No good idea goes undiscovered.

• Position: Head and Ball Bobble Heads With Paint Kit - WHAT'S NEW?

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before the bobble head doll market went upscale with bobbles depicting particular superstar players, my dad and I already had started the process. In hockey, for instance, he took his Chicago Blackhawks bobble and used white adhesive tape to fashion a number nine of the back of the famous red jersey for his favorite player, Bobby Hull. (Actually, now that I think back, the Golden Jet was his co-favorite Hawk, as number 21, Stan Mikita, also brought howls of delight when we would watch games together.) As for me, well, like father like son: I took my New York Rangers bobble and promptly pasted a number 15 on his back for Jim "The Big Chief" Neilson, who patrolled the Broadway Blueshirts' back line for more than a decade before finishing his career with the California Golden Seals (who can forget those horrendous-looking green and yellow uniforms?).

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In baseball, Dad took Mom's St. Louis Cardinals bobble, and using blue and red magic markers, etched on number 14 for Ken Boyer, whom he had seen beat the New York Yankees with a grand slam in the 1964 World Series. As our baseball bobble collection grew, we set up a card table in my room, covered it with oak tag, and drew a baseball field--where we held "All-Star" games with "players" switching positions; so, one day my San Francisco Giants bobble would be shortstop Chris Speier on the 1970s team and, on another day, when the 1960s All-Stars were playing, he'd be third baseman Jim Davenporf.

Yet, it was on the gridiron where the real innovation first took place. My father's New York Giants bobble received number 14 for quarterback Y.A. Tittle and my Cleveland Browns bobble got number 15 for QB Mike Phipps. Trouble was, the Browns almost always wore white whether home or away, and my bobble had a brown jersey. (As long as we're referencing football garb, Cleveland was, and still is, the sole NFL team without a logo on its helmet.) Moreover, since color TVs back then were expensive and scarce, I'd put the bobbles (of whatever teams were playing)...