Two more insanity pages complete

Yes indeed, after playing a little bit of catch up with all the purchases from the National, I finally put away all the serial #'d cards I purchased there.  While doing this, I discovered that I completed two more pages, bringing the total number of completed pages to 5.

This is page #6, cards 46-54.

I had never seen a Topps co-signers card until I started this project.

This is page #9, cards 73-81

the atomic refractor of Heath Bell scanned out really well.

I have picked up 638 cards towards the set, only another 112 cards to the 50% mark.  Two teams still lead the way with 29 cards out of the 50 (New York Yankees, Washington Nationals), while there are three teams that still lag behind with 14 apiece (Baltimore, Houston and Milwaukee).  Eighteen of the 30 teams are at 20 cards or better. 

I can honestly say that picking up those 40 cards at the National was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had while putting together this set.  The only thing that would have made it even better is if the cards were a quarter apiece, instead of 50 cents...

Keep em coming guys (and gals), always love bringing them in, even if it's only a couple, they are always welcome.


Thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: Don't you just love Pacific?

Yes, you all remember Pacific out there.  They of the multitude of sets with a multitude of parallels.

Omega, Paramount, Crown Royale, Revolution, Dynagon Ice,Private Stock, Titanium.  Don't forget the base Pacific set as well.  I'm sure that there may be other sets that I've forgotten over the years.

Pacific definitely made things interested for the collector back in the late 90's/early 2000's, didn't they?  A myriad of sets, many of which contained several forms of parallels.

Base, Ruby, Copper, Ice Blue, Gold, Premiere Date just to name a few.  Each of them listed in the magazine with varying levels of attainability, and in turn varying levels of multipliers increasing the "value" of the card by sometimes crazy levels of multipliers.  Here's an example for you all:

1999/2000 Pacific Paramount.  I have staring you in the face 3 of the various parallels from that year.  The base is on the far right.  The middle card is the Gold parallel (not to be confused with the Holo-Gold!!), available in retail packs, and holding a multiplier of 2.5 to 6x the base card's value.  The card on the far left is the copper parallel, available in hobby packs, with a multiplier of 2.5 to 5x. 

The best part of this is....to complete all the variations of the Joe Sakic base card from this year, I only need six more.  2 types of Emerald to start, an Ice Blue, and various other levels of insanity. 

I could honestly see a lot of player/team collectors saying "screw this" and forgetting about the various parallels.  Imagine if you are an Avalanche team collector?  Nine players in that set, including names like Sakic, Roy, Hejduk and Forsberg. 

To be honest....these cards bring back a lot of memories for me, back to a time when collectors had choices.  Yes, there were tons of sets on the market, but at least there were no monopolies.  Maybe I'll start a bring back the Pacific brand campaign...when I acquire all the Joe Sakic parallels from all the Pacific sets over the years.

I'm guessing you will not have to worry about Pacific coming back any time soon then....

thanks for reading, Robert

Adam Dunn proved me right, for once

Back in May I posted about Adam Dunn and all the negative ink that he received over the winter about the rough 2011 campaign that he endured..  I made a prediction on that post that by the end of the 2012 season he would hit his 400th HR.

Wow....he actually proved me right!!

I realized this morning that the event happened last night after reading an article about the fan who was arrested last night after going into the fountains in Kansas City to retrieve the ball.  The article also goes on to state that the fan might be fined up to $2,500 for diving after a small piece of history.

I think I'd rather pay a few dollars and get myself something like this instead.

Add caption

Must be the fear I have of being surrounded by tattooed men who are looking to show me the meaning of the phrase "jailhouse love" that prevents me from diving into fountains.

Thanks for reading, Robert

28 days

That's all there is before the NHL imposes a lockout on their players if a new CBA is not reached.

I can see the writing on the wall now.  It's going to happen.  We're going to lose significant time again this year.  (I'm praying that the two sides prove me wrong, but they just waited too damn long to start talks)

The problem now is what it was in the past, the owners.  The gulf between the haves and the have nots in the ranks of ownership is just way too wide.  Teams that can bury horrible contracts in the minors (Toronto and the Rangers to name two) have a big advantage over teams that are scrambling each season just to spend to the floor (Phoenix, Florida).  Sadly, the owners have to "band together" to figure a way to do it in order to save the poor clubs.

Who takes the hit?  The players....

I'm sure this guy wasn't going around to the owners with a gun to their heads and saying "give me a 13 year contract"...

 

The league has a real problem on their hands.  The divisive shift isn't within the players; if anything they seem to be more together on the issues than they ever have been.

The players are the driving force of the game, and there are a lot of great young players driving the skill level upwards at an alarming rate.

No sooner do I hear in talks that ownership wants to limit contracts to a 5 year term then I see not one but two players (Pacioretty and Simmonds) sign 6 year contracts.

The problem (at least how I see it) is the owners battling within themselves.  The rich doing their best to drive the poor ones out of business by forcing them to either put up or shut up.  Yes, I know it's the classic business model, but when you have a finite amount of teams in a sport you're trying to expand to the entire North American market, it just doesn't make sense.

Nearly $8 million (on average) per year for Shea Weber?  Come on folks, it's getting a little ridiculous.  Weber is a very good defenseman, but to pay him near what Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin are making is ....nuts.

This type of spending has forced teams that are "middle of the pack" like Carolina to overpay for players (I'm sorry, $6 million/yr for Jordan Staal is a little much..again just my opinion).

It's obvious now that the lost season of 2004-05 hasn't shown the ownership group anything, because they've gone and created the same problem as they had 8 years ago.  Out of control spending.

I'm not paying good money to go and see Ryan Suter play hockey.   Ryan Suter is a very good hockey player, don't get me wrong, but to pay him the kind of money that he received (13 years, $98 million) is crazy. 


Gary Bettman...you need to get your ownership group together....offer the players 51% of the revenue, put in an impartial mediator to hear appeals on player suspensions...and for the love of all things good, contract this league by 4 teams. 

Do not put a 2nd team in Toronto, do not give a team back to Quebec City unless an owner chooses to move there, and put no more teams south of North Carolina.


I also want to watch Nashville Predators games on the off chance that the cameras will pan and show me the visage of this very lucky hockey player's wife....

Mr. Underwood?  Nah.....

I'm sorry that you've been forced to read a very long winded and choppy rant, but when I see my favorite sport 28 days away from another lockout, well it really just fucking pisses me off.

28 days....you think I'm upset now, wait until the lockout happens....then I might go spinning out of control on the NHL....

lol....I love blogging...

Thanks for reading, Robert

I find it hard to put these cards down

Back in July I came across a post by Dave over at the Wax Stain Rookie (by the way if you're not reading it on a regular basis, you should be) where he mentioned a find at a local LCS of some OPC from 1976-77.

The post featured a Jack Valiquette RC, and the memories just came flooding back.  After a couple of emails back and forth, I secured about 600-700 cards from Dave for a great price.

These cards have created several problems. I don't want to sort them.  I don't want to put them in binders.   I don't want to figure out how many cards I need to finish the set.  I don't even want to take them out of the original box that Dave shipped them in.

Every time I look at that box, and start flipping through the cards, I turn into the 9 year old kid who bought them back in the 70's.  It scares the hell out of me.  Why?

Because unlike the '77 Topps cards that I used to buy when I was a 9 year old, these hockey cards are timeless for me.  It is a group of players with names like Dunc Wilson, Dave Schultz, Bunny Larocque, Gary Smith and so on that take me back to a time over 35 years ago when the game was simpler.  The times were simpler. 

I was a kid who had found collecting to be a joy, and that is something that will follow me until the day I stop breathing.

Cards like this remind me of a better day...

The old California Golden Seals uniforms.  Not the greatest of greens that was used, but still a retro uni that brings back memories.  The Seals were one of two teams that actually transferred cities that summer, the 2nd being the Kansas City Scouts, who moved to Colorado to become the Rockies (not the baseball team....the hockey team)

Something you will never see again.  A player wearing a head band on the ice.  Awesome.

Nick names were great back then as well...this guy was the "Iron Man" (not Robert Downey Jr.)

No relation to Felix

914 straight games.  Many thought it a streak that would never be broken.  Doug Jarvis came along and ended that thought, by playing 964 straight (the equivalent of roughly 12 NHL seasons).

There were many Maple Leafs cards in the box, but this guy was my favorite of the bunch, the pride of Summerside...

I saw Errol Thompson on the Hockey Day in Canada broadcast last winter from Summerside, P.E.I., and he looks better now than he did in the 70's!  

The box is a great mix of posed shots such as the Thompson card above, and on ice photos similar to the Unger, poor lighting and all.

To Dave, who graciously sent me this box of hockey goodness...you've created a monster.  The same monster that prowled the Danforth back in the 70's in pursuit of cardboard gold.

Thank you Dave.

Thanks for reading, Robert