Token Bi-Weekly Blazers Post

Cards on Cards has a cold. Okay, maybe the blog can't actually get sick, but the author has a head cold that has been making him cranky and lethargic all weekend. Fortunately, he has been able to kick back and watch the Blazers home winning streak grow to 11.

Why am I talking in third person all of a sudden? Anyway, I took a week off... unintentionally, if you believe that... and Portland has picked up 5 wins in the last two weeks, so I get to scan 5 more cards. Unfortunately, only one of the victories was on the road as the Blazers have continued their trend of coming up just short against playoff-contending road teams (Houston, San Antonio, Denver) and beating up on virtually everyone in their path at home. Throw in a road whipping of the Timberwolves and you have a 5-3 record in the past two weeks.

Greg Oden continues to stay in street clothes due to knocking knees with someone right before the All-Star break. Conspiracy theories abound, ranging from the usual "the sky is falling" fears about Oden needing another major surgery to questions about his work ethic and desire to play basketball. It will be nice to see him get back on the court, whenever that may be, but I've always had the attitude that I would root for the players who are suited up and in uniform and not worry about anyone else.

Unfortunately, my attitude still leaves the Blazers thin in the middle when Joel Przybilla needs a rest.

About the cards:

• If we don't see a late '80s/early '90s throwback jersey night in the near future, I'm going to start freaking out and calling local sports talk shows or something. Well, not really. See Cliff Robinson's '90-'91 Fleer card above to see what I mean. It's the jerseys with the lower-case letters, before the block lettering took over in '91 or so.)
• The Clyde Drexler Upper Deck card appears to be the only duplicate card in the box that I bought. You'll get to see the card again, unless the Blazers fall short of 50 wins this season. That had better not happen, because it feels like it might take about 53 wins just to make the playoffs in the West this year, which is incredible.
  
• There's a nice shot of pre-goggles Buck Williams, courtesy of the second annual NBA Hoops set. I own the entire set. I am fairly certain that if you were to sell it on eBay, no one would bid on it simply because it's worth less than what it would cost to ship the thing.
• Purple basketball cards = bad idea. Just ask Jermaine O'Neal, who is on his second team of this season already (Miami) after spending his peak years at Indiana.
• Bonzi Wells has an incredibly extensive Wikipedia entry, which is a good read. Seriously. It reads like a VH-1 Behind the Music episode, only for NBA basketball players.
  

Bonus: Ha ha! There is no bonus this week! Maybe there will be two bonuses next week. Maybe not. The Blazers play the Lakers later tonight at the Rose Garden, which has been a building of total failure for LA in recent times. Let me just say that if Portland wins tonight, there will be... I don't know... three bonuses next week. Go Blazers!