Attention all Angels, Padres, White Sox and Giants fans you are needed for a Group Break

Well I'm in the Group Break over at Cardboard  Collections.  I do believe this is my 3rd break with Colbey, and I'm working on another trade with the man.  Well worth you time if you like a break that's a little different and cheap.  After I paid my 9 bucks!! That's it and it includes the shipping people.  Colbey asked if I knew anyone that regularly picked up the Angels, Padres, White Sox, or Giants.  And I don't have trading buddies with those teams but I figured I'd help out by re-pimping the contest with an APB to the above fans. 

Get yo butt over to Cardboard collections fool!!!

There's still a bunch of other teams too.  Pick up one, hell pick up two for a discount!!  The sooner you pay the soon we get to see what we get. 

Cheap Break over at Cardboard Collections!!!

Down on your luck?  No cash for your habit?  Well Colbey over at Cardboard Collections is holding another one of his poor man's group breaks.  For nine bucks for most teams, some are even cheaper, that includes shipping, you get to pick your team, well what's left. He's breaking 3 boxes of fairly cheap but not unattractive boxes.  Well at least one box is cheap, the others maybe not so cheap. I don't know.

A great way to get some players and teams you collect and you might even get lucky and get a hit.

Check it out.

Yo this contest has been pimped.  Got a contest? Want it pimped?  Hell I'm sure I want to enter if it ain't to difficult.  Let me know, drop me a line, leave a comment.  I ain't too proud to pimp another man's contest.

Some things Topps could learn from Panini

For all the crap I, and you out there, give Panini for a lot of it's products I firmly believe it's a card company that gets it, at least with customers.  While we bitch about their over use of foil board, lack of inspired designs, and some of the terrible insert designs, there are things that Panini has started doing that I never thought I'd see from a trading card company. 

First lets start with Panini's website.  It's up to date, easy to navigate and  you can find checklists from the most recent products. As a matter of I wanted to see how up to date there checklists were so I went looking for the Patches and Plates checklist and guess what?  It's there. And P&P came out this week!  The last checklist Topps has up is for 2010 Platinum Football which came out this time last year.  Not only that but Panini maintains a blog,   The Knight's Lance, which is updated almost everyday,  Topps not so much.  And Panini has been using their blog to reach out to customers, consumers to Topps.  And Panini has been showing transparency by posting videos of their production techniques, how they do quality control, showing off teaser photos and other drool gallery stuff, and showing off there signing events.  None of which we have ever seen from Topps.  Will we ever?  Probably not.  And that's unfortunate for Topps because if you look at how Panini has embraced it online media outlet and seen the goodwill it puts towards it's customers and collector's you see exactly what's missing at the Topps Company. 

I'm not going to get into the whole controversy over Panini's redemption debacle.  I think that's been dissected and ranted about enough.  I will say that Topps not addressing  it's quality control issues or reassuring it's "consumers" has been one of the biggest points of contention with me this last year.  I find it disheartening that Topps had to hire a guy specifically to hand nothing but complaints and quality issues.  I am glad he's there but I would think that tightening the QC a little might save more money and face down the road.

QC at Topps has been a hot topic as of late.  Head over to the Priceless Pursuit and The MojoBeard for some heated debates on Topps, Quality control, boycotts and the like.

Jordy Jordy Jordy

I've been working my way around my blog family posting various things.  I finally found some time to scan a bunch of stuff.  And I just got a nice rookie card lot of Jordy Nelson in the mail yesterday.  In my opinion one of the most underrated players on the Packers Superbowl team this year.  He's really stepped it up with all the injuries this year and it's nice to see Jordy coming into his own. Once relgated to punt returner he's moved right in to #2 reciever very well.  I've been snatching up auto's and jersey cards for cheap all year. 

The framed UD Masterpieces is a blue parallel numbered to 150.  Plus in the lot was two super shiny chrome rookies and two UD star rookies, one first edition, and an SP.

Here's a look at the backs.  I'm expecting big things from this kid in a few weeks and next year.

I guess I can officially say I've started my Jordy Nelson super collection and I don't expect prices on his cards to stay in the dumper much longer.   Just look at Rodger's prices going through the roof.  I picked up a bunch of base and inserts for Rodgers a few months ago from my LCS.  Don had packs of 25 cards for 5 bucks and I ended up picking up all three Rodgers packs.  I'm glad I did.  Seems cheap now.

Enjoy your Thursday.

cb out.

Yeah I'm a Pimp

Yo Yo Yo,  do you like old stuff?  If you do and I'm not talking about your granny fetish, head on over to Vintage SportsCards for a free giveaway.

After that head on over to Sports Syzygy for a $25 CSN gift card giveaway if you dare.

And lastly I think you can still get in over here at All About Cards.  Tons of boxes and other stuff there.

And if you've got a contest you want pimped let me know. 


I'm planning another contest sooner or later.  Probably after Super Bowl when my Super Bowl contest is over.  I've hit a few blogging milestones I'd like to celebrate even if it'll be a little late.  Got my 50th follower, now up to 51.  Posted over 200 posts, now getting close to 225.  And had over 10,000 hits, but using the stats page I've discovered that my most popular page this one, which if you click on it will now get even more hits, is only popular because people are getting there from an image search and I'm assuming borrowing the image there, which is fine, since I borrowed it from somewhere else as well.  But its had almost 2000 hits all by itself so if we subtract those hits I'm still a little under 10,000, but I don't care. 

Alright everybody have a great humpday.

cb out

Another one bites the dust, Wizard Magazine ceases publication

I'll admit I'm a comic book geek as much as a card/sports geek.  I just saw over at Comic Book Resources that Wizard the longest running publication devoted to comics is done, well at least with print. 

I use to read Wizard pretty religiously up until a few years ago.  As I've gotten older my tastes have changed.  I still like the graphic story telling medium but I'm just not that interested in Superhero stories anymore.  At least the ones that are put out by the big 3 or 4.  I still like Garth Ennis' The Boys check it out if you dare!!!

Anyway,  I hadn't picked up a Wizard in a while and I bought one about a year ago and noticed it was thinner, much thinner, and they had taken out the comic price guide, which was their major draw back in the day.  They pretty much took Overstreet out of the monthly price guide business right away.  The first issue I bought was #6.  I still have it. Somewhere.  And I'll be honest I didn't like it at first.  But Wizard grew on me and they got better.  I think my favorite part was the letters section.  I remember back in the their hey day they use to give away free promo cards and comic books.  That hasn't happened for a while. 

I went over to the website and the subscription and blog sites are down.  The subscription I can see but the blog?  mmmm.  I guess Gareb started a public company that will now focus on online content and pop culture, whatever that means.  I wonder what's going to happen with all their sponsored comic cons?

First Tuff Stuff folds now Wizard.  They were are great source for news and inside stuff.  I'm hoping this is just an evolution for them and not a death throw like Tuff Stuff.  According to CBR there circulation was down to about 17,000 down from a high of over 100,000 in the good years.  I guess as we move more toward online media the dinosaurs will die.

I still won't take my computer to the can though.  Like I said with Tuff Stuff, it's great bathroom reading material.  Now I haven't bought a Wizard in a long time but when I did it's normal place in the house was the back of the toilet.  Sorry if that puts the wrong picture in you head but it's true.  And it's not a slight to either magazine, but it's a great place to read a short article or scan price listings and seeing what is hot on the market or just look at all the pretty pictures.  What I also use to love about Wizard was the inside scoops they would get, at studios, both comics and movies.  I will say this I'm not paying for online content from them though.   Nope I'm not.

And then there were 3 - Contest Update

Wow what a day for football.  My Pack made it in for the first time since 1997 and the Steelers hold on to make it once again.     I'm kinda glad that the Jets didn't make it in, they would have been the spoilers for the contest.  But I would have much perfered the Pack play them then the Steelers.

Fat boy can catch!!!!  The Freezer.

So you all know I'm happy the Pack made it in.  Although I firmly believe they are going to have to step it up big time to take on the Steelers.  We've gotten way to lucky that last couple of games.  And almost got beat by a 3rd string QB.  But were in and I'll take it.

But the Bears and Jets loss means we are down to 3 contestants in Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web.

Adam E: STEELERS over Bears 17-6
Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17
Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17


So it looks like if the Steelers take it we have to go to the scores but if the Pack pulls it out Mark will win outright.  Congrats to Adam E, Mark and Colby getting to the finals in my contest.

And here is the bonus prize for all who entered.

It' a 2010 Topps Prime Quad Rookie Patch #d to 175 featuring Jahvid Best, Toby Gerhart, Rob Gronkowski, and Damian Williams.

So we've got 2 weeks I'll announce the winner of the contest and the bonus prize the Monday after the Super Bowl probably. 

Go Pack.

cb out.

What a great mail day.

I was walking out to put my Netflix in the mail hoping to get there before the mailman did, I missed him, damn, but in the box was a great haul. 

I start off with my winnings from Community Gums contest.  This was a while ago but they wanted you to guess what cards would be pulled out of a 2008 Topps Moments and Milestone box.  I picked the Prince Fielder 50 home runs cards and I think I picked card 47 or something.  Well there was on Prince Fielder in there homer #8 and I just got it in the mail.  Thanks to Jon over at Community Gum

While I was never a big fan of the set, I mean there a billion cards in it, I don't mind a Princey #d to 150.

Next I noticed that Tony over at the Common Card Man posted the trade he and I just did.  He had a huge need list and contacted me back in December right before I moved if I wanted to do a trade.  I had blogged about how many Topps extras I had sitting around and he wanted to know if I could fill some holes.  And fill I did, but I'm bummed I couldn't wipe out the whole need list I tried my damnedest.  I also knew from emailing back and forth we mailed on the same day and it looks like we got our packages on the same day as well.  Here's a sampling of what he sent.

He sent some nice set filler for me.  This isn't the whole trade just a nice sample.  I guess the best part about putting up my active needs list is that in a trade if you have a couple cards I need here or there it all works out and Tony gave me a little from column A and a little from column B and it all adds up.  Thanks Tony.

 And last but certainly not lease I got my swag from Colbey's poor mans group break over at Cardboard Collections.  I love these suckers.  I try to get the Brewers whenever I can.  For 6 bucks shipping included its hard to pass up. Here are some of the highlights

Colbey also sent along some stuff for my Player collections.  I think the best haul out of the Group Break was that OPC Fingers.  Nothing like a Pack fresh card.  Awesome centering super sharp corners and I'm pretty sure I needed it for my PC. And i got lucky and won one of the raffles and got the Nomar up there.   Thanks Colbey.

Alright off to work off my beer calories for tomorrow. 

cb out.

Bigger than the Super Bowl???

I get a chuckle out of some of the shit that gets put up over at the Shutdown Corner on Yahoo.  Why do I read it? Cuz that's all I can access at work, don't judge. 

So I'm reading this article Bears/Packers is the toughest ticket in Chicago sports history.  MJD doesn't do a bad job most of the time, but the article is silly, really it is.  But the best part are the comments people post.  And of course the longest running  NFL rivalry will cause much banter back and forth. Some of the comments just crack me up.  There as much  Go Pack and Bears Rule as there is Bears Suck and Pecker Heads.  Or course the best comments are aimed right at the writer who professes why he doesn't understand why this game is touted as the toughest ticket in Chicago sports history.   That may be up for debate, with inflation, fan base, ect, ect.  The fact that this match up will be more anticipated than the Super Bowl has some validity.

Now I'm biased for sure as a Packer fan,  but I'll admit after this game the Super Bowl will be a let down even if the Packers go, this game is the one to remember.  Of course if the Packers go and win it all it'll be a great lead in and would be one of the Packers greatest championships in modern history. Same for the Bears.  At least in my opinion.

With that said.  I geared up, my best Packer (and luckiest) sweatshirt is laundered, I've worn it for the last 4 games and we won so it's gotta be lucky, my favorite Packer hat is curved just right,  and my warm packer gloves will keep my hands nice and toasty on the way to the bar. 

I'll leave you with a good post from the article one  from both sides of the fence.

The packer side.

51. Posted by Liberals have a mental disorder Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:49 pm EST Report Abuse


A Bear's fan, a Seahawk's fan, And a Packer's fan are climbing a mountain, arguing who loves his team more. The Seahawk's fan insists he is the most loyal fan. "This is for the Seahawks!" he screams and jumps off the side of the mountain. Not to be out done, the Packer's fan is the next to profess his love for his team, and yells, "This is for the Packers!" and pushes the Bears fan off the mountain. Yes, duh bears still suck.


And the Bear's side.

56. Posted by Myndez Notcheron Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:52 pm EST Report Abuse


Our Papa, Who art a Bear, Halas be thy name. Thy championship come, thy play be run, at home as it is away. Give us this day our Sunday win, and forgive us our turnovers, though we pounce on those who turnover against us, and lead us not into fourth and long, but deliver us from Rodgers. In the name of Ditka, Butkus & the Holy Payton. As it was in 1985, so shall it be in 2011, reign without end, Amen.

That Out Papa Prayer is great I had to turn it to the gold side of the force let try it as a Packer prayer.

Our trophy, who is a Packer, Lombardi be thy name.  Thy championship come, the play be run, at home as it is away.  Give us this day our Sunday win, and forgive us our turnovers, though we pounce on those who turnover against us, and lead us not into fourth and long, but deliver us from Urlacher and Peppers.  In the name of Starr, Nitschke, and the Holy Lambeau.  As it was in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1941, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1996, so shall it be in 2011, reign without end, Amen.

To be fair the writer didn't include the 8 Bears NFL championships in his prayer but I think it sounds better with all them in there.

Sorry don't mean to sound like a pompous ass.

I'm just saying this is going to be one hell of a game, at least I hope it is.  This is what this sport is all about.

Go Pack!!

Hey Colbey would like to give you something.

Yep another contest plug.  But to be honest this is how I find out about a lot of the contests out there.  Sure sometimes I catch the initial contest post on the blog but most of the time I miss it and thank god someone else finds it for me.

So Colbey over at Cardboard Collections is having a giveaway.  It's not really a contest because you really don't have to do anything for it.  Just follow his blogs and pimp the contest.  Pretty standard.  He's giving a away a Topps Rookie Redemption Tim Tebow.  To 5 lucky people.  Who doens't need more Tim Tebow in there lives?

Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy

oh boy I hope we score!!!!

Ah man this week has drug on and on.  I'm glad it was a short one.  That being said.  It's almost time for some football.  Only 3 more weeks of it.  3 games that really mean anything.  Does anyone even care about the Pro Bowl?  I get why they moved it.  I guess it gives us something to watch for that week before the Superbowl.  I mean it's nice and all, but that means if anyone who made it to the Pro Bowl is on a Superbowl team they won't be there so it kinda makes it slightly less of a spectacle. 

That being said I think I've come up with a sweet bonus prize for Almost the Easiest Superbowl Contest on the Web.  I'll post it tomorrow or Sunday after the games.  That being said just a reminder there are only 5 people still in the running for the contest.  As long as the Jets don't win someone will probably win out right right now.  Nobody picked the Jets to even make it so they could be the spoiler and if that happens well we'll have to see. 

Out of the 5 still in it we have 3 teams that have opponents still in it and 2 that have winners but not losers.  Like I said if the Jets make it in it could be a spoiler but that just means we go to the score.  See that's why I had you pick all that stupid stuff and why this wasn't the easiest Super Bowl contest on the Web.

Here are the 5.

Adam E: STEELERS over Bears 17-6

Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17
mike: BEARS over Steelers 20-14
Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17
Kev2380: BEARS over Patriots 24-20

And a reminder of what your all playing for....

I keep getting Late Notifications from Topps about shipping these cards.  I think we are up to week 4 now that they are behind now.  I'll assume that they're printing all these at once, and I'll hope that they start sending them out before the expiration date.  And as I look over at my counter I notice that we are getting dangerously close to 10,000 hits.  yeaaaaaaaa.  And I've hit 50 followers and I'm at about 218 posts so that means I'm due for a celebratory contest of one or all of these great blogging milestones.  I'm sure it will involve cards, and random acts of drunkenness, and possibly bacon.  No promises on the cards though.

Alright dudes and dudettes I better get back to work.

Who doesn't love free Stuff?? Why I know you like free stuff!!

This is way late and I'm doing this to get mine as well.  Anyways over at Section 36 he's giving away free cards. But only has the Reds and Angels left.  No stars but lots of filler.  Check it out.  If you want'em.

2010 Patches and Plates Pre-Release Review

If you haven't gandered at the released photos of Panini's latest upcoming release Plates and Patches well you haven't been reading the blogroll.  Panini released a large number of photos of cards and then Beckett proceeded to laud it with reckless abandon. 

Here's my take with some card images borrowed from the Panini site.

 , oh double MEH.

Sorry for 150 bucks a pack I just don't see it.  First off Plates and Patches was already an Insert in the 2010 Gridiron Gear.  So now are we just taking our Inserts and making them their own set?  That and I just don't see anything all that new here.

I'm not saying these are terrible cards there not, its just more of the same, and 150 bucks for sticker autos seems like a rip off even for 4 sticker autos.  The cards I do like are these...

Here is Suh's Rookie Blitz card, man he looks angry.  I think he's going to be a force to be reckoned with next year. I'm going to assume these are base cards?  I don't know.  After looking through the released images and sell sheet there might be some cards I'd go after on the secondary market but I don't see any reason to shell out $150 bucks for a pack of cards.  Now I realize you get a lot of bling for the 150 in each pack.

Here's the break down. 

Eight cards per pack/box featuring


- One Autographed Prime Memorabilia Rookie Card

- Two Additional Autographs #'d to 999 or less

- One other Autograph or Memorabilia

- Two Commons

- One Parallel

- One Insert

So 4 autos is nice but they all look like some kind of sticker auto, or presigned inserted auto.  Look closely at the Tate up there.  I mean who doesn't like a patch card with multi-color and stitching.  Now if Panini would like to send me a box to review up close and personal I wouldn't be opposed to that, but I'll save my money and buy two Jumbos of Series 1 Baseball when it comes out next month.
 
Looking down the pipeline there's not much lower end football coming out anytime soon.  Playoff Contenders, at about 5 bucks a pack is the last one on the horizon I see for a while.  Maybe I will have to put a Magic set together after all. 
 
I will give this to Panini, they have by far the most interactive and up to date, well fairly up to date, website of any of the card companies,  their videos on how cards are made, inserts inserted, and the blog posts releasing teaser images are great, even though I might not be drooling, at least they seem to realize it's the fans and customers who matter here.   Panini does lower end cards so well.  I'm talking like Score Football and Hockey, Donruss Hockey. Now just to step it up and add some creativity to your higher end stuff. I sorry I'm sounding like a broken record but when your high end looks like you mid range, that's not right.   And it's kinda sad I like the looks of their base and inserts over their autos and patches in this set.  But that's just my opinion.  If anyone does open some of this and comes across some Packers stuff I'll trade you for it. 
 
cb out

Tueday Musings and FOOTBALL!

Wow what a wild weekend in the NFL.  Surprises continue to throw my contest.. Almost the Easiest Superbowl Contest on the Web in to shambles.  So out of a field of 22 we are down to 5 that have a shot.  3 still have an active team picked as a winner with an active team picked as the losing opponent and 2 have an active team pick with a team eliminated.  But with the Jets still in it and nobody picking the Jets to win or even go to the Superbowl the game is still a foot.  Whew.  What a ride.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled the Pack is still in it, and I'd be lying to say I'm not surprised. 

I was praying that the Seahawks could pull off one more miracle but I'm not surprised by the smack down the Bears put on them.  There was a reason they were 7-9. 

Anyways I was thinking I needed to put something up on my Milwaukee Brewers Blog,  Miles from Miller, since I haven't since I heard they got Zack Greinke and I was digging around in my Brewers stuff and came across some 1971 Topps coins.  Which I blogged about briefly.  But it got me thinking about the experiment that is/was Topps Coins.  So Topps puts out a set in 1964, 1971, and from 1987 to 1990.  It's an interesting and kinda bizarre concept.  The coins look kinda like milk caps.  Of course milk caps were way before my time, but they did inspire another craze, pogs.  Remember those?  Ung. 

The point being I was thinking of things Topps, or hell, any of the other card companies could do to invigorate there product lines.  We all releases, except the very bottom echelon (ie Score, Opening Day), we expect guaranteed hits, but jersey cards are over, autos are mostly cheap mass signed stickers of guys who probably won't have a career very long, and there just isn't that much else.  For as much grief as I hear over Topps' manufactured hat patch and bat barrel cards, I have to say at least it's something different. 

I was thinking why not bring back the Topps Coin.  No not in its own set.  We don't need that.  But how about a card with the coin embedded into the card, like the mini autos from T206 were inside the bigger card.  Hell maybe even have some cool different metal parallels, even a gold 1/1 parallel could be possible.  Maybe even have buy back coins inserted into the mix as well.  It seems with the retro theme products being the majority of what Topps puts out this would be right up their alley. 



I've seen links to Topps Series 2 sell sheets already around the blogoteria.  Looks like more of the same as Series 1, with a few little differences.  The Manufactured Glove cards are back in this series too.  I kinda expected they would be but maybe with a different color leather.  Seeing as last year they had hat patches in Series 1 and 2 and then mixed it up with bat barrels in Update.  So I'm interested to see if they mix it up with this years Update.  My money is on manufactured ball with stitching cards like sweet spot had, just not autographed. 

What do you guys think?  What would you want to see?  What don't you want to see? 

Almost the Easiest Superbowl Contest on the Web Contest Update!!!

WOW!!!

Going into this weekends games I was thinking how much a Packers win and Jets win would totally wipe the standing for the contest.  And boy did it.  I can't believe the Pats went down.  And I sure didn't expect the Packer to rout the Falcons so handledly.  The Steelers/Ravens was another good match up but boy did the Ravens implode after the first half.  And I don't think anyone was surprised by the Bears game.  So here you have it going in to the League Championships we are down to 3 possible winners and 2 wildcards that still have a shot.  With the Pats loss we lose over half the field and wildcards.  But everyone is still in for the consolation prize. 

Still In it to Win it

Adam E: STEELERS over Bears 17-6



Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17

 mike: BEARS over Steelers 20-14



The Wild Cards


Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17




Kev2380: BEARS over Patriots 24-20




The Fallen:
Fuji: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17


steve: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17


Community Gum: PATRIOTS over Falcons 31-17


Play at the Plate: PATRIOTS over Eagles 38-21


Steve D: PATRIOTS over Saints 35-27

cubsfan731: PATRIOTS over Falcons 23-14

Captain Canuck: PATRIOTS over Falcons 42-31

Offy: PATRIOTS over the Falcons 31-14

dayf: FALCONS over Colts 30-28

Wicked Ortega: RAVENS over Patriots 21-17

seemahn: FALCONS over Patriots 28-24

Spankee: EAGLES over the Pats 27-24


BA Benny: SAINTS over Pats 38-31


Mariner1: SAINTS over Steelers 27-17


Nathan: COLTS over Saints 24-17


dawgbones: EAGLES over Steelers 27-17

Milwaukee Southpaw: FALCONS over Steelers 27-24

Man the trash talk is getting deep.

Have you guys seen this yet?  It made me chuckle a little. 

I saw this over at the Shutdown corner by my least favorite sports reporter, but this is kinda funny.  Chase points out that they didn't do anything to vilify Brady and that they should have made him Chewy.  Really?  Chewy.  I mean I get it. His long hair, but Chewy was a good guy why would the New York Post want to portray Tom Brady as a good guy? They wouldn't. A commenter suggested they missed the mark and should have had Brady as Darth Vader and Belichick as the emperor. I actually thing they shoulda made Mangold Chewy instead of an Ewok god that's demoralizing. 

Whatever.  I firmly believe the Pats are going to kick the living snot outta the Jets just like in regular season.  Only the Jets seem to think by making it more personal it's going to help them.  Whatever again.  I mean it ain't over till it's over and anything can happen, I'm just not looking forward to all the trash talk if they win.  I have no love for either team, but I think it'll be a fun game to watch.  GO Pack!!

cb out.

Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web Almost Time for Round 2

Wow this was a slow week.  It drug on by.  Luckily I've got a Beer Festival in my immediate future and my game isn't on till 4pm tomorrow night my time so I've got time to sleep off the hangover.  But before I go out and forget you all for the weekend I figure I should put the standings up one more time since they are slowly getting moved down the blog list. 

Here are the Ins and Outs going into Round 2 the Divisional Playoffs.

 (now with color coding)

In It to Win It
Adam E: STEELERS over Bears 17-6
cubsfan731: PATRIOTS over Falcons 23-14
Captain Canuck: PATRIOTS over Falcons 42-31
Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17
Fuji: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17
seemahn: FALCONS over Patriots 28-24
Community Gum: PATRIOTS over Falcons 31-17
Offy: PATRIOTS over the Falcons 31-14
Kev2380: BEARS over Patriots 24-20
Milwaukee Southpaw: FALCONS over Steelers 27-24
Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17
Wicked Ortega: RAVENS over Patriots 21-17
mike: BEARS over Steelers 20-14
steve: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17

14, just 14 make it to round two with possible match-ups. Now to be honest there are still people that picked a team still in it but picked an opponent that is not. So those still technically in it and if lets say the Patriots play the Seahawks everybody who picked the Pats are still in it ect.



The Wild Cards

Play at the Plate: PATRIOTS over Eagles 38-21
Steve D: PATRIOTS over Saints 35-27
dayf: FALCONS over Colts 30-28





And lastly we have those that have fallen, but like I keep saying there will be a bonus prize which everybody who entered will be in the running for... What is it? I still don't know.



The Fallen:

Spankee: EAGLES over the Pats 27-24
BA Benny: SAINTS over Pats 38-31
Mariner1: SAINTS over Steelers 27-17
Nathan: COLTS over Saints 24-17
dawgbones: EAGLES over Steelers 27-17

Yeah I just cut and pasted it for the earlier post but it's going to be really lonely if we have any major upsets this weekend.  Hmmm nobody picked the Jets either.  Seahawks/Jets in the Superbowl.  I really hope not.  No offense to any Seahawks or Jets fans out there but you all know I want my Packers in there.  We'll see who I'm rooting for come Monday. 

Have a good weekend everybody.

Oh my liver............

Wow I'm getting old,  anybody remember the reference? 

Oh my liver??!!??

Well no not yet but soon I'm sure my liver will ache.  I use to be quite a drinker.  I'm not particularly proud of that anymore.  I guess that comes with age.  Back in the day I loved going out the bars with the hope, chance, glimmer that I might get laid.  But now being almost married and owning a house and dog, I have no real desire to just go out and get shit faced.  I don't even like drinking at home when I'm sitting around.  For some reason it holds no interest for me.  Now bring a few friends into the picture and that's different.  I love having a beer in my hand almost need a beer in my hand.  It is a social lubricant.

Your probably saying to yourself, cynicalbuddha, what the hell does that have to do with anything remotely about your blog.  To which I say almost nothing.  It does however lead into the Divisional Playoff games this weekend.  Such a busy weekend.

Friday night is the annual Anchorage Brew Festival.  Well the first night of Brewfest.  Actually I do believe its called the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival but I digress.  I'm going the first night because I have a going away party to attend Saturday and all my friends are going Friday and I want to watch Football on Saturday as well.  And of course I'm probably going to have to go watch football on Sunday as well.  It's almost over come on.  I think I'm going to drive my fiance crazy once football's over.  Come on spring training.  I guess I've been posting pretty regularly the last couple of months.  Boredom at work will do that too you.  The fools don't block blogger but they block everything else.  Except of course Yahoo sports and then I have to read terrible articles by Chris Chase.  Dont' believe me go to the Shutdown Corner on Yahoo and read some of his stuff.  I would say 98% of the bloggers I read on my blog roll and the Sports Card Blogroll are better writers and reporters than that jackoff.   I don't expect most bloggers or myself to be exceptionally coherent but when you get paid to do it and have a national outlet I would think you would be a little better.  Sorry Sorry.  Ranting, Tangential.

Point being I think I might have to take the next couple of days off.  So I'm sure I'll have a update for Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web, Sunday night or Monday morning.  What ever.

Oh and I've updated my needs list over there on the right.  Check it out.  I'm getting really close to finishing my 2010 Turkey Red set, so any help would be greatly appreciated or with any of the cards on my need list.  And I'm going to start pushing for my 2009 Turkey Red set.  Look in your stacks see if you've got any laying around. 

A trade with Colbey from Cardboard Collections

About a week or so ago Colbey left a comment that he had pulled a numbered Favre cards from Topps Unrivaled and if I wanted it, it was mine.  Well after looking at his trade list I asked if he'd like to do a larger trade.  I had a bunch of Braves mini's, and some Panthers stuff.  Mainly a nice Epix Tony Pike auto and other misc.  So after a few emails it was set and I came home tonight and found a nice package in my mailbox.

It was loaded with Brewers cards, plus some Turkey Reds I needed to help finish my 09-10 inserts sets, and one lone National Chicle that I needed, but every little bit helps.

Here are some of the goodies he sent.

Now I'm sure most people are looking to sell off their Farve collections right now or archiving it till the memory fade of his last year and all the BS that went with it, but for me I never closed the box.  So here is the card that started the whole thing.  I had the unnumbered base card, so this is a nice addition.  I've been getting lucky either ripping or finding them for cheap at the LCS in the recently opened piles on the counter, so I have quite a few 2010 Favres already.  I hate to see him in purple but I find it hard to hate the man that took my team to 2 Super Bowls in my lifetime even if he's being a bit of a premadonna. 



When I say Colbey sent me a pile of Brewers I mean a pile,  I won't bore you with all the cards just some of the neat ones.  In the stack nestled like a couple caught in a snow storm was this little surprise.

Why it's Mr. Sheets.  Ben is currently or at least this year he was with the Oakland A's. 

Also in the stack were a ton of premium cards from various sets.  I'm pretty sure most of what I got constitutes the team set for most of them or at least is close.

In there was  A Piece of History, Timeline, and SP Legendary Cuts and a nice die cut Braun.
Speaking of Die cuts check out this puppy.

This is the master of all die cuts.  I don't think I ever ripped a pack of this stuff in the day. I'm sure it was super pricey but that whole right where it's dark is die cut, or laser cut, or whatever.  I had to go look this set up. It's 1996 Topps Laser to see if all the cards were like this or if this was an insert and I do believe that this is a Power Cuts insert. 

After that the rest of this post is pretty anticlimactic but in the pile were these two

2009 Upper Deck Documentary.  For some reason UD has been producing monster insert sets the last couple of years.  They did it with their Yankee Stadium Legacy and that other one, which I can't remember off the top of my head, you know the one I mean, one of the ugliest insert sets ever.  Although they did have a few Rollie Fingers and Robin Yount cards in it so it wasn't too bad.

Oh CC we hardly got to know you.

And a couple 2009 Topps retro logo( or umbrella logo if you prefer)  cards.  I do believe these were Target exclusives or something like that.  There on retro card stock too.

I don't want to make light of all the rest of the cards but there pretty much all base stuff, I'm sure they will fill many holes in my team collections and I have to say what a great trade.

Thanks Colbey hope you like the cards I sent.  Check out Colbey's blog Cardboard Collections.

cb out-

Why do I feel like I'm always the last one to know: Tuff Stuff stops Publication

I know this is probably old news I actually say a blurb on BallCard Mania that led me to an article at Sports Collector's Daily, which let me to find TS O'Connell's Blog the Infield Dirt for some clarification.

Seem Tuff Stuff Sports Collector's Monthly is no more.  Dammit I just sent in my subscription renewal.  Well they haven't cashed the check yet.  But now we're stuck with Beckett and only Beckett.  I use to love the super sized issues of Tuff Stuff with their free promo cards inside.  A few years back I decided to subscribe since I couldn't find it where I was living and for the price it beat subscribing to 4 different Beckett magazines.  That was the time they changed their format to the SCM.  I'm bummed. 

I guess my next question is.. What about the Baseball Card Almanac?  Is that soon to be gone too, and I was so hoping those guys would finally update the Football Cards Almanac as well. 

It's a bummer.  You would think in a world that has card companies putting out so much product that a magazine or magazines would do fairly well trying to keep up with it all.  Look at all the publications that were around in the late 80's and early 90's.  Tuff Stuff, Beckett, Baseball Card Magazine, Legends, ect ect.
But with a shitty economy and every changing card scape with exclusive production and scandals, it doesn't surprise me all that much.  Every magazine put out relies on advertising revenue to run.  Subscription and newsstand sales are moot points.  Plus a printed publication is already 2 month behind in news when it hits the news stands.  It's hard to compete with the internet when putting out timely articles, such as the whole Strasburg Mania. By the time Tuff Stuff had Strasburg on the cover and a feature story he was already out of the year.  And I won't get into the debate over price guide pricing, both for Tuff Stuff and Beckett.  What I hate is when you lose this diversity it seldom comes back. 

My Top 5 Favorite Inserts of the Year (Your results may vary)

Well I had so much fun doing my last top 5 I wanted to do one more and decided to keep it positive.  So here are my top 5 inserts from all sports card products that I personally opened or have acquired this year.


#5 Finest Football Atomic Rookie Die Cut Refractors

I don't know what it is but I love the die cuts and the super shiny refractor technology. I guess he only thing that would be better is if they were also minis. Or if this wasn't Golden Tate.

#4  2010 Topps Turkey Red

Maybe it's because they finally gave Robin Yount one in Update but I love these retro inserts.  I'm really looking forward to the Kimball mini inserts in 2011.  I never did bust any of the Turkey Red from the 05, 06, 07 stand alone sets but I do love the inserts and they are pretty much the same.  It's a nice mix of rookies, vet's and HOFer's. I'm still looking for a few if you can help check out my need list

#3 Score Hockey Snoglobes

I miss the die cut frenzy of the late nineties and early 2000's. Plus these are a pretty hard pull. I busted 5 boxes of Score Hockey, and still didn't put a full set together by the way, and only pulled these 2 babies and they're not even numbered.




#2  Topps Series 1, 2, and Update Manufactured Hat Patchs and Bat Barrels.

Blasphemy you say.  Those aren't even relics.  Nope and they don't pretend to be either.  But there different, cool to look at, Topps put out a ton of different players, rookies, vets, and HOFer's so there's variety.  I know that manufacture patches and bat barrels have been done before.  UD has done both with auto's and such but these have a great design and look.  I especially like the Black Bat variations with the white lettering on the black bat.  And I'm looking forward to next years gloves and whatever else Topps comes up with.

#1   Allen and Ginters Monsters of the Mesozoic

If there are 2 things I like it's Dinosaurs and Mini's and the two put together are perfect.  If you don't like Dinosaurs I don't know what's wrong with you.  I would add that UD Champs hockey's  Natural History Dino's go here too but seeing as that they weren't truly an insert set I'm not counting them although I am collecting them.
I need a few of these awesome dino's as well check if you can help.

Almost the Easiest Superbowl Contest on the Web Standing Update

Wow what a weird, great weekend for football, well for some of us.  Crazy, unexpected, shocking are some of the colorful terms I've seen used.  I was reading another awful article by Chris Chase at Yahoo Sports, because it's the only site I can read at work, did I mention how awful his writing is, worse than mine, but this is not my chosen profession, sorry sorry, anyways he says the the Colts lost due to Caldwell's timeout just before the Jets kicked their field goal.  Now I'll agree probably not the smartest decision of the game but is it worse than running into the kicker so the Jets get the ball back or having a minute left and all your timeouts in the first half and not doing anything?  No it was a terrible game for the Colts all around and they still almost won, I don't expect the Jets to make it much further but then I didn't expect Seattle to show up either and they sure did.  I'll be torn next week as I'm no fan of either the Pats or the Jets but I would love some reason for Rex Ryan to shut up and the Pats look good.  Ok got that out of my system.  Just one comment on the Packers though, I was waiting the whole game for them to lose and we almost did.  I'm a die hard Packers fan, make no mistake, I'm from a small town in northern Wisconsin where love for the green and gold run deep, but I've seen my team piss away a 20+ point lead in the 4th quarter to lose so I take nothing for granted. Needless to say I was holding my breath most of the game.  I can't wait for the game against the Falcons, I almost wish we were taking  on the Bears first,  the Falcons have kinda been the quite winners this season.  They keep winning and winning but it doens't seem like they get a lot of coverage.  I think if I was going to make an educated guess at the 2 best teams right now, in all honesty it's probably the Pats and the Falcons, but on any given Sunday or Saturady for that matter, yadda yadda yadda.

Ok so onto the Contest Update.  Well this weekend really screwed a few people.  To see the prediction go here.

So here are the people still in it to win it. (now with color coding)

Adam E: STEELERS over Bears 17-6


cubsfan731: PATRIOTS over Falcons 23-14


Captain Canuck: PATRIOTS over Falcons 42-31


Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17


Fuji: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17


seemahn: FALCONS over Patriots 28-24


Community Gum: PATRIOTS over Falcons 31-17


Offy: PATRIOTS over the Falcons 31-14


Kev2380: BEARS over Patriots 24-20


Milwaukee Southpaw: FALCONS over Steelers 27-24


Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17


Wicked Ortega: RAVENS over Patriots 21-17


mike: BEARS over Steelers 20-14


steve: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17


14, just 14 make it to round two with possible match-ups. Now to be honest there are still people that picked a team still in it but picked an opponent that is not.  So those still technically in it and if lets say the Patriots play the Seahawks everybody who picked the Pats are still in it ect. 

The Wild Cards

Play at the Plate: PATRIOTS over Eagles 38-21


Steve D: PATRIOTS over Saints 35-27


dayf: FALCONS over Colts 30-28


And lastly we have those that have fallen, but like I keep saying there will be a bonus prize which everybody who entered will be in the running for... What is it?  I still don't know.
 
The Fallen:
Spankee: EAGLES over the Pats 27-24


BA Benny: SAINTS over Pats 38-31
 
Mariner1: SAINTS over Steelers 27-17


Nathan: COLTS over Saints 24-17


dawgbones: EAGLES over Steelers 27-17


So out of 22 only 5 are outright out.  Not too shabby.  Nobody picked the Seahawks so if the Hawks go all the way this could be a major upset for the contest, but wow.  Again thanks to all who entered and I'll do another update after division games next week and then on the Conference Championships.

Update:  As mike points out below I failed to notice that Wicked Ortega's matchup is impossible, my bad.  But remember this contest only asked for a winner, the opponent and scores are tie-breakers, and since Ortega is the only one to pick the Ravens he's still in, maybe he planned that all along???? He is Wicked after all.

HOLY CRAP BIZARRO WORLD!!!

Holy crap Batman, is this Bizarro World?? What a crazy weekend in football.  Seattle beats the Saints, the Jets rule over the Colts and the Packers best the Eagles.  You can sure bet I'm happy about the last one and I can't wait to see the the Seahawks can take the Bears downtown.  Needless to say some major upsets.  I think the Packers/Eagles game was a pretty even match so I was just hoping we didn't totally screw it up.  And I'm sure the win by Balitmore was no surprise but man the Seahawks wow! And what a squeeker in Indy.

So this weekend has major implications for Almost the Easiest Superbowl Contest on the Web.  Some are already out, some out due to the tie breaker, but still lots of people in it. I'll have a complete update tomorrow.

 I guess I know who I'm going to be rooting for next weekend!!!!!  Green Bay all the way!!!!

Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web Official Entries

It's go time!!

The polls are closed, your horses have been chosen.

I want to thank everybody who entered and for everybody you pimped the contest and welcome to the 5 new followers.  I have to say this has boosted traffic to the site tremendously which is great.

Don't forget I'm going to be having another contest for the 200th post which is long gone now and for my 10,000th hit which is coming up, I still need to work something out for both of those but for now lets enjoy the playoffs.

  I'm not sure if the prize is what everybody wanted I know that no one likes redemptions but free cards are free cards even if you have to wait.  I will be updating this list as teams get eliminated, but you are all in the running for the bonus prize. Which I still haven't figured out yet but I'll come up with something.

Looks like most people took the obvious favorite and for good reason.  I'm still pulling for the Pack.

Here are the picks.  The numbers by your name are the order in which you posted and will be your numbers for the bonus prize drawing.

Cynicalbuddha-  Packers over the Colts 24-14, yeah I'm dreaming and I'm not even playing

1 .Spankee:  EAGLES over the Pats 27-24

2.  Adam E:  STEELERS over Bears 17-6

3. BA Benny: SAINTS over Pats 38-31

4 .cubsfan731: PATRIOTS over Falcons 23-14

5. Captain Canuck: PATRIOTS over Falcons 42-31

6 .Mariner1: SAINTS over Steelers 27-17

7. Play at the Plate: PATRIOTS over Eagles 38-21

8. Mark: PACKERS over Patriots 24-17

9. Fuji: PATRIOTS over  Packers 24-17

10. seemahn: FALCONS over Patriots 28-24

11. Community Gum: PATRIOTS over Falcons 31-17

12. dawgbones: EAGLES over Steelers 27-17

13. Offy: PATRIOTS over the Falcons 31-14

14. Kev2380: BEARS over Patriots 24-20

15. Steve D: PATRIOTS over Saints 35-27

16. Milwaukee Southpaw: FALCONS over Steelers 27-24

17. Colby (Flywheels): STEELERS over Falcons 24-17

18. Wicked Ortega: RAVENS over Patriots 21-17

19. mike: BEARS over Steelers 20-14

20. Nathan: COLTS over Saints 24-17

21. steve: PATRIOTS over Packers 24-17

22. dayf: FALCONS over Colts 30-28

Here are the official winning and tie break rules.  If you picked the winning team and only you, you win, of course.  If you picked the winning team and so did 18 other people we move to if you picked the right opponent.  If you were the only one who did you win, of course.  If you picked the winning team and the right opponent and 5 other people did we move to the final score.  First it will be winning team score.  Closet wins.  If more than one person picked the closest or right score we move to the opponent score.  If by some chance there are 2 people who pick the exact same thing and we have no winner I will put your names in a RNG(Random Number Generator) and then we will have a winner. I'm fairly sure that won't happen, but just in case.  Seems the major prediction is the Super Bowl will be Patriots and the Falcons.  I think that would be a good match up, not as good as say, oh the Packer and Colts but I'm a dreamer, plus by fiances favorite team is the Colts.