Following their embarrassing 44 - 6 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys disappointing 2008 season came to a screeching end. In addition to kissing their Super Bowl  hopes goodbye, the end of the 2008 seasons marked the end of an era for Cowboys fans and players who bid a fond farewell to Texas Stadium. While Cowboys fans wouldn't mind forgetting their team's underachieving 2008 season, many are eager to preserve their many fond (and not so fond) memories of Texas Stadium, the team's home since 1971.  Thanks to a recently announced agreement between Steiner Sports and the Cowboys, fans and collectors alike will have a great opportunity to do just that.

Cowboys-Steiner Collectibles, a division of Steiner Sports, has produced a new line of memorabilia products that pay tribute to the now defunct Texas Stadium.  Some the Texas Stadium themed memorabilia items being sold by Steiner include stadium seats, game used jerseys, game used helmets, locker room chairs, autographed seat bottoms, stadium photographs, and commemorative collages. One of these products, a Texas Stadium Collage commemorates the last Cowboys game ever played in Texas Stadium on December 20th.  The farewell game resulted in a 33-24 Cowboys loss against the visiting Baltimore Ravens.

Two unique versions of the framed ticket collage will be produced to pay tribute to the game. One collage will feature a Final Game commemorative ticket, a 4"x6" photo from the final game, and a descriptive nameplate. The commemorative ticket displays the date Texas Stadium opened, 10-24-71, in the section, row, and seat part of the ticket.

The second version of the collage will feature this commemorative Cowboys ticket, two 5"x7" photos from the final game, the descriptive nameplate, and turf from the field at Texas Stadium. Each item comes with a Cowboys-Steiner letter of authenticity.

Additionally, fans who attended the final game have the option of sending their ticket stubs to Steiner, who will frame them in either of the aforementioned styles. be framed up in either style.  These framed pieces will be ready to ship out to customers by late January 2009.

Alternatively, fans will have an opportunity to purchase Texas Stadium Memorabilia at a live auction of remaining memorabilia on February 20 at Texas Stadium. After that, TxDOT will pay the city of Irving $15 million to use the site for seven years while it works to build a high-five type reconstruction on the triple freeway interchange.

As for the fate of the stadium itself, the city plans to either blow it up or tear it down in 2010. But, there are still other options. Movie producers are still thinking about paying the city to film the destruction. There is also a chance one developer will actually save the building and put a ski resort inside.

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Each day, legions of diehard collectors embark upon the task of building their collections with whatever free time, and money they have available.  There are certain types of collectibles - Baseball Cards, Memorabilia, Coins, and Art to name a few - that have become so deeply ingrained in the fabric of our society that it's hard to imagine that they will ever fade away.  In addition to these firmly established hobbies are hundreds, if not thousands, of different collectible endeavors that fly under the radar of public awareness.  Items in these collections can range from interesting, to compelling, to offensive, to just flat out strange.  This less heralded side of the collectibles market has increasing become not only a strange endeavor, but a profitable one.  Forbes.com recently chronicled a number of these unusual collectible money makers, the highlights of which we have listed below:

• Walter Husak sold his collection of 301 rare American pennies for $10.7 million earlier this year. The highest bids were on two large antique "coppers" from 1793 and 1814, fetching $632,500 each. Husak decided it was time to cash out when the only pennies he had not acquired carried price tags of more than $700,000.

• Wayne Martin, a 64-year-old antique-store owner acquired 30 restored tractors over a time period of 40 years.  The only problem?  They are strewn across his property. Seems the old adage one man's treasure is another person's trash holds true: City officials in Clovis, N.M., have deemed the collection unsightly, and Martin could face fines.  Martin can't stomach the idea of pricing his beloved tractors, which were abandoned or acquired for next to nothing, so he will let bidders determine their value. He has decided to keep six as the last remnants of the hobby he shared with his father.

• Take Florida real estate magnate Anthony Pugliese, who, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, decided to liquidate his collection of pop culture memorabilia to start "City of Destiny," a 61-square-mile community in Florida that uses alternative energy and other green technologies.  Pugliese put his collection on the block in March. The Palms Casino, site of the auction, billed the 850 lot auction as the "greatest pop culture collection ever assembled." It took Pugliese 25 years to amass and includes the gun Jack Ruby used to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald, Mel Gibson's sword from Braveheart and the Wicked Witch's hat from The Wizard of Oz. (Click here to read about collectors searching for the Witch's broomstick and here for a story on Dorothy's ruby slippers.  The sword and the hat sold for $25,000 and $170,000, respectively. Pugliese received bids upward of $1 million for the pistol but ultimately decided to keep the historic weapon.

• Kumla, a small town in central Sweden, is the world capital when it comes to airsickness bags. It took 15 years for Rune Tapper, a radio engineer, to acquire more than 1,200 vomit bags from 474 airlines in 133 countries, which he showcases on his Web site, sicksack.com.  A recent eBay search reveals a market for the bags. Though, Tapper, 58, collects only for fun. "My collection is only worth the paper the bags are made of," he says.

• The Golden Calf a work by British artist Damien Hirst that sold for more than $15 million this fall at Sotheby's in London. The piece can best be described as a calf with golden horns and hooves suspended in formaldehyde.

• Gerald Burg's collection of Victorian-era "Calling Cards", which were name cards left when visiting an acquaintance.  Burg’s extensive assortment of cards includes those owned by Napoleon, Jefferson, Sitting Bull and Hitler. Burg estimates spending $150,000 over 60 years on the collection. Burg isn't in financial dire straights but wants to ensure the collection is available to the public.  The 10,000 card collection became Burg's retirement fund, proving a healthy obsession can be a sound investment.

Americans are snapping up mementos to commemorate the election of Barack Obama, but experts are skeptical they will ever become valuable collectibles.  The interest in Obama memorabilia has not waned since he was elected back on November 4th.

"This is definitely the most aggressive rush for memorabilia items that we've seen in a long time," said Steve Ferber, part-owner of Arizona-based Lori Ferber Collectibles, who saw newspapers sell for as much as $75 .

GreatSeats.com is seeing high demand for tickets to events surrounding Obama's January 20 inauguration, said owner Danny Matta, adding that he suspects many customers want to hold on to the tickets as keepsakes.

"It's not like anything else I've seen before," said Matta. "It may actually be topping Hannah Montana, which is big."

Agnes Sammons, a New Jersey retiree, has started collecting Obama mementos to pass on to her two grandchildren, aged 5 and 2. At the moment she has her eye on a "Barack Obama Presidential Commemorative Coin" for $9.99.

Sammons' son, Jeffrey Sammons, a history professor at New York University, said he was appalled by his mother's interest in an Obama commemorative coin.  He recalled telling her, "That thing is probably worth a dollar and will have no monetary value whatsoever."

Those who bought newspapers for $75 right after the election will be lucky to break even on their "investment", even after 50 years.

An example of a more valuable item, he said, is a copy of the famous Chicago Tribune newspaper printed before President Harry Truman had clinched his victory in 1948. It said "Dewey Defeats Truman."

The rare paper sells for $1,300 on Ferber's website. A reproduction of the front page costs $21.95 at the online bookseller Abe Books.

Mementos such as campaign buttons going as far back as Truman's presidency for sale online are mostly under $5, with the most optimistic offers at around $20.  The web abounds with such offers, ranging from throw pillows and coasters to more personal items such as "I have a crush on Obama" thong underwear for women.  Online retailers are also carrying an abundance of items autographed by Obama, from baseballs and napkins to books and magazines.

At Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses, signed correspondence of past presidents, especially important presidents, can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  For instance, a letter from Abraham Lincoln that was never sent is expected to fetch $250,000 to $350,000 at Sotheby's.  Collecting presidential keepsakes is as old as the presidency. In George Washington's day, people bought small metal buttons to sew onto their clothes, said Harry Rubenstein, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution's political history division.

Rubenstein and his colleague, Larry Bird, said they will look for unique items from Obama's election, particularly handmade things that strike them as unusual or representative of the spirit of the times.

"Anything that's made to be collectible is not," Bird said.

Some of Joseph Maddalena most treasured childhood memories are of him and his family huddled around the television set watching the 1939 cinematic classic, The Wizard of Oz.  So much about the movie captivated him - from Dorothy and her ruby slippers, to the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man -  but one thing stood out to him above all else; the Wicked Witch's broomstick.

Forbes recently interviewed Maddalena, an avid collector of Trading Cards and Memorabilia since childhood, about his quest for the broomstick, which has been long at hard.  Maddalena told Forbes, "To me the broomstick was the central plot device and the coolest thing in the movie."

Maddalena, now 47 years old, owns Profiles in History, a Los Angeles dealer in historical documents and movie memorabilia. He has bought and sold some impressive historical documents, including two letters from Abraham Lincoln that went for $660,000 each. But in the last decade the company's business has moved more in the direction of Hollywood keepsakes. He sold Luke Skywalker's light saber from Star Wars for $200,000.

He started young. At 12 Maddalena rented out an American Legion Post with $25 he'd made from his paper route and put on a baseball card memorabilia show. By 14, he had amassed a collection of more than 1 million baseball cards and autographs. While still a teenager he began corresponding with members of the Oz cast, hoping to home in on props.

After he moved to California in the late 1970s to attend Pepperdine University, he befriended Jack Haley (the Tin Man) and Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow). Haley's costume, he learned, had been lost or destroyed, Bolger's donated to the Smithsonian.  Though he came across many other pieces of valuable memorabilia from the movie, his efforts to find the broomstick were fruitless.

"Most of the time, over the years, your leads get better and better," he says. But not in this case. Even though close inspection of the MGM film suggests that three broomsticks were used in the shooting, Maddalena could not find proof that any had survived. "But I just knew it had to be out there, somewhere."

Enter Michael Shaw, a 72-year-old acting coach in Los Angeles who had been a child actor at MGM. In the world of Oz memorabilia, Shaw is best known for having owned one of the four existing pairs of Dorothy's ruby slippers. Rhys Thomas, author of The Ruby Slippers of Oz, an exposé of the Hollywood memorabilia industry, says Shaw's pair was of higher quality than the pair that now resides in the Smithsonian.

In 2005 Shaw lent his slippers to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn. They were stolen a week later. No one has ever been charged, and the slippers remain at large. Shaw claims he received $1 million in insurance money.

"I'm so furious that the slippers are gone," he says. "It's very frustrating that they haven't caught that obsessed, fanatic, selfish bastard who stole them." He was left with some other Oz memorabilia that he had bought in the 1970s, displaying the collection in his home, 10 miles away from Maddalena's.

Maddalena had known of Shaw for 30 years and had helped appraise Shaw's slippers when they were stolen. It never occurred to him to ask about the broomstick. Then, in August, Profiles in History received a phone call. It was from Shaw. He was interested in selling some of his non-Oz movie stuff. Maddalena sent his procurement expert, Brian Chanes, to Shaw's house. Chanes saw something out of the corner of his eye. Leaning on a wall was a broomstick nearly 6 feet long.

"I said, 'Oh my God, is that what I think it is?'" says Chanes, mindful of his boss' obsession. "The first thing Michael said was, 'Yes.' The second thing he said was, 'It's not for sale.'" Shaw, he learned, had painstakingly refinished the broomstick and replaced missing bristles. "I told Michael that this is something I've been looking for forever. I made it clear that if he ever wanted to sell it, I'd be there," says Maddalena.

Says Shaw: "He's more than welcome to see it anytime he wants. But I will not be selling it." What's it worth? Easily $200,000, thinks Maddalena--if it's legit. Shaw now says that after some reflection, he's not absolutely sure it is. Other Oz experts also have doubts. "I'm skeptical," says Rhys Thomas. "There's no proof that it exists."

Thomas believes it's likely that MGM reused the broomstick in a later movie. Glenn Brown, an MBM archivist, says: "I tend to think it might not be the actual broom."

Both Brown and Thomas say the only way to authenticate it would be to carefully match it to still images from the film. Neither has seen Shaw's broomstick.

Maddalena remains hopeful,"I feel confident that one day Michael will pick up the phone and say 'It's time; come and get it.'"

In the days leading up to this year's NFL draft, the Miami Dolphins announced that they had agreed to terms with offensive lineman Jake Long, thus sealing Long's fate as the 1st overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft.  The Dolphins were so confident that Jake Long was their guy, they signed him days before the Draft officially began.

After going 1-15 last season, the Dolphins have turned things around and started the season 5-4. The improved Miami offense has been anchored by the line, with Long starting every game so far this season.

Long started 40 games during his college days and served as a two-time captain (one of only 11 players in Michigan history to have been given that honor). He was named Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2006 and again in 2007. He finished second last year in balloting for both the Lombardi and Outland trophies.

Donruss recently interviewed the former Michigan alum (see below). Topics of the interview include football and collecting trading cards.

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Twenty years ago, Roy Hobbs jumped from the big screen to our living room TV screens. Instead of watching the stadium lights explode and cascade around the NY Knights, baseball fans witnessed an injured star get mobbed at home plate after hobbling his way around the bases. The winning team's jersey said "Dodgers" instead of "Knights," manager Pop Fisher was replaced by Tommy Lasorda and Roy Hobbs was brought to life by Kirk Gibson.

During the NLCS against the NY Mets, the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson aggravated his previous leg injuries which kept him out of the starting line-up. Instead of facing Oakland A's ace Dave Stewart during the first game of the World Series, Gibson was taking his cuts off of a hitting tee with the help of LA's starting pitcher, Orel Hershiser.

In the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 1, with 2 outs, Tommy Lasorda made the 2nd biggest surprise of the night; the biggest surprise had yet to come. Lasorda called for Kirk Gibson to rise from the bowels of Chavez Ravine and become "The Natural."

Kirk Gibson would have to face the best closing pitcher in Major League Baseball, Dennis Eckersley. It seemed this storybook ending would have the same sad finish as the book version of the "The Natural," ending with a strike-out. But the big screen version began to show life when Gibson, without a good leg to stand on, fouled off pitch-after-pitch just trying to stay alive against the mighty "Eck."

Finally Gibson hit a back-door slider into the right field seats of Dodger Stadium. Many of us have a hard time believing how young we were when Gibson made history, but no one forgets where they were he rounded second base.

Gibson won Game 1 and his Dodger teammates carried him for 3 more World Series victories. The LA Dodgers beat the mighty Oakland Athletics to become the 1988 World Series Champions.

Remembering Game 1 of the 1988 World Series reminds us that perfect Hollywood endings don't always occur at the expense of a movie ticket. Sometimes they can happen when we least expect it, late at night, in the crisp October air that surrounds the World Series.

The year was 1989.  People were flocking to the movies to see Batman and Ghostbusters II.  Nintendo released the first version of the GameBoy, and I attended my very first sports memorabilia show.

When I was only three years old, I attended my very first sports memorabilia show at the local mall.  I don't remember a lot about it, except that Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Willie Stargell was signing autographs.  I can remember being pushed around in my stroller and looking at a lot of things, but I really didn't  have any idea what was going on.   When it was time to get in line to meet Willie Stargell, for some crazy reason I started to cry.  I kept crying the whole we were in line and even when Stargell was signing my baseball.

Even though I didn't really start getting involved in collecting sports cards and memorabilia until about nine years later, I kept the baseball he autographed for me.  It still looks the same as it did the day he signed it.  It will remain in my personal collection forever -where it can be found sitting safely atop one of my shelves, safely tucked away inside a protective ball cube.

Just in case you're wondering.  The only time I cry at a sports memorabilia show now, is when its time to leave or I'm out of money 

Andrew Chrisman runs Sports Card Info, http://sportscardinfo.wordpress.com/
A blog that provides hobby news, stories, thoughts, and fake card information.

Upper Deck recently an exclusive interview with NBA Superstar Lebron James.  The topics discussed in the interview include the 2008 USA Gold Medal Winning Basketball Team, signing autographs and what it takes to make it to the NBA.