http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2010...memorabilia-stolen-from-public-storage-space/ Seriously, who does this shit?
first question is.. um, why the hell are you leaving that stuff in a storage facility? whoever finds out thats your box is going to get the word out and its only a matter of time before its broken into.
Start with the owner of the facility. He obviously tipped off some type of organized crime ring about the storage locker. Also, could be a mole from within the crime ring who found employment there just to see the master list of names and lockers. Heck, considering the value of this hardware, it wouldn't be out of the question to attach tracking devices to some of it, a lojack-ish type of thing to secure the pieces in case of theft.
Also, would this stuff even have any value? I mean who is going to buy it knowing they are buying stolen merchandise and they can never tell anyone they own it or have it. It seems like there would no no re-sale value. Only valuable to a collector who wants to hide the shit in his basement. I guess you could smelt the gold and silver.
I can imagine the conversation: Ring Ring... "Hey ahhhh cud I talk to pete.. Yeah uhhh, dis is joey down at da storage centa, ahhh we had a little problem.."
That was my initial impression until I figured that it could just as easily been taken on by say a wealthy foreigner with ties into the import-export trade. I'm sure there are some Chinese fans of his who would love the collection. It's not at all unlike the fine art heists where some deep pocketed individual will pay top dollar for a piece for his private collection. Probably pretty easy to bribe the owner or get some mole hired at the faciility to get the inside details. (Although it is good to see Sampras had enough sense to not have any of the Grand Slam hardware in there. The perps were probably betting they had the entire collection, the value of that on the black market would be astronomical).
Do we take it all the way back to square one and rehash the entire history of ping pong? Its been done and I'll bet we both know what the others going to say. I've gotten to where theres no point in it anymore.