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The Pope, an Old Couple, and Pele walk into a bar....

The big story regarding “valuables” happened recently and by now, everyone has heard about it. An older couple walking their dog in Northern California and came across a few buckets of gold coins from the 1800s. They’re worth around $10 million, and while they were smart in not saying who they are or where they live (don’t need a bunch of people showing up with metal detectors and shotguns!)…I think they should’ve been quiet about it all together. First, the IRS is already saying they’ll be collecting 50%. But…what happens if they find out a bank or mint was robbed back around that time? And the same amount of buried treasure is what was taken? I’m guessing those folks don’t just get to keep their treasure trove.

As somebody that is fascinated by autographs, I enjoy stories about finding signed things much more fun. That person cleaning out an attic and finding an original Declaration of Independence; or a woman finding a signed Beatles album in the garage that her mom got while she working on the Ed Sullivan Show, and she had forgotten it was even in a box of her belongings.

Another recent story got me thinking about people that collect autographs of religious figures. I would find it odd to ask the Pope or Dali Lama for a John Hancock, but suppose I might. You never know when you can trade an item like that for something in a genre you prefer.

The other day, Pope Francis was given a jersey by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. It’s a national team jersey that is signed by Pele – the greatest soccer player of all time, and also a ball signed by Ronaldo – one of the most popular soccer players today. The Pope joked that he might start supporting Brazil over his native Argentina in the upcoming World Cup. Ahh, bribery. What does their religion say about temptation?

Pope Francis has been a lifelong fan of the Buenos Aires club San Lorenzo, and actually has a decent sized collection of jerseys. The one signed by Pele is inscribed, “To Pope Francis with respect and admiration.”

The soccer ball was signed, “To Pope Francis, a big hug from your friend, Ronaldo.”

Rocker Rod Stewart, an avid soccer player, often kicks balls into the crowd during concerts. If only the Pope would decide to do this at his next speaking engagement. Come on! Isn’t it better to give than receive?

Tags: Dilma Roussett, Pele, Pope Francis, Rod Stewart, Ronaldo, World Cup, signed soccer ball

2 members like this

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 8, 2014 at 12:39am: sorry bout that joshie i just wanted to make sure i was getting my point across. now a days you are lucky if the player takes a s*** on you, let alone signs an autograph. when i was a boy in the mid to late 50s me and my good friend ricky loufansa would go down there to that dodgers stadium in brooklyn and get our bubble gum cars signed. if we were lucky someone from the team would see us down there and give us a ball or 2 from practice. we would get the whole team on it and no ball player would dare not sign for us. back then there was no ebay or craigslist we were just getting this stuff signed to kill time in the summer. nowadays kids come down and those youngins aint satisfied getting 1 or 2 of their ball cards signed if they don't get 15 they curse out the player. if i cursed out a ballplayer my dad would've slapped me so hard i would've been a soldier in world war 1. my friend ricky loufansa and i both got yogi berra on programs that a nice old lady gave us. I says to ricky loufansa i says ricky u still have that program and ricky says to me he says joey boy if i still had that program they would've taken me to the home a long time ago i says to him i says i looked and i can't find it he says to me he says joey I'm sure u probably traded it to ole henry lucas down at the playground for a pack of bubble gum i says to ricky i says ricky your goddamn right i did probably do that. never was able to get that jackie robinson fellow. he signed for ricky loufansa one day and rickys dad thrown it away. rickys dad was a racist, still is. He would not allow anything of that sort into his house. too bad for ole ricky that autograph could've paid his retirement. point is when we were kids we were just messing around all we cared about was if cindy lapel would let us touch her boobs the next day or if we could see up girls skirts at recess we didn't give a s*** about framing the autographs we got we just threw them into a shoebox and left them to rot.

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 8, 2014 at 12:40am: Ole joshy boy i would love to meet you in person. are u going to be there for willie nelson where we can talk about the good ole days

Comment by wascher on March 8, 2014 at 1:10am: Joey, if you wouldn't mind - the language needs to be cleaned up a little. Please don't use profanity on the forum. We appreciate it.

-w

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 8, 2014 at 1:05pm: Sorry bout that Ole Wascher boy. I should be more careful cuz u know kids these days they go on the internet while their parents know nothing about it. Kids could be viewing these websites and i should not be profaning everywhere. In my day you would go down to the hardware shop and hear every curse there is. I said the f word in front of my grandson and my daughter almost killed me.

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 9, 2014 at 3:17pm: I GUESS AS SOON AS OLE JOEY BOY STARTS TO COMMENT EVERYONE STOPS.

Comment by wascher on March 9, 2014 at 3:28pm: I'll comment one more time--and sorry Josh that I'm having to do this here. Joey would you mind cleaning up your profile "About Me" section and removing the parts where you say your here to pick up a Hoe (or two), and to pick up Hoes (for fun)....

Steve has already sent you a message and asked you to edit your profile yesterday, I see nothing has changed. If its not changed by this evening, we will be suspending your account. This obviously is not the place for that type of language.

And for the record, I'm not a boy.... so I'd appreciate not being called "ole Wascher Boy".

Please and Thanks.

-w

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 9, 2014 at 3:46pm: SORRY BOUT THAT WASCHER I JUST FIXED IT. I SEE HOW THAT MAY BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR A GRAPHING WEBSITE. I DIDNT SEE THAT MESSAGE FROM OLE STEVIE BOY. MY NIECE GOT ME THIS FANCY NEW COMPUTER FOR CHRISTMAS AND IT IS CONFUSING ME. BACK IN MY DAY IF YOU WANTED TO TALK TO SOMEONE YOU WALKED DOWN TO THEIR HOUSE AND DID IT NOWADAYS YOU JUST GO ON FACEBOOK AND COMMENT LOL ON THEIR PICTURE AND THEIR SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT THAT MEANS YOU WANT TO TALK TO THEM. BACK WHEN I WAS A KID MY FRIEND OLE TIMMY JOHNSON AND I WOULD WALK DOWN BY THE OCEAN IN NEW YORK AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. NOW A DAYS WE WOULD BE ON OUR PHONES TEXTING EVERYONE ELSE INSTEAD OF TALKING TO THE PERSON RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 9, 2014 at 3:59pm: Hey Joey,

Please stop doing everything in all caps! It's too hard to read.

Thanks

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 9, 2014 at 4:03pm: sorry bout that stevie i guess i bumped the button with my hand and my wife had to come fix it. nowadays theres all these buttons on the computer. i havent even used half of them i dont know whats wrong with just having the alphabet like the old days. nowadays everybodys gotta have everything nobodys content with having chicken for dinner they need chicken fish and steak when i was a kid if you were lucky you got bread and cheese.

Comment by JOEY DALUCA on March 9, 2014 at 5:11pm: stevie boy did you get my message these days you never know if people read your message or not back when i was a kid you would know because you would be talking right to them of course if you sent a letter you wouldnt know but everyone always responded my granddaughter was being dramatic a few weeks ago because her friend didnt answer her text back in my day everyone was courteous and responded there was no guessing game

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