I'm glad I waited

Impulse purchases.  They are probably the bane of my card collecting existence. 

New and shiny.

Retro.  Vintage.

You put a special word on the pack, or tell me that it's new, and chances are over the past 20 years that you had me instantly hooked.

I can gladly say that watching, reading, and sometimes listening to what fellow bloggers have posted has paid off for me.

I've developed a bit of patience when it comes to card collecting.  Maybe part of that is because I'm 46 years old now.  Maybe part of it is that I'm married to a woman who has taught me that thinking is a good thing.  I don't know why it is, but patience has crept into my vocabulary.

Case in point.  The semi-annual Hockey Card Expo was in Toronto almost a month ago.  It took place the weekend after Upper Deck released their annual base set (Series 1).  In the past, with the amount of money that I had for the show, the $85 price tag for a box of new and shiny wouldn't have bothered me.  Instead, this year I broke it down, and figured out that the $85 worked out to about $3.50 a pack.

For a base brand.

Believe it or not, I passed.  I'm glad I waited.  I purchased two rack packs of Series 1 this past weekend at the big blue box, and there was no wow factor for me.   Nothing.

Don't get me wrong.  I love Upper Deck hockey products.  Always have.  But paying the price for shiny and new has stopped, and for that I'm happy. 

The 2 rack packs yielded nothing major; the only "inserts" were a couple of canvas parallels.  I do like the canvas cards, and have been tempted to work on completing a set of them one day, but with all the other sets/projects I have going on, I really don't have the time or the money to put a set together.

Love the look and feel of the canvas...

I did find 4 cards that I wanted to share with everyone, 4 cards that showcase some of the great photography and photo choices that UD is famous for.

I've stated on posts in the past how I enjoy photos of players signing autographs for the fans, and this Ryan Smyth card just reinforces that love...

This next photo might show a bit of bias since I'm a Leafs fan, but this photo of Dion Phaneuf is for some crazy reason really cool to me...

I would love to know how they managed to get Phaneuf himself exposed properly, and the rest of the picture blurry.  It is a weird effect, but very cool.

Anyone running a card of the year contest?  I'd like to add this next card in as my pick.  Look out for James Neal....

Holy net cam shot!!  Just incredible.  If you check out the scoreboard above James, you can see him falling into the net at another angle. 

I do have one more card to show here.  Let me preface all this by saying, I am neither a Boston Bruin, or a Brad Marchand fan.  But this card just speaks volumes...

I do not make it a point to post about tragedies or anything else going on in the world, because we have enough in our lives to deal with without having to read about it on someone's blog (especially my long winded drivel).

I will say this, the Boston Marathon bombing was a disgusting act, and how it galvanized Boston and this country reinforced my faith in humanity.

Upper Deck got that card right....

But back to my original point.   I can now say I was disappointed in the very high price of boxes at the Expo, and in my opinion was just a shameful cash grab by everyone.  Yes, it is their right to sell the product for what they deem is fair, but I'm glad I waited.

Thanks for reading, Robert