If you’re so star-struck you would pay good money to wear a piece of celebrity clothing (or if you’re just a sucker for a good cause), look no farther than Clothes Off Our Backs. Husband-and-wife actors Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle, Raising the Bar) and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), founded the nonprofit in 2002, and it hosts charity auctions of celebrity attire, raising nearly $3 million for children’s charities.

Current auctions for clothing, accessories, and memorabilia from the 60^th Primetime Emmy Awards runs through Oct. 21 and will benefit Feeding America, The Art of Elysium, H.E.L.P. Malawi and Hope North. Among the items on the block:

1. E!’s Kristin Dos Santos’ Hugo Boss Black Collection Gown (size 6; above left, $1,000 opening bid)

2. Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough’s BCBG Max Azria Gown (size 0; above center, $1,000 opening bid)

3. How I Met Your Mother’s Neil Patrick Harris’ Paul Smith tie (left, $75 opening bid)

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Perhaps you are a baseball fan - or possibly you live with someone who is, obsessed with stats and RBIs and the like.

Right now, you (or they) are oh, so happy because the playoffs are here. Want to talk ball? Here, start with this: It’s going to be one of the best Fall Classics ever.

If you’re a Chicago Cubs fan, you’re so happy you could cry. The Cubs have not been in the World Series for 100 years — that’s right, a whole  century. But now, they have the best record in the majors and this could be the year! (Disclaimer: My whole family are Cubs fans, and we were singing, “Go Cubs Go!” the day they clinched the division.)

Aside from the Cubs, the upstart Tampa Bay Devil Rays are putting on a show, and the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies are in the thick of it. Oh, there’s also a possible Los Angeles series between the Dodgers and the Angels. All that, and there’s still the Tuesday tiebreaker between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins to see which team gets the last slot.

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If you’ve kept up with the three-team, four-quarterback domino effect caused by Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre’s retirement and unretirement and return to the Packers and unreturn to the Packers and finally his move to the Jets, you are a supreme football fan.

And, as we are supreme shoppers, we shall help you catch up with all the new ripples in your NFL wardrobe. You surely need a brand spankin’ new No. 4 in Jets green instead of Packers green (Brett, that orange helmet is so yesterday) at NFLShop.com ($215 for an authentic, but think of the collector’s value if he wins the Super Bowl and then retires again!). We adore the Broadway Brett T ($21) and this organic cotton 12 is the new 4  T ($27) at cafepress.com; both hark back to the glory days of Joe Namath.

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The football games are coming, and it’s time to start thinking about beer. Not just the beer you’re going to drink, but what you’re going to serve it in. Toss the plastic cups. It’s time to upgrade. You could go with some basic but classy glasses, like the assortment at PubGlasses.com, where you can pick from a variety that can be personalized for $15 a glass (or get the special football game glass for $10 each). CocktailVibe has the Oslo beer glass ($32 for a set of 4); Pottery Barn has a solid-looking set of six British pint glasses for $28; and at Williams-Sonoma you can find a set of four glasses and have them monogrammed with your initials for $59. If you want to have a bit more fun, consider a pilsner glass with a color-changing LED base or a set with a witty saying (”Half Empty? Half Full?”) in Italian from Sur la Table for $39.50 (pictured, set of four). Uncommon Goods always has amusing and interesting items, like their artful set of glasses that make the beer look suspended in mid-air, or the set of four glasses with your “house rules” for football game parties. Or go all-out for your team with a crystal freezer mug complete with team logo (3 for $12.99). Want to really get fancy? A pair of Lalique Louvre beer glasses will cost you $142, or a handsome set of four Waterford crystal beer glasses will run $250. But aren’t your friends worth it? Now that we’ve got you thinking about beer glasses, why don’t you just go all the way and buy real German beer steins? At BeerSodaSports.com, there are all kinds of steins such as a Bavarian beer ceramic stein with a metal lid, for $38. Or go straight to BeerGlasshopper, where the selection is as wide as your new HDTV: from a real ox-horn with a pewter lid and base ($285), a 3/4-yard glass (with stand) that holds 68 oz. for $80, a 40-oz. Hofbrauhaus Octoberfest dimpled glass mug (pictured), a Swiss hand-carved colorful stein complete with fancy lid for $130 or - and yes, they really do drink from these glasses - an 80-oz. Hofbrauhaus glass drinking boot for $70. And, when your friends have had a boot or two, and shatter your precious purchase on the floor, just remember: That’s what friends are for.

When is a book a head scarf? When is a dish towel a souvenir? Not often, granted — but these cute textiles fit all the descriptions above and more. They’re humble but lovely cloths made in Japan, where you might find them worn in street festivals or hanging on the wall. In case their multi-functionality confuses Western shoppers, importers have folded them up and stitched them so the make a kind of book of fabric, each “page” highlighting a different part of the larger illustration. (To use them as originally intended, just snip the two threads that keep the sheet folded up.) While the fabric’s maker, Hamamonyo, offers a huge selection of patterns in Japan (see them at this foreign-language site), the American company Compact Impact is testing the market with only three styles, which it sells in this bundle for $15.50. More varieties featuring illustrations of pets are on their way in October, the retailer says.

We’ll be thinking a lot about politics in the next few weeks: Obama and Biden, McCain and . . . whoever his running mate will be. But plenty of Americans’ are going to get worked up over something much more intense and competitive: political buttons. Collecting them is a passion of thousands that has given birth to publications, books, auctions and The American Political Items Collector, the largest group of button groupies. There’s no way to begin to dissect the complexities (and lucrative nature) of this hobby, so we’ll give you some fun facts and sites to check out. The buttons (known as cellos) were first issued for the 1886 presedential campaign. Among the most popular are Harry Truman and John Kennedy buttons, according to collector Jeff Figler.  Mark Warda, the author of 100 Years of Political Campaign Collectibles, told MSNBC  that hard-to-find buttons can be very valuable. Ron Wade, another major collector, says that a 1920 James Cox/Franklin D. Roosevelt button recently sold for more than $100,000. (more…)

For every Olympic games, there are Olympic pins. For collectors, the buying, trading and selling of them is  as competitive a sport as any beach volleyball game, and it’s been going on since 1896. The pin trade, an obsession for some, is labeled the “unofficial Olympic sport.” In Beijing, pin sellers have set up shop at the Olympic Expo in the Beijing Exposition Center and in the Coca-Cola sponsored pin-sales center. There are new pins and old ones from previous games, common pins that are handed out by sponsors to anyone and more valuable pins, such as those given to athletes and officials. Most pins are inexpensive - $4 to $10. Now you can join the frenzy by getting some Beijing pins. A page on the Beijing site gives the history of the pin frenzy and describes the “pindemonium” going on there now. The official U.S. Olympic Shop has an assortment of pins for sale, such as a ceramic Beijing logo pin or a YingYing mascot pin, each for $7. NBC’s Olympic online shop has pins, like a gymnastics mascot pin for $8 (pictured) and a rickshaw pin for $6. The Olympin Collector’s Club site has lots of advice and pin facts: there’s even a club member blogging from Beijing. After the official sites, you’ll have to turn to pin-selling retailers, such as Greekshops.com, Collectpins.com (where a USA/China flag Beijing pin is running $8.95), Discountpinstore (they’ve got a set of opening and closing ceremony pins for a pricey $24.89) and Athenspincollection, where you can find individual sports pins, such as a soccer pin for $8.95. When the games end, start looking on Craig’s List and eBay for the special pin you covet.

You can’t buy love. But you sure can surround yourself with beauty that is good for the heart and soul. That notion would seem to be the organizing principle behind the eclectic offerings at Rian Rae Interiors & Gifts, which specializes in unique but comfy home décor pieces that make use of elements found in nature and are, quite simply, beautiful to behold. They’re also so sensually and texturally alluring that you might just long to reach out and touch them, like these geometrically shaped hand-crocheted pendant lamps ($224; pictured) or this French crinkle pendant made of white glass ($379). The Bamboo Cloud chandelier was designed by a Thai artist using traditional bamboo-weaving techniques in a nontraditional way ($690). The roof of this handcrafted lantern ($1,898) is covered with oyster shells. Cuddle up on the couch with this crocheted wool throw ($148), and put a cup of hot tea on this coffee table made from an antique Fench pigeon basket ($1,385). (more…)