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.