Some surprises in 2010 Topps Update

Who doesn't like surprises right.  I mean good surprises like a new puppy under the Christmas tree not bad surprises like "Hey you have Lupus". 

I was starting to put together my 2010 Topps Update set the other night, still haven't collated yet, just separtating cards into there number groups and I found some interesting stuff.  Now I figured there would be some more pie in the face variations and retire legends variations, but there were a few more surprises in Topps Update that you might not know about. 

First is the Topps Rookie Cup variations.  I was sorting cards and noticed I had a regular numbered card in the batch not numbered 661 but 450, Omir Santos.  And at first I was stumped as to why this card was in Update.  But after some quick searching on eBay and the net I realized that this was a All Topps Rookie Cup Variation.  That means that it has the Topps Cup on the front and oddly enough the same picture as the regular 450. 

The other card which stood out right away was the Atlanta Braves Mickey Mouse All Stars card I got from my second box.  Nothing too exciting with the card, no numbering or foil,  and a quick search around the old 'bay revealed a bunch of these cards.  I'm not sure if each team has one or not.  I saw a lot of 5 go for about 5 bucks and most are unsold.  Mainly because they were listed for an opening bid of $9.99 and no one knows these cards are around yet. 

I pickd up the Cubs one from a random single pack buy.  I have no idea how rare these might be.

But these is no updated checklist for this set yet.  At least not from Topps and these inserts are not on there on their originally released check list.  Lots of TBA's there.

And there are pie in the face variations as well.  Here is the Edwin Jackson I got.

TTM Pawn Stars Successful Failure

I sent 4 custom cards to the guys at Gold and Silver Pawn the stars of the History Channel's Pawn Stars.

Here's what the customs look like.

And the backs.

Unfortunatly they did sign the customs, they( or some secretary) sent me this nice letter to explain why.

I did however get this nice autocard with everybodys sig on it.

Here's the envelope they sent it in.

They didn't send my SASE back though.  Next time I'm in Vegas I'll have to bring my customs and see if I can get them signed.

TTM Eli Wallach Success and bonus

Who is Eli Wallach you ask?  Why only one of the best western actors of all time and one of the oldest working actors in the world!!  You may remember him as Tuco from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Calvera from the Magnifcent Seven.

I sent this  customs on 10/18/210 to Eli Wallach and recieved it back today 10/30/10.

I love that fact that Mr. Wallach writes all over the card.  Labeling one of his most famous characcters and the movie it's from and the nice customization.

Bonus one is he signed the back as well.

I also found this bonus in the envelope.

It's too bad it got smudged but nice none the less.  I thought for a second I had gotten a Kate Winslet auto too but then I realized it was just another label by Eli.  I'm not sure what it says above Kate's name. "Late"?  is Kate Winslet dead?

Here's the envelope.

He or his secretary even added 10 cents in stamps even though I know it didn't need it.

Address used

Eli Wallach

90 Riverside Dr.

New York, NY 10024

Stay tuned for more.

Free Stuff 4 U but not from me.

By now I'm sure that you have seen the mulitple post for Georgia Mindset's box o' chrome giveaway.  No?  Well go here to check it out.  Unfortunalty it's incredibly difficult to enter so you  better have some time. Just kidding.

Topps Rookie of the Week: Week 7

I can't figure Topps out.  Not at all anymore.  At the end of Sunday football I had no idea who they would pick for this weeks rookie of the week.  But after watching MNF I was convinced it would be Dez Bryant.  Now maybe Topps only picks rookies from Sunday's games, I don't know, does Topps even know? Maybe they already have their ROW's picked out and it doesn't matter.  Next week Golden Tate who didn't catch anything, but boy can the kid drink Gatoraid.

Any ways you be the judge.

From the Topps site "Bengals receiver Jordan Shipley broke out in Week 7 with a monster afternoon, hauling in six passes for 131 yards and his first career touchdown - an impressive 64-yard catch and run. The former Longhorns star now leads all rookies in yards-per-game and may soon emerge as one of the games top slot receivers."

Not bad.  I'm not saying that it wasn't a good outing and I'm not saying he's not having a good start to the season.   
Here's what Dez did Monday night.
4 receptions for 54 yards and 2 touchdowns, 93 yard punt return for TD, and no fumbles.

I guess what I need is some critirea that Topps uses for picking it's ROW.  Is it total yards recieving for recievers?  TD's, total yards gained?  Leading all rookies in yards per game?  Or is it an individual effort per game?

Obviously not the last ones, since Dez had 3 TD and if you count the punt return run back almost 150 yards gained.  Now I'm no Dallas fan or Dez Bryant for that matter, but facts is facts and who would you rather see on the ROW card?  Truely?

Last week I thought for sure Colt McCoy deserved it and this week I think Dez Bryant deserved it.

Maybe Topps is trying to purposely get away from their "bandwagoning" ways of picking the hottest stars to boast sales, Strasburg anyone.  And has anyone notice how many different Strasburg cards are in Topps Update?? A lot, but probably fewer than a million. 

Am I wrong here?  True I don't get to watch every game but stats are stats. And in my opinion Dez Bryant stood out in Week 7 espcially when you consider that his 2 TD's came from the back up QB Kitna, who, yes I realize has some experience, if you can call it that with the Lions.  And who knows maybe Kitna will step up and kick some ass. Matt Cassell anybody? Kitna didn't do to shabby from coming in on off the bench either.  Not great but pretty damn good.

I'm sure it's hard to get thrown in the game when your runner up to Tony Romo and probably only get to touch the football when helping the ball boy. 

cb out

Ah Topps so were dancing again are we?

This card should be in my hands right now.

Redemptions.  Ah the one word you have to hate as a collector.  I opened a few mini boxes of Finest Baseball this year.  I think I did fairly well pulling a Joe Mauer logo man from one box that pretty much paid for both mini boxes.  I also got 2 Red Hot Rookie Redemption cards.  The first one I pulled was #9 Domonic Brown pictured above, the other was #3 Starlin Castro who's rookie season was sadly cut short from bat shrapnel.  Of course when I redeemed it I had no idea who it was going to be and of course the dilemma is whether or not to sell it as an unknown because who knows this might be a Strausberg auto parallel.  But I didn't, I redeemed.  They still have a month till the Castro card is due. 

Yesterday I received this email from Topps.

Dear Consumer.

This email is to inform you that the Topps Company is currently beyond the 15 week processing time allocated for the following redemption card:

PIN #: Product: Card/Player Name
 Topps Finest MLB Rookie Base #9

Our staff is working diligently to process and ship your redemption card as soon as possible. Please continue to check your Online Redemption account for updates regarding the status of your card.

If you no longer wish to wait for the redemption card, please contact our Consumer Relations team in order to place a substitution request for a card of equal Beckett value.

Do not hesitate to contact our Consumer Relations department via phone at 1-800-489-9149 or via email at support@etopps.com for assistance. A consumer relations representative will be available to assist you Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30 pm (ET).

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

Consumer that's me.  This is nothing new, as a matter of fact I was expecting this email.  Since every year I've submitted my redemptions, 3 now, I've gotten this e-mail.  But I did receive a card from their fulfillment company the other day, before the email, I thought maybe my red hots had come but it was my 2009 T206 Phil Hughs auto redemption I had gotten from a box I opened not too long ago.  I couldn't pass up $42 bucks a box at blowout for 2009 T206 not while I'm trying to put a set together. 

Here's what the Hughes auto looks like.

Mmmmmmm, Dear Consumer.  Not Customer, not Fan, not lucky redeemer or recipient, no consumer.

It makes me think and this is probably a rant for another day, what would happen if sports cards just went away?  What would happen if I, you, everybody stopped "consuming" sports cards?  Nothing.  Did you know that not one of the sports card companies is a publicly traded company? Not one. Topps use to be but not anymore.  Nope the world would still be turning, I would still be able to afford gas, barely.  I don't think the world would be a better place.  I like sports cards, as a matter of fact I would even say I love them, at least the hobby.   I know that I would have a ton of disposable income I probably should invest.  I'm sure I'd find a way to get rid of it. 

Consumer.  I scoff, I harummf, I chide, and I snear.  Like baseball cards are like a bag of chips to be eaten while watching the playoffs.  I can't build with them, the bank won't take them as payment on my mortgage, they don't keep you warm at night, I can't drive to the store on baseball cards.  They do however take up a lot of space.

One last thing, I love the second to last paragraph telling me that I can ask for substitution of a card of equal Beckett value.  Ah yes the Beckett scale.  So how does Topps know the value of this card when it has yet to be produced and distributed?  Redemption sales?  Before or after the player was announced?  GRRRR Beckett. 

cb out.

New leaked photo shows cause of Topps quality control issues!!!!

Of Course!!! Monkeys!!!!

I thought my cards smelled funny.

grrrrrrrrr or GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

Ah the joys of working for state a agency.  They block all the good websites, but oddly enough not blogs.  Fools.  Well with our server down I have some time to write. 

Some thoughts that have popped into my head recently.  Perhaps you out there in the blogging community or at least in the blog reading community know the answers to my questions.  This is not a test and there are no prizes, other than the inflated ego you might acquire by showing off your brain muscle.

First.  Topps. Grrrrrrr.

How do they determine card numbering on sets??  This question is especially pointed at baseball.  It seems that card # 1 holds some special place as do all the 100's and sometimes the 50's.

Point in fact this years Topps Series 1 and 2.

Card 1.  Prince Fielder.  ( I like that I'm a Brewers fan)

Card 100 Albert Pujols. 

Card 150 Joe Mauer

Card 200 Roy Halladay

Card 250 Mark Teixeira

Card 300 Chase Utley

Card 331 Ryan Braun(1st card of Series 2 again an awesome Brewer)

Card 350  Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder (mmm more Brewer awesomeness)

Card 400 A Rod

Card 500 Brad Lidge

Card 600 Hanley Ramirez

You also find a sprinkling of other stars usually with even numbers on a zero.

Examples

Ryan Howard card #590

Robinson Cano #370

Matt Holiday #140

Of course your idea of a star might differ from mine.  Regardless, as mind numbing as trying to figure out Topps card ordering is there is a pattern with "stars" falling on certain card numbers, especially on the 100's.  We will disregard #7 as we all know Topps, almost always, puts Mantel on their #7 cards.

Question 2.   Topps GRRRRRRRRR.  Does Topps know about all these defects in their product line, and if they do why don't they do something about it?  OK so here is Topps official notice.  HEY TOPPS YOUR QUALITY CONTROL SUCKS AND IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE SHIT!!!!!!  AND IT'S PISSING US OFF SO PULL YOUR HEAD OUR OF YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT.  I MEAN REALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! phew.  Glad to get that off my chest.

I guess hiring a guy to fix all the problems is a step in that direction but all year long through all 3 series of baseball, 1, 2, and update there have been quality control issues, as well as flag ship football.  And Chrome, lets just not talk about chrome I think it's been lambasted enough the last few weeks. No?? OK what's up with missing cards and smudged autos?? I'm no fan of sticker autos, lets be clear on that, I think they're cheap and make cards look cheap.  And I'm sorry but if you're paying $250 for a pack of cards wouldn't you expect on card autos??  But on card autos that are smudged?? Really! 

Question 3.  Panini  grrrr GRRRRR,   Can Panini hire someone to do something about their terrible designs?  I think that their best product so far this year has been their cheapest.  Score.  I don't expect much from a buck a pack cards and you know what there not that bad.  As a matter of fact I've hit some nice cards from Score this year.  And looking at the previews of Crown Royal Football it might be a redeeming factor for Panini but everything else they seem to be putting out this year seems to be cookie cutter crap, from base design to inserts and hits.

Well looks like my server is back up and running. 

cb out.

2010 Topps Update Jumbo box break.

Finally.  I've been chomping at the bit to finish my Topps sets.  I really don't know why Topps doesn't just call this series 3 and continue with numbering up to 990, probably so they can throw the factory set out earlier. 
This year it's called Update Series and the cards all have the US prefix on the back.

I decided to go with a box of jumbo because simply for the little extra money you get much better stuff.  And I do plan on picking up one more jumbo box later this week but here's what I got outta this box.

I did have a few damaged cards but nobody worth my time bitching to Topps about and actually it was only 2 cards, so for Topps this year that's not that bad and none of the inserts or hits were damaged.

I also got a 661 Strasburg card to help finish one of  my base sets, and even though it's not one of the super-rare only available online version it still the 661 in the factory set so I count my set as complete.

I won't bore you with all the base cards and inserts there all the same as Series 1 and 2 with the absence of Topps 2020 cards and World Series History, everything is the same and no new insert sets added. 

You also get one rookie refractor top loader in each box. 
I got John Ely of the Dodgers.

Very shiny.

I was also happy that I got all 3 of my hits.  

Dustin Pedoria All Star Game Jersey.

A terrible Carl Crawford auto.

Great player terrible sticker auto, I mean look at that.

But I do really like my last hit even if it's not of a player I like.

Justin Morneau Black bat barrel card numbered to 25!

I was skeptical about these cards but having one in your hands these cards are pretty sweet.

They're also super thick.  They won't fit in a penny sleeve.  I had to cut down a team bag to fit it and they don't even fit in a sweet spot top loader.  I'm going to have to see if the LCS has a thicker toploader for it.

I also got 97 other inserts, including 10 gold parallels, 10 turkey red, 10 Topps attax code cards with 2 Strasburgs, ect ect. My only beef is I was getting doubles of the inserts.  I mean when you are only getting 10 of each I would think there would be a little better collation.  I haven't started putting the set together I'm going to wait till I open my next box and try and put 2 sets together since it seems that's what I'm doing this year with baseball. 

In theory I should have a whole set here with 400 base cards per box but that never works out. 

And congrats to the Giants taking out the Philly's tonight.  I'm looking forward to the World Series next week.

cb out.

TTM Betty White Success.

This is one of my first customs I sent out in August.  I've been seeing lots of successes at fanmail.biz so I was hoping mine was coming soon. 
I know she's been super busy with her new show and movie stuff so I'm really excited to get this one.
And what a great signature.  From all the sigs I looked at it looks legit and authentic.  There are some slight variations in the signatrure but that's good it means that it's not an autopen, but the h and the way she crosses her t's are almost always the same.

Sent 8/20/10
Recieved 10/22/10  might have gotten here soon I haven't checked my po box in a few days.

I kina cringed at the card now that I've been working on them for a while now.  This being one of my firsts but what a great auto.  Now if Abe Vigoda ever gets back to me.

Ecclectia

I love the absurd, irrelevant, and darn right odd.  I can't pass up a cabinet of curiosities and ugly dogs, or cute dogs for that matter.  I miss the days of all the odd ball sports items that were put out in the 70's, 80's and 90's. I mean like food issue cards, discs, pins, stand-ups, pogs, ect, ect. 

That being said I have a quite a few sports blogs I follow.  Check them out there right over there ----> and down.
If your blogs not on there, sorry.  Drop me a line, comment on a post I'll add you.  Down at the bottom is JayBee's Sportcard Blog roll.  It's my morning paper when I get into work I click on it and see what's up in the blogosphere.

But you might notice a few links to blogs you've never heard of.  My ecclectia is you will.  There are a few I've picked up from suggestions, random blog surfing, and just by accident.  I'd like to introduce my oddballs. 

First on the blog is Hyperbole and a Half.  I actually had a friend suggest this one to me. One half diary blog one half cartoon hilarity.  Allie mixes childhood disfunction with homemade cartoons, better have an extra pair of underwear if you start reading you might pee your pants.

Next up is Blackberries to Apples.  I'm not sure how I found Meghan's site.  It might have been through Hyperbole and a Half, or next blog surfing, I can't remember.  But she's hilarious and talented.  A southern transplant living in New York City, trying to make a living as a writer.  Very well done.  Not like this crap shack of a blog.

Numbero 3 is Cynical Bastard.  Maybe it's having Cynical in the title that drew me in.  I'm pretty sure that I found Jay's site blog surfing and I'm glad I did.  All things cynical and ridiculous are ranted about.  I love reading the comments from his followers too. 

In the four spot is Mr. Potter's Funtime Blog.  I'm not sure how to describe this one.  Just go check it out.


Coming in to number 5 with a bullet is a new one for me I just found a few days ago but really like it, The Sassy Curmudgeon.  Another insanely funny girly blog with lots of guest bloggers showing up to help out.  Kinda like the Tonight show in the 80's.  Watch out for talk about vagina's and STD testing, you know you want to secretly read it just like that copy of Cosmo hidden under your mattress.

And I can't remember how I found #6, might have been through a link on the Sassy Curmudgeon or Blackberries to Apples.  Red means Go.  More cartoons and women.  You have to read this post it's awesomely porn tastic. 

I'm always looking for new blogs to add to the list of Ecclectia, what are some of your non-sports blog likes??

Cynicalbuddha's Mid-Week Movie Review: RED

I haven't been to a movie in a while.  There just hasn't been anything I wanted to see, or at least shellout $10.50 to see.  I would like to watch "the Social Network" but honestly that's a netflix movie not something I need to see on the big screen. 

But after being bombarded by ads for RED I convinced the fiance to go out and watch it with me.  I actually went to see this movie Saturday night, which was a bad idea.  I love watching a movie with a nice large audience but this place was packed.  So packed we had to sit up front, which is the worst place to watch a movie.  It's too close and my neck starts to hurt from looking up.  No, the best place to watch a movie is about halfway up  in the middle.  Take note.

Now I'm not going to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, but the previews are a bit misleading.  They make it sound like the whole movie is about breaking into the CIA to find out who's trying to kill them. Actually it's only a small part of the movie.  That being said Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovic, and Helen Mirren all do there jobs quite will.  Mary Louis Parker is cute as can be and Ernest Borgnine is pretty awesome, nice to see the old guy's still got it.  But Malkovic's performance steals the show.  The crazy guy always does.  Alright John this makes up for Eragon.

The plot is pretty standard, a couple of twists but nothing earth shattering, but the stunts are cool, the acting pretty spot on, the jokes funny, and timing jaunty. 

Well worth a looksee but not a movie I walked out of going WOW.  And definately not one I would go back to see again, or need to.  But it is a movie that is worth seeing on the big screen while you can.

Score:

Three Buddha's.

Didn't see that coming!! Topps Week 6 Rookie of the Week is.........

Well I guess Topps showed me!! Here I thought for sure that they would pick Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow for week 6's Rookie of the Week Redemption card.  Nope.  It was a much better week 6 for rookies than Week 5, lots of good stuff to choose from.

Chris Ivory, Saints rookie running back stepping up for Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush.  I guess I can see Topps wanting to mix it up seeing the last 2 week ROW's were QB's.  Now we've had  1 wide reciever, 2 quarterbacks, and 3 running backs.  Ivory did rush for 158 yards on just 15 carries, 10.5 yards a carry!! That's a first down every time he touched the ball.  That is pretty impressive.  Hmmmm I wonder if he's still available in my fantasy league.  He flew under my radar this Sunday as I was sitting at a sports bar with my buddy who's a huge Browns fan watching Colt McCoy's debut.  I was keeping my eye on the New Orleans game, I've got Brees as my starting fantasy QB,  and I had to crane my neck to get a look at the Packers game, which we won't mention.

Now I still think Colt McCoy should have gotten the honors.  He'll probably get it next week.  He did have 1 TD and threw for almost 300 yards!! I think it was 281 to be exact or something like that.  He did however throw 2 picks and that probably knocked him down a few notches, but with Clevelands front line and the loss of Cribbs in the first quarter I think he did pretty good and he looked good.  Could be a fun week 7.
What do you guys think?

Topps Week 6 Rookie of the Week Prediction

What is Topps going to do?  With Monday night football yet to be played I'm pretty sure who I would name as Rookie of the Week. And both of them were pretty decent.  This week was Colt McCoy's first outing as starting QB for the Browns and even though they lost he did a pretty damn good job.  But Tim Tebow also saw his first field time of the season.  Now to be honest Tebow only had one play as a back and did score a TD.  Colt threw for over 280 yards and had 1 TD he also had 2 picks.  Now if I were running things Colt by far had the best outing, but if I was a betting man I would say Topps will put Tebow as the week 6 ROW.  Why.  Well it's obvious with Colt's outing he's going to be back, Tebow is the unknown.  Might as well get him on the ROW card while you can I guess. 

I was  jawing with Don from Don's sportscards yesterday after the morning games and he thought Sam Bradford had the best rookie outing.  Which he did, but Bradford's already been ROW.  So this begs the question is Topps going to pick the best rookie every week or the best rookie that hasn't been Rookie of the Week yet?


We'll find out tomorrow.  To recap I think McCoy deserves the spot, but like I blogged earlier Tebow is the hobby's golden boy this year and I joked that he could come in the game and take a knee at the end of the game and get Rookie of the Week.  Now he actually came in for a play and scored a TD.

Chrome baseball box break, chrome football and a cheap box of 2010 Prestige

I picked up a box of Chrome baseball about a week ago when it came out.  Mainly because the card shop I was at had it at 65 bucks a box and I couldn't resist.  I won't bore you with all the shiny refractors I got a few.  And of course I got the 2 rookie autos guaranteed on the box.  Lets have a look.

Notice anything?  yep both autos smudged!! I didn't do that. That's how they came out of the packs.  And of course I threw the box and reciept away and the wrappers are headed to Topps for my free cards.  I like that they're hard signed, but at least I would expect the sticker auto not to be smudged.

Now I also bought a few Chrome football packs from some hobby stores.  I have gotten nothing from these packs refractor or auto wise.  I think that this year chrome is best bought retail.  I love the value packs with the 3 bonus orange refractors and all the Football I've bought each pack has had refractors.  Plus exclusive xfractors.  I even got this out of retail pack.

Yep Rookie auto of Ben Tate.  This would be a box hit.  I also got a blue refractor in this pack.  Needless to say I won't be buying any more Chrome football from the hobby stores.  Plus I'm trying to save my money to put together the Update set which comes out next week.

I couldn't resists buying a box of Prestige from Don's this afternoon though.  I was bummed the Packers lost in overtime, again.  And Don had these marked down to 50 bucks.  I was very pleased with my hits and inserts, as at 50 buck a pop they were well worth it.

I got 2 rookie auto's.

Both numbered to 399.

I got this Andre Johnson jersey

Numbered to 250

And being a Packers fan and collector it's always nice when one of your hits is team or player related.

NIce quad jersey.  Manning, Romo, Schaub and Rodgers.  The Manning piece has some stitching.  It would have made this card beyond awesome if all the pieces had a little color.  But I'll take it. 

And it's numbered to 25!! Nice.

If Don has any of these left at trade night I might have to pick up another box along with my jumbo update. 

JD's Wildcardz code contest and shiney giveaway

Hey Ye'all. 
I was just wasting most of my morning solving the first clue in JD'z Wildcardz code contest. 
Have a go at it.  What's the prize you ask???  Pike lures, I mean Topps chrome!!  Shiney shiney goodness.

What are you waiting for Robert Langdon get your ass over there!!!

It was a slow week in the NFL for Rookies, I guess.

As I have been posting this football season I'm going to try and get a whole set and then some of Topps' hobby store redemption program Rookie of the Week cards.

This week their pick is Max Hall.  And all I can say is that it has to have been a super slow week in rookie stats for Max to be the Rookie of the Week.

Here is what Topps posted.

"Cardinals QB Max Hall's first career start was a triumphant one in Week 5, as he injected some much-needed life into a struggling team and rallied them to an upset over the Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints. The undrafted BYU product showed toughness and poise as he completed a solid 63 percent of his passes, entrenching his spot as the starting signal-caller in Arizona."

What he actually did was throw for 163 yards, 1 Interception, 2 fumbles(recovered by one of his lineman who made the TD and the other for a positive yard gain),  with a QB rating of 65.  He made 17/27 passes, which yes is 63%. 

Yes the Card's won.  But it was their defense who won that day.  At least Hall admitted that in his interview.  Still if this is what makes the Rookie of the Week the bar is pretty low.

Now it sounds like I'm being a dick here and maybe I am a little.  But I have no hate for Max Hall, as a matter of fact I wish him all the best.  I'm a secret Cardinals fan ever since they pulled off their miracle win against the Vikings years ago to put the Packers in the playoffs.  Plus Larry Fitz is freaking awesome.

I'm just saying that I don't know if Max deserves the Rookie of the Week award, but then I guess I wouldn't know who would this week.  So congrats Max have a good bye week and good luck against the SeaChickens in week 7.   On a side note and as cynical as ever, if Tebow actually gets to play a game this season, and I mean actually play, not just hand off the ball in a Denver rout or take a knee, although it probably wouldn't matter, he could get 4 intercepts, post negative yards, and score for the other team and still be rookie of the week,  with all the Tebowmania going on, although it does seem to have cooled off.

I think I'm going to go buy a few packs of Chrome football this afternoon and get me a redemption card.

cb out.

Some thoughts for the day.

Well we are past week 5 moving on to week 6 in the NFL.  My team is pretty much done.  The Pack is 3-2 but pretty much the whole team is hurt so I'm not expecting any more wins.  This way I'll be pleasantly surprised when and if we do.  And while there are no undefeated teams left, there are still 3 totally defeated teams left.  The Bills, 49er's, and Panthers all have yet to get one in the win column.  And while I'm sure none of them will come close to Detroit's anti-awesome season in 2008 (0-16) I can look over yonder and say at least I'm not rooting for those guys. 

That being said there are some nice surprises around the league.  Peyton Hillis over in Cleveland is proving a great asset, now they just need a quarterback, and this week we'll probably get to see if Colt McCoy can do it.  I love rooting for the underdog, as long as he ain't in my division.  Randy Moss showed he's still got a little left, and a rookie running back might give the Lions a little hope, just a little.

Of course there have been some not so nice surprises lately, besides all my Packers getting hurt, mainly having to do with Brett Favre's dong.  Some people are so dumb.  It's like all these stars with sex tapes.  If you don't want anyone to ever see it don't record it. 

Well the MLB Championship games set to start in a couple days well have a few more weeks of baseball excitement.  Hopefully more exciting than most of the playoffs. 

That's about it, oh I bought a box of Topps Chrome Baseball, shoulda waited for Football.  I'll post that soon too.  Very disappointing, you'll see why.
cb out

Best day of the year in Alaska, PFD Day!!!!

Ah sorry I should so happy.  This probably sounds of bragging, it's not though it's lamenting and whining.  Today is PFD day in Alaska, at least for us who embraced technology and direct deposit.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about every year the state of Alaska gives out a check to all the qualified residents who applied.  PFD stand for Permanent Fund Dividend.  It was set up back in the 70's with oil revenue and first dispersed in 1982.  This year we are getting $1281 bucks.  Probably almost makes you want to move up here huh?  Just a warning it gets a little cold up here in the winter.

I was so planning on rushing over to my local card shop and trying to finish my Topps Platinum set or perhaps buy a few boxes of chrome.  But alas my fiance and I are in the process of buying a house and both of our dividends, as they are know, are going to things like house inspectors and title insurance.  But it'll beat paying rent to faceless corporation who's only goal is to screw me out of my deposit.  But I will be hoisting a few this weekend as the Packers take on the Redskins.  We'll get you Donovan McNab oh yes we will.

Topps' Week 4 Rookie Redemption is out.

This might have come out on Tuesday like it was suppose to but it took me to today to find the link to the page that announces it.  If this is one of your big promotions wouldn't you put it up on the front page of your website?  Again it just shows how bad Topps is at this whole internet thing.

Anyways this weeks rookie is none other than the #1 draft pick Sam Bradford, who had a great game last week against the Seahawks throwing for over 280 yards and 2 TD's.  In my opinion he should be getting more hype than Tebow, as he's actually playing and not hurt. 

My accidental Treasure

Well I was perusing the blogroll this morning at work and noticed a post by JD's daddy over at JD's Wildcardz about accidental treasures.  These are hits or card you get when you least expect it.  And it just so happens that it happened to my last night at the grocery store.  So I posted a reply on the post and JD's Daddy said he'd like to see the treasure so here it is.

But first a little back story.  I was picking up pizza fixin's at the local Fred Meyer's(Krogers) on my way home.
I walked past the card display and couldn't resist picking up a couple packs of Topps Platinum.  I've been slowly putting together my set and figured if there were some fat pack, ie ones with rookie variation cards I'd grab them and lo and behold the box hadn't been picked over yet.  I was hoping that that's what the fat pack meant.  I know in Hobby boxes the fat packs are the ones with the rookie variations and sometimes jersey cards but the skinny packs got the auto's.  I like that the Topps bluffs are actually collectible not blank pieces of cardboard and every time I pick a pack up at the card shop they give me the skinny packs, which I have picked up a few nice auto refractors.

So out of those 4 packs I got 3 rookie variations and this gem which blew my mind coming from a retail box in a grocery store.

I had no idea Topps was putting these kind of cards in the retail boxes.

I wish I was more of a Chiefs fan, but damn that's a nice card.

Jamaal Charles/Dexter McCluster  Dual auto Dual patch card #d to 25.  One patch 4 color one 3 both with stitching.  Damn nice accidential treasure.

TTM Bob Uecker Success Failure

I know your saying Success Failure what the??!!??!?

Any who I sent out a few customs about a month ago here they are.

Anyways for those of you who don't want to follow the link I sent Mr. Baseball Bob Uecker a custom card to sign.  I sent it to Miller Park and here's what I got back.

Yep it's my custom back unsigned.  So that's the failure but I did get this nice letter.

Which begs the question just what is Mr. Uecker authorized to sign???

And they did send me this too.

I get my addresses from http://www.fanmail.biz/ and looking through the feedback for Bob he has or rather the Brewers have been sending this auto picture out for over 5 years.  It's not a presigned as its a silver ink on the photo.  Could be Autopenned.  The letter says it was personally signed by Uecker himself but who knows.  The autos on all the photos look too perfect.  They're not all in the exact same spot but look way too nice and identical.  You would expect a little variation in the sig if he was signing tons of these over and over.

Here's the envelope for those who care over at fanbiz where I'm leaving feedback for this success/failure.

The site also lists an alternate address in Milwaukee so I might resend my custom to that address to see if I can get it signed it'll only cost me a buck.

What do you guys think?

TTM Jay Leno Success!

Just got back to town and found this in  my mail box.

My second TTM success. This was sent 9/3/10 and got it back around 9/29/10.  I'm hoping it's actually Jay's and not a secretary but from all the sig's i've seen there's been some variations but he usually sign's it Yo (your name), and his sig with his little face drawing on it.

Even better is the SASE it came back in.  The stamp wasn't even postmarked.

cb out