Basketball is Over

Closing the books on another NBA season. 

Last night, just a few minutes after tip-off down at the Rose Quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers 2016-17 season flatlined and could not be resuscitated. It was only the second playoff game I've ever attended in any sport, and it was pretty brutal. I thought I'd show off some old-school Blazers cards in their honor.

Before I do that, however, let's give some credit where credit is due: RAZ from The Raz Card Blog took the trophy in the first ever Cards on Cards fantasy hoops season. I don't think I announced this at the time, but in the spirit of things (and to hopefully sucker a few of you back into participating next year) I am giving out a prize to the winner. RAZ (and his excellent team name "Manute's Glutes") took down Bob Walk The Plank by the slimmest of margins (5-4!) I like to think the Glutes having Damian Lillard on their roster was the key to victory, so I'm just gonna go with that.

But we're all here to talk about cards, and cards are what Tim Wallach Cards sent to me, in thanks to some recent Wallach-related envelopes I sent his way. Did you know that timwallach.com redirects to his blog? That is seriously awesome.

With Nike taking over the NBA apparel contract for next season, there are rumors that the Blazers are up for a pretty serious redesign of their unis. I really hope they go back to more of a retro look, a la the Washington Wizards (née Bullets).

Mr. Wallach* also sent along some baseball cards, which will be heavily featured here at Cards on Cards (I promise!) for the remainder of the spring and summer months. O-Pee-Chee cards are always needed.

The internet tells me that these glossy and shiny Fleer parallels from the mid-'90s are called Tiffany. How did they get away with that? Did Topps not copyright the Tiffany name in the '80s? For that matter, how did... Tiffany... get its name in the first place? (Side note: I don't think I've ever known a Tiffany I'd consider to be classy.)

Finally, here's one more O-Pee-Chee card for the road, and it's a good one. I didn't scan the back of the card, but if you're a top notch card sleuth you could have known that this was Canadian all the way without looking at the back. (Or, perhaps, if you were a die hard oh my oh-pee-chee! reader like I was.) Check it: no rookie cup!

*Not his real name