Bracket Contest Update and Cards from Cardboard Heaven

We're down to the final four teams in the NCAA Tournament, which means the contest will be drawing to a close a week from tonight. I jumped ship on my bracket after the first couple of rounds and began rooting for the underdogs exclusively, which is what I used to do before I began filling these things out anyway. I tend to think that it was more fun. Dan ("Matchup Zone" - not sure if this is a reader or a fellow blogger) is hanging onto a slim lead in the contest, but, like the real world, basically no one has more than one Final Four team left still alive. If Duke takes it all, it looks like reader Timothy could walk away with the prize as he has the most possible points at this stage, while it looks like AJ (not A.J. - he's kinda like CC Sabathia) has last place locked up. I'll wait for the Yahoo robots to come up with those final results before I award any "prizes", however, because I didn't really read the scoring rules.

Meanwhile, I received a handful of cardboard gems from Cardboard Heaven recently that I thought I'd share.

J.D. (not to be confused with JD) Drew has so many cards to his name, mostly from the late '90s and early '00s. I really wish I liked him more... or at all, really. I won't turn any of them away, of course, unless they're not Cardinals-related. I don't really understand what the credit card craze was all about, especially when I thought that the '80s were supposed to be the era of excess. I guess they just didn't have the technology to produce cards like this back then.

That clear photo feeling that you see on this 2009 Chrome card? That's what a refractor looks like on a scanner. Those cold, soulless robot scanners that see no rainbowy colors... what must life be like for them?

It sounds like the Brewers may be parting ways with Jeff Suppan soon. I would never consider him a great pitcher, but he was a huge part of the Cardinals staff that won the 2006 World Series. He never really had many moments like he did with the Cardinals with anyone else.

This is a great looking card that's unfortunately messed up with a crooked piece of certified autograph tape. Brian Barton spent a little over a year with the Cardinals and was traded last April to Atlanta for Blaine Boyer when the team needed a little bullpen help. Boyer provided the kind of help that made me completely forget about him until I tried to do some research for this post and find out where Barton is now. He was a non-roster invitee to spring training with the Dodgers, but I haven't heard a thing about him and it seems likely he will spend another season in the minors.

Ahh! What is this?! This was regifted. I wonder how far back I can trace it. As much as I wouldn't mind some sort of token of the team that was stolen by a dirty liar and thief, I think I'd probably save that opportunity for something a bit more substantial and memorable than a guy who scored 103 points in his NBA career. I wonder if I should pass this card along to another unsuspecting collector. Hmm...