Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web 5 - Pre-game warm up

Well here we go!  I'm still a little pissed that my Packers aren't in the big game, but the team has no one to blame but themselves.  I was torn on who I was going to root for.  Right after the NFC Championship I was sure I wasn't going to root for the Seahawks, but now with all the deflate-gate, I really hate the use of the term gate to mean a scandal, I'm not sure who I want to win.

But in all fairness to the Seahawks fans.  Enjoy the moment, you deserve it.  As bitter as I am that the Packers didn't make it. I can't say the Seahawks didn't try to let them have it and in the end the Seahawks won, although you'll have to admit they did have a little luck.

This year we had 12 players make it to the final round of the contest.  All I asked was which team was going to win and we can see by the number of people that pick the final two teams that we needed the tie breaks, we'll have to see how many of them after the game.  But that also means that of the 8 people who picked the Seahawks, 3 are already out, because the other 5 correctly picked the opponent, that might be the most surprising thing.  Of the 5 guys that picked the Patriots to win none picked the Seahawks as their opponent, so no matter who wins we'll have to go to the 2nd tie breaker, total points.

Here are the final 12 and their picks


Superduperman99 - New England over Dallas, 48 points, 2 field goals
Robert - New England over Green Bay, 61 points, 4 FGs.
Fuji - Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots, 57 points, 5 field goals
Josh D - Seattle over Denver - 45 points. 1 FG.
Corky - Seattle over Indianapolis- 49 points- 3 FGs
irondequoit36 - Seattle over Steelers 51pts , 4 FG's
Wilson - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 4 FGs - pimp
Red Cardboard - Seattle over New England. 40 points. 4 FG
Lonestarr - Seattle over New England ~ (27-21) 48 points ~ 2 FG
Bo - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 1 FG. - pimp
Jesus Hernandez - New England over Dallas, 56 points, 5 field goals
The Angels In Order - New England over Dallas, 30 points, 3 FG.

Alright I'll announce the winner and door prize winner after the game.

Thanks again everyone who played.

My favorite card of the year 2014.

I've ripped a lot of packs, sorted through thousands of cards, and flipped though the dime boxes this year, but one card that I pulled stood out. 

I'm not a Lions fan or a Megatron fan, but this card just kind of blew me away.  It epitomized what I think professional football is and how it should be played. And it also shows how good Topps photography is sometimes.

We can even date the card.  Thanks to Cary Williams sharing the card and looking back thought the 2013 Lions schedule I can say that this was the December 8th game played in Philly. The weather was bad which made for some great football and a great picture.

Oh and the Eagles won the game 34-20.

Anyone else have a favorite from last year?

2015 - State of the Blog Address

Well with 2015 well under way.  The Super Bowl just over the horizon and Spring Training only a couple month away it's that time again to access the collection and the blogs.

Well last year I really didn't accomplish much on the list with a few exceptions, but I look at the State of the Blog address not as a to-do list, but as a vehicle for looking back and ahead.  Pretty deep.

Last year was a big year for me. Not in the blogging or card collecting world, but in my personal life.  I welcomed my son into the world and that put a huge crimp in my collecting.  For one, about this time last year I cleaned out my man cave to make room for a nursery.  I also pretty much lost most of my disposable income to the diaper fund.  But for the almost 30 years that I consider myself a card collector I've never stopped being part of the hobby.  Sure there were times and situations that I wasn't as fully immersed as I had been, but I never considered myself out of the hobby.

So lets look forward to this year.

1. More TTMing.  I have a big list of former Brewers that sign that I'd like to send to.  And Spring Training is just around the corner and there are a ton of prospects I'd like to send too as well.  After my original Spring Training send off last year I really didn't do anymore mailings and that can be seen in my success rate.

2. Limit my box buying and the number of sets I put together.  This is a carry over from last year and to be honest I really did do a good job.  Near the end of the year I kept finding fantastic deals on boxes so I did buy a few, but my baseball box buying was very sparse. I don't even think I sprung for a box of Allen and Ginter and that's probably my favorite set of the year.  We'll see how much Topps baseball I buy, but it's not looking good.

3. Trade more.  I really, really mean it.  I was terrible last year, but you know work, baby, etc.

4. Work harder on my Packers and Brewers collections.  Having mothballed the majority of my collection hurt this one as I wasn't going after cards to fill holes because most of my collection was boxed up.

5.  Keep up posting on my other team and player-centric blogs.  I really like how my Robin Yount blog turned out this year.  I was able to feature great cards, do checklists and galleries of current releases, do general news, and publish more posts then all the previous years combined.

6. Draw more.  I don't know if most of you know this, but I do like to dabble in art.  And not to toot my own horn, but I'm not too shabby.  I even started an art blog.   To be fair that blog originally started off as a rant blog, but I decided to use it to post my art.  And I've been terrible about keeping that blog up as well.  Let me just say having this many blogs was probably a bad idea.  But my wife has challenged me to produce one to two quality pieces per month this year and she would try and get me my own showing.  That would be cool.  However my drawing space has been relegated to the kitchen table.

7. And finally lose 30 pounds.  Maybe I'll actually try this year.

Actually that's a pretty lame list, but I'm working on my 6th year of blogging here folks and I don't really plan to change to much.

Alright  cb out.

My Blue Sunday....and Monday

I'm a sad Packer fan today. It's not as bad as yesterday afternoon, but I'm still pretty shocked at the Packers implosion.  I can talk about the missed opportunities, the chain of worst case scenarios that kept coming true, but in the end it's still just a game and while I would have loved to see my Packers in the this year's Super Bowl in the end Seattle won fair and square.  I'd even say that the officiating was pretty decent and even heavy in Green Bay's favor.  No I won't be rooting for them this year.

Anyway I figured I post a quick and dirty watercolor I did years ago.  I'm not sure if I painted this in 2005 or 2004. I ended up putting a 2005 date on it, but I do know I painted it while out in a field camp one fall.  I was in the middle of nowhere, but we strung an antennae and could get Fairbanks sports radio in camp, so on Sundays we would huddle around the radio and listen to football.  I actually got to listen to a Packer game out there and if you can't tell they lost.

Just seemed fitting to post.

5th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Conference Championship Round-up

Wow I'm still a little in shock from the Green Bay - Seattle game.  And it would have been nice if the Colts had shown up.

Anyways lets see who's going to the final round.


Superduperman99 - New England over Dallas, 48 points, 2 field goals
Robert - New England over Green Bay, 61 points, 4 FGs.
Tony L. - Green Bay over Pittsburgh, 47 points, 4 FGs.
Fuji - Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots, 57 points, 5 field goals
Josh D - Seattle over Denver - 45 points. 1 FG.
Corky - Seattle over Indianapolis- 49 points- 3 FGs
irondequoit36 - Seattle over Steelers 51pts , 4 FG's
Wilson - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 4 FGs - pimp
The Junior Junkie - Colts over Cowboys, 47 points, 5 field goals.
Matthew Scott - Green Bay over Patriots. 52 pts..1 field goal
Red Cardboard - Seattle over New England. 40 points. 4 FG
Lonestarr - Seattle over New England ~ (27-21) 48 points ~ 2 FG
DaddyMike - Packers over Patriots, 55 points, 2 field goals
Bo - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 1 FG. - pimp
David - Packers over Steelers, 34 points, 4 field goals.
Keith G - Green Bay over New England 60 points 3 field goals
Milwaukee Southpaw - Green Bay over Denver, 52 points, 4 field goals.
Alex Markle - Colts over Cowboys, 41 points, 2 field goals
Jesus Hernandez - New England over Dallas, 56 points, 5 field goals
The Angels In Order - New England over Dallas, 30 points, 3 FG.

We had 12 players make it to the Super Bowl round.  I think that might be a record.  And if Seattle pulls this out and wins again we'll have 5 people who correctly picked the match-up.

While I did only ask for the winner the first tie breaker,  the opponent does rank highest, so that means Josh D, Corky, and Irondequoit36 are essentially out.  The remaining 5 will have to go to total points.

That being said noone who picked the Pats correctly picked them to be match up against Seattle so if they win we'll have to move to total points too.  No worries about going over, closest wins up or down.  And if we have a tie there we'll go to the field goals.  And if for some reason we get a tie there as well. Well I guess I just have to have random.com decide.  I don't think we've ever had to go to the final tie breaker so I think we're safe.

Alright I won't bug you anymore with the contest till after the Super Bowl and I announce the winners.

cb out.

5th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web Conference Championship pregame

I know this is probably a few days early, but since I have plans this weekend and I will be glued to my TV on Sunday I thought I'd put this out now.  

Going into the Conference Championships we still have 21 players.  Could get real interesting and we will have someone win outright.  All 4 final teams were picked, so we'll probably have to go to at least one tie breaker or two!  But that's what they're there for.

I also finally dug out the rest of the prizes, or at least some of them.

Besides the lot of 1980 Stop N' Go cards the winner will receive the three cards below.

I was lucky enough to find some really cheap hobby boxes of Topps Prime, one of my favorite football releases and I got some pretty decent hits.  That being said I figure I'd throw in a sweet swatch of the most likely Offensive Rookie of the Year, O'dell Beckman Jr.  I also threw in a sweet quad relic auto of Zack Mettenberger.  Will Zach permanently replace Jake Locker next year?  Who knows.  And somewhere I picked up this sweet Reggie Wayne manupatch camo ribbon card. I might have pulled it from a blaster box or gotten it from somewhere else, I can't remember.

I also picked up a large lot of cheap 70's football cards and I'll dig through those and throw in a bunch of your favorite team and any random cards I have laying around.

I also dug out some sweet rookie swatches from last years Topps Strata for the Door prize plus some bonus cards of your favorite team.

Alright here are those that made it through.  I'll have an update post after the games on Sunday.

Superduperman99 - New England over Dallas, 48 points, 2 field goals

Robert - New England over Green Bay, 61 points, 4 FGs. 

Tony L. - Green Bay over Pittsburgh, 47 points, 4 FGs.

Fuji - Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots, 57 points, 5 field goals

Josh D - Seattle over Denver - 45 points. 1 FG.

Corky - Seattle over Indianapolis- 49 points- 3 FGs

irondequoit36 - Seattle over Steelers 51pts , 4 FG's

Wilson - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 4 FGs - pimp

The Junior Junkie - Colts over Cowboys, 47 points, 5 field goals.

Matthew Scott - Green Bay over Patriots. 52 pts..1 field goal

Red Cardboard - Seattle over New England. 40 points. 4 FG

Lonestarr - Seattle over New England ~ (27-21) 48 points ~ 2 FG

DaddyMike - Packers over Patriots, 55 points, 2 field goals

Bo - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 1 FG. - pimp

David - Packers over Steelers, 34 points, 4 field goals.

RAZ - Denver over Green Bay, 45 points, 5 FG

Keith G - Green Bay over New England 60 points 3 field goals

Milwaukee Southpaw - Green Bay over Denver, 52 points, 4 field goals.

Alex Markle - Colts over Cowboys, 41 points, 2 field goals

Jesus Hernandez - New England over Dallas, 56 points, 5 field goals

The Angels In Order - New England over Dallas, 30 points, 3 FG.

2014 The Year in Review

I figured I'd start the new year with a look back at my State of the Blog address from last year and the goals I put out to see how well I did.

If you're like me and don't remember what I wrote you can see the full post here.

I have to say off the bat I did terrible keeping to my collecting resolutions.

My first goal was to buy less unopened product and to just buy complete sets.  Well that didn't happen.  I managed to put together a full Series 1, and I'm still working on Series 2, Update, Topps Football, Allen and Ginter and I also am attempting Topps Prime, because I found some hobby boxes cheap.  And for some reason I started putting together the Donruss set, but never bothered opening any Series 2.

2.  Add some of the 1909-1911 T206 Brewers cards to my collection.  My actual goal was to try and add just one.  And I failed.  I haven't acquired any.

3. Post more.  Well seeing as this year I posted the fewest times since I started blogging I can say this was a huge fail.  I have lots of good excuses.  Work, baby, lack of cool products to blog about, but in the end I just didn't do it.

4. Stay the course.  I don't know what kind of goal this was, but it was pretty easy.  I kept on doing what I was doing, although just not a lot of it.  We saw a few great bloggers hang up their keyboards last year and I'm just glad to say I'm still here for now.

5. Put together a Topps sampler album.  This is still something I really want to do, I just never got around to it.  I lost all my collecting space when my son was born so what little space I've been able to keep in the house is pretty full, but I will probably carry this one over for this year.

6. Bring my total Robin Yount collection up over 1000 items.  Finally something I can hold my head high for.  The fact that it took me almost all year to do and that Robin had almost 300 new cards issued for him this year is besides the point.  I was able to jump over 1000 items and I'm not stopping.

7. Lose 30 pounds.  Ha that didn't happen, but I didn't gain 30 pounds either, so I'm even.

All in all I think I did pretty terrible with my goals, 2 out of 7 is less than 30%, but such is life.

5th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web Wildcard and Divisional Playoff update!

I meant to get a Wild Card update out before this weekend, but that didn't happen and to be honest we didn't lose too many that first round anyways so I figured I'd combine the last two weekends into one update.

So we've lost about half our field so far.  Not too many upsets besides Dallas beating the Lions and maybe the Colts spanking the Broncos.

Here are all the picks, if your names in red your out.  

Superduperman99 - New England over Dallas, 48 points, 2 field goals

Adam Kaningher - Broncos over Cowboys, 44 points, 2 FGs

Robert - New England over Green Bay, 61 points, 4 FGs. 

Tony L. - Green Bay over Pittsburgh, 47 points, 4 FGs.

Play at the Plate - Dallas over New England. 48 points 2 field goals. - pimp

Fuji - Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots, 57 points, 5 field goals

Josh D - Seattle over Denver - 45 points. 1 FG.

Corky - Seattle over Indianapolis- 49 points- 3 FGs

Greg Zakwin - Dallas over Pittsburgh, 49 points, 3 field goals. - pimp

shanepatrickwrites - Bengals over Cowboys in 6. 38 points 3 field goals.

irondequoit36 - Seattle over Steelers 51pts , 4 FG's

Wilson - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 4 FGs - pimp

Al Kawamoto - Dallas over New England 48 pts 5 fg

The Junior Junkie - Colts over Cowboys, 47 points, 5 field goals.

Matthew Scott - Green Bay over Patriots. 52 pts..1 field goal

JediJeff - Arizona over Cincinnati. 24 points. 2 FG.

Red Cardboard - Seattle over New England. 40 points. 4 FG

The Lost Collector - Denver over Seattle - 38 points - 1 FG

Nachos Grande - Pittsburgh over Seattle: 27-17. 3 FG

Dion's IP Autos only - Denver Over Green Bay, 55 points (31-24), 2 FG's - pimp

Daniel Wilson - Cardinals over Patriots - 37 points - 3 FG

Lonestarr - Seattle over New England ~ (27-21) 48 points ~ 2 FG

defgav - Cowboys over Colts, 44 points, 3 FGs - pimp

DaddyMike - Packers over Patriots, 55 points, 2 field goals

Bo - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 1 FG. - pimp

hiflew - Broncos over Cowboys, 61 points, 3 FGs.

David - Packers over Steelers, 34 points, 4 field goals

Caitlin Jennings - Dallas over Baltimore 49 points, 3 field goals.

RAZ - Denver over Green Bay, 45 points, 5 FG

Keith G - Green Bay over New England 60 points 3 field goals

Milwaukee Southpaw - Green Bay over Denver, 52 points, 4 field goals

Richard Nebe Jr. - Dallas over Pittsburgh, 56 points, 4 field goals - pimp

CaptKirk42 - Baltimore over Seattle, 68 points, 4 field goals.

Alex Markle - Colts over Cowboys, 41 points, 2 field goals

SpastikMooss - Broncos over Seahawks, 62 points, 5 field goals.

Need More Cardboard - Cowboys over Colts, 58 points, 4 field goals

Jesus Hernandez - New England over Dallas, 56 points, 5 field goals

Pirates Treasure Room - Pittsburgh over Dallas. 44 points.3 field goals

The Angels In Order - New England over Dallas, 30 points, 3 FG.

Shane Kroeker - Pittsburgh over Seattle, 30 points, 3 FG

I also dug out one of the prizes for winning.  These might look old Kellogg's cards, but they are really 1980 Stop 'N Go 3D Cards.  I have a lot of about 25 I picked up to give away. 

Alrighty I'll be posting more of the prize pool later.  Good luck to those that remain.  

I'll see your oddball set and raise you....

Strike Force!!

I picked this up at Don's not too long ago.  Don is still going through a huge collection from a friend you use to own a card shop in the 90's and I love stopping in and seeing what oddball stuff pops up.

When I saw this I new it was coming home with me.  What is Strike Force?  Why it's the first trading card set of a women's professional sport!  Says so right on the back of the box.  Strike Force is a 64 card box set featuring all the stars of the LPBT, that's the  Ladies Pro Bowler Tour.

I was surprised to see that the Trading Card Database didn't have this gem already listed, so I added it and the checklist.  Here's the checklist card if your looking for someone in particular.

It's not surprising this set was made.  The nineties were a card bonanza and everyone threw their hat in the ring.  I also remember when pro bowling was on TV pretty regularly.  The best thing about the set is that the original price tag was still on it.  This set was marked for $12.  I paid significantly less to add this to my oddball museum

Over all the design is pretty decent.  The photography leaves a little to be desired, but bowling alleys really weren't made for quality photo taking. I won't make you suffer though all 64 cards, but I've picked out some good representative one's for you.

 The backs are chalked full of information.  And there are a bunch of sub sets within the set.  Like the Marion Ladewig HOF card.

 There are also clearly marked rookie cards.  Way before  it's time.  Oh man look at the hair!

 Here's Lisa Wagner's Bowler of the Decade card.

 And Dana Miller-Mackie's US Open Champion card.

Man this is great oddball set.  I'd love to know if anyone else has found anything odder out there.

5th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Official entries just a bit late

Holy crap we had another great turn out.  By my count we have exactly 40 entries competing for some great prizes that I'll post about later. I'm a little behind. I've been away visiting some family, but I'm back so lets set this contest up right and get everyone's official entry posted here.

Here are everyone's entries copied from the official entry page.  If you pimped the contest you have a pimp by your entry and will recieve two entries into the door prize drawing.

We already know a few of you guys are out with Wild Card weekend being over and I'll have an update post later today when my son goes down for his nap

Superduperman99 - New England over Dallas, 48 points, 2 field goals

Adam Kaningher - Broncos over Cowboys, 44 points, 2 FGs

Robert - New England over Green Bay, 61 points, 4 FGs. 

Tony L. - Green Bay over Pittsburgh, 47 points, 4 FGs.

Play at the Plate - Dallas over New England. 48 points 2 field goals. - pimp

Fuji - Seattle Seahawks over New England Patriots, 57 points, 5 field goals

Josh D - Seattle over Denver - 45 points. 1 FG.

Corky - Seattle over Indianapolis- 49 points- 3 FGs

Greg Zakwin - Dallas over Pittsburgh, 49 points, 3 field goals. - pimp

shanepatrickwrites - Bengals over Cowboys in 6. 38 points 3 field goals.

irondequoit36 - Seattle over Steelers 51pts , 4 FG's

Wilson - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 4 FGs - pimp

Al Kawamoto - Dallas over New England 48 pts 5 fg

The Junior Junkie - Colts over Cowboys, 47 points, 5 field goals.

Matthew Scott - Green Bay over Patriots. 52 pts..1 field goal

JediJeff - Arizona over Cincinnati. 24 points. 2 FG.

Red Cardboard - Seattle over New England. 40 points. 4 FG

The Lost Collector - Denver over Seattle - 38 points - 1 FG

Nachos Grande - Pittsburgh over Seattle: 27-17. 3 FG

Dion's IP Autos only - Denver Over Green Bay, 55 points (31-24), 2 FG's - pimp

Daniel Wilson - Cardinals over Patriots - 37 points - 3 FG

Lonestarr - Seattle over New England ~ (27-21) 48 points ~ 2 FG

defgav - Cowboys over Colts, 44 points, 3 FGs - pimp

DaddyMike - Packers over patriots, 55 points, 2 field goals

Bo - Seattle over New England, 45 points, 1 FG. - pimp

hiflew - Broncos over Cowboys, 61 points, 3 FGs.

David - Packers over Steelers, 34 points, 4 field goals

Caitlin Jennings - Dallas over Baltimore 49 points, 3 field goals.

RAZ - Denver over Green Bay, 45 points, 5 FG

Keith G - Green Bay over New England 60 points 3 field goals

Milwaukee Southpaw - Green Bay over Denver, 52 points, 4 field goals

Richard Nebe Jr. - Dallas over Pittsburgh, 56 points, 4 field goals - pimp

CaptKirk42 - Baltimore over Seattle, 68 points, 4 field goals.

Alex Markle - Colts over Cowboys, 41 points, 2 field goals

SpastikMooss - Broncos over Seahawks, 62 points, 5 field goals.

Need More Cardboard - Cowboys over Colts, 58 points, 4 field goals

Jesus Hernandez - New England over Dallas, 56 points, 5 field goals

Pirates Treasure Room - Pittsburgh over Dallas. 44 points.3 field goals

The Angels In Order - New England over Dallas, 30 points, 3 FG.

Shane Kroeker - Pittsburgh over Seattle, 30 points, 3 FG

Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web V!! Last chance reminder I mean it!!

Alright boys and girls playoffs start tomorrow at 12:30 my time 4:30 est. So you have until noon my time to get your picks in and pimp.  Don't bother leaving a comment here it won't count.  Go HERE.

Alright good luck and see you all on the flip side.

Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web 5 second reminder

You've got a couple days left to enter and pimp, so go HERE to put in your official entry.