Hut, hut, hike!

It’s that time of year. Football, football, football! College football on Saturdays and the NFL on Sunday.

Parties, cookouts (while it’s warm enough), tailgating and whatever else you might do with football season.

But does it take a toll on your game?

We’ll get back to that shortly. First, let’s check out last week’s poll.

Basically, I was trying to find out how much some people have spent on discs, whether it be collecting or whatever. However, we had some crazy choices and I think I probably merged the possibility of three polls into one.

So the odds are we’ll probably revisit these polls down the line and split them up.

Of the 425 people who cast a vote (or two) in this poll, 51 percent (216 votes) overwhelmingly said they only buy discs they play with. That says something to me right there — plastic was made for throwin’.

In regard to how much people have already paid for a disc, 23 percent (96 votes) said they had paid more than $25 for a disc. That was followed by more than $50 for a disc (10 percent/43 votes); more than $100 (4 percent/18 votes) and more than $250 for a disc (2 percent/8 votes).

On the other side, 28 voters noted they’d pay more than $25 for a disc. Following that was willing to pay more than $50 and $100, which were tied with seven votes each.

However, as I noted, this is a bit flawed, considering there were too many ways to vote and different thoughts with it.

Still, before we revisit these polls in time, let’s see what a few people said this week.

Andy P. says:

I have paid $35 for a disc signed by Avery and Valerie Jenkins to add above my mantle (my wife is wonderful for putting up with me) but I have a hard time justifying paying much more at this point. I might expand my spending limit when I start pulling money out of tournaments to pay for that hobby. Until then I will keep it under $50.

Autographs can often cost more, for sure. One thing I’ve found though, is if one is close to a tournament where these players are, they are quite approachable and easy to get autographs from.

Thomas Branham said:

I can not get myself to spend a ton of money on myself so I only buy what I want to throw and if it does not work out trade for something else.

I can definitely see the point here! I should look into trading/selling discs I don’t use!

Luke notes:

I can’t afford to collect, so I just buy throwers. I try to avoid throwing OOP discs too in order to keep costs down. I just have one Pro Rhyno (which I’ve had since they were still in production), and an ESP Comet I bought recently for $15.

In this economy, I have a feeling a lot of people feel the same way.

Brandon Ray Watson gives us the other side:

When I started golfing in 2006 I thought people paying extra for a tiedye disc were crazy. I now own over 100+ Aviars including the coveted Hands On, Factored Chains that Ed had played around with the bead, 1985 Patent Pending and many other vintage Aviars. I went from collecting a variety of discs to just the rarest Aviars I could get. That being said I have stayed under the $100 mark, but have a few in the collection that were pretty close in acquisition and worth more if I’d sell them now. If collecting wasn’t enough, my son, now 20 months old, is named Aviar, so I’ve got the one-of-a-kind not for sale or trade Aviar worth more then any $ value.

As a baseball card collector, I can see some of these things. You have a certain something you collect, and that’s excellent. You have a focus and it seems to be a good one. And you have the ultimate collectible Aviar in your son!

Bryan says:

I have over a hundred discs and have thrown every one, i don’t see a point in collecting discs. I do however have a few ace discs and tournament discs on the wall but that is sentimental value.

Sentimental value is a good point. The only discs I have are ones that I got at tournaments or were given to me for the reason of me having them (such as one filled with a bunch of autographs). These discs are ones I’ll one day hang on a wall, so the sentimental value is big. And, outside of a tournament fee, I didn’t pay for ’em!

Rob Schales said:

As an avid collector of cool sports history, items associated with HOFers, very early special or limited releases, game changers, etc. have appreciated through the years. While we balk at prices collectors may pay, you have to admit it would have been cool to go back in history and snag a rookie card, jersey, football used in SB 1, hockey stick, etc. What we are seeing in disc golf is exactly the same…a sport in its infancy that will one day be played at a worldwide corporately sponsored professional level. What will prices be when the sharks start buying up the collectibles? Be smart; snag some of those early Innova releases and you’ll be rewarded later.

This is a good point, but with all sports collectibles, you never know what it’s going to do over time. Does the sport take off and discs get pricier? Who can say. Think of the people who invested in certain rookie baseball cards that are not worth nothing.Could a first-run disc one day be worth a bunch? Possibly. And you’re right — having this could be a good investment. Or, one day it could be an expensive piece of plastic that someone might decide to throw. That is the fun part of collecting though — the unknown.

Thanks to everyone for comments and voting. I can assure you we’ll revisit these topics sometime down the line.

Back to this week…

So football is back.

College and pro. Fantasy teams and drafts. Sundays and Saturdays filled with the pigskin, whether college, high school or pro.

So much football!

We’re wondering — does the season make you change your weekend disc golf routine?

Maybe you don’t play on weekends much anymore and you’re usually a regular. Perhaps you’re normally an afternoon player, but get out early to get a round in before games start? Or, maybe you’re not a football person and play more on the weekends in the hopes that courses are a little more open?

Or maybe your routine doesn’t change at all.

It’s a simple yes or no question for the poll, but please expand in the comments section as we’d love to hear what you have to say!

[poll id=”29″]

If you have any comments, questions, thoughts, ideas or anything else, feel free to e-mail me and the crew at: pj [at] rattlingchains.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!