Box Breaks Thoughts

How much you think that box of cards is worth?

Sorry I don't have any good pics to put up so I'll just steal some.

I have a problem at work. I can't watch videos that are posted on blogs or youtube.  And it got me thinking which is better for a box break post, a video or scans? 

Now to be honest I understand the use of video box breaks for group breaks, it's a form of proof of what was opened.  And most good bloggers will post the video and scans of the hits. 

I personally am a scan guy.  I want to know what you got but I don't want to sit through a 7 minute or longer video of you opening packs.  Sorry it's boring and then the video of the cards usually isn't all that good as well, lighting, blurry, ect.  Mainly what I'm looking for is if I want to try any of that product. Plus I don't want to have to try and upload a video of my own.  My video camera is old.

So I started, for my box breaks, a little protocol based off of some comments I've seen either on blogs or in the comment section of blogs.  A scan of some of the base cards usually with one card showing the back.

And then scans of the inserts and hits.  It doesn't usually make for a long posting unless you post every card separately.  Now I realize not everyone has a scanner.  A good photo will do too. 

I always kinda view box break posts as a little bragging anyway and why not.  It doesn't make me jealous when I see what you pulled out of a box or pack and I hope you don't think that of me.  Plus it lets people know what you might have to offer for trade.

As always thoughts and comments welcome and encouraged.

In the beginning.....Pre State of the Blog post.

I’m a rambler. I’m sure you all realize that if you read anything I post here with any regularity. I really don’t have an agenda and I don’t plan on getting one. Over at the 13 Tenets I have a slight agenda, eradication of stupidity, but that’s just my personal crusade. With the new year approaching I’ve been thinking about the Crack here. What I had hoped to do and what actually transpired and maybe what I hope to do in the future. I really don’t get a lot of feedback from you guys which is fine. I personally like to leave little nuggets of wisdom or anti-wisdom whenever I can. Thorzul had a post a few weeks ago about the neglected posts, the ones that never get a comment. It was funny and so true. We all want that feedback. It got me to thinking of why I blog at all and why I started. Like any good hero you need an origin story.


On a distant shoreline, we’ll call it Haines, Alaska. I was looking for Robin Yount checklist. You see I collect cards of this great shortstop/outfielder, who took my lowly baseball team to its only World Series appearance. And while they didn’t win, the series did go 7 games though, it has been Milwaukee’s crowning achievement in the franchises’ history. Sadly I was 9 and didn’t really care then it would be for another 5 years till I grew to love baseball and my home state Brewers. So I’ve been looking for a fairly complete Yount checklist online and found this website call the Trading Card Database. It’s still there and I still use it and contribute to it. And while it’s not complete by any means at least they’re trying. It was while on this site that I noticed they had a little blogroll and here I first discovered sports card and sports related blogs. They were awesome. One of the first sites I stumbled across and sadly way to near the end was Wax Heaven by Mario Alejandro, who has since retired from the blogging world. But it sparked something in me. I was information deprived living in BFE Alaska. The nearest card shop was in Whitehorse, Yukon and all they sell is Hockey Cards and the next nearest were in Anchorage and Fairbanks so needless to say most of my boxes came in from eBay or somewhere else. Then I stumbled onto the motherload when I found JayBee’s Blogroll. AHHHAAA. Holy crap there was everything here and it’s only gotten better. And I thought hey I know how to write, just not well, and I like sports and sport cards, I should start my own blog, which thanks to blogger and wordpress is incredibly easy to do. So I did and I tried to come up with a title that incorporated the addictive nature of collecting sports cards and also kinda where my collection would be hidden. Lots of my friends know I collect baseball cards and comics, few know how many. In a word that labels you I found it best to keep my addictions hidden. Comics and baseball cards were always considered kids things and if you were an adult who indulged in those things you were labeled a nerd or weirdo. I guess I could have called it Collector’s Cave or Closet, but Collector’s Crack just seemed to work and I didn’t see anyone using it. Although there were similarly titled blogs out there. What was I hoping to accomplish. Hell if I knew, hell if I know now. I’m trying to change the world. I remember back I was thinking I could be like some of those great other blogs who put out useful information and offered intelligent inside into the hobby. PWWWWT. Whatever. After a while I knew it wouldn’t be that blog. But I hoped to fall somewhere in-between. In this day and age I wasn’t going to scoop anybody about any topic. So I let the Crack set its own course. I tried to put in it all the things I loved, box breaks, hits, rants, loves, hates, musings, ect ect. I soon realized that I didn’t want the Crack to just a Brewers or Packers blog or a player collection blog so I started up the Yount Collector and the Rollie Fingers Collector to give those collections and loves a place of their own. Then I decided that I wanted a place that I could put up my team specific stuff and I had always wanted to start a Packers fan club up here in Alaska called the Long way from Lambeau fan club, kinda like the Far from Fenway fan clubs around the country. And I figured why I’m at it might as well make up one for the Brewers and I called it Miles from Miller. Gotta keep the rhyming scheme together. The spatially displaced Milwaukee Brewers Fan Blog just doesn’t have the same ring to it. And then I found I was ranting a lot on the Crack about things that really had no place on the blog so I started the 13 Tenets of Cynicalbuddhism to cover that as well. And while the Crack was always my first and probably best supported blog, all the blogs have a point and a place. I have found that after a year of blogging I’m still at it, still using all the blogs, still finding things to write about, still having fun.

The best thing about the sportcard blogoteria™, is the diversity and talent. The one thing I’ve found is that no two blogs are alike, even team based blogs or player collections blogs. Everybody’s got their own take and opinion and it’s great. So here’s to you bloggers out there that take the time to put your thoughts and hearts out on your blogs. And here’s to another great year.



cb out

Week 16 Topps Rookie of the Week is... for reals this time

It's funny when Topps started doing the Rookie of the Week it was like clockwork that they would post it at 9 am my time.  I guess as the season winds down so does Topps in getting out ther ROTW.
Anyways Here is this weeks Rookie Redemption

Ryan Matthews.  I forgot about this guy seeing he's been hurt for so long. 

Here's what Topps had to say for there pick.

"Chargers running back Ryan Mathews looked strong in a week 16 matchup with the Bengals, totaling a career-high 83 yards from scrimmage and notching his fourth touchdown of the season. The Fresno State product reminded many why he was the No. 12 pick in this year's draft with an average of 4.6 yards-per-carry boosted by a 23-yard dash to the end zone."

What ever.  I still don't get Topps other than Mathews is probably more popular than Joe Webb.  But Joe's accomplishment was much better than Ryan's.  Joe won the game.  Mathews might have had a career rushing day,  and according to the stats he only gained 55 yards on 12 carries.  Like I said what ever.  I still think Joe Webb deserved rookie of the week and maybe if they had played on Sunday he might have gotten it.

cb out

Topps Week 16 Rookie of the Week is......

Wow it's getting down there.  Only one week to go in regular season and Topps still has 2 ROTW to award.  Tim Tebow had another awesome week.  What a great come back on Sunday for the Broncos. 

I figured Topps would be a little late in announce this weeks winner due to the Tuesday night Vikings/Eagles game.  So who is this weeks winner? I don't know I'm still waiting for Topps to announce it I'm sure there trying to find the best picture of Joe Webb they can get.  That's my guess anyways. 

Also I just got a Late Notification on the Rookie of the Week cards are going to be late.  That's pretty typical for Topps.
Here's what they had to say:
"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 Topps Football Gridiron Giveaway Week #1

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." 

I expect many more of these as I now have a complete set of redemptions, Don was nice enough to hook me up with the last 2 weeks early,  He also showed me how many redemptions he had left.  It must have been hundreds.  I think that might be a good sign if they all don't get redeemed or a bad sign if not enough of them do and Topps decided not to print them. I wouldn't mind picking up a few more Tebow or Bradford Redemptions.

Favre and his penis fined $50,000

Oh what a way to go out.  So the NFL finally finished its investigation into penisgate.  Favre is fined 50 grand and who cares.  To go from what was I guess statistically his best season to his worse is bad enough but going out like this is terrible.  Getting injured in the last 2 games you played in is pretty bad too.  The fact that you are now the butt of the joke is well it's your own fault Brent.  That's all I have to say.

The jungle.

Did you ever have to read the The Jungle by Upton Sinclair?  Really?  It's a classic, it was all the rage back around the turn of the 20th century to muckrake, in depth investigative journalism.  I'm sure you read it. I was required to read it in high school.  But it was alright.  I mean it was gory and had all sorts of politically incorrect stuff in it, at least by modern day standards.  It laid bare the truths of the meat packing industry and gave way to stronger regulations and inspections on food production.  But I mean who doesn't want the extra protein of cockroaches?  What does this have to do with my post you ask?  Nothing. 

I finally got around to borrowing a camera from work to take a few photos of the new house so I could post them on Facebook for the family but I just thought I'd post one here so you can see a before shot of the "man-cave" and I'll post an after when I get it done.

And sadly this is with me cleaning and moving a ton of stuff out already.  And you can't even see all the shit around the corner. Wow do I have a lot of shit.  Anywho I finally got rid of my storage unit and now I'm going to finally do the final walk through on the old apartment so that'll be done and I can concentrate on getting the new house organized.

cb out

Monday morning coming down.

Ah nothing like a little Johnny Cash in the morning.  I haven't had a beer for breakfast in a long time but in college ho boy. 

Anyway, did everyone have a great Christmas?  Mine was pretty cool.  I got a house.  Pretty sweet.  Of course I've been blogging about the move for a few weeks now.  I have to say I'm enjoying home ownership.  I only wish it wasn't -10 outside right now and I might be enjoying it more. It sucks being stuck inside.  My fiance and I took the dog for a walk the other night and we were only outside maybe a half hour and our legs were numb and we were wearing long johns. 

It's taking me longer than I planned on getting the spare room situated. And man do I have a lot of cards and comics.  I've been weeding my way through the boxes decided what I can put out in the shed that the cold weather won't kill.  There's lots on my to do list.  But I have been finding all sorts of cool stuff, nothing scanned yet or photographed but I've found some great blogging fodder. 

Some blog updates.  As you can see I've change the layout of the Crack a little.  I've also been working on my other blog sites as well.  I really like my Rollie fingers layout.  I also got rid of my football counter that was over there and added the Blogger counter.  The football counter was linked to this blog and the Yount and Fingers blog and would count every hit to any site, even all my own hits as I was tweeking and proofing the blog.  So as you can see I've gone from almost 10,000 hits to just over 6,000 on this site.  So celebrating that milestone might be a ways off, however my 200th blog post is still coming up. I do believe I'm about 15 or so away. 

I also discovered the new stats tab.  Tres Kewl.  It lets you see how many hits you get, where they come from, ect ect.  I also finally figured out how to make a stand alone page and listed my Yount list over at the Yount collector.  I've been meaning to do that for while.  It's easier to put up a list of what I have then what I need or want.  I'll get around to going one over at the Fingers Collector too as soon as I get a good inventory.  And I plan on putting up a set needs page here too to help complete some sets that have been sitting around uncompleted for far too long.  And probably a trade bait page as well. 

It's been a slow card month for me.  I've been being good with buying a house and all but I did pick up a few pack the other day.  Mainly to get my week 15 Topps Redemption which was Tim Tebow.  I picked up a pack of Donruss Hockey, UD Black Diamond, Topps Prime, Bowman DPP, and Panini Gridiron gear.  Only missed one sport.  I got a nice dual patch Mark Sanchez Plates and Patches card outta the Gridiron but that was it.  I really wanted to put together a Topps Prime set.  It's just got great looking base cards but I picked up a few rack packs at Target a few weeks back and after comparing the retail and hobby I'd have to go after one or the other.  The hobby cards are twice as thick as the retail base cards.  But the fronts look the same.  No low numbered rookies in the retail though. 

Since I'm rammbing what a great day for the pack, decimating the Giants but wow what a great comeback for the Broncos. They might finish 5-11 this year.  But Tebow was pretty good I have to admit. And I got a great packer hoodie for christmas to wear out to see the game.

The giant G on the front is super stiff right now, it almost feels bulletproof. After wearing 3 days in a row my fiance made me wash it. 

Have a safe and happy New Years.

A Reader comes through the Yount Star Company List

A few weeks back I post a new Yount Card I got over at the Yount Collector a 1991 Star Millenium Promo card.  And asked if anyone had any information or new of a site that had information about the sets Star put out in the early 90's.  I've consulted the great bible of Baseball cards the Standard Catalog and either I passed over some or it's incomplete.  Maybe both.  Anyway, reader John set me an email today with a list and link to what he believes is to be a fairly complete checklist of the Star Co. sets.  John said he was only missing one card out of the checklist and I asked him if he'd mind if I published his letter.  Here it is:

Hello fellow Yount fan!

As a fellow former Wisconsinite, now transplanted to the West Coast, I have been enjoying reading your blogs, and your recent article about the Star Company sets rang a bell for me, as these cards seem to be rather lacking in details in the guide books. I have had a heck of a time trying to figure out all the Yount cards issued by them. Not sure if it was because they were not an 'officially licensed' set, or what the deal is, but just darn hard to get information. But I 'think' I have managed to compile a list. Also, I am not overly savvy yet on on-line photo posting, but I did try and upload pictures of all of the Yount Star company cards here:

http://www.1081.photobucket.com/albums/j351/jWals/Robin%20Yount%201990%20and%201991%20Star%20Company/

As far as I know, I am only missing one, the 1990 Star Glossy promo. If any of your readers can help in tracking down this card, or know of any other Star Co. Yount cards I am missing, I would greatly appreciate the information.

The Star Co. cards have some irregularities in numbering and set size, but each set was between 9 and 11 cards, and each was also preceded by a promo card. In 1990 there were parallel 'glossy' sets issued, which are rather hard to distinguish from the regular set, other than to compare side by side, and notice the high gloss finish. So here is the list that I have for the 68 different Yount Star Co:

1) 1990 Star promo - yellow border, blue lettering, blank back (1)

2) 1990 Star set - yellow border, blue lettering, 11 cards in the set, numbered 1 of 11, 2 of 11 etc. on back (11)

3) 1990 Star Glossy promo - missing from my collection (1)

4) 1990 Star Glossy set - yellow border, blue lettering, 11 cards in the set, numbered 1 of 11, 2 of 11 etc. on back, super high gloss on front, hard to distinguish from regular set without comparing side by side (11)

5) 1990 Star Robin Yount/Kevin Mitchell set promo - yellow border, brown lettering, blank back (1)

6) 1990 Star Robin Yount/Kevin Mitchell set, purple border, white lettering, 11 cards in the set, numbered 1 of 11, 2 of 11 etc. on back, Yount appears on cards 1,3,5,7,9, and 11 (6)

7) 1990 Star Robin Yount/Kevin Mitchell Glossy set promo - yellow border, brown lettering, blank back (1)

8) 1990 Star Robin Yount/Kevin Mitchell Glossy set, purple border, white lettering, 11 cards in the set, numbered 1 of 11, 2 of 11 etc. on back, Yount appears on cards 1,3,5,7,9, and 11. (6)

9) 1990 Star Nova promo - yellow and gray border, blank back (1)

10) 1990 Star Nova set - yellow and orange border, 9 cards in set, numbering as part of a larger overall set, Yount cards numbered 10-18, states '1 of 500 SETS' on back (9)

11) 1991 Star Millennium promo - white border, states ' One of only 200 Promos distributed of this player.' on back (1)

12) 1991 Star Millennium set - yellow border, 9 cards in the set, numbered 1, 2, 3 etc, states 'One of only 1,000 sets distributed of this player.' on back (9)

13) 1991 Star Stellar promo - tan and black border, states ' One of only 100 Promos distributed of this player.' on back (1)

14) 1991 Star Stellar set - tan and pink border, 9 cards in the set, numbering as part of a larger overall set, Yount cards numbered 28-36, states 'One of only 500 sets distributed of this player.' on back (9)

So post more and I will continue to enjoy your stuff, and I hope to get some photos of more Yount items up to share with you.

Thanks again, Happy Holidays!

Best, -John Walsdorf, Portland, OR, johnwalsii@aol.com



Check out the link for his collection of Star cards.

Thanks John and if anyone knows of has the card he is looking for drop him a line and if you have two drop me a line as well, because I don't have that card either.

Week 15 Topps Rookie Redemption

This is a little late mainly because my browser at work wouldn't update that page so this might have come out on Tuesday like it was suppose to but who knows, I actually called this weeks winner in my head.  Seeing as when ever I write my prediction here it doesn't happen.
Anyways Week 15's Topps Rookie Redemption is.....

Tim Tebow.  He got his first start and lost but had both the highs in passing yards and rushing yards and 2 TD's.  Way to go Tebow.

A great comic book resource.

I know that there are many trading card bloggers out there that are also comic book collectors.  Myself included.  As a matter of fact I have a very large collection.  Too big.  Keeping track of you comics and what you have can be a pain and keeping track of the value of your collection even more so.  I found this site Comic Book Realm a while back when it was called My Comic Pile.  It's an awesome resource that's free and lets you input your collection.Tthey show you how many comics you have, the value, and track your collection over time. 

I use to keep track of my comics in index cards, with each card as a title and then writing the issues I had on that card, updating it every time I got new comics.  I still do just as a back up.  CBR is probably the best comic book organizational software that I've found.  Plus you can help the cause by uploading covers that aren't in the database and employing your general knowledge.

The site also has links to blogs, chat, forums, new releases, and other stuff.  I highly recommend it.

Discovery Channel's Alaska not my Alaska

I almost called this post Cynicalbuddha's Alaska.



Lets be clear this isn't a sports related post this is a pissed off post.  Lets lay a little foundation so you can see where I'm at.  As many of you know, as I've blogged about it before, I live in Alaska.  I moved up here almost 13 years ago for work.  I was a fresh faced college grad with a fisheries biology degree and no job prospects in my native Wisconsin.  And believe it or not there is a ton, or at least was a ton of work for biologists up here.  So I like to think that after a decade it's pretty safe to consider myself an Alaskan.  My children will be Alaskan and I plan on staying here for a long time.  And while I just moved backed to Anchorage, which they say is as close as you can get to Alaska without being in Alaska, I like to consider myself fairly outdoorsy and wilderness savvy. 

A few years back the Discovery Channel discovered Alaska could bring in big ratings much like sharks.  That's not surprising because I remember growing up Alaska always had that awe factor and remoteness.  I worked as a fisheries observer on commercial fishing vessels up here for over 11 years and there's a reality show right there.  I was around when the Discovery Channel filmed their show the World's Deadliest Job, which was the precursor to Deadliest Catch.  And at the time I thought that was a good idea.  Crabbers are the craziest MOFO's I know and it's an insane job.  Then came the first season of Deadliest Catch and I couldn't watch it knowing that they had to go out and fake scenes for the first season because the weather during the opener was the nicest it's been in 20 years.  Then the Discovery Channel does there Alaska Month of shows or was it week?  Seemed like a month.  That's great.  The state needs the tourism money and we actually like showing off out state.  It's big, it's wild, and there are lots of cool things to see.  Granted most people come up here on package deals and cruises and that's fine too.  I have to say that if you truly want to see Alaska you have to come up with a very loose agenda and enjoy yourself, listen to the locals they'll tell you where to go.  Little known fact you can't see Mt. McKinley from the National Park but you can from the State Park, if the clouds will let you. Oh and I forgot IRT, too, that is a crazy job, still how many episode can you watch of someone driving a truck on icy roads where it's really cold out?  Quite a few I guess.

And of course Alaska was shoved into the limelight when our ex-governor was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate in the last election.  Which led to more interest in the state. 
Now she's got her own show and I have to apologize.  Sarah Palin's Alaska is not my Alaska.  And oddly enough most Alaskans don't really support her crazy agenda.  I've met Sarah Palin she came to Haines when I was living down there and I got her autograph, this was before the election and the nomination, she's very short and yes attractive in person.  I watch the first episode with my fiance and I said that's enough.  Please take everything you see on that show with a grain of salt.  It's produced!! Just like Deadliest Catch for maximum appeal.

Now there's a new show on the boob tube, Gold Rush Alaska.  This is filmed about 25 miles north of Haines in southeast Alaska.  And when I saw the previews I thought cool.  After watching the first 2 episodes I want to hurl.  First if you haven't seen the show it's stupid and all the "miners" are morons.  Here's the premise taken verbatim from Discoveries website:

 "In the face of the economic meltdown, six men will risk everything to strike it rich mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska. Todd Hoffman of Sandy, Oregon, along with his father, are leading a group of greenhorn miners in search of the American dream and a new frontier. Gold fever is back, and the rush is on."

So instead of finding a group of experienced Alaskan miners we take 6 guys with almost no experience in mining or living in the wilderness and send them to Alaska where with a grubstake of about 150k they expect to strike it rich and save themselves from financial hardship.  OK now I realize that it probably did matter how much they picked out of the ground since there probably making a butt load from the show and merchandise, but historically gold mining is a losing proposition.

The local Haines paper had this story about the show.  hmmm $20,000 return on a $150,000 investment genius! And the guys are portrayed as such morons and dicks.  I'm kinda glad I wasn't around for filming this year.  I also like the comment on how lazy they were.  Typical made for TV drama.  I'm sure there will be a second season, I mean how many seasons of Deadliest Catch are there.  How many ways can you make the dangers of crabbing different  and interesting.  I guess quite a few.

And I've seen the previews for the new bush pilot show.  Those guys are crazy too.  And that's another deadly job.  I hope this one's a little more accurate.  At least with bush pilots like crabbers and ice road truckers you can't take novices and just throw them into a silly situation like you can wannabe gold miners.

whew.  Alright I'm done bitching.  My point was don't believe all the hype it's bullshit.  Although bears are real and they will eat your graham crackers!!

Now if you've never been to Alaska you should come.  If you want to take a cruise or buy the package deal I don't blame you.  But I highly recommend flying up here renting a car, or damn rent an RV.  I hate driving behind you in the summer but I understand the appeal.  Get a good guide book or travel guide and go.  Get a fishing pole and a berry bucket and enjoy.  It's unbelievable up here. From the Southeast with it's temperate almost Northwestern climate, to South central and the Kenai Peninsula and it's awesome salmon fishing to the Interior and North Slope with it's majestic mountains and tundra, oh and we have really big animals up here.
Some photo's from my work this summer.  I love my new job I got to go all over the state and access culverts for fish passage.



This is actually called a highway, the Dalton Highway.



Trans Alaska Pipeline from the Dalton Highway

Alright enough everybody have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Festive Kwanza, or whatever.

Hey Topps Thanks.

A few weeks back I had a few left over MCG cards that I thought I'd redeem before I forgot about them.  As I was going throught the stack I came across 3 cards that wouldn't work.  After looking a little closer I noticed that each code only had 8 characters instead of the 9 needed.  I was a little miffed.  I thought about ranting about it, but with all the problems Topps has been having with quality control it would have been just another drop in the bucket.  So I wrote a nice little letter to Topps put my cards in with it and sent it off to there consumer services address and forgot about it.  Then a few days ago I got a letter from Duryea PA.  Mmmmm.  And lo and behold 3 replacement code cards all had 9 characters.  Well I got these before the big move so I figured I better redeem them ASAP and here's what I got.

One 79 and two 80's.

Hohum so much for 52 gold.

Still it was nice of Topps to replace the cards and they did it fairly quickly too. I also got a form letter with my name on it telling me how to submit cards in the future.  Is that foreshadowing?

cb out.

I have destroyed the world again!

What's this button for...? ooops.

I wanted to post a picture of my new house and how utterly disorganized and cluttered it is right now, but since my camera is on the blink and you can't take a very good photo of a room with a scanner it looks some thing like a mix from the above picture and an episode of Hoarders. 

Needless to say that if we have talked about a trade or if anything is in the works it might be a while.  At least longer than I planned.  That being said I've only been in the house 2 days and I'm working on getting my old apartment cleaned so I can try and get the most $$$ back from my deposit so luckily I  have two 4 day work weeks coming up and no family up here to worry about going over for Christmas or New Years so I might get a little done.  My fiance and I have decided that the house was a gift to both of use from both of us and that's cool I'm still going to get her something nice.  Still need to find a little something for the rest of the family down south and the clock it ticking.  On a brighter note the Packers back up QB looked good and so did most of the Pack right up until they blew it and of course not tackling a 300 pound lineman.  But if the Bears lose tonight we still have a shot.  Barely. 

There are a few contest running around the Blogoteria and the latest I've found is from our good friend the Bacony Collective Troll.  Trolls going to be a grandaddy, can you believe that and he wants you to guess the time he officially gets old. I mean the time the baby is born.

cb out.

Jackson, Reggie Jackson, Sterling if you like it....

I've been picking up a few 2010 Sterling cards here and there.  I'm bummed that Topps didn't give Rollie his own base this year but he at least has one nice relic auto book in the set.  I've seen 2 so far on ebay #'d to 10 and missed both of them. Mainly because I'm too cheap.  But when I get bored I look around for good deals and ended up picking this Reggie #'d to 50 up for cheap.  Reggie actually has 3 cards in the set one of the A's, Yankees, and Angels, but no Baltimore card. 

I'm pretty sure this is the mystery card in the Sterling box.  I could be wrong but I was led to believe that all the base cards in the box are #d to 250. 

I think I like this card best out of his 3.  Kinda like the Alpha and the Omega, since he started with the A's and ended with them.  I've watched a fair number of video box breaks on this year's Sterling and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with what I've seen.  I've seen boxes that didn't have any autos.  I mean if I'm going to pay $250 a pop for one pack of cards, which I'm not,  there better be a damn auto in there plus they're sticker autos to boot.  Not only that but have you noticed that sometimes they use one swatch and make it look like two or three different pieces of jersey by covering it with their goofy cut outs?

I'm looking forward to seeing what's going to come out of Panini's P and P and  Topps 5 Star.  Two more products I won't be buying a pack of but I probably will be buying singles off of the bay.  The previews look nice although they kinda look similar.

cb out.

What's in a name

Wow it's been a year.  Well over a year actually since I read my first sport's card blog and said damn I can do that too.  I like cards and I have lots of cards.  Now I've got 6 different blogs for various topics but the one that is near and dear to my heart is this one.  It's funny I was looking for a funny name for the blog and one that conveyed exactly how addicting sports card collecting can be.  It wasn't till after I decided on Collector's Crack that I discovered Ryan Cracknells Trader's Crack which sounded way to similar almost like I was ripping him off, which of couse I wasn't and I'm not.

The above picture is one I was thinking of using if I ever get around to revamping my blog look.  But blogger has terrible customization tools so who knows.  I had been saving up wrappers for months and then my fiance threw them all out so I was stuck using the wrappers from 3 boxes I had recently broken and one pack of Tribute, which is to date the most expensive pack I  have ever bought.  I had to do it once.  You'll notice there's National Chicle, Topps Football and Score football in the pile that's it.  Maybe I'll try the experiment over after I move into the new house.

But after I thought about it a while the name Collector's Crack could have other meanings.  I though maybe I could think of it as my secret little hideout, hole in the wall, level 3 dungeon, ect. 

Then I thought this might make a good logo.

Who know maybe I'll find a way to use both.

Or even better this one.

Get's my screen name in there too!  Almost looks like a movie poster.  Any votes?

My Cardboard Mistress 100th postday!!

Seeing as I missed my 100th post day and 1 year anniversay I should be happy for Adam or Spankee if you will.  He's Having a little contest over at his blog for the milepost.

As I approach my 200th post and 10,000 site view I am mulling over a contest/giveaway of my own.  Maybe after New years. 

And seeing as I have already finished my entry go to it!!!

Some of my redemptions come in.

I had a nice little mail day yesterday.  I picked up a new Yount and a new Reggie. And I had started to see other postings of the Red Hot Rookies showing up so it wasn't too big of a surprise to see these in my mailbox.  I'm still waiting on my Strasburg which according to the Topps redemption site was shipped with confirmation number and I'm assuming certified.

Well over the course of box buying and pack ripping I picked up 4 redemptions.  Two #5's, Starlin Castro, who had such an unfortunate end to his season and a #6 Logan Morrison.  And I also got a #8 which is Strasburg.

And it wouldn't be 2010 Topps if one of these wasn't damaged.  Take a gander at the middle Castro.  See that little fleck on the upper right hand corner.  No that's not from the top loader that's a nick in the card.

I think I'm going to keep the other 2 for the time being but if anyone would like to trade for the middle one let me know.  You can get it cheap.

Update

Well before I published this post look who wandered into my mailbox.

A Straschrome. I would assume that this and possibly the Heyward and Posey are the  most valuable of the Red Hots.  A quick search of ebay showed these going for about 20 bucks or so already.

Asshole gets what he deserves

Well the NFL handed down a nice suspension and fine to Sal Alosi.  He's been suspended the rest of the season and any playoff games without pay and fined $25,000.  And I think he got off lucky.  What he did was inexcusable and I personally think if this is the kinda shit that the Jets are going to let happen he needed to be banned from the NFL altogether.  I was reading this terrible article over at Yahoo Sports, only because it's the only sports site I can access at work. 

Couple things come to mind that really get my cockles up.  One this was malicious.  And I know that he apologized and everybody thinks that he was sincere.  Yeah sincere because the dumbass got caught and didn't realize he was being filmed.  Of course he's sorry he did it.  He's not going to come out and say he's not.  And it's great the Nolan Carroll can forgive him, but for me it's just another reason why the Jets are becoming one of my least favorite teams.  Two years ago I was rooting for them when they took Favre in.  I was still recovering from the aftermath of that whole soap opera.  I missed him, I still do, warts and all.  I can't just dump one of the best QB's of all time.  Prima donna and all.

I love that in the article they compared Alosi to Michael Vick.  That's so sad.  And while what Vick did was despicable it was on his own time and he was severely punished for it.  It didn't affect another player or an outcome to a game.  You may think that I'm being a little severe here but I don't think so.  And yes I realize that NFL seems to be really lax on players, especially this year.  The fight between Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnagan probably should have had some suspensions in it too. 

I'm sorry but in a year dominated by Brett Favre penis, happened when he was a jet, DUI, Mr. Edwards, locker room indecency the Jets just look like and seem to act like a bush league team.  And that's too bad.  But Sal Alosi in my opinion is still and Asshole.

Topps Rookie Redemption Week 14

In my 17ish part series chronicling the release of the FREE Topps LCS Hobby Redemption program here is Week 14's winner.

Arrelious Benn

Here's what Topps had to say.

"Tampa Bay wide receiver Arrelious Benn enjoyed a breakout game in Week 14, keying a victory in Washington with career highs of four catches and 122 yards. The 39th overall pick out of Illinois also added a 17-yard rush, and looks to have a very bright future with the Buccaneers."

It was slow week for uncarded rookies this week.  And while Arrelious didn't have any TD's he was Tampa Bay's top reciever and second in rushing, as pitiful as that is with 17 yards.

297 is still a lot.

Well I'm sure you've all heard the Brett's streak is coming to an end.  For better or worse.  Still 297 is a lot of games, 300 would be a nice number to hit but hell.  Peyton Mannings still got 5 more seasons of consecutive play to hit that record.  Good luck with that.  Seems like it's time to retire anyways Brett holds almost every passer record, good and bad.  I only wished you'd have retired in Green and Gold buddy.

Some Monday morning musing...before the work truely beings.

Sorry, I had to post this one again in the #1 position so it would show up as the preview picture on the blogroll.  I really want to collect this set now, but I might have to buy retail to do that so long as the base cards are the same.  I guess I need to go buy a rack pack of Prime.  The only thing that would have made this card better would be a on card auto, as the Big Kahuna pointed out last post. So while I gazed at my new favoritest card two things occurred to me.

First how to display this bad boy.  It's been a few years since the first Book cards have come out I figured BCW or UltraPro would have come out with something by now.  But a quick look at both websites shows nothing.  I had read somewhere about a guy who makes custom screwdown holders for these but there expensive and I was truly hoping that my LCS might have something.  I'll have to inquire this week.

The second thought was trying to image the chain of events that leads a major sports card company to own a player used football, wristband, glove and jersey.  I realize that some stuff is provided to the players at events, like the Rookie Preview and such, but for game-used and game-worn, not the same thing by the way, who sells the stuff?  The team?  The player?  Is there a person on each team that collects all the gear used by a player and packages is up and sends it to Topps, UD, or Panini?  Does Topps have a big box with the players name on it and all the gear they have acquired in it and they just take something out when they want to produce a relic card?  Who does the certifying? 

Anyways I love the fact that there's more than jersey in this card.  I think there isn't enough variation in the marketplace.  One color pieces of jersey are a dime a dozen now a days.  Literally.  You can find jersey cards in the quarter card bin.  I remember pulling a Favre ball card out of some Donruss product years ago and thinking how nice it is not to get a jersey card, although I'd have taken any relic of the Favre back then.  I also remember pulling a Ricky Phoehl Super Bowl used endzone pylon years ago from Stadium Club, though I don't remember the year.  That one I thought was really cool.  It sat in my collection for years and then I decided to sell a bunch of stuff on ebay and figured I'd see if anyone wanted it.  It was my highest selling card that round, though I can't remember the exact amount I know it was higher than 40 bucks so I was stoked.  The point is what to card companies do next?  It use to be the auto or relic was pretty rare in a set and if you got one you were damn lucky, now we expect it, and now we expect more than one and one of those hits better be an auto, so that now autographed cards, sticker or hard signed are almost a dime a dozen and card companies go out of there way to get "future stars"" to sign thousands of sticker autos to be included in a set.  I probably could find most of this years Topps Peak Performance autos in the dollar bin.

One thing I would like to see is the return of rare inserts.  Not parallels or relics but really nice inserts that have a print run of less than 100 or fewer cards.  This is also why I like the Topps logoman program.  If you haven't seen one here's what they look like.

This program is actually spread out through all of Topps sets.  This Yount was in Triple Threads this year but I ended up pulling a Mauer from Finest and it was pretty sweet.  And there all numbered to 50 and you can't get them in any other product.  So you have a card numbered to 50 only available in high end product of current stars and HOFer's nice.  I also like the Manufactured Hat Patch cards and Bats from this years Baseball products.  Again super rare although Topps produced a ton of different cards all the Hat cards were numbered to 99 and so where the base bats, with the bats having a black /50 and super rare 1/1 pink parallels.  Next year there are going to be manufactured glove cards and I suspect that there will be manufactured ball cards next year as well.  Wow this post is getting out of control.  OK enough.

On a side note and if you've read this far down congratulations, you can see by the counter over there that I'm nearing 10,000 views.  Although when I installed that counter it was also linked to my Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers blogs so that's not all for the Crack, I'm sure there's 2 or 3 that are for the others.  And I'm nearing my 200th post.  I missed my 1 year anniversary of the blog that was in October.  Anyway, for the milestone of 10,000 views, regardless of where they came from and/or my 200th post I'll be holding a little contest, or probably card giveaway.  It should work out well with me being situated in my new home, hopefully.

cb out

Some packs to drown my sorrows in....and a really nice hit.

I headed over to the LCS after watching my Packers take one up the butt to help ease the pain.  I bought 2 packs of Prime and 2 packs of Gridiron Gear.

For those of you who haven't seen any of the Gridiron gear this year here's what the bases looks like.

Through the years GridIron Gear was always one of my favorites from Donruss.  I always really like the super nice multi relic cards and autos.

I didn't pull anything out of my 2 packs other than a numbered rookie and an unnumbered rookie.

The McClain is numbered to 100, the LeFevour is not numbered.

My first pack of Prime yielded a nice numbered rookie and a Prime Rookie

I've said it before and I'll say it again I really love the look of these cards, the base I mean.  Just a nice clean classic design with great photos.

Out of my second pack I've gotten my first book ever.

Only one card in this pack and it's a doosie.

Toby Gerhart sextuple relic auto numbered to 10!

Not that GridIron Gear ever had anything like this in it but it's the combination of different stuff on the card that I use to like Gridiron Gear for.  Not just jersey relics but a ball, wristband, glove and nice patch to boot.  I might hate the Vikings but I sure don't hate this card.  Wow.

cb out

Finally Proof God hates the Vikings

I got up a little late today and hurried to the bar for the Packer game which was not on local TV.  While sitting at the bar someone inquired which TV the Vikings game was on and someone next to me said that it's postponed due to the roof collapsing.  I chuckled because this was a Packer fan saying this and thought he was joking until I actually saw the news at halftime.  Wow.  Watch the video if you haven't.

Just proof that God and possibly the municipality of the Minneapolis hate the Vikings.  You know in LA they wouldn't even need a dome?

And worst game ever for the Packers losing to the Lion with a terrible score of 3-7. On the bright side I was playing Rodgers in my fantasy league on the negative side he's my teams freaking QB!!!

I had to stop at the LCS on the way home to pick up some solace.  I 'll post on that later maybe.

At least New England is handing the Bears their ass right now.  This might be the only game I root for the Pat's this season.

cb out.

Abe Vigoda TTM Success Kinda

I guess I coulda called this post, hazards of sending autograph request to really old people.

I sent these two customs to another one of my favorite actors about 3 months ago.

I got these back in the mail today. I was surprised to say the least.  I was really confused too because you'll notice that neither one is signed.  It really struck me as odd that they sent them at all and some one had even put a piece of cardboard in with the cards to keep them from getting bent.  Then I took a closer look at the backs and saw this.

Neatly signed right under the SSS-2.

I've stopped numbering my cards preferring to just have a little label up there as an identifier.

I also hadn't planned on sending 2 cards but I had done one and decided to change some things on the card and then decided to throw both of them in the envelope when I sent it out. 

Here are the stats

Date Sent: 8/20/10 (same time as I sent my Betty White)

Date Returned: 12/11/10

Address used

Abe Vigoda

190 East 72nd St. Apt 158

New York, NY 10021

I really like Abe's autograph I only wish he'd have figured out to sign it in the oval on the front.  I had the same trouble with Eli Wallach, but in both instances I'll still take it. 

Now the only other request I have out is to author Tom Wolfe.  I have a few more in the works but I'm going to wait till I move into my new house.  I have to say I've been pretty lucky this year with TTM.  Only Bob Eucher and the Pawn Stars didn't sign there customs but in both instances I still got something from both.

Later

cb out

ASSHATS and other douchery.



meow.


Not much to say today on the subject of Sports or Sports cards.  Although the Colts/Titans game was actually pretty tight.  Can I just say that the NFL network has the worst announcers EVER.   It brought back memories of college when we would watch Packer games and turn the volume down on the TV and turn on the Packer Radio network and listen to Max McGee and Jim Irwin get drunk on the radio calling the game.  I can even remember hearing glasses clinking in the back ground.  Those were the days.  Anyways I decided not to rant about the latest home buying situation that has me pissed off.  Instead I posted it over at my rant blog 13 Tenets of Cynicalbuddhism.  If your interested.

And on a positive note I made it into the playoffs of my fantasy football league.  Of course I'm playing against a guy who soundly beat me last time we played and his starting QB in Aaron Rodgers.  Damn.  OK pack nothing but rushing TD Sunday. 

Great Moogally Googally A Trade with 30 Year Old Cardboard

A few weeks back Brian over at 30 year Old Cardboard had a post where he decided to get rid of his Ryan Braun collection.  I sent him an email with some stuff I thought he would like and all he asked for in return was my Andre Dawson Obak card I had.  He's got a hell of a Andre Dawson collection by the way.  Well I couldn't tell exactly all he had to offer but I felt bad just sending one card so I loaded my bubble mailer up with some Marlin's inserts and extras.  Boy I'm glad I did, I would have felt this trade was way too one sided if I hadn't.  Let's take a gander.

This is just the first batch.  There were 34 Brauns in all. A few doubles but who cares.  Lots of goodness here.  I love the Bowman gold's too.  Plus I got not one but 2 Tribute Brauns one blue #d to 399.  And the UD Portraits insert is one I know I don't have.

I love that X3 from UD X so shiny. 

Thanks Brian I sent out your package on Monday afternoon and it's got a long way to go but I think you should have it by this weekend. 

On a side note.  I was suppose to be closing on a house today but the senior processor who works for AlaskaUSA Mortgage misspelled the word Alaska in my email address at work so I didn't get his important email till this Monday, so I am not closing till next week.  That being said things are being packed and I hope soon unpacked, cards unearthed,  and hopefully more trades to come. 

Can someone please tell me why Dale Murphy isn't a HOFer yet?

So I'm reading the blogs off the blog roll and scanning Yahoo sports, because it's the only sports site I can access at work and see that Pat Gillick was inducted into the Baseball HOF by the veterans committee.  I had no idea who this guy is so I did what I normally do and googled him. So OK whatever front office exec who lead 2 teams to 3 world series sounds good whatever.  But then I'm looking over the HOF website and see that the ballot is up for next years HOF class so as ignorant as ever I start reading who's up for the vote and I come across many a name from my youth but the one that sticks out is Dale Murphy and not that he's on the ballot but that this is his 13th year on the ballot, and yes Mr. Mattingly is on there too for the 11th time. 

But come on.  Yes I realized he never went to a World Series but he's got great stats, lots of awards and accolades, was Mr. Clean in his career.

He's a 2 Time MVP, back to back no less, 7 time All-Star, 5 time Gold Glove, 4 time Silver Slugger, and he's won the Roberto Clemente award and Lou Gehrig Award.

I get that he's not in the exclusive 3000 hit club or 500 Home Run club and near the end he wasn't all that productive and his final years with Philly and Colorado would best be forgotten but he was Mr. Brave for a good part of the late 70's and 80's. 

Lots of good names on the ballot this year but I think it's time Dale gets put in. 

So I know that there are lots of Brave fans out there with blogs.  I would love to know what you guys think. I know growing up in the 80's Murphy was a favorite of mine, along with Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Ricky Henderson, Will Clark, as well as, all my 80's Brewers.

The NFL chopping block.

Well it looks like Josh McDaniels is the latest in what seems like a lot of NFL Head Coaches this year getting fired.

I've read a few articles about it but I'm curious if what Broncos fans have to say.  And what about Tebow?  What about Orton?  What about a 3-9 team can be done this year? 

Week 13 Topps Rookie of the Week

Keeping with my 17 part update of Topps Rookie of the Week, we have the announcement of Week 13's rookie.

Javarris James

Here's what Topp's had to say about him...

"Colts running back Javarris James displayed his knack for reaching pay dirt in Week 13, rumbling for two touchdowns on just six carries against the Cowboys. The undrafted Hurricane product – cousin of former Indy star Edgerrin – has notched five scores over the last five games while emerging as his team’s feature goal-line back."

And there you go.  I even watched this game and hell it seems like all the Colts backs are named James so who knew this one was a rookie.  Well bravo Mr. James. Get your redemption at your local LCS and redeem at Topps.com.  I'm still working on a complete set. 

See you all later

cb out

Some Topps Prime

I have been making it my Sunday ritual after watching football at the bar to make a pit stop at Don's Sports Cards on my way home.  I like to peruse the drop board and look though anything new he has laying about.

Well if you didn't already know Topps Prime is out and I like it.  It reminds me of Stadium Club.  As a matter of fact I'm wondering why this isn't Stadium Club?  Why no Stadium Club Topps?  This of course is a mid level product with boxes going for about 100 bucks for 10 packs and packs going for about 10 to 11 bucks, although you can get a box of this off of Blowout for $76.  They come in a nice tube like Absolute. 

I picked up 2 packs to try it out.

Here are 3 of the base cards. Mr. Stafford, Wallace and Smith.  Nice full bleed design with great photos, the name and team logo don't detract from the card at all.  I meant to scan the backs too but forgot there nice as well.

Each pack comes with 5 cards and at least 1 insert.  I got this quad Rookie running back card.  This card also has a relic versions where the team logos would be replaced by a piece of jersey. Oddly enough if you look at the sell sheet this is the quad 4th quarter example on the sheet.

Another DMC card.  This card is called a Prime Rookie and has the PR prefix. I've been pulling lots of McCluster rookies this year.  Get healthy!!

I'm not sure but this might also have a relic or auto version.

A nice Colt McCoy gold parallel.  I like this kid and I think if he can stay healthy and if the Browns can get a few more people to catch the ball and maybe shore up there line, and if Hillis doesn't pound himself into the ground, they might have a good season next year.

Another Eagle auto.  At least this kid made the team.  Although he's been hurt a lot too.  Sticker auto though.

If you were to buy a box you would be 4 hits.  2 Relics, 1 relic auto and 1 auto.  So I got the one Auto outta the box.  The book auto relics look pretty sweet too.

All in all I like the cards, I like the set, but way too expensive to try and complete from pack buying.  Although I stopped by Target to pick some stuff up after I left Don's and saw that they have rack packs of Prime for 4.99.  That could be a way to go.  With 150 base cards and getting 4 or 3 per pack (base cards) in a hobby pack that's just not going to do it, but 14 cards per rack pack or 28 for the same cost as a hobby pack.  I didn't pick any rack packs up but I might have to buy a few and see if I can pull a nice hit out of retail.  Oddly enough there seems to be some nice hits in the retail packs coming from Topps and Panini this year. 

cb out