Month: November 2017

Football Superstar Tiki Barber Says be Sickle Smart

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On the football field, Tiki Barber is a fearless competitor who knows what it takes to lead his team to victory. Off the field, he is using that same determination to help educate children and their families about sickle cell disease and iron overload. Iron overload, or too much iron, is a dangerous potential complication of regular blood transfusions, often used to treat sickle cell disease.

Barber, All-Pro running back and a long-time children’s advocate, is spearheading a national awareness campaign called Be Sickle Smart: Ask Tiki About Iron, to empower those living with sickle cell disease to take an active role in their health so they continue on a path for a bright future.

“I’m determined to get the message out that it’s really important for people who get blood transfusions for sickle cell disease – as well as their families – to know about excess iron and to talk to their doctor about their risk of iron overload,” said Barber.

In sickle cell disease, red blood cells become deformed and can block blood vessels. This causes pain, can damage tissues and organs and can lead to stroke if the blockage occurs in the brain. The lack of healthy red blood cells leads to anemia, which can cause many problems, including fatigue. While there is no cure for sickle cell disease, early diagnosis can help people live longer, healthier and more productive lives.

Blood transfusions give back healthy red blood cells, but they also contain iron. As few as 10 transfusions may lead to too much iron in organs such as the liver and heart. Since there are not always telltale signs of iron overload, people may not realize they are at risk.

The good news is that iron overload can be detected with a simple blood test and treated. An iron chelator (k-e-l-at-@r) is an agent that binds to iron in the body and helps remove it. Iron chelation is the only effective drug therapy to treat and prevent the complications of iron overload. Your health care professional can tell you if you or your child is at risk, check iron levels and share what’s available in iron chelation.

Signed Football Memorabilia- Autographed Footballs And Signed Shirts

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Collecting football autographs is not as easy as you would assume, what with most football teams training grounds being enclosed it makes it very difficult to get signed photos, signed memorabilia or an autograph football. Although it is difficult you will still get players stopping to sign the odd football autograph and autograph footballs for the fans.

Often what works well is trying to get the away teams for football signed memorabilia as they will sometimes train at the home teams ground the night before and in the past I have managed to obtain several items of autographed memorabilia by this method including a Chelsea shirt signed along with a few special pieces of soccer memorabilia.
You could also try and find out where the away team is staying as they generally use the same hotel on a regular basis this is the method I prefer and in the past I have obtained football signed memorabilia but you must make sure you have the correct football merchandise with you at all times.
The last way I collect autographed football items is to attend the ground the day of the match, this has often proven to be fruitful as I not only have collected soccer autographs but rock autographs and signed music memorabilia. I recently got a Rod Stewart autograph at a Celtic game that he was attending. It is very rare to get music memorabilia or music autographs at a football match that instance was one in a million.

My most treasured football autograph was collected in my home town many years ago, it was a George Best autographed photo, which is also my favourite framed autograph to date.
Signed sports memorabilia is my passion and I have many famous autographs in my collection other than George Best autographs I have several autographed albums with a Bobby Charlton autograph and autographed photos of virtually every Premiership team in my collection. It has taken years of collecting sports autographs and memorabilia to arrive at where I am now with over five thousand authentic autographs and items of autographed sports memorabilia. I have also traded in authentic sports memorabilia for over 7 years now and have had many sports autographs sold on my website and traded with other autograph dealers items of sport memorabilia, I can still remember my first autographed football it was back in 1971 when Aberdeen beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final. I managed to get several players to sign a plastic football at the start of the 1972 season after one of their training sessions.
Its hard to believe I have been collecting sport memorabilia for nearly forty years, no wonder 8 years ago I decided to be an autograph dealer who primarily deals in sport autographs, signed sports memorabilia and hand signed autographs.

In the last eight years I have joined several autograph organisations namely the UACC and AFTAL and have risen to the prestigious ranks of UACC Registered Dealer and AFTAL Approved Dealer in the last few years. Even though I deal in memorabilia I must confess that I am a collector at heart and hate putting autographs for sale when I could hold on to them but I only have so much storage room in my house !!!!!
If there is anybody out there who wants to buy autographs.
Check out my website memorabilia 4u.com

Keep on collecting that autographed football memorabilia!

Finding The Best Deals On English Premier League Football Merchandise

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The next time you want to make a purchase for any English Premier League merchandise, pause and think for a while. Think about where you can find the merchandise with the best quality and prices. What comes to mind? Unless you’ve been exiled to some god-forsaken island to live for the past ten years, you should have already thought about hunting for bargains on the Internet.

The Internet is a huge place, so not every website offers the right deals if you’re looking for bargains. The best places to look for bargains on the Internet are auction sites. That’s because all auction sites started by allowing sellers to sell their unwanted merchandise cheaply. The lure of auctions is that potential buyers have the chance of buying something way below the actual retail price, making auctions an interesting and exciting way to buy something at a very low price.

So the mentality of buyers is one that is looking for top notch bargains. For the same reasons, it is almost impossible to try and sell something at a really high price unless it’s something that’s very rare or exclusive, like an antique pen or a sandwich that looks like a saint.

Most merchants on auction sites are already very familiar with this mentality, so it is not uncommon for them to put up merchandise in good condition to be auctioned away, starting with low bids. And here is where the English Premier League fan can really take full advantage of the number of great deals available on these auction sites.

You see, sometimes, people sell stuff they don’t want for many different reasons. Some may auction off their football items collection simply because the collection is growing too big. Others do it for a profit. While some simply grow tired of the team they are supporting, and wants to have a switch. For whatever the reason, the important thing that really matters is that the sellers now do not want the merchandise anymore, and are more than happy to get rid of them, even if it meant selling them away at low prices.

But here’s a quick tip on how to capitalize on the deal if you’re made a bid. Never get into a bidding war with someone else. You do not know their intentions for bidding for that item. If they want the item more badly than you do, they are also more likely to try and outbid you. In this case, no one wins, except maybe the seller. Whoever wins the bid ends up paying a much higher price, and whoever loses the bid ends up with nothing. So it’s important to always have a cut off point. That means having a maximum bid in your mind. If it goes beyond your maximum bid, simply stop bidding. Remember, bids have no ceiling. It’s possible to keep bidding and bidding until the prices sky rocket and blow out of proportions. So be wise, and stay prudent.

Armed with these tips in mind, you should now be more confident of sourcing for English Premier League merchandise at auction sites. Good luck!