When I was a kid Hopalong Cassidy was my hero. I had the complete Hopalong outfit - shirt, pants, cowboy boots, the double holsters with matching six shooters, bandanna, and the trademark hat. If memory serves me correctly, I even had several pair of Hopalong underwear. The only thing I was lacking was a white horse. Even though we lived on five acres on the very edge of town, no amount of begging could get my parents to agree to my own version of Topper.

I insisted my parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and siblings all call me Hoppy. I spent three or four months making sure mom and dad knew I had to have an official Hopalong Cassidy bicycle for my sixth birthday. There likely wasn’t a more excited kid on the planet when one mysteriously appeared on our garage the morning of my birthday.

I ate, slept, and breathed Hopalong Cassidy. My goal in life was to become Hopalong Cassidy.

A lot of what I’ve been reading over the last one to two months makes me ask the question - “Has eBay developed a Hopalong Cassidy complex about Amazon?”

It seems to me that when eBay executives look in the mirror they don’t like what they see. They ask the old question, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”, and the mirror answers back, “Amazon”. More, and more, with the implementation of various test programs, along with announcements of planned upcoming changes, it is beginning to look as though eBay has developed a serious Hopalong Cassidy complex toward Amazon. eBay wants to become Amazon.

Within a year or two my six shooters lost their faux pearl handled grips from being left out in the rain one too many times, the boots no longer fit, and the images on my underwear were likely replaced by some other super hero. Hopalong Cassidy lost his luster and I moved on to other interests. I learned that Gary Hendrickson was much more interesting than Hopalong Cassidy. I grew up.

I question whether eBay will be able to do the same. If they don’t, two years from now eBay will likely be unrecognizable compared to what it is today.

I’d really hate to see that happen.

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