Saturday, October 21, 2023

Good Luck Ducks, Week 8: Picking Up the Pieces

 

Oregon hosts the other Washington team after a tough loss. 
 
The toughest thing about college football, at least in its current format, is that the thing you strive for is so remotely possible that it's probably hard to accept what all of your coaches are telling you about that ultimate prize. At the highest level, there are about a dozen teams - times ten(!) - all competing for four spots in the current format. In any given year, there's maybe a couple of dozen teams that even stand a chance at making the playoffs, and by this point in the season that number of possibilities has certainly been whittled down to single digits already.

With a loss last week in Seattle by a razor-thin margin, the Ducks dropped just one spot in the polls, but they fell a whole lot more in terms of prospects to have a chance to compete for the ultimate prize. The timing is rough for this team as it's led by an outstanding experienced quarterback in Bo Nix, a deep backfield and talented spread far and wide around the roster. If this collection of players were playing by next year's rules (Big Ten schedule aside), the playoff chances wouldn't look so bleak as the plan is to expand from four to twelve teams. Instead, an excellent Oregon team felled by a questionable play call and, sure, a missed field goal more than likely ends up sidelined during the biggest games in January.

I'll say one thing about the otherwise entertaining if not totally gripping game against the dreaded Huskies last week. I wasn't wild about the call to go for it on 4th down with just a couple of minutes left to play, but my main issue wasn't keeping the offense on the field. The play that was called on the field was just inexplicable, at least to the eyes of this fan on the edge of his coach. I understand why Dan Lanning wanted to go for it (doesn't he always?), but especially in the situation where a gained first down guaranteed victory. I just don't understand what they were doing once they snapped the ball.


In any case, it's the Cougars this week. And they're not bad this year! Today's game is certainly a candidate for whatever the equivalent of a trap game is, where instead of the favored team being caught overlooking their current opponent for a bigger game on the horizon, it gets stuck thinking about the possibilities of the previous week and essentially loses twice. Did that last sentence make any sense? I'm not sure... you just don't want your rival to beat you twice!

Notes and other things:
  • A palate cleanser, maybe? The Ducks are finally wearing throwbacks. And they are fantastic.
  • Where Are They Headed? The Cougs are united with the Oregon State Beavers as the Last Two Standing, and they are suing the crap out of the other Pac-12 schools in order to secure their own financial viability and decision making control to get themselves out of the mess that they're in currently. I fully support this.
  • Ducks Ranking This Week: 9 (AP). They dropped one spot but it felt like one hundred.
  • Bo Nix Heisman Watch: His candidacy took a similar hit that the Ducks overall season hopes took, even if the stats didn't change remarkably.
  • Game time is 12:30 PDT on ABC in Eugene. Go Ducks!

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Fuskies


It's number 7 versus number 8 in a game that's received increased national attention. 
 
The Oregon/Washington rivalry is an interesting one in that it's usually been lopsided. Of course, there were the early days where Washington's national stature and outsized resources made the series more of a David vs. Goliath style matchup, which made the Kenny Wheaton game all the more satisfying for an up and coming Ducks program. Later, there were many, many consecutive years (Huskies fans, tell me how many!) where Washington suffered defeat at the hands of Mighty Oregon. And then, of course, Justin Herbert's first start came at the wrong end of a 70-to-something beatdown. It feels fairly rare when these teams have met on even ground, but that's apparently where we find things this afternoon in Seattle.

Another interesting aspect to this game and the series as a whole is that the two schools enter the B1G next year, hand in hand, as they are locked in to playing each other every year at the end of their respective schedules. Gone are the Civil War game (I still call it that) and the Apple Cup. In place is the big Oregon/Washington showdown, a fairly nasty rivalry without a name or a lengthy list of close games. I don't think it's the worst option going forward in the new, even more money grubbing college football future, but it doesn't really matter what I think anyway.

Bo Nix and Michael Something Jr. are two big time QBs in a conference (for now) stocked well with big time QBs. It's as if the Pac-12 conference ("Conference of Champions!" -- Bill Walton) gods decided to assemble this talented group specifically for its last hurrah. Of course, both sides are well-stocked with talent beyond the guys taking the snaps, as you would expect for teams ranked so high. This could all prove to be a very close, nail-biting affair, but if it holds true to the series as a whole, it could very well be a giant victory for one of these schools.


Notes and other things:
  • I normally put a lot of stock in teams heading into a tough game after a bye week, but it turns out that Washington also had last week off. Another thing to consider: I am not into gambling at all, so I wouldn't take my predictions with any morsel of seriousness.
  • Where Are They Headed? Well, we covered this already, but the B1G awaits Washington, bonded in football life with their webfooted bros. Ew.
  • Ducks Ranking This Week: 8 (AP). They moved up one spot heading into the bye week, and then held their position after Texas and Oklahoma sort of flip-flopped.
  • Bo Nix Heisman Watch: Much as the teams themselves, the winner of this game likely takes a sizeable lead in the Heisman race. There are a bunch of other candidates out there, however, including some other transfer dude in the Pac-12.
  • Game time is 12:30 PDT on ABC in Seattle. Go Ducks!

Thursday, October 5, 2023

The Last One

 

A huge group break acquisition to wrap up things here. 
 
With this last bit of cards from a couple of Nachos Grande box breaks, I'm finally caught up and ready to move things along... down the street, that is. I'll hopefully be back with the usual Ducks post sometime before the next football game a week from Saturday.


I usually let cards build up a bit more before I request a shipment, but there was a certain urgency to these cards that will make sense a little further down the screen here. The 2023 Panini Prizm break netted me some nice and shiny Cardinals cards including this Ice parallel of Harry Walker. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I was also randomly assigned the Rangers in this break and ended up with some Pudge Rodriguez cards for the trade boxes.


Silver Prizm cards are a bit hard to come by now that Panini figured out that people go crazy for them (well, in the NBA, at least.)


This green "scope" parallel of Tink Hence is numbered to just 75. It looks pretty nice in hand.


The biggest break (and the reason for the urgent shipment) was 2023 Topps Finest. I usually stay far away from Finest because of the cost, but I'm sure glad I didn't this time! I did get a couple of nice Cardinals, including the "rose gold" parallel of Matthew Liberatore at the top of this post, which is also numbered to just 75.


My randomly assigned team was the Baltimore Orioles, suddenly looking like the Kings of the American League these days. Adley Rutschman is my new secret player collection guy. I even kicked my musty old Mike Trout cards out of a box he shared with Shohei Ohtani to make room for Adley. The young catcher is from the Portland area and did a cool thing during the HR Derby this summer, so it wasn't tough to convince me to stash away some of his cards.


Well, this also certainly helps! I'm not one to have much luck with redemptions (who does?), but Topps really delivered the goods this time.


I spammed this picture around all of the Discord servers that I'm in weeks ago, so this probably isn't a big surprise to some of you. My first instinct is to sell anytime I come into an expensive card like this, but I might be hanging onto this one for awhile.

Saturday, September 30, 2023

Good Luck Ducks, Week 5: Hello, Stanford!

 

Fresh off a rout, the surging Ducks head to Palo Alto. 
 
I'm not an I Told You So guy, nor am I one to make bold predictions. However, I made bold predictions to anyone in my general vicinity last week that Oregon was going to destroy Colorado and they certainly did that thing. It was very satisfying. Again, my issue was never with Deion Sanders, it was with the way the media was handling the Deion Sanders experience and how it completely overshadowed other programs that were vastly more worthy of recognition.

Moving on, there is a significantly less hyped game to play this week. The Ducks fly south to take on Stanford, a team that has not always been easy on Oregon in the past decade-plus. They've had some rough seasons of late which started to numb the rivalry, and it's expected that the Ducks should have a relatively smooth sailing game this time.

The Cardinal have struggled defensively under first year head coach Troy Taylor, which should be a scary thing when considering how unstoppable certain facets of the Duck offense have been so far. That would certainly include Bucky Irving, who has looked like he's working with cheat codes this season after a stellar 2022. And that's to say nothing of Bo Nix, who has been incredibly efficient with his passes once again. Many have declared the death of the run game in football at both the professional level as well as the college level, but I don't think Dan Lanning and Oregon are hearing any of that.


Notes and other things:
  • I promised an update on this whole Ducks gas station convenience store set and have posted a pack break here. It's really great to see all of these players get their own trading cards, making it one of the things about NIL that I most pleased about.
  • Where Are They Headed? Stanford could have snubbed the big college football realignment of the 2020s, but they ended up going all the way to the wrong coast to join the ACC. That will be... something, I'm sure.
  • Ducks Ranking This Week: 9 (AP). That is well enough to be looking down at the rest of the conference in a normal year, but there's still a couple of Pac-12 schools ahead of them and it could well be a dog fight until the end.
  • Bo Nix Heisman Watch: Skyrocketing, apparently. I would call out the bias of something called Ducks Wire, but they are citing FanDuel as their source. Gambling sites are never wrong, right?
  • Game time is 3:30 PDT on the Pac-12 Network. Go Ducks!

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

More Breaks from Colbey!

 

Cardinals and Eagles from this summer's Affordable Group Breaks. 
 
My box break participation has slowed down quite a bit this year along with my shrinking sports card budget, but that hasn't stopped me from picking up an occasional slot in the Cardboard Collections Affordable Group Breaks Facebook group. Cheap breaks are really the only reason I continue to use that particular social media platform.


My most recent shipment (from back in July) saw a healthy amount of Cardinals I needed, including a Dylan Carlson rookie refractor from the 2021 Allen & Ginter Chrome set.


This one looks to be from a random giveaway. I'm definitely psyched to have a card documenting Minnie Minoso's solo season in a Cardinals uniform.


This is a very strange card. If you look at it from the side, it looks like two cards glued together, which I suppose was necessary to create the netting effect (you can see through the net.)


Here's a nice numbered Lou Brock insert from Panini's most recent (and final?) Donruss set. I feel like that company is on the verge of closing up shop in the USA with all of the recent news and loss of licenses, but you never know. I would certainly wonder what would happen to all of the brand names and trademarks they own if they suddenly stopped making sports cards.


I thought that I had most if not all of the 2002 Donruss Fan Club team set a couple of times over, but I definitely needed this die cut Fernando Vina parallel and the short printed J.D. Drew "Favorites" card.


If the price is right and the year is also right, I do sometimes snag the Eagles in an NFL break. I really like the look of these 1996 Donruss cards, from one of the last years of their vastly superior classic jerseys. I remember both of these guys from Tecmo Super Bowl III on the Super Nintendo.


Here's a newer (2022) card that looks like it's straight out of the '90s.


Irving Fryar certainly looks strange to me wearing the Eagles current uniform look, which must have debuted around the time these cards were being produced.

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Good Luck Ducks, Week 4: Prime Day

 

The Quack Attack enters conference play against a ridiculous opponent. 
 
Oregon opens conference play today against one of the strangely overhyped teams of my lifetime. Since joining the Pac-12, the Colorado Buffaloes have tallied two Alamo Bowl appearances in twelve seasons and... that's it! Aside from a 10-win season and the weird COVID year, they have finished with a losing record in every season, including four double-digit loss seasons. Deion Sanders didn't just inherit a team on the skids, he started coaching the worst Power 5 conference team of the past decade. (Can anyone name a worse one?)

Of course, with a fresh gimmick and a fresh roster of players, the Buffaloes enter their final Pac-12 season with a tremendous amount of hype. It is also true that this team barely resembles last season's 1-11 team because, well, Sanders basically fired the whole roster and replaced it with a bunch of other dudes in the transfer portal just screaming for the spotlight.

I could turn this into some whole other thing where I complain about how the game has changed and blah blah blah, but I won't. This might yet be the last season of college football I really pay attention to because of the imminent conference realignment that spreads waste all over the past, but I'm trying to just be here for the moment. And the moment is where the Oregon Ducks stomp all over the Colorado Buffaloes once again.


Notes and other things:
  1. Colorado's Travis Hunter suffered a pretty disturbing injury last week that will keep him out for this game and possibly others. He's a big part of their game on both sides of the ball, so it's frustrating to see him miss the game especially if Colorado fans end up blaming any sort of loss on his absence.
  2. Where Are They Headed? Well, Colorado is back to the Big 12 after this season, where they previously spent 15 seasons and were a charter member. Maybe that early 2010's realignment didn't make sense after all.
  3. Ducks Ranking This Week: 10 (AP). There wasn't a lot of movement ahead of them, but their continued dominance against weaker opponents apparently said something.
  4. Bo Nix Heisman Watch: I mean, I figure he still has a leg up against Neon Deion's son, so that has to count for something.
  5. Game time is 12:30 PM PDT on ABC. Go Ducks!

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

More Jerseys and Autos from Oren

 

Reader Oren strikes again with an amazing collection of memorabilia cards and autographs. 
 
I'm not sure where he finds all of this great stuff, but I am always excited to put together a trade with Oren. This one even topped the last package! 


Andrew Knizner has had a really nice season as the #2 option at catcher with St. Louis, having found a bit of power that we hadn't really seen from him at the big league level.


For all of their shortcomings, Panini does put out some nice looking memorabilia cards from time to time. This dual relic from last year's Diamond Kings set is one of those, at least for me. It looks like last year might have been the last for the Diamond Kings set, as Panini really scaled back their baseball releases after losing their MLBPA license. Has anyone seen or heard of anything else coming out this year besides Donruss and Prizm? I think Diamond Kings would have been a much better fit for a bunch of retired players than Prizm was.


This time, Dylan Carlson shares the spotlight on a Panini jersey card with Alex Kirilloff. Time will tell whether either of these guys will ever fully live up to their earlier prospect hype.


This is probably my favorite of the whole lot. Whitey still has a nice signature for someone who turned 91 last year when the 2022 Topps Archives set was released.


Framed mini cards are best known as being an Allen & Ginter thing, but it's easy to forget that Topps was doing this before 2006 when the first modern A&G set came to be.


Speaking of Allen & Ginter, this card is very... white! I do prefer the mini memorabilia cards to these.


Yadi jersey cards are a bit tougher to come by than your average Cardinal, so I was pretty excited when this card popped out. They even did the rare thing where the jersey color matches the photo on the card.


This one doesn't have a memorabilia swatch or signature on it, but it's still a nice numbered Molina card.


There were also a few non-baseball cards included, like this dual jersey card of former Eagles starting RB Miles Sanders.


Zach Collins rocking a Panini headband?! I didn't know that I needed this, but I'm glad to have it!


The late Caleb Swanigan was part of the same draft as Zach Collins. Hoops autographs usually are on stickers, but they typically have a nice design and this is no exception.