terminology, so I wonder who used it first?

But this isn't about the grading practices of CGC, something I became more comfortable with after I saw it in practice. This is more about Steve Borock creating another third party grading company. Everything that follows is my opinion only. I will not deal in facts, just thoughts, after all it's that whole non-disclosure thing.

CBCS is the new dog in town and I wonder should CGC worry? Vault arrived on the scene, a company I know nothing about and PGX still seems like the younger brother of your best friend that no one wants to play with.

Most of what I have read in Facebook, Twitter, and the CGC chat boards stress two different things to me. The first is that everyone is wishing Steve luck on this new venture and the second is, everyone seems to be hoping that this new venture that Steve is embarking on will help improve CGC. To me that sounds like, "Good luck, but I think you will fail".

I do wish Steve the best of luck on this venture and I am very curious on how everything will play out. I won't be sending my CGC graded books to CBCS since the cost will just be too high, however there will be a few I will send just to get an idea of how they grade. Of course... I will try to get a New Mutants set from them in their best grade, but that's only because I'm a sucker.

I can't afford both, and after seeing some of the prices CBCS is charging I can see them getting a fair part of the market. CGC is not only a third party grading company, it is the paramount grading company, the ones all others strive to be. In the sixties when Marvel really started to take hold, did DC worry?

Will CBCS have a website, chat boards, registry awards? Will they have a community where friends could be made? Will they start up like CVA? In 2000 a lot people waited to see if CGC would succeed and now 14 years later they have. But is the CGC that is around today a spoiled teen that thinks it knows everything or will they welcome their little brother to the world?

If you have been following then you know a lot of the answers. If this is a first, I recommend you check out the chat boards and Facebook. You never know, you just might want to be in on the ground floor, or you may just hope this is the push to make your favorite grading company actually listen.

At the end of the day, I wish Steve luck, because what I know of the man is, he wouldn't do something like this lightly and I think that he might, just might reminisce of the days CGC started while on the couch. Until he succeeds, not only will he be putting his money where his mouth is, he will also be putting his heart and soul there too.

Thanks for Reading.

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