This is indeed sad news, and I sincerely hope Jeffrey is able to overcome the more pressing (and far more important) issues in his personal life.
I had the pleasure of writing a non-sports column for CSC when it was still a six-times-a-year tabloid. After it became a full-fledged magazine, I wrote the monthly "Canadiana" column for a decade. Unfortunately, it was after the tenures of Jeff and Baron Bedesky as editors that the rapid decline of CSC accelerated. From its infancy as a tab, Jeff elevated the mag to a new level of excellence, incorporating a nice mix of relevant hobby news with historical features, complemented by an outstanding monthly price guide that went beyond just cards. When Bedesky took over, he continued the commitment to real hobby journalism, expanding the monthly roster of features but never losing the sense of relevancy. Sadly, upon his departure, the editor's reins were given to an earnest but unqualified neophyte whose idea of "relevancy" was publishing photos of his kid, meaningless reviews of sports video games and, shamelessly pandering to advertisers, endless drivel about Beanie Babies and other mass-produced garbage. During the last few years that it was published by Trajan, the once-proud CSC morphed into little more than an amateurish repository of rewritten press releases.
By the time Jeff returned as publisher, it was too late. The product had long ago lost any semblance of hobby credibility, and I know of several distributors who had trouble selling even a single copy of some issues. The gallant effort to revive the magazine as a true sports publication was doomed from the start, given its history, so it really comes as no surprise that the advertisers left en masse. Until someone comes along with the unlikely combination of deep pockets, editorial expertise and hobby integrity, it will be a very long time before Canadians have another national sports collecting journal.
Re: Say It Ain't So Joe... CSC Declares Bankruptcy !!
February 18 2009, 6:24 PM
Hey, did this company ever put out a Canadian Card Price Guide or has anyone else over the years. I would really like to get a hold of something like that.