The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame

RIP Dick Trickle

2013-05-16T17:01:00.000-04:00

Sad day for the website, and racing fans of any kind. Trickle was a good dude.

http://deadspin.com/former-nascar-driver-dick-trickle-dead-in-apparent-suic-507665636

Betting on the winner of this season’s NBA

2013-04-25T16:32:00.002-04:00

When it comes to betting on the winners of lengthy sports events like the NBA season, it can often be better to wait until the latter stages of the season before placing a bet, because that way you will have a clear idea about the form of the teams going into the crucial pressure stages of the season. At the moment, this season’s NBA is nearing the end of the regular season (due to finish in around a month), and the best eight sides from the Eastern and Western Conferences will be going into the play-offs for the title. Throw in the fact that the trade deadline has passed, and you have a good time to think about making your bet.

If you want to bet on the hot favorites there is no question that the Miami Heat are strongly favored for both the Eastern Conference and the NBA title. They are comfortably on top of their Conference, and are rated 11/8 at many sports books – although the best odds you can get on them are 6/4. Surprisingly perhaps, the first placed team in the Western Conference – San Antonio Spurs – are only third favorites for the NBA; although at 13/2, they could prove a tempting bet for many. The team behind them in that Conference, Oklahoma City Thunder will also be a popular bet for many, especially at 7/2.

Gambling has always been synonymous with sports, and now with the internet at your disposal, it is very easy to research odds and form. This allows you more confidence when placing your bets, however the boom of the online gambling industry brings other advantages as well, for example in the form of alternatives to sports betting at online casinos. In order to fill in the gaps during the off season, these casinos have developed sports themed slots games to cater for the sports audience.

A good example for basketball fans is the Slam Dunk basketball casino game, which attracts a lot of interest at online casino sites like http://www.ipadcasino.co.nz. Again it is not the only basketball-themed casino game available, but the combination of great bonus games – such as the Slam Dunk and Super bonus games – and the reel icons of players, basketball shoes, cheerleaders and a number 23 shirt like the one worn by the legendary Michael Jordan, attract a lot of fans of the game.

Still Alive, Still Using Listia, Here's a Neat Example!

2013-04-22T22:30:00.002-04:00

So I don't know if a lot of the rest of the blogosphere still uses Listia, but I still dabble in it from time to time. The prices seem way higher these days, but every now and then I still find a cool deal or something I just can't pass up. This card is a case of the latter - a nifty little three color patch of Duce Staley:

As you all may well know, I used to collect Staley. I've also always been fond of the 2001 Pacific Atomic set, as it has some beautiful patches (even if early 00's Pacific has some questionable authenticity rumors flying around it). So this card was a no brainer. I've been buying and bidding mostly on trade bait recently, so it was nice to grab something that might stick around a little while!

Seneca UPGRADE (Beyonce Style)

2013-03-30T12:29:00.002-04:00

Because whenever I think of the word upgrade, I think of that Beyonce DirectTV commercial from a while back. Man the associations that brains make are weird...

Anyway, to fund my Seneca LCM 1/1 quest, I've been buying up the occasional lot for resale, hoping to make money where others missed an opportunity. One way I found that works pretty well is to search Ebay title and description for certain names. There's only so much you can list in a title, and a lot of people make up for that by writing detailed descriptions, but the default Ebay search only searches the title. If you turn on title and description searching though, your search term goes a lot further and finds you gems with bad titles from time to time.

I search Seneca Wallace pretty much every day, and title and description recently found me a jersey lot where I already had the Seneca but there were about 20 cards total and the seller was only asking $4 shipped. I couldn't pass that up and I made the purchase to resell the whole lot (including the Seneca), and now a while later I can happily say I successfully flipped the other cards for profit. But the best part of the package was something that I didn't notice from the auction scan - this Seneca was actually a three color patch instead of the one color jersey I was expecting! Here's what it looks like:

A bit hard to tell the third color, but the bottom right corner has some solid blue from a jersey number and then the very bottom corner has some jersey number white showing. I've seen patches in 2003 Leaf Rookies and Stars /550 before but they're pretty darn rare, so it was nice to pick this one up as an upgrade! Well worth the $4 all by itself!

Here's the back:

Not a bad little back, and I always love how detailed the Leaf jersey cards were. And I like the way they leave a spot for the serial number - nice touch!

The State of Left Handed QB's as we approach the 2013 Draft

2013-03-29T20:39:00.000-04:00

A little earlier today I edited my left handed QB post to check for possible 2013 additions to the list, and I then saw a comment posted on the thread asking how the 2013 draft would treat my list. Crazy timing that I just happen to update on the same day that someone checks the list, so I figured I'd mention that status of lefties in a post here. First a quick recap of last year's group, then a mention of how the draft and retirements affect this year's numbers. Finally I'll rank the current lefties chance of seeing playing time from best to worst, just to show how tricky it is for lefties to make it in the game today.

Last year, the total numbers of left handed QB's who had ever played in the NFL was 40, and there were technically seven left handed quarterbacks. They were Michael Vick (Eagles), Matt Leinart (Raiders), Tim Tebow (Jets), Kellen Moore (Lions), Sean Canfield (Saints), Tyler Palko (free agent), and Mark Brunell (free agent).

This year's draft prospects include 0 left handed QB's, so there will be no new fellows added to the list unless Armanti Edwards switches positions and sees extensive time at QB. The number of active lefties also reduces to seven, with two QB's leaving the ranks and one re-joining. Mark Brunell is basically retired, so he's gone, and Tyler Palko officially took a job outside of the NFL (per his LinkedIn account) so he's no longer listed as active.. The rejoiner is former WVU QB Pat White, who is back around the NFL trying to get signed by a team. So six active as of today's date. When I say active though, I don't mean very active, since only a few lefties are even truly rostered. Here's how the current seven lefties look today:

1. Michael Vick, Eagles
Last year Vick was Philly's starter, but injuries and ineffectiveness ended with Nick Foles seeing a lot of action, and when Vick got the week 17 start due to a Folk injury, many people viewed it as Vick's showcase for QB openings after the season. Well the season ended and the Eagles fired Andy Reid, but they kept Vick around for better or worse. The Eagles already had Vick, Foles, and Trent Edwards on the team, and have since brought in former Steelers backup Dennis Dixon and former AFL/UFL QB G.J. Kinne since Chip Kelly became coach. Odds are great that Vick makes the team and he still has a nice chance to start, but Vick's handle on an Eagles QB job are certainly more tenuous than they were a year or two back.

2. Kellen Moore, Lions
Moore received a lot of fanfare during his college days, but he went undrafted in 2012 anyway. The Lions quickly scooped him up and kept him on the roster as their third QB behind Matt Stafford and veteran backup Shaun Hill. Moore will likely see a similar situation this next year unless the Lions sign a different QB to push Stafford/Hill.

3. Tim Tebow, Jets
If you looked up the word polarizing in the dictionary in the year ago, you saw a picture of Tim Tebow. Those days seem long ago though, as Tebow became one of many players affected by the putrid Jets last year, looking bad when he did play (especially on punt coverage which was a confusing choice to begin with) and looking bad when he didn't play since the Jets coaches didn't even trust him enough to give him the start over Greg McElroy once the Sanchize went down. This offseason Tebow is surrounded by rumors, from moving teams (the Jaguars are a firm out) to moving leagues, but it's hard to say whether any of those things are really true. With David Garrard signed, McElroy still rostered, and Sanchez not likely to be cut given his salary, something's got to give, so if Tebow isn't traded he will likely be cut and we'll see if another team (the Patriots have been rumored as a good fit) takes a chance on him,

4. Matt Leinart, FA
Matt Leinart's #4 ranking shows how little lefty QB's affect the current NFL, since only the top three are even rostered. Leinart spent last season with the Oakland Raiders, playing in two late season games and putting up pretty poor stats. That said, it's hard to hate on the guy since he didn't start either of those games. Leinart looked okay in his very brief stint with the Texans in 2011, but he hasn't seen truly meaningful game action since 2007, as he only has 16 games played (with two starts) over the past five seasons.

5. Pat White, FA
Pat White has had a crazy past few years, going from the Dolphins roster in 2009 to being cut, then to playing for the Kansas City Royals minor league team before retiring. He then signed to play in the UFL but was cut before the season started in 2011. He sat out all last year but now, possibly due to the success of guys like RG3 and Russell Wilson, White is trying to make NFL rosters once again. The 49ers and Giants have both already had a look and White projects nicely as a project 3rd QB who can also act as a Russell Wilson or RG3 clone in team practices before games against those teams. Tough to tell if White could do much more than that, but it's still a skill of value so there's a decent chance he'll see an NFL roster for the first time in 4 years.

6. Sean Canfield, FA
Canfield was cut by the Saints last August, as they elected to go with a two QB system (Drew Brees and Chase Daniel) rather than keeping Canfield. Brees had a typical season and Daniel didn't see much action, which prompted the Saints to let Daniel go this offseason. One wonders if they could bring back Canfield as a backup since he presumably knows the Saints offense better than your typical QB, but Canfield could just as easily sit another year out and head the way of an early retirement.

UPDATE: Pat White has since signed with the Redskins as their QB3. I'd say that puts him at least at #3 on this list, if not #2. From out of the league to the second or third best lefty in the course of an offseason...so is the life of a lefty.

The only word that describes this is unreal...Best TTM Auto ever

2013-03-21T20:04:00.005-04:00

This blog, and my current venture into card collecting, probably wouldn't have started if not for my love of awesome names. As a plain named member of society, I've always been a fan of sports stars whose names were a tad bit unusual. I can't remember when my fascination truly started, but I do remember the first name that really made me go wow...that's a name. It came from NFL 2K for the Sega Dreamcast...I was 13.

Yes NFL2K, a new breed of football game that got me hooked, mostly because my brothers had the N64 and PS in their rooms and I was left with the "crappy" system (which has looked better as time has gone by, with solid sports titles, Crazy Taxi, Sega Marine Fishing, and other titles to its credit). I played a lot of seasons of this game, and it's the first game where I really went into full blast build-your-own-team-via-free-agency-and-trades mode. And the one guy that always made my team was a speedy backup defensive back for the Lions known as Kywin Supernaw.

I don't know if it was his ratings or the name that originally stuck out, but I thought his name was pretty cool and from them on I was a fan (in the same way I became a video game fan of other guys like Brad Banks, Seneca, Tyronn Lue, and others). So I followed his career casually until he retired, and then promptly forgot about him like NFL2K and the Dreamcast itself. But the love of awesome names never died.

Well years later I start collecting goofy names and whatnot, and I spent a lot of time looking for cards of my video game stars of old. Many had cards but a few didn't, including Mr. Supernaw, and a few years ago I remedied that by trading some vintage to Condition: Poor in return for him making me some custom cards. They all came out great and Supernaw finally had a card (along with some other awesomely named peers), and all was well.

So things were already awesome, but someone mentioned (either here or on Blowout) how it would be cool to someday get some of these signed ttm (or otherwise). I agreed, FANTASTIC idea, but there guys didn't even have cards, let alone a substantial fan following...outside of emailing teams how would I ever contact them? So I threw that idea in the "could be nice someday" pile and went about my collecting life.

Well about a month ago on Blowout, some guy messaged me saying he was my thing about Kywin Supernaw (I think I posted the custom set on there or something). Said he actually went to school with Kywin, and would love to try to put me in touch if a friend of his knew him or anything. I said cool and we became Facebook friends so I could watch his all call to friends on Facebook asking for help. A few guys reminisced about the old times, and another mentioned that Kywin was on another very popular social networking site and that I could maybe contact him through that. Seemed crazy but worth a shot, so I sent a friend request, expecting to be ignored. But nope, a few days later we were friends. CRAZY!

I upped the ante...messaged him saying something like hey thanks, great to be friends with a fellow IU alum, followed your career a bit, yada yada. He said something like "np, thanks." Seemed like I hadn't totally weirded him out (because after all this whole ttm thing can get pretty dang weird), so I messaged him a few days later with the ultimate request - if I sent him my custom card in the mail with postage paid would he return it signed? Again expected an ignore or a weirded out no, but instead got a "sure, np" and an address. SUCCESS!

I mailed it off the next day, and immediately regretted not sending a writing implement. After all, the pic for the custom is pretty busy, and different colors would clash more with the background. All that worry went away when I saw my own handwriting in the mailbox about 6 days later. And even though the sig does blend a bit with the background in pictures/scans, it actually looks very awesome in person (feel free to zoom if you can):

Pretty sweet piece if you ask me, and the only Kywin Supernaw autograph I've ever seen (certainly only on card since I have his only card), so it'll always hold a pretty special place in my collection. I was definitely surprised by his generosity and kindness in agreeing to the auto instead of shooing me like the psycho card collector I probably looked like. Maybe someday I'll try to track down the other guys from my custom Slanko set, but for now I'm just excited to have an autograph from the guy who started it all - thanks Kywin (and Blowout guy for pointing me in his direction, and Sean for making the card)!

My quest to flip for the Holy Grail (Seneca's LCM Mirror Black 1/1)

2013-03-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

I've been doing this a little while on the Blowout Forums, and figured I should probably mention it here too. But after seeing a fellow forum member have some decent success, I decided to try and go for the holy grail of Seneca Wallace cards - his 2003 Mirror Black 1/1 - by participating in the red paperclip idea.

I'm sure a lot of you have heard of the idea before - start with a red paperclip, trade up until you have something awesome (a house, a car, etc.). I've seen people try it with cards before by simply trading, but a guy on the forum added some intrigue to the whole idea for me by including selling and flipping. So I figured I would do the same. Took all my trade bait I had lying around, listed it all on the site, and went to work. I've also used Ebay and Listia to both pick up and sell stuff, and so far it's gone pretty well! I started with $5 paypal, 18,825 Listia credits, and a long list of okay cards. I now have $56.47 paypal, 16,000 Listia credits, and a much shorter (but much stronger) list of trade bait. So I think I've done well!

I thought I'd open up this idea to the blog world, in case anyone wanted to help out at all by buying/trading/etc. So if you're interested, please let me know (and feel free to look at my trade bait, which is listed over to the right in my sidebar). I also figured I should list the rules I started with, so here they are:

1. I started with $5.00 additional to help start with shipping costs. After that, no money can be added (i.e. stuff that isn't part of a sale or trade)

2. Trading and selling is allowed. If I can trade up, I will. If I can sell the cards, I will. If I need to buy more cards to use for resell, I'll do that too. All money and cards will be tracked and recorded in this thread.

3. I will use multiple trading forums, eBay, and local card shops to attempt this. I will also personally add Listia to my list here - it's a site where you get stuff for credits and any cards I pick up there (all shipped for free) will be added to my trade bait. I start with 18,825 Listia credits.

4. Multiple transactions can happen at the same time.

5. No buying/Selling/trading can be done in this post. If you're interested in a card please email me.

IceCats Collection...COMPLETE!

2013-03-15T21:24:00.003-04:00

Took much longer than I initially imagined, but I now officially have a card to represent all 32 guys who played for the 1997-98 Worcester Ice Cats (Technically 31 since I made the Dennis Wright card). Many of the guys had pretty successful careers and so I could find their cards fairly easily, but Allan Sirois ended up being almost impossible to find, to the point that even when I found him I couldn't find him.

I had an Ebay saved search on for Allan Sirois, meaning if a card of his ever popped up I would win it. Well I never got any searches to pop up since no one lists his cards, and so I would occasionally (every few weeks) google his cards instead (he only has like five so it was a short task). I did this a few weeks ago and found that somehow, someway, my saved search had MISSED A SIROIS! And it ended for only about $3...oh no!

But there was a silver lining...it ended with no bids. So I messaged the seller, and luckily he was eager to relist and sell me the Sirois. He added a BIN for like $1 more and I happily hit it. Who wouldn't want to complete a set several years in the making for just $1 more?

To celebrate, I figured I'd post all the cards at once. So here goes...enjoy!

Lubos Bartecko
Frederic Cassivi

Ivan Ciernik

Derek Diener

Rory Fitzpatrick

Erich Goldmann

Michal Handzus

Justin Hocking

Terry Hollinger

Brent Johnson (possibly still my favorite given the Ice Cat helmet on the card)

Billy-Jay (or B.J.) Johnston

Chris Kenady
Bob Lachance

Reed Low

Mike Maneluk

Jamal Mayers

Samy Nasreddine

Nick Naumenko

Ricard Persson

Robert Petrovicky

Mike Prokopec

Stephane Roy
Bryce Salvador

Allan Sirois

Matt Smith
Shayne Toporowski

Terry Virtue
Tyler Willis Dennis Wright (the custom card)

Libor Zabransky

Jazon Zent

Scratch the Mascot

And there you have it. One major collecting milestone out of the way...maybe someday I'll find a cool way to showcase these alongside my team signed shirt!

ALLAN SIROIS IS HERE!

2013-03-09T20:32:00.001-05:00

Maybe one reader will understand the significance of that name, but basically that feeling when you complete some classic vintage set with lots of rare high numbers of obscure guys? Yeah, I've got it tonight.

Post about it to come...some time. Life is busy at the moment and keeping me from blogging. But Allan Sirois...remember the name...

GSNHOF For Sale/Trade Bait

2013-02-28T21:35:00.004-05:00

Currently Available

Sealed Packs:
1990 Notre Dame Collegiate Collection
1990 TCMA AAA Baseball
1990-91 ProSet Soccer
1991 Fleer Basketball

Auto and Patch/Jerseys:
2011 Absolute Star Gazing #29 Jordan Todman (4 color, 01/25)
2011 Absolute RPM #211 Titus Young (2 blue jerseys and a football, 195/299)
2011 Gold Standard #280 Clyde Gates (3 color, 251/525)

Patches/Jerseys:
2008 Limited Prime Jersey #2 Rashard Mendenhall (2 color, 09/10)
2004 Topps Pristine Fantasy Favorites Refractor #FF-JT Jason Terry (20/25)
2012 Panini Momentum Rookie Salute #84 Mohamed Sanu 3 color patch (03/49)
2011 Limited Team Trademarks #13 Mike Thomas (3 color, 07/50)
2009 Press Pass Game Used Jersey Brandon Gibson two color patch (38/99)
2005 Leaf Rookies and Stars Freshman Orientation #FO-15 Kyle Orton (2 color, 011/100)
2012 Certified Immortals #206 Doug Williams (144/199)
2010 Certified Legend #141 Merlin Olsen (177/199)
2002 Titanium Private Stock #123 La'Roi Glover (140/200)
2012 Topps Strata #RR-KW Kendall Wright (150/296)
2011 Panini Threads #9 Sam Bradford (285/299)
2012 Gridiron Football Rookie Gridiron Kings #25 Mohamed Sanu (086/299)
2010 Topps Unrivaled #UVR-WW Wes Welker (171/349)
2011 Topps Prime Dual Combo Relics #DCR-GD A.J. Green and Andy Dalton (024/398)
2000 Fleer Genuine Coverage #16 Reuben Droughns (three color jersey)
2001 Pacific Private Stock #30 Brandon Bennett (two color jersey)
2001 Titanium Post Season #19 Chad Johnson
2002 Fleer Boxscore Press Clippings Jerome Bettis
2003 SP Authentic Single Swatch #JC-PH Priest Holmes
2003-04 Fleer EX Behind the Numbers #CB-BTNGU Caron Butler two color jersey (majorly creased around the jersey window)
2006 SPX Winning Materials#WMR-WA Leon Washington (x7)
2007 Bowman Sterling Pro Bowl Jersey #BSVR-MB Marc Bulger (two color jersey)
2007 Sweet Spot #SS-TG Ted Ginn Jr. (x4)
2007 Upper Deck Rookie Jersey #UDRJ-TG Ted Ginn Jr. (x3)

Autographs:
2007 Limited #342 Paul Posluszky (03/10)
2012 Crown Royale Purple Auto Dan Herron (22/25)
2012 Topps Strata #RA-JK Jermaine Kearse (11/50)
2006 SP Authentic #SP-JM John McCargo
2011 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #ST-TY Titus Young
2011 Topps Chrome #111 Leonard Hankerson
2011 Topps Chrome #181 Jamie Harper
2011 Upper Deck World of Sport #128 Rahim Moore
2012 Topps Magic #39 Travis Benjamin
2012 Topps Magic #155 Chandler Harnish

Serial #'d Cards:
2007 Topps Co-Signers Jeff Rowe RC/Chad Johnson (07/25, creased on back)
2007 Donruss Threads Gridirion Kings #CGK-17 Dwayne Bowe (22/25)
2009 Bowman Originals #BO29 Shaun Cumberland (83/99)
2000 Topps Gold Label #3 Mark Quinn (013/100)
1997 Collector's Edge Night Games #17 Tony Banks (121/250)
2006 Upper Deck World Future Stars #WBC-1 Adam Loewen (214/499)
2007 Leaf Certified Gold Team #GT-2 Larry Johnson (299/500)
2008 Topps Treasury Refractor #49 Gerald Wallce (425/999)
2002 Donruss Elite Extra Edition #271 Henri Stanley (0443/1000)
2000 Topps Gold Label Premium #62 Yancey Thigpen (0360/1000)
2006 Upper Deck World Baseball Classic #49 Rich Harden (1368/1799)
2001 Pacific Invincible Afterburners #4 Corey Dillon (0732/2000)
2002 Topps Gold Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1913/2002)
2002 Topps Traded Gold #T102 Todd Van Poppel (1822/2002)
1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars Ticket Masters Ryan Leaf/Natrone Means (2097/2500)
1998 SPX Extreme Talent #288 Warrick Dunn (1662/3600)

Other Stuff:
1967 Topps #29 Tommy McCraw (pin hole in top middle)
1981 Fleer #6 Buffalo Bills Team Card
1981 Fleer Buffalo Bills Team Mini Sticker
1988 Topps #132 Dave Krieg
1991 Upper Deck Game Breakers #GB6 Neal Anderson
1996 Topps Chrome Refractors #123 Jeff George
1996 Topps Chrome Tide Turner #TT6 Eric Metcalf
1997 Score #129 Brian Dawkins
1998 Edge Markers (10+ TD's) #12 Dorsey Levens
1998 Flair Showcase Style Row 2 Steve McNair
1998 Skybox EX2001 #12 Jake Plummer
1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Punchouts #M7 Jeff Blake
1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Punchouts #M10 Terrell Davis (pre-punched)
1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Punchouts #M11 Barry Sanders
1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Punchouts #M16 Keenan McCardell (pre-punched)
1999 Leaf Rookies and Stars #15 Priest Holmes
2000 Pacific Crown Royale Die Cut #27 Joey Galloway
2000 Topps Stadium Club Goal to Go Die Cut Insert #63 Marvin Harrison
2002 Wizards of the Coast NFL Showdown #281 Jose Cortez
2006 PressPass Big Numbers DieCut #19 Haloti Ngata
2010 Panini Gridiron Gear #163 Carlos Dunlap
2010 PressPass PE #9 Dez Bryant
2010 PressPass PE #21 Rob Gronkowski
2010 PressPass PE #24 Aaron Hernandez
2010 PressPass PE #45 Tim Tebow
2010 Topps Chrome Rookie Reprints #123 Dan Marino
2012 Prestige #212 Devon Still
2012 Presitge #254 Dan Herron
2012 Topps Chrome #207 Kevin Zeitler
2012 Topps Chrome Refractor #28 Dre Kirkpatrick
2012 Topps Chrome 1965 Minis #15 Mohamed Sanu
2012 Topps Prime #82 Dre Kirkpatrick
A buttload of 1995 Topps Baseball (too many to list specific #'s for now)
1987 Leaf Fold Outs Cal Ripken Jr.
1989 KMart Dream Team #3 Chris Sabo (rounded corners)
1990 Topps Coins #40 Barry Bonds
1992 Ben's Super Hitters (Round Disk) #17 Will Clark
1992-93 Fleer Excel #164 Manny Ramirez
1993 Topps Black Gold #40 Kirby Puckett
1993 Upper Deck BAT Oversized Card #50 Mark Fidrych
1994 Finest #135 Scott Servais (possibly a refractor, not sure though)
1994 Topps Black Gold #20 Mike Stanley
1995 Topps #599 Top Prospects Joynny Damon RC
1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Punchouts #11 Omar Vizquel
2001 Upper Deck Decade Award Winners #6 Steve Garvey
2003 Topps Chrome #279 Tim Spooneybarger
2003 Upper Deck SportsNut Fantasy Game Scratch Off #SN75 Hideo Nomo
2006 MLB2K6 #1 Derek Jeter
2008 Tristar Projections #50 Jose Tabata
1995 Classic "The Dream" #11 Hakeem Olajuwon
1995 Starting Likeup Mitch Richmond
1992 Bloody Visions Bonnie and Clyde
1992 Bloody Visions George Joseph Smith
1993 Topps NHL Black Gold #2 Steve Duchesne
1994 Good Humor WWF Ice Cream Box Inserts Crush (x2, all in rough shape)

and 6 redemptions which have been filled and will come in a few months. 2 Nathan Enderle, a Taiwan Jones, a Shane Vereen, a Jamie Harper, and a Robert Turbin.

First big fish of 2012 for the Seneca Collection

2013-01-20T17:04:00.002-05:00

As I've mentioned before, Seneca pickings are getting slim these days. Just part of the game when you get closer and closer to a master set.

So when a /5 popped up on Ebay a few weeks ago, I nearly jumped out of my chair. Super rare Seneca that I still need - SIGN ME UP! One issue though, price. See, I'm in the process of buying my first house (if all goes well I'm in by the end of this week) and since a lot of my recent money is wedding deposits I have to be careful with my funds to be approved for my down payment. Basically your money for a down payment (for you non home buyers) needs to come from certain sources and not other sources. A lot of my wedding money falls under the "doesn't count" sources so I need to have way more than my down payment amount in my back account to ensure I have enough money.

I should have plenty, but I'm still playing it safe and the Ebay price for this was a hefty $75ish. As I've said before, $33 is the most I've spent on a Seneca, so...yeah that's a lot. It was BIN/OBO so I tried up to $30 delivered but was countered at $45 delivered and had to let that walk...so sad.

So I lamented this fact publicly on the Blowout Forums in a quick thread, basically saying "Whoa this card is nice, bad timing though, maybe in a few months?" A few people responded saying it was too bad and hopefully it'd still be around, but then a few other people did something weird - they started making offers. Now Seneca is a guy with very little card interest outside of me and Ames, IO residents, and so even the 2 offers after I made my offers was strange for this card. But with the attention in that thread all of a sudden there were 7 offers on the card - all people trying to win the card so they could hold it for me until I could afford it! So nice!

Then one guy did one better - he said to take the $45 offer and he'd give me $20 to help me out. I anticipated it as a loan but he insisted it be a gift since he too has been through the home buying process while collecting and understood the hurdles it presented. I couldn't believe his generosity but gladly accepted it and made another offer to the seller - the card was almost mine.

The seller was funny - he was definitely surprised to have so many offers on the card and was wondering where the sudden interest in Seneca came from. I (and a few of the other offers) linked the Blowout Thread and explained where everything started, and he agreed to sell it to me as a gesture of good will. He was impressed we all banded together like that and we got to talking about the teaching profession in our back and forth. All in all the seller was a great guy, and I'm happy he was as moved as I was!

In the end, the card was mine. Here's the Mirror Emerald, one of three I've found in the world (the 1/5 appears to be in a private collection or lost, the 5/5 is in a private collection. Mine is the 4/5):

I love the jersey piece and the shoe piece has a nice stripe too. Here's the back:

Figured I'd group all my mirrors together to show how nice they all look. The Gold has a nice mix of stitching and 2+ colors, and the blue still has that sweet shield piece. I may have to upgrade the red and /1250 base someday to keep up with the other sweet patches!

And the backs. All the same except the numbering, but that's what it's all about in the card game these days. And the fronts are awesome so who cares!

Many thanks to the Blowout community and this seller for helping me pick up Seneca #232 and adding a sweet rare piece to my collection!

2013 Hobby Goals

2013-01-01T22:06:00.003-05:00

So last year I did awesome on all of my goals besides finishing a set. Time to set some new goals...it'll be interesting to see if any get accomplished since the stakes are getting higher and higher with my limited wants!

Goal #1 - Add one card to either my IceCats collection or my 1994 Good Humor Ice Cream set.

This should prove INSANELY difficult, but I think it's well worth a try. My IceCats set is done minus a card from one man - Allan Sirois. He has several minor league hockey cards out there, but they're from sets that likely did not get an extended run. Here are the four cards I have to choose from:

1998-99 ECHL All-Star Southern Conference #12

2002-03 Pee Dee Pride RBI #147

2003-04 Florence Pride #156

2004-05 Rimouski Oceanic Season Ticket #6

The Rimouski card was likely never released in the U.S., and the other cards are just super rare. Some time this year I'll make a more dedicated approach to finding one of these cards, as I've never seen one for sale online ever.

So the WWF cards may prove easier. And the funny thing is, people do collect these a bit and some are even on Ebay, but they're never from the 1994 set. Often 80's ones instead with guys like Hulk Hogan or Superfly Jimmy Snuka. But the 5 I still need are from 1994, and they are:

I.R.S.

Randy Savage

Razor Ramon

The Undertaker

Yokozuna

I picked up a Lex Luger last year thanks to a Blowout forum user from Canada. Maybe this year I'll find another one? Regardless, if one of the above nine cards makes its way into my collection this year, I will be ecstatic.

Goal #2 - Add another Seneca Wallace 1/1.

I added this goal last year thinking it was bonkers, and then a few months into the year someone listed a printing plate on Ebay than ended up with me. I've got 24 1/1's left to pick up so the odds there are somewhat in my favor, but only one was listed for sale all year so then again the odds kind of aren't. My best chance may actually be a plate that is owned by a forum user that I met years ago. He messaged me about 6 months back saying he had something for me if I gave him my address and I did, but nothing ever came of it and I haven't heard back from him since. In lieu of that card, I know of one card that is likely lost forever, two that aren't leaving their owners unless I leave the lottery, and then 20 that I have never seen before. Another tricky goal for sure, but it's always tricky with 1/1's!

Goal #3 - Get my Seneca Wallace collection to 240 distinct cards.

The easiest goal on my list, but still easier said than done. He only has 284 cards, and of the remaining 53 I need (as of 1/1/13), 24 are 1/1's. As I mentioned above I might not even get one 1/1 this year, which leaves 29 cards /5 or higher for me to get this year. Picking up 9 of those 29 cards in one year might be pretty tough, especially considering I haven't ever seen many of those cards online. But we'll see what I can do. Personally I think 240 is achievable if I purchase some cards from the Seneca collector that I met and a few more pop up on Ebay. But again, we'll see what happens!

And those will be all my card related goals for 2013. Tougher to meet than last year's, but what's a resolution worth if it's not a little challenging?

Truly Great Names - The Best of the Best

2012-12-30T15:11:00.004-05:00

By being named on 55% or more of their given ballot, these names have become part of the names whose excellence is agreed on by all of the blogosphere. There aren't many of them (55% of the vote in a totally arbitrary voting process is a lot harder than you'd imagine), and so the fact that these names garnered so much support shows you that they are, in fact, the Greatest Names in our Great Sports Name Hall of Fame.

Rusty Kuntz - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot One (61%). Played 8 years of MLB (1979-1985), reaching a peak with a sacrifice fly in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series. One of the truly excellent names in the sports world, Rusty had garnered the highest percent of ballot nominations in a single ballot at the time of his entrance, as he was on 61% of the ballots from Ballot One. Great Names are sort of like children, as you really shouldn't pick favorites, but you always do. Ours is Rusty.

God Shammgod - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot One (55.6%). 20 games in the NBA were all God Shammgod ever saw, but it was enough to get him noticed by sportscasters and allow his name the true exposure it needed to be truly great. Other fun facts about God Shammgod are that he had his own move, "The Shammgod," and that he changed his name to Shammgod Wells a few years ago (sort of a reverse Boof Bonser, but we knew your birth given name Shammgod, and we knew that it belonged here). God Shammgod was nominated for and elected on ballot one, with 55% of the vote.

Dick Trickle - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot Two (50%, 55.3%) Easily the happiest man among our Elected, Dick Trickle was an auto racing lifer who won zero Nascar (Sprint Cup? Pfffft) races but smoked in his car during cautions, making him totally cool. His run to the Truly Great mirrored his time in Nascar, as he was nominated for Ballot One but did not make it in despite his truly excellent name. On Ballot Two, however, without the stiff competition of Rusty Kuntz and God Shammgod, Dick Trickle received a slight boost in voting and ended up with 55%, enough to make him the third member of our Truly Great portion of the GSNHOF.

Fair Hooker - Nominated on Ballot Four, elected on Ballot Four (58%). This selection may make me happier than anyone else's so far. Why? Because Fair did what almost no Brown has done since the 50's - he accomplished something. Fair was the only name elected from Ballot Four, and did it with flair, earning 58% of the total vote, second at the time only to the immortal Rusty Kuntz. Fair Hooker also was the first reader nominated name to make it in to the Truly Great Names portion of our Hall, and so we've got to give him (and the dude who nominated him, named Matt) kudos for that.

Wonderful Terrific Monds the Third - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot Seven (44%, 36%, 43%, 42%, 42%, 40%, 65%). Well it's about time! Without WTM3, there likely wouldn't be a GSNHOF, let alone a blog writing about that Hall. Yet Monds, after being the first nomination ever to the Hall, sat and watched as Ballot after Ballot passed by without him being elected. Finally on his 7th and final try, Monds garnered enough support to not only make it in, but to do so with flair, setting an enshrinee record with 65% of the Ballots. Monds was never on less than 36% of the Ballot, so it was always just a matter of getting enough support. And finally, he did.

Razor Shines - Nominated on Ballot Five, elected on Ballot Seven (25%, 37%, 55%). Shines only scored 25% of the vote on Ballot Five, his first time appearing as a nomination. Yet much like during his playing career, he quietly kept plugging away - first with a 37% on Ballot Six, and then with a 55% on Ballot Seven. And that's all she wrote, at 55% is the minimum needed for enshrinement. Was it the flashiest entry into the Hall? No. But Razor is all smiles, and I don't blame him!

Back to the Senecas, and this one is fairly big!

2012-12-17T18:30:00.000-05:00

So as long time readers may know, I have found a "Seneca guy" who used to be me (aka the closest I've ever seen to a master set) but has since decided to stop collecting. He recently had 8 cards I need, and here were the prices he wanted:

Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor 36/50 - $10

Upper Deck P&P Gold 4/50 - $10

Upper Deck P&P Jersey Gold 46/50 - $10

Ultra Platinum Medallion 15/100 - $15

Collegiate Prep Patch /25 - $25

Donruss Elite Status 1/15 - $40

Leaf Rookies & Stars Rookie Auto Longevity 7/10 - $60

LCM Mirror Black 1/1 - $450+

Originally this guy has a ton of cards I needed, but over time I've realized that most of them will eventually show up on Ebay if I'm patient. That was the case with this card - a Collegiate Prep Patch # 6/25, aka Seneca's # with the Browns (a nice little feature if I say so myself). Even better was the price - the collector wanted $25 for his, this Ebay user had an opening bid of $6.99 with free shipping. And $6.99 with free shipping was enough. Saved $18.01, and here's a look at my spoils:

Ooo. Now honestly I'm still more of a fan of my /75 version of this card, but it's hard not to dig a nice thick number swatch from a specific game. As I mentioned before, Seneca wore this patch in the 2002 Senior Bowl, and you all know how I love specific cards. So all's good, and I love the foil touch.

Here's the back:

Neat little copy of the front shape wise, and I like the big blue triangle with the big blue swatch. I also have to say, if I haven't in the past, that I'm a fan of serial #'d cards that say 06/25 instead of 6/25. Anyone else feel the same way?

Reinvigorated by Randomness

2012-12-15T15:26:00.003-05:00

So since I've last blogged about cards, I've thought a lot about cards. How much do I want to keep searching EBay for Senecas, how much room do I want to devote to binders and cards on a shelf, how much more could I use the money than the artifacts, etc., etc., etc. I even went with my wife to a flea market show of hers and sold some of my cards when she gave me the opportunity, selling my nice Pedro/Randy Johnson patch card and a few other cards in the process. I even listed my Seneca Collection on Ebay for a fair price and was ready to let that go. My collecting pulse was going dead and I was ready to move on into other pursuits.

Then a few days ago, I was searching Listia using my common search terms, and I came across an auction for a card I have wanted for years and years. And here it was for a crazy cheap amount of credits. I bid, won, and once it arrived in the mail and I got to check it out in person, I was back into the game. Sometimes you just need a card or two to remind you of the cool parts of the hobby, and this was one of those cards.

Now as for the card itself, one thing I'm a fan of in cardboard that is pretty hard to find are big plays. When I say big plays I mean famous plays, like Dave Roberts stealing 2nd to spur the Red Sox comeback against the 2004 Yankees, or Carlton Fisk's waved homerun. Sometimes these plays are idolized on cardboard, other times they are not. So sometimes I like to grab cards that make mention of those moments.

Two of the biggest sports moments in my sports watching life come from the 1999 football season, where the Tennessee Titans made a miracle run to the Super Bowl, only to be stopped by the St. Louis Rams. It was hard not to get a little caught up in the Titans after their first crazy play, "The Music City Miracle" or "Homerun Throwback," where Frank Wycheck threw a cross-field pass to Kevin Dyson that was returned for a game-winning touchdown.

That play would not be Dyson's only major play of the playoffs, as the final play of the 1999 season ended with the ball in Dyson's hands as well, only less successfully for his team this time around. And that's where my card comes in. From 2000 Topps Finest Moments, it's an autographed refractor that commemorates Mikes Jones' tackle of Dyson at the one yard line as time ran out:

Now this card looks pretty nice scanned, but per usual it is even more beautiful in person. Very nice, very sharp on-card auto in blue sharpie. The refractor shine is glorious and makes the card look fantastic. And then there's the play itself, just as I remember it, Dyson stretching out and Jones holding on for the tackle. I was rooting Titans so the final play sucked for me, but it was still so awesome and one of those first true "wow" moments of my sports watching career.

Here's the back:

Nice little write up on the Super Bowl, and a nice big pic of Jones. A couple weird things about the card/set though. For one, it says "refractor" on the back, even though there isn't a non-refractor set. Why the designation needed? I think it looks kind of neat though so I'm not complaining. My bigger questions have to do with the set. See, it's a little set covering many season's finest moments with a checklist that includes guys like Tony Brackens, Bruce Matthews, and Cade McNown. None of those cards are playoff related though, and actually the only other playoff card that I saw was one representing Homerun Throwback that was signed by Frank Wycheck, though that card's image wasn't as memorable as this one. So I think it's interesting that they put this huge play into a set along with a Cade McNown four touchdown game. But I'm glad they put it in there, because I think this is a very cool play to commemorate.

In the end, I guess I can thank this card for bringing me back into the fold once again. It can be tough to keep collecting when money is tight and every Seneca search is coming up empty due to me having the bulk of his master set, but then you find a simple little $15 book value card that makes it all worth it. So there you have it, it's good to be back!

Non Card Stuff - Bobbly Goodness

2012-11-20T18:30:00.000-05:00

With all the bobbleheads I've posted about lately, I figured I ought to mention the two I already had. I'm not really a bobblehead collector per say, but I do think they're neat, and I've got two in my possession that are very personal to me and my heritage.

The first one sat atop my wedding cake 5 weeks ago. It's a personalized bride and groom bobblehead that my mother-in-law had made for us for the occasion. It's pretty neat!

They're supposed to look kind of like us, and I'd say they do in general/ One key different is that my wife's wedding dress did not have a cut out in the midsection to show off some skin - we definitely had a lot of laughs about her bobblehead's ho-ey wedding dress! Another key aspect is my wife's jaw, which actually had to be glued back on. The owner of the barn we were married in knocked this off the cake the morning of the wedding, and when the bobblehead hit the ground my wife's jaw shattered. He fixed it with some super glue and all was well, so luckily that situation didn't end up too bad!

My other bobblehead is a truly weird one, and allows me to claim something that few people probably can - I own a bobblehead of one of my distant relatives. This relative is a great great great (etc.) grandmother of mine, Hannah Duston. In positive terms she is referred to as the first woman in the United States honored with a statue (and it is still standing) and a folk hero. In negative terms she is referred to as the mother of the American tradition of scalp hunting. Here's her bobblehead:

I think this bobblehead is pretty fantastic, if not completely absurd. She is in 1697 period clothing, holding an axe, ready to avenge her village and baby. As the story goes, Hannah, her husband, and 9 kids were chillin' in Haverhill, NH in 1697 when a tribe of Abenaki Indians came by and attacked them. Stories say 27 colonists were killed and 13 were taken captive. Hannah's husband and 8 kids got away, but Hannah, her newborn baby, and her maid were taken hostage.

On the way back to the Abenaki camp, they took the baby and killed it by smashing its head against a tree, which was probably a bad move because it ignited a fire in Hannah only comparable to Liam Neeson in the "Taken" movies. Six weeks later Hannah led a revolt in which her, her maid, and a 14 year old boy named Samuel killed two grown men, two adult women, and six children, scalping them all. They traveled down river to Haverhill in a canoe, and once they arrived they were each given a reward for killing the Abenaki Indians. This story became pretty famous because Cotton Mather mentioned it in his "Magnalia Christi Americana." Her story was later retold by the likes of Nathanial Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau.

Once upon a time Hannah was revered as a true queen of badassery, but modern times have painted her story differently. Some people (aka most of my relatives) view her as a hero, others call her a villan, and Abenaki descendants say the legend is racist and that it glorifies violence. All have their valid points, and I tend to fall more on the side of villan/racist since she didn't have to kill 6 kids and 2 moms to avenge the death of one baby (especially since the reward was an incentive for their deaths). Nonetheless, she's still one of the first cases of a strong willed woman getting her story told in America, and she probably did a lot more than your great great great (etc.) grandma did. So I think it's a neat story to share, whatever you decide to think of her actions.

Since both these bobbleheads relate to my family, I figured I'd take a family picture as well:

I really like this image...sort of looks like Hannah is making sure I stay a good husband to my wife. If I don't, she's got a hatchet with my name on it! YIKES!

Random Shenanigans - My introduction to A-Z Lots

2012-11-18T18:30:00.000-05:00

One thing I'd noticed on Listia lately was the prevalence of A-Z lots. With these lots someone posts 26 different items, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. If you win, you get all that stuff - pretty groovy!

Found one for 6,000 credits, which seemed pretty low to me for what I saw in the list. A few jersey cards, an auto, a bobblehead, some "star" cards, and X was an "x factor" valued at $25. Totally worth 6,000 credits to me, so I gave it a go. What follows are the highlights of what I picked up.

The first highlight is the first thing I noticed - a Brandon Roy bobblehead. I actually found this auction by searchings for bobbleheads and thought this would be a neat get. I still feel that way after seeing it in person:

Kind of a cool post, like Roy is protecting the ball and looking over the court to see what he would want to do next. Here's the view the defender would have in this situation:

Pretty cool eh? In this shot it also looks like Roy is looking out my window towards the gas station. On an unrelated note, we had 12 cops and one firetruck out there yesterday to arrest one guy. INTENSE!

Also intense? The x factor of this lot. I had no idea what it was, but I had a feeling it was a jersey when I started opening the package and saw a clump of fabric on one side. It was a jersey - and this one is particularly awesome - it's Tracy McGrady:

I'm obviously a fan of goofy jerseys of random players, and McGrady, in my humble opinion, fits that collection so nicely. He showed so much potential as a youngster with the Raptors, exploded onto the scene with the Magic, played a few nice seasons with the Rockets before getting hurt, and then played one year seasons with the Knicks, Pistons, and Hawks. He is currently playing in China. And I'm currently trying to decide if I want to keep this or give it to my little brother for a Christmas gift.

Pretty random lot right? It gets more random - how about this Charley Barkley plaque/card:

This plaque feels to me like every plaque I ever saw at a mall collectibles store. There's some sticker residue on the name plate, the card placed in the holder is super arbitrary (i.e. not a key rookie or rare card or anything), and the holder is glued crooked. I've never owned one of these before so it's near to have one. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this piece.

Next up is a boring trifecta of checklists:

Which are only really boring if you look at the backs. The fronts are sweet when combined:

That image is so freakin' cool. I'm never able to complete those puzzles or crossover images where you collect a few cards and they combine into a cool picture. It's nice to have one fall in my lap, especially one of the Dream Team!

Speaking of cards, this lot had a lot of those too. Thought I'd save them for last though since I like the other goodies the best. Here's my nine favorites.

That lot includes some Finest cards, a little vintage, a LaMarcus Alldrige Bowman rookie serial 99/99 (Ebay 1/1 OMGZ), a Marcus Camby die cut rookie, a Steve Nash Pacific rookie, a Zydrunsks Illgauskus rookie, and then a few hits. The less interesting ones are Mike Dunleavy and some dude with a lot of vowels in his name. The more interesting hit is Quentin Richardson, whose card will finish up this post.

Here's the front of that card, Suns jersey, New York Knights team labeling. Interesting...

The back gets even better:

This jersey was worn in by Quentin in a game with the LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS! So image, team label, and jersey source are all different. Three teams, one card. And that's still better than the authenticity description we are given nowadays by card companies.

And that rounds up some of the goodies I got from my first ever A-Z lot. Astute readers may realize I only listed 13 distinct things, which means I picked up 12 other objects, ranging from more vintage to random rookies to a complete set of 1990 Fleer Update (which includes a rookie card of Gary "Glove" Payton). I'd say I definitely got more than 6,000 credits worth of awesomeness from this lot. I'll happily try to bid on these lots again in the future!

Listia lends me a Hand(zus)

2012-11-14T18:30:00.000-05:00

I try to keep my collection pretty minimalist - if I have a need I want only one of that card/player/set/etc. I'm definitely a tad obsessive and that's part of it, and I also like to keep my collection small so the cards I own are cards I truly appreciate instead of ones I try to move within two weeks.

That said, sometimes a card falls into your lap and you just can't say no. In this case it was a Listia card...400 credits for a card listed as "2001 sp tools of the game." Poor title which I only found because the description listed the card was a jersey. I was more interested in the player though - Michal Handzus:

As I've mentioned in the past, Handzus is one of the finest hockey players whom I ever had the opportunity to watch play. He's in my makeshift 1997-97 IceCats set, and I already owned an auto of his but wanted a little more. Hence this nice little white piece of jersey from 2001 SP.

I love the specificity of these old Upper Deck cards - sure it doesn't have a picture of the item or a game date, but it does say "an authentic piece of game-used jersey worn by Michal Handzus in an official NHL game." That's as good as anything you'll see, and better than most certifications nowadays. Regardless I just think it's a slick looking card of a great player and it's nice to own it.

Seneca #230, courtesy of the Ivy Leagues

2012-11-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

Lately I haven't been digging for cards I need as much. Call it watching my finances more closely, or school making me too busy, or other hobbies taking the place of cards (I won a Kirby compilation for the Wii on Ebay and I may have won an XBox 360 system if the seller isn't a jerk, so I've been playing more video games in my free time), but whatever it is I'm searching less frequently.

The hobby and its hobbyists don't stop just because I leave though, and this was shown a few weeks ago when a Blowout Forums user messaged me saying he was about to acquire a Seneca card from my wantlist. I have my wantlist posted on Blowout and I try to bump it up one every day or two to keep it in people's minds, and it has worked for quite a few cards, this one included. I offered a price, the guy accepted, and told me he'd send it out once it arrived at his house.

A week later it was mine. Here's the front:

Looks like a typical 2009 Mayo Mini, which I already own. But oh, this one is so much more:

See this is one of the Harvard Red Backs, which had proved almost impossible to find over the past few years. A few months ago I messaged specific 2009 Mayo sellers on Ebay in search of the card, and though I found one guy who owned it he said he would never get rid of it since he is collecting the Harvard parallel set and is pretty close to completion. I figured that was donezo for me, until this Blowout guy popped up. I've learned over the past year not to overpay for rare cards, because another copy of something you need could always come to you in the strangest of ways.

The best part about this card? I'm not a "1/1" guy, but this is #'d 1/25. My Mayo Mini Cloth is #'d 1/5. And then all the plates are 1/1. So with the Harvard, Mini, and my Cyan Plate, I have the 1/ trifecta. That's pretty dang impressive for not even trying!

Speaking of the plates, this Harvard back makes plates the only 2009 Mayo cards that I still need. Specifically they are these three:

2009 Topps Mayo Mini Printing Plates #322 Black /1
2009 Topps Mayo Mini Printing Plates #322 Magenta /1
2009 Topps Mayo Mini Printing Plates #322 Yellow /1

Sadly the magenta may well be in a landfill somewhere. It sold in a big Ebay lot several years ago which the buyer claimed was never received. Several years later that card still hasn't emerged, so the possibilities of where that package may have ended up seem endless.

Not only are the 2009 needs small but rare...my 2007 needs are too. Here's a look at those five cards:

2007 Topps Platinum #40 /1
2007 Topps Total Printing Plates 165 Black /1
2007 Topps Total Printing Plates 165 Cyan /1
2007 Topps Total Printing Plates 165 Magenta /1
2007 Topps Total Black /50

That means beyond Seneca's rookie year (2003), I need only eight cards, seven of which are 1/1's. I'm guessing I might not make progress on those eight for a few years!

Slightly Different Direction: Bobbleheads!

2012-11-09T18:30:00.000-05:00

So I've had more credits than I know what to do with, and I decided to do something else with them. Searched with a bunch of different search terms on Listia and ended up finding bobbleheads! Sometimes these can be kind of cool so I figured I'd check and see what kind of players they have. Sure enough, they had a guy I used to follow back in the day, and for only 100 credits. A few days later, this little guy was in my mailbox:

Corey Koskie! Probably nothing doing to most of you, but since my first baseball game was a Twins home game, my brothers and I became mild Twins fans for a minute as kids. Koskie was an up and coming prospect at that time, and as such was pretty easy to cheer for. So it's really neat to have a bobblehead of his!

Here's the back:

Koskie's 9 year career started with the Twins and ended with back to back one year stints with Toronto and Milwaukee. In 989 career games, he hit .275/.367/.458 with 124 homeruns from the hot corner. His best season by far was 2001, where he hit 26 homeruns and finished 25th in MVP voting. But he was always pretty good - slightly above average defense, good on base skills, some pop. Unfortunately he suffered a concussion in July of 2006, and the issues thereafter knocked him out of the game. He officially retired from baseball in 2009, but his solid career will always be remembered on my figure shelf by his bobblehead!

Which reminds me...I have two bobbleheads that I need to display. Future post for sure...

Some Sage Wisdom: Always be nice to your fellow hobby goers, because sometimes it pays!

2012-11-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

When I'm not blabbing here about my wins over on the L site, I'm generally talking about something that happened on the Blowout Forums. Ever since Dennis introduced me to that lovely place a few years ago, I've gotten more and more invested in the site and have actually made a few companions there. Recently I even had my first real life meet up with a card guy too - a user on the site lives about 15 minutes from me so we grabbed tacos and talked supercollections, which was a very groovy experience.

Anyways, in my time on Blowout I started a few lists that I thought needed to exist. Several of these are my "Player to Collect lists," which are simply threads where the first post is a big long list of every player someone collects with their username next to it. Sort of like the Got It, Got It, Need It blog, this is a nice one stop shop to go to when you have a rare card someone might need. Those threads were pretty helpful, so I also added a few threads for finding rare cards that weren't necessarily valuable. I know it took me years to find a few cards in my collection that don't even book $10, and I figured other people probably had similar cards on their want lists. Made the threads, they've helped too, and I was just happy to put these threads out into the interwebs.

And wouldn't you know it, but some guy on Blowout noticed that I made these threads and decided I was a cool dude. In return for my assistance in getting people cards for their collections, he decided to help me with my Seneca collection. It started small with him googling around for me (all without me asking, the guy is pretty awesome!), but then he decided it would be even more fun to try to pull a Seneca I needed out of a box. I agreed, and especially thought 2003 Sage would be fun, but most boxes online are around $100+ for one box, so that seemed out of the question.

Until, that is, a random Ebay auction appeared for TWO boxes of 2003 Sage. The guy won both for the low cost of just $53 total, and the chase was on. We talked about opening up the box to a general break, but in the end we just really wanted it open so we split it draft style, agreeing that any Senecas would go to me and then he would get first pick of the rest of the stuff. I really just wanted Senecas, Brad Banks cards, or David Carr hits, with the rest leftover as tradables or sellables. So did I get anything I needed/wanted? Let's find out!

First I'll show off some of the base I picked up from this lot. All the base cards have a print run of 2700, though they're all made in the "1 of 2,700" vein instead of specifically stamped. No Senecas were pulled over 48 base across the two boxes, but we did get some cool guys like Sam Aiken and Rashean Mathis (Madden SUPERSTARS!):

We also got a Kyle Boller and a Tyrone Calico, who use to be a favorite player of my little brother:

And though there was no Seneca base, there was a Brad Banks base, so not all was lost!

On an added note, I already own a Seneca base /2700 but figured it'd be cool to pull one here since my other one was a purchase. If I pull something I have more desire to keep it, same as if I trade for it it means more than if I purchase it. Of course if I dig through a dime box and purchase it that means more than buying it online as well. So really any way of buying it besides Ebay makes the card more meaningful to me, but I'm rambling now so let's continue with the goods!

So one of the neat things about Sage is that you end up with a hit per pack, so in this break with 24 packs that meant we each got 12 hits to take home. In 2003 most hits tended to be autos with the relics falling usually one per box. Coming into this break all the cards of Seneca I needed were hits, and included the following:
Sage Master Auto /1
Sage Master Jersey /1
Sage Platinum Jersey /10
Sage Player Proof Jersey /20
Sage Player Proof Auto /20
Sage Gold Jersey /25
Sage Silver Jersey /50

Tough odds for any of those, but with two boxes there's always a chance...so did we pull one? Let's find out!

First though, I should mention that you will only see 4 hits below. I did get 12, but 7 of those turned around in a Listia auction (as predicted, and it ended up getting me 70,000 credits when all was said and done) and 1 is going to Dennis. These last four are the ones I decided not to part with, with the last two likely never leaving my sight. So here goes.

First up is a Kyle Boller Red Auto /750:

When Boller came out, I remember a lot of people talking about him as a guy with a big arm but not much else. I kind of wondered if Joe Flacco would be a similar kind of player coming out of Delaware, and it was sort of odd that Boller was pick 19 in the first round while Flacco was pick 18 in his draft. The similarities pretty much end there though - due to injuries Boller started 34 games over his first 3 seasons, and his 55% completion percentage and 31:32 TD:INT ratio was nothing special. Flacco started all 48 games in his first 3 seasons, with a 62% completion percentage and his 60:34 TD:INT rate was far superior. So looks like the Ravens got it right this time around. That said, I was always a Boller fan, and its a shame he never worked out the Baltimore.

Next up is my one jersey, a Bryant Johnson barely two color Penn State jersey #'d 18/50:

This was the "lesser" jersey, with the other being a four break Taylor Jacobs jersey which the Blowout member picked along with a Dallas Clark auto with his 2nd and 3rd picks of the draft. So many of these jerseys (especially /75 and lower) are more than one color, and I love the texture of these jerseys compared to your typical Allen and Ginter or Upper Deck Rookie Premiere fare. So I'm happy to grab this card, even if Johnson did nothing much after being selected a pick before Boller in the first round of 2003.

Speaking of Johnson, despite not doing much he has kind of hung around the league, though he is currently a free agent. I only really remember his 2003-2007 stint with Arizona, but it turns out there were stops in San Francisco, Detroit, and most recently Houston (last year) on his resume. Still, 16 touchdowns over 9 seasons isn't much to write home about for a first round pick.

As I mentioned above, the only hits I really wanted were Brad Banks or Seneca Wallace. Well a Brad Banks was pulled and it was a doozy, his Gold auto #'d 63/120:

For those not in the know, the autos go master, player proof, platinum, gold, silver, bronze, and then red. So getting a gold of Banks, a guy I owned zero Sage autos of, was quite the little pick up. I believe we only pulled one Gold auto between both boxes, so the fact that it was Banks was even better (even though I gladly would've accepted a "lesser" color. By the way, I know these scan horribly since they show the Sage certification over the auto, but in person this card looks FANTASTIC!

As for Banks, I believe I rambled about him here before, but I'll put another word in. Whereas Seneca Wallace came out of Iowa State in 2003 and was drafted, Brad Banks left Iowa in 2003 and was an undrafted free agent with the Redskins. They had some memorable duels in college but were never able to duel in the pros since Banks was a practice squad player only with the Skins and then went on to play in the CFL as a backup for many years before joining his hometown Iowa Barnstormers as an Arena League starter in 2011. There he set a game record with 11 total touchdowns, 10 passing and 1 rushing. Solid stuff.

Why do I care about the guy? Well he goes hand in hand with Seneca, not just in the college duels and being in the same draft class, but also in being an undersized speedy backup type player who was in Madden 2004. I typically made Seneca my starter and signed Banks out of free agency to be the backup. But recently I made another new franchise with four teams and gave Banks control of his own starting job. My other starting QB's by the way (besides Seneca)? Shaun King (backed up by Rick Mirer) and Akili Smith (with Cade McNown nipping at his heels).

So there were the first three hits I kept, a Boller Auto, one of two jersey cards, and an auto with the second lowest print run of the break. That leaves the card with the lowest print run, i.e. the hit of the break, and guess who it happened to be:

At the time we were breaking the first box, it was an audio only break, and the guy got real excited when this came out and wasn't totally clear. When the dust settled he let me know what it was - a Platinum Auto, #'d 11/45, of the guy I PC. Sweeeet.

Sadly this wasn't one I still needed as I bought another copy on COMC back in August, but that doesn't make this card any less sweet. First of all, it's a $50 book value card, which is crazy high for a Seneca card, so that's nothing to guffaw at. Secondly, and most importantly, it's a Seneca card that came to me via the shared break instead of COMC, so it means a lot more to me. So sure enough, once this made it to my mailbox, I pulled out the COMC one and put it in that Listia lot. The 11/45 is in my collection in its place, and it couldn't have found a better spot :-D.

And that was how the 2003 Sage break went. Lots of good base, a few sweet hits, and what is easily the lowest #'d and highest valued Seneca Wallace card I may ever see pulled from a box break that I am personally involved in. In the end it cost me just $0.45 too - I paid far more than that to the guy breaking the cards, but that paypal came from the sale of an old gift card I had to another guy on Blowout. So in the end $0.45 paid for /45...and that's a beautiful thing.

Now I have somewhere to go if I ever find a time machine

2012-11-05T18:30:00.000-05:00

Some people would go back to important dates in history, others would go back and try to change something from their past for a different outcome. Me? I'm going back to March 10, 2001, to catch the Las Vegas Outlaws versus the Orlando Rage in Game 4 of the XFL!

I was a huge XFL fan back when it was around, particularly of the Outlaws and Rod "He Hate Me" Smart. So being physically present for this game would've been the best thing in the world to me as a kid. Without a time machine I can always watch the game here, thanks to the awesomeness that is YouTube. So one of these days I may have to grab a beer and take in the game like it's 2001 all over again.

Here's the back, not that exciting because it's just a ton of legal mumbo jumbo:

I do like the big number 4's though. The XFL was always trying to be very epic.

Finally got around to scanning - it begins!

2012-10-28T14:43:00.002-04:00

Time to show off some of my most recent Listia wins. Some of these cost a lot of credits, others less so. This one only cost me 40, but I love it since it's a card of a Patriots Super Bowl Hero!

The guy in question is Jermaine Wiggins:

I love the full bleed photo here - I think it's a nice touch. The backs are...interesting, and very blank:

I imagine they assume most players will have more stats there than Wiggins, which would certainly fill up space. But I feel like they probably could've written more about Jermaine, although it's true he didn't have a lot to write about at the point this card came out!

Wiggins (and also J.R. Redmond, who I mention a lot here), are guys most fans wouldn't know, but they were instrumental to the 2001 Patriots Super Bowl win. Wiggins had just 16 catches in the regular season and Redmond had just 48 touches as a RB, but in the playoffs they came up huge. First there's the Tuck Rule game, where Wiggins led all receivers with 10 receptions in the snow and Redmond added 4 catches for 43 yards. Then there's the AFC Title game versus the Steelers, where the two guys combined for 4 catches and Redmond added 13 yards on 3 carries.

Then finally, there was the Super Bowl. When the Rams tied up the game with a Ricky Proehl touchdown, Redmond and Wiggins had combined for two touches for four yards, i.e. nothing special. But then the magic happened. Every knows Brady dinked and dunked his way to a Patriots championship, but few realize who he dinked and dunked too. Here's how the final drive looked:

- Starting at the 17, Brady passes to Redmond for 5 yards
- Brady passes to Redmond for 8 yards
- Brady pass incomplete
- Brady passes to Redmond for 11 yards
- Brady pass incomplete
- Brady passes to Troy Brown for 23 yards
- Brady passes to Jermaine Wiggins for 6 yards, which puts the ball at the 30 yard line
- Brady pass incomplete
- Adam Vinatieri FG is good, Patriots win

So 4 yards for most of the game, but on the drive that counted those two guys had 4 touches for 30 yards, including a clutch run out of bounds by Redmond and the final yards needed for the field goal by Wiggins. And that's exactly why I love these guys. We couldn't have won that game without them.

What's in a name?

2012-10-20T21:30:00.002-04:00

Between here and the card forums, I've seen my user name written a million different ways. Some people go with Spastik or Mooss when referring to me, others correct the spelling and write it Spastic or Moose. I always wonder if people think I misspelled those words by accident since I never really explained where my username comes from. So I figured I'd explain it once and for all here - hey it's something to do on a Saturday night while drinking!

Anywho, the long and short of it is that in 7th grade, a few friends and I all took Latin together. Our Latin teacher was one of those guys who easily gets onto life tangents from time to time, so the class often dissolved into a sort of free period where people just told stories and had nice convos. During one of those convos my buddies and I were talking about how many band/song names are misspelled and this led to us trying to think of our own sweet misspelled band name. A few were tossed around but the only one I remember is Spastik Mooss, because that's the name we agreed was best.

We changed the C to a K, and the E to an S, and the name was set. None of us really played instruments (one friend had played drums for two weeks and I played viola), but we decided the four of us were now in a band with a sweet name. More just a cool kid's club than a true band, but I decided every band needs cover art, and worked on our first album cover during the next week of class. I thought the results were pretty sweet:

Penguins have always been my favorite animal, so I made our shtick a penguin on most of our album covers. I also always loved adding "ish" to things that weren't words, so that explains that. And I forgot to mention that the second s in Spastik was decided to be backwards in our band - sort of like the Korn R, which we thought made our band extra awesome. We also alternated capital and lower case letters just for poops and giggles. Good stuff.

Of course we weren't a real band, but we did need songs for out albums. So we made up one or two and otherwise just threw down fake names:

The Richard Nixon song and The Penguin Bunch are the only two songs we ever truly made up, though neither were true songs and neither had anything besides lyrics. The others are just random references to stuff that was involved in my life in 7th grade - I had some shirt with a Duck all taped up - Duck Tape. Freak on a Leash was huge at the time - Penguin on a leash. Mad Cow Disease was rampant - Mad Cow Disease. Ditto with Gansta's Paradise and What Is Love by Haddaway and their songs Penguin's Paradise and What is Penguin? Needless to say Weird Al Yankovich was also a big influence of ours at the time.

Anywho, that first album was fun to draw and I figured it'd stop there, but everyone thought it was kind of cool to have a fake CD so I made another. So our follow up CD was called "Find the Penguin":

Pretty easy to find said penguin, but the little easter egg was that the Stop sign was graffitied, with "being penguinish" under Stop. Fun stuff. The car has our band name on it but the colors didn't work well together. The back is unfinished:

The scene is kind of nuts - I went to the Road Kill Cafe as a kid and I guess it left an impression on me since they made it on the back of this CD. As for the songs, only two here - Annalover and Did Somebody Order a Pizza? The former is named after me, as I had a crush on some girl named Anna in 7th grade. The latter is just a goofy reference to the cheesy porno pizza delivery guy gimmick. We needed more songs, but hey these weren't real songs anyway so it's all good.

Anyway, by this point our Latin teacher had caught us making these, but instead of scolding us he said they were really cool and that he approved of them in a sense. So we made our third and final cover in tribute to him. His name was Mr. Bink (no not this guy), so we called it Binkopalooza:

The writing is different here because my friend Brian helped out too, but clearly this one got a little trippy-er. Very psychedelic feel going on, complete with a doobie for our little penguin guy. When we showed it to Mr. Bink he thought it was hilarious, and told us, "I can't believe it, I've risen to the fame of Leonard Skinner." So we added that to the song list:

Once again, all our songs kind of tied in with the theme of the CD. So all had Bink in the name except for the quote one. A fine ending to the trilogy that was Spastik Mooss.

Spastik Mooss sort of survived into 8th grade - we never made any more CD covers and never wrote any songs, but we did invent a moose antlers gesture and a "Mooss Caboose" thing that lasted a while. After that it was dead for a while until high school, when my friend who actually did have musical talent (and is actually in a band now) tried to get it back together with some new friends of ours. And it actually worked - they had a jam session at someone's house and called themselves Spastik Mooss and so for a day in my sophomore year the band was back alive! Only problem was I was playing lacrosse by then, and so I couldn't make the session, and with me having no free time and them getting busier after that day the band never met up again. So sad. On the plus side, my Mom found the covers around senior year and asked me about them, so I gave her the whole story above. She thought it was neat and actually made the first cover (Penguinish) into a pillow cover - so Spastik Mooss ended up with some more memorabilia in a very random way,

So that's the history of my username. Even after all that, I didn't really use it as a username until college - I think freshman year. Got nostalgic one day and started using that name for YouTube or something, and the thing caught on. Now I use it for most of my online tags since it's pretty unique and I think it's fun too. Good stuff. Any of you have some weird stories behind your usernames? Obviously something like Night Owl or Scott Crawford...those are self explanatory, but others are a bit weirder and I know I definitely wonder about the story behind the tag from time to time. Now, whether you wanted to or not, you know mine!

Seneca #229, from one Blowout Member to another via a card shop via Ebay

2012-10-03T20:05:00.000-04:00

Man, buying online can get real complicated. But it's nice when it works out!

Anywho, one of the many Seneca cards I had never truly found was 2007's Topps Gold /52. A lot of the Topps set cards are hard to find once you fit those final two parallels (the Platinum 1/1 and whatever color they make second rarest) since everyone and their Mom collects flagship and a lot of people like to try for the parallel sets too. So this card had never showed up online anywhere - people like to build sets, what can I say? But I expected it - I'm waiting on the second rarest card from 2007 Total and 2009 Mayo Mini as well for similar reasons. It is what it is.

Well as you may expect since I'm posting this, one popped up on Ebay. $2.99 with free shipping. I threw in an opening bid and was ready to go up to like $20. Imagine my surprise when that was the winning bid 6 days later!

Even randomer, I got a message on Blowout that night from a guy who said I won a card from his shop. He was real excited I won but felt bad because had he known it was me, he would have just sent it for free! I could really care less - $3 between card collectors is chump and I'm just happy to have a new card for my collection. But it's nice to make those connections, and he said he'll keep a heads up for me from here on out!

Anyway, here's the card:

Love that gold sheen. All that's left is the Platinum 1/1. Never seen it anywhere in my life and don't expect it to come cheap if I do, but I think it's his only somewhat normal 1/1 parallel. Certainly his only Topps base 1/1 since 2003 doesn't have one.

Here's the back. Chippy around the edges, but I could care less:

As you can see from the stats, Seneca was serviceable in 2006, but hardly showstopping. 2008 was actually his career year, with 11 touchdowns and 3 interceptions over 10 games (8 starts), with a league low 1.2% interception rating. The only other year he was nearly that good was 2010, his first year with the Browns. He played less games though so it doesn't look quite as nice.

Anyway, as you see, 32/52 stamped in that big green area on the left. Progress! Only 55 cards left now and a bunch of those are 1/1's. 24 to be exact, which means 31 "normal" cards, all but 7 of which are /50 or less.