3rd Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web -Official sign up post

So as I write this I'm about to leave town for a week long work trip.  Most of the playoff teams have been decided but there is still one up for grabs and I wanted to get this posted before I left.  So here we go.  This will be the official contest page, I'll be posting scheduled reminders all week.  Since the playoffs are a little screwed up with the one game wild card playoff I'm going to let you wait till those are done and I'll have the sign up open till  Saturday October 5th at Noon.

The contest is easy as always I just want you to tell me who's going to win the World Series. But since inevitably more than one person will pick the winning team we need a few tie breakers.  So I'd like you to also add who the opponent will be, how many games in the series and how many total home runs for the series, both teams combined.
Your entry should look something like this.
Dodgers over the Red Sox in 6, 14 home runs.

Your choices
American League
Boston Red Sox
Oakland Athletics
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
Tampa Bay Rays

National League
Atlanta Braves
St. Louis Cardinals
LA Dodgers
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates

And what do you win????
I already teased with this prize

A sealed 1994 Pinnacle The Naturals boxed set.  You will also get this...

A full set of 1990 Topps Coins and this cool plastic collector's book.

I'll also be throwing in some other stuff as well and there will also be a door prize just for signing up.  I haven't decided what that will be yet, but I'll find something good.  And if you pimp this contest you will receive an extra entry for the door prize.  Just leave you prediction and a link to your pimp for your extra entry.

I would say to wait till at least after tomorrows game that'll decide who if Tampa Bay or Texas makes it, but you can wait till after the wild card games are over  and even a few of the regular playoff games.

Alrighty good luck everybody and I'll see you in a week.

cb out.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It's funny I can't remember the last time I was excited about a new TV show.  With the airwaves filled with reality shows and crime dramas I really have been over it.  Factor in that I don't have cable so channels like the History Channel and Comedy Central don't factor in and I really don't watch that much TV anymore.  Fast forward to last night and the premiere of Agents of SHIELD. I'm a huge comic book geek and I had really, really, really been looking forward to seeing this show and hoping it wouldn't suck.  I'd also hoped that since the show was on ABC which is owned by Disney which owns Marvel Comics that this show would live up to it's potential

And from the ratings the show got it looks like they might have a hit. But to be honest I was a little underwhelmed by the pilot episode.  I would really had liked if they had incorperated a major Marvel hero into the show.  Yes I know that Colston was there and this is the first episode so you have to establish characters and theme.

I will say that I like that the show was smart, funny, and had great special effects.  I also loved that they continued the plot line from Iron Man 3 and didn't take the whole episode to explain it for the 3 people who didn't bother to go see the movie.

So I know where I'll be at 7 o'clock this winter on Tuesdays.  I'm just hoping that they can incorperate some great characters and plot lines from Marvels history.

Anybody else out there watch last night?

TTM Success Jerry Augustine

I had been seeing some great success from Jerry over at the Sport Card Forum and I've been wanting to get Jerry's auto for a while now.  Especially since he has a bunch of cards that would help fill some holes in my Brewers TTM Project and he's a damn quick signer.  I decided on his 1977 rookie card and his 1979 Topps both years I need an auto for.  I think Jerry's 1977 Topps card will take a permanent spot in the project and I'll replace the 1979 slot when I get another auto from that year.

Here are the TTM stats

Date Sent 9/16/13
Date Received 9/24/13
Address used
Jerry Augustine
2514 S 102nd St #190
Milwaukee, WI 53227

It's been awhile since I sent anything out or got anything back so I'm glad to add these two great autos to the collection.  Thanks Jerry!

3rd Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Teaser

That's right boys and girls. It's almost that time again.  And while I may have been gone all summer long, that doesn't mean I haven't been planning my annual World Series contest.  And I have no idea how many people are still reading blogs out there or better yet reading my blog, but we'll have a go.

Most of the divisions have been decided. A few of the wildcard spots are up for grabs still, but barring any one game playoffs for those spots I'm hoping by Sunday the 29th or before the playoff picture is set.

How will it work?  Same as always. Out of all the teams in the playoffs, I just want you to tell me who's going to win the World Series. Simple as that.  However since inevitably more than one person will pick the winning team, although not always, we have to have some tie breakers.  So I also want to tell me who the losing opponent will be, the number of games in the series and number of home runs hit total, that means by both teams, in the series. But more on that later.

What will you win? Well I have a few things to give away.  But first thing is this...

A sealed 1994 Pinnacle The Naturals box set.  These cards are pretty sweet with Pinnacle Dufex technology.  And all your favorite stars from 1994 are in here.

I ended up picking up one of these for myself, mainly for the Frank Thomas card and I've already sent a bunch of the cards out in trade packages, but I managed to find another one I've been keeping just for this contest.  I also have other things to add to the prize pile, more on that later on the sign up post.  There will also be a door prize again just for signing up and you can get an extra entry into that one for a contest pimp.

So with that said mark your calendar and stay tuned for the official sign up post.


cb out

2013 Topps Platinum Retail Three pack

I really have no idea why I like this year's Topps Platinum so much. I really wish I had the extra money to really put an effort into the set, but I don't.  That doesn't mean I won't and didn't pick up a few packs.  I wetted my appetite last time I was at Don' Sportcards and picked up a few hobby packs.  I got a few of the blue refractor parallels and a nice Aaron Rodgers for my Packers team set and this card.

A camo die-cut ribbon card with Arian Foster on it.  The odd thing about this card is the rookie card label on the front.  Are there two Arian Fosters that play for the Texans?  It's a great looking card all shiny and chromed out.   

It's interesting to me the way a few of Topp's football card sets tend to emulate the other card manufacturers out there.  Topps sets tend to have borders and while slightly different from year to year tend to have a certain style that is just Topps.  But Platinum is more of a card that you'd expect from Panini.  The base veteren cards are foil board, with the player cut out from the background and placed in front of some design.  Topps Prime Football reminds me of Upper Deck.  The cards are usually full bleed, meaning they have no borders on the edges and the lettering and logos tend not to interfer with the action on the photo.  That being said, I still can't figure out why this set has piqued my interest so much. I'm really not a fan of Panini cards.

Anyway, like I said the base veteren cards are on foil board and all the rookies are chromed out.

I couldn't reisist picking up a retail triple pack when I was out shopping this afternoon and for lack of better content to post about I figured I share it here on the Crack.

I was really interested to see what those Flame Refractor cards looked like.

Pack 1.  You get one rookie per pack. Meh.

Here's what the backs look like.

Pack 2.  Ohh a Mike Glennon rookie card.  I ended up pulling his auto from my Jumbo Topps box break. Maybe I'll have to become a Mike Glennon supercollector. Ah maybe not. How about that Anquan Boldin? He totally smoked my Packers in week 1.

Pack 3. Wow three very meh packs.  Alright lets see what these Flame Refractors look like.

Ah, well, rrrr, emmm, at least they're all rookies and all offensive position players. These are all chromed out as well, and honestly I was a little let down.  Of course the packaging doesn't say that the Flame refractors are all rookies, so I guess it's a bonus to get all rookies, or maybe not.

Overall I wouldn't mind putting this set together. At 150 base cards that probably wouldn't be too hard, but I promised myself to limit my set building this year and the final set I'm going to build is coming out middle of next month.  

And with the end of the regular baseball season coming to a close it's almost time for Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web III!!

Stay tuned for that.

cb out.

2013 Topps Football Jumbo Box break and review.

Hey I'm back! And what better way to celebrate than with a box break.  It's been a long summer and I'm really glad it's over.  I can count the weekends I've got to spend at home on one hand this summer.  I've still got lots of stuff to do around the house and of course just because I'm done with field work doesn't mean I'm done. I've at a mountain of paper work that needs to be put into our database, ect, ect.  Enough excuses. Lets just say I'm back.  I've got lots to say and post about, most of it way past timely or relevant, but you don't come here for breaking news.

So Topps flagship football hit late last month.  I ended up picking up a jumbo box at trade night last night, I didn't win the drawing, but it was nice to finally make a trade night.  First off there's not really anything super spectacular in this years set.  This year doesn't feature the insane rookie class of last year, but Topps does put out a nice set.  Lets have a look at the set in general and what I pulled shall we?

I really like this years base design.  And I'm really glad Topps has decided to keep using unique designs for it's baseball and football flagship products instead of using the same design like they have in years past.

I like the overall design.  The foil adds a nice accent to the card this year.  Here we have Defensive Rookie of the Year Luke Kuechly. 

I like the backs as well with the card number top center it makes for easy box collating.  There's lots of room for information and stats.  If I have to nitpick I would have liked to see the card number and player name a little larger on the back, but over all a nice design.

I also really like the landscape cards.  Topps could put a full set out like this and I wouldn't complain.

Alright lets look at this years inserts. This year Topps' theme is Legendary.  So most of the inserts are centered around the word Legend.

First we have the Gridiron Legends.

Out of all the Legendary inserts this is the one I like best and might even try to put together.  

Unfortunately most of these inserts had some kind of edge damage right out of the pack.

Next up we have Legends in the Making.  Sorry for all the Packer scans, but they are my team after all.

And lastly we have Future Legends.

I'm also guessing that Topps subliminal theme is shields.  Lots of shields.

And Topps keeping true to formula has a mini insert in this years set as well.  This year we get 59 mini's.

Not my favorite mini offering, but I'm a sucker for mini cards so yes I'll be attempting this set too.

A while back I can remember Topps asking collectors to email them ideas of what they would like to see in Topps products. It might have been specifically to Football  I can't remember and I can't remember if it was a post on Facebook or their defunct blog, but I remember sending in a list of things I would like to see return and one of those was the 1000 yard club cards of old.  Well look what we got this year.  Not only 1000 yard club cards, but 4000 yard club cards as well.  Which oddly enough was another one of my suggestions. Actually I suggested different levels to the Yardage club.

Yep another scan of Rodgers.  While I'm glad to see these card back in the set I'm a little disappointed in the actual results. I think these cards would have been great if they had been chromed out or lenticular or something other than plain glossy cards, and they would have looked so much better die-cut.  The border is really, well for lack of a better word, bad.  And the corners just kind of throw the whole card off.  I applaud Topps for the attempt, just wish it had been better executed.

The 1000 yard club cards off a little better and if these get carried over to Chrome Football, I'll bet they look really awesome.

Alright lets get onto the hits.

I haven't combed through my rookies to see if I have any variations, but there are quite a few in the set.  As a matter of fact Topps has a whole contest centered around them.  I'll pass.

First we have the parallels and lets start with the Golds.  You'll notice a theme in the hits that it was a very 49er and Cardinals centered. I got 3 gold Niner cards.

I also pulled my first ever Pink parallel.

At least it's a rookie.

I also snagged one black parallel as well.

Another defensive rookie.  The foil on the black cards is holofoil and looks really good with the black border.

I like the jumbo boxes because you are guaranteed two autos and a rookie patch card.

Or at least a auto redemption.

Ah a Cardinals hit.  Yep I already redeemed it.  I wanted to see what it looked like in person.  I just hope it takes slightly less time than my last auto redemption, which was my 2011 John McEnroe Allen and Ginter card that look well over a year to get to me.

Here's my Rookie Patch card.  It's a sweet looking card of a 6th round pick from the Cardinals.  Sigh.  I'll probably end up holding on to it for awhile to see if Andre does anything this year.

And wait here is my last hit.  

Mike Glennon, rookie quarterback for the Bucs.  Maybe if Freeman gets hurt Mike will get a chance, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I think we can all agree my box kind of sucked hit wise.  But they were all there and there are some nice hits possible in the set.  Overall I like the design of the base set.  I think Topps might want to think about moving away from a theme for the issue, but the inserts are ok and I do like the mini's.  I also like the fact that the Yard Club cards are back even if they weren't executed all that well.  Out of my Jumbo box and a random rack pack I got about 95% of the set.  I'm missing all but 20.  

I'm only going after the 59 mini's so I'm open to trading any of the inserts I got and the hits.  

I'd also like to apologize to the couple of people that expressed interest in a trade from my Series 2 Baseball box break I posted month and months ago.  I can't find your emails anywhere so if you see this and are still interested let me know.

And with that I'm done.  Good to be back.  

cb out