tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19990882861158508982024-03-19T01:47:45.555-07:00Cards on Cardsmaddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.comBlogger2668125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-6666063738443856162024-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T09:00:00.137-07:00Contest Time! March Radness XV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsE9WfPauSG_2qN8SdFLeTEsmzEmajz8HZ7HqVWW21CrXkBgT35_H3r40VvdU37M-H0e2s0RPsSCqXVNRtfIpHZd3OaZNzsa_42DJDoYnp3DCiRp7vCBbhz1RMAeiibp-ZFYdzxqYu9mHDSCkmBTYJn0qiC7HY_gCzYvuwP5_uFO_Oc54JveW4YsK7cn3/s2048/merlin_150983364_466a3072-d282-4527-b183-518ed0356c66-superJumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1387" data-original-width="2048" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsE9WfPauSG_2qN8SdFLeTEsmzEmajz8HZ7HqVWW21CrXkBgT35_H3r40VvdU37M-H0e2s0RPsSCqXVNRtfIpHZd3OaZNzsa_42DJDoYnp3DCiRp7vCBbhz1RMAeiibp-ZFYdzxqYu9mHDSCkmBTYJn0qiC7HY_gCzYvuwP5_uFO_Oc54JveW4YsK7cn3/w400-h271/merlin_150983364_466a3072-d282-4527-b183-518ed0356c66-superJumbo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The annual March Radness contest is back for the 15th (!) time. Fill out a bracket and maybe win a prize? </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We back. Pick the best NCAA bracket and you can win a prize. There are also runner-up prizes. I will also create a bonus contest at some point, selecting a game for anyone, including those who don't want to fill out a bracket, to predict the final score of (game TBD.)</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></div><div><b>2024 rules:</b></div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Selection Sunday is March 17th (tomorrow!), which means that is the earliest the brackets can be filled out. <b>The games that actually count for the contest will start on March 21st.</b></li><li>Default ESPN scoring rules apply. You must fill out the entire bracket, including the tie-breaking final score of the final game.</li><li><b>First place wins a 2024 Topps Heritage Value Box</b> (blaster) or suitable equivalent (subject to availability! up to $24.99 in value!) I will email the winner shortly after the final game to make the prize selection among the available products at the time.</li><li>Second and third place prizes will consist of some team bags of cards from your favorite MLB and/or basketball teams.</li><li>As always, the worst (honest) bracket will get something, too.</li><li><a href="https://fantasy.espn.com/tc/sharer?challengeId=240&from=espn&context=GROUP_INVITE&edition=espn-en&groupId=93249444-291d-40df-9fc1-ff61eead7cb5">Click here now to join</a>, and follow the "Create a Bracket Now" link. Make sure to fill out your entire bracket prior to March 21st!</li></ul></div></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-41440616052604806042024-03-12T10:00:00.000-07:002024-03-12T10:00:00.132-07:00Seasons Greetings from Oren<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHNk5XHYP0l9ljeR26wRO3n3ftzsWai-WK8Ui9u1lj_jgfqhC1YaEuUPF8ud7Ak-O1sHFzQzoVB1Mn6R0W0fgMTAjqRgAjp3eulkA7Y_cdcCZ8q3LBoTWPaTtRU97H1B-ywXrRnMH7ISg4pvUgtTv33-HbdgvaAPgrTImIakpZYrPjdwVViAKpwgYvjs7/s696/bgibson12paniniprizmred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHNk5XHYP0l9ljeR26wRO3n3ftzsWai-WK8Ui9u1lj_jgfqhC1YaEuUPF8ud7Ak-O1sHFzQzoVB1Mn6R0W0fgMTAjqRgAjp3eulkA7Y_cdcCZ8q3LBoTWPaTtRU97H1B-ywXrRnMH7ISg4pvUgtTv33-HbdgvaAPgrTImIakpZYrPjdwVViAKpwgYvjs7/s320/bgibson12paniniprizmred.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">A timely big bundle of cards that is finally revealed a few months later. </span></b></div><div> </div><div>'Tis the season (*checks calendar*)... oops, it's March! Well, as the sun breaks are starting to increase and daylight savings is in full effect, let's check out a fantastic batch of stuff from super generous trader Oren.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRDL-aySXfDr5A4uns12uvlx6EkZVYRQmxC3-yRSArmKCW6wy5omadtDf-3xfvtYkt2GAQmot_8cGXzuSYTXvtbTEoxom-U3cvYzVRiSi5DaD0bs7G26FPsrZmzLt7mPzJnLsyC9fuab6x1j-DzMO55QTd1E9K3LOvFWwo3C4c4lOOrT7zAXhk-SW8vla/s701/dcarlson21paninidkmaterialsdualjerseyhologold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRDL-aySXfDr5A4uns12uvlx6EkZVYRQmxC3-yRSArmKCW6wy5omadtDf-3xfvtYkt2GAQmot_8cGXzuSYTXvtbTEoxom-U3cvYzVRiSi5DaD0bs7G26FPsrZmzLt7mPzJnLsyC9fuab6x1j-DzMO55QTd1E9K3LOvFWwo3C4c4lOOrT7zAXhk-SW8vla/s320/dcarlson21paninidkmaterialsdualjerseyhologold.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>For one reason or another, Dylan Carlson seems to have settled into a role as fourth outfielder after arriving in the dreaded 2020 season with much hype. Assuming some semblance of health, Gold Glove-winning infielder Tommy Edman is the anointed starting center fielder (?), but I felt like the outfield had the best overall balance with Carlson in center over the last couple of seasons. That's not to knock what Edman has done in the outfield, as I feel like he could probably capably hold down any position on the field. I'd just prefer Carlson in center for now, at least since Harrison Bader was sold off.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzhpmxUQ8FnF728YxYYfWq0uQVcNNxA_PEVaFS4Sk8fKzPvd4Fp1b_RJ9ubeKru2wJYiNzSK0txU964BMCplCa3brIl33_1BBQJy0bZfV1n34pST-vELLCWJmVg4-aTQpx4jsntpV10rY-ZUISROQYFFFRr3U6dQpd4feXHwkEMnWrboJq7Xpa8ZdCr0V/s699/jgant20toppsherwhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNzhpmxUQ8FnF728YxYYfWq0uQVcNNxA_PEVaFS4Sk8fKzPvd4Fp1b_RJ9ubeKru2wJYiNzSK0txU964BMCplCa3brIl33_1BBQJy0bZfV1n34pST-vELLCWJmVg4-aTQpx4jsntpV10rY-ZUISROQYFFFRr3U6dQpd4feXHwkEMnWrboJq7Xpa8ZdCr0V/s320/jgant20toppsherwhite.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I had never seen one of these white bordered 2020 Topps Heritage cards. In fact, I had completely forgotten that they existed. I think my scanner gave the red printing more of a pinkish glow than it really has, but this is still pretty striking.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5khMxqAFMnLU_AcgGXKaAVGhA5M90J-v0g5J7CuE8ItiMhNHU4AIGXM8vK0zXlhVYIVMGhLjX00Cn42fMcWMi57eHqjkfn0G8Ggg1Ln2t6O4vb53fERX2SOn6-oZv3cKk0TIwFTPVzC15K-Zp57NKbSG_kW7YSfiKaUP1otkfIheS7to8mtvih9t7Dx/s696/mboggs05toppschrblack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1o5khMxqAFMnLU_AcgGXKaAVGhA5M90J-v0g5J7CuE8ItiMhNHU4AIGXM8vK0zXlhVYIVMGhLjX00Cn42fMcWMi57eHqjkfn0G8Ggg1Ln2t6O4vb53fERX2SOn6-oZv3cKk0TIwFTPVzC15K-Zp57NKbSG_kW7YSfiKaUP1otkfIheS7to8mtvih9t7Dx/s320/mboggs05toppschrblack.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm a sucker for a black bordered refractor. I also really like the rare black bordered flagship cards a lot, especially during the days when they shared a bit of sparkly magic with the much more attainable gold parallels.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XQVAVcCJsSbw2rFrfIKFgwcjYQhMLMdqGYfN2O8xrNlwGUiWC_TbaZvgdB6KMuyKkD758q4sb5d0f7FQ8-mQjrOXfnf3NFNr2pjw9oJstnpfKl4WHxGpFb0m-q1plfycBUuhMqheQnUha9xW9oejfqAqI7gRHAiYTUJSC8H0KAp6a_ps1GYM7nFCaoWS/s709/mmorris04donrussleatherlumberjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3XQVAVcCJsSbw2rFrfIKFgwcjYQhMLMdqGYfN2O8xrNlwGUiWC_TbaZvgdB6KMuyKkD758q4sb5d0f7FQ8-mQjrOXfnf3NFNr2pjw9oJstnpfKl4WHxGpFb0m-q1plfycBUuhMqheQnUha9xW9oejfqAqI7gRHAiYTUJSC8H0KAp6a_ps1GYM7nFCaoWS/s320/mmorris04donrussleatherlumberjersey.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Matty Mo is looking pretty formidable on this busy Donruss Leather & Lumber design. I feel like this brand is one that Panini has unleashed rather sparingly since acquiring the DLP portfolio (though how they didn't retain the L part of that conglomerate is a story I've long forgotten about.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtiDyOuq1MDwCCxgUAxTu2bjd0_OyENzWBcEo8HXhZQ4nQKFz3F5IyVHWJXdKp8cUsl39XZINTFOEsxkO83OVbjHEbZPQyNbS59yXSynUspmSgVl_phfeDxTrZpwfyPPgKprcN8LWoE4Jiox3FxLGROY4UIcATkIpZDw-UYhC28xjkwqKb-eji7CeVUrlW/s705/motte05bowmanchrxfractor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtiDyOuq1MDwCCxgUAxTu2bjd0_OyENzWBcEo8HXhZQ4nQKFz3F5IyVHWJXdKp8cUsl39XZINTFOEsxkO83OVbjHEbZPQyNbS59yXSynUspmSgVl_phfeDxTrZpwfyPPgKprcN8LWoE4Jiox3FxLGROY4UIcATkIpZDw-UYhC28xjkwqKb-eji7CeVUrlW/s320/motte05bowmanchrxfractor.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a young, beardless Jason Motte who was still trying to be a catcher, in a weird photo that makes it look like he was trying to look like he wasn't just caught doing something weird in the locker room. Is that even a locker room? What's going on in the background?</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2SANQzLEtvSyyuWeR3ODLbkxTFKZbBXWr3bKLO6U3HsP1CR5fNfkmRgsTzT0NLVwYn4T5wC0RxRgqZE0JZRP103yDX8v9E_kYPh8dVOCxP_JiwTrNvhDv9cQpU-pzr8Tvv1AmU5_mQWs9yKfvcPni8EhOcRkAskQgyHR4QkfW2SWsl8c-4zUiH6HYJKi/s705/rkaminsky13paniniprizmdraftdcred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2SANQzLEtvSyyuWeR3ODLbkxTFKZbBXWr3bKLO6U3HsP1CR5fNfkmRgsTzT0NLVwYn4T5wC0RxRgqZE0JZRP103yDX8v9E_kYPh8dVOCxP_JiwTrNvhDv9cQpU-pzr8Tvv1AmU5_mQWs9yKfvcPni8EhOcRkAskQgyHR4QkfW2SWsl8c-4zUiH6HYJKi/s320/rkaminsky13paniniprizmdraftdcred.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It felt like it took Rob Kaminsky forever to make it to the Cardinals major league team since he was drafted in 2013, and it really did. It was only in his second stint with the club in 2020 when they were keeping an active stable of, I don't know, like 45 pitchers because at any given time a third of them were getting sick. This was all in an attempt to salvage what ended up being a 60 game season. Let's just pretend none of this ever happened, at least in baseball.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nAJRZ-t3_jl3V_aYavYR4dqyPJmjOL7uptZLFJM1QMIIRI13q69QrF6iIcX2fZ-1SLpD_IN33pEQi-p8IDKhhSn4enUHlGchwD3Oi1kQ-kmIcwXZZEfUOjGVViqDYefmPBU2_y24HPC_E61bHImYDqbA8GJPBnqSB5gKsWd5k93kl3PbEk5T5L8S7C4R/s702/rolen03fleermystiquegold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nAJRZ-t3_jl3V_aYavYR4dqyPJmjOL7uptZLFJM1QMIIRI13q69QrF6iIcX2fZ-1SLpD_IN33pEQi-p8IDKhhSn4enUHlGchwD3Oi1kQ-kmIcwXZZEfUOjGVViqDYefmPBU2_y24HPC_E61bHImYDqbA8GJPBnqSB5gKsWd5k93kl3PbEk5T5L8S7C4R/s320/rolen03fleermystiquegold.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I wish this was still a time when a Hall of Fame election meant a serious boost to card values, but if you take even a slight glance at any Scott Rolen cards on the market you'll see that is sadly not the case. Of course, that means all the more for me. People would still rather throw money at some young prospects who may or may not pay off big someday. (They won't.)</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMdnt6iNRa8bqXbOGPBF1ZRF0CtvnrC0F9BEDUc4CsFft_CUkciJ1my6X3y50-Bw5KcVQoaQ3T3QnKh_B9i4BPu3lhrRfXnJEtGo_t00NkLfnL54hk7CGlPJdqlXTPWoZaweGvaMqTdVr4ncuPU8yH9fOQQDMH6IUWB3keckrnEgaFfyfg99XuKsRHE-Y/s702/toneill21toppschrpabwminidiamonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYMdnt6iNRa8bqXbOGPBF1ZRF0CtvnrC0F9BEDUc4CsFft_CUkciJ1my6X3y50-Bw5KcVQoaQ3T3QnKh_B9i4BPu3lhrRfXnJEtGo_t00NkLfnL54hk7CGlPJdqlXTPWoZaweGvaMqTdVr4ncuPU8yH9fOQQDMH6IUWB3keckrnEgaFfyfg99XuKsRHE-Y/s320/toneill21toppschrpabwminidiamonds.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Next up is a pair of Cards cards from the much delayed 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum... something, something. I kind of nodded off before I could complete my thought here.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLM5Jt4wiLjTiijnQ5_IRlZK7DaIYE9cQOgMmf_yYesYrQuv-NP0XQYIgS3E7gGP877llLdYQ819JZvgLDMsJ1y_F75tlgRItJzcOh7j1krxId1BVpBsu9tsnnWzwc8uge8J0RGmRsoFG1vz9ehHMx-h6vv-6KgKavFAeMKhx3Q3TOFzJsrk3E_ebpTZsh/s706/yadi21toppschrpabwminidiamonds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLM5Jt4wiLjTiijnQ5_IRlZK7DaIYE9cQOgMmf_yYesYrQuv-NP0XQYIgS3E7gGP877llLdYQ819JZvgLDMsJ1y_F75tlgRItJzcOh7j1krxId1BVpBsu9tsnnWzwc8uge8J0RGmRsoFG1vz9ehHMx-h6vv-6KgKavFAeMKhx3Q3TOFzJsrk3E_ebpTZsh/s320/yadi21toppschrpabwminidiamonds.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>These cards look nice, but yet another variation on the first full scale Topps baseball card set was not perhaps the most original thing that they could have thought of. I do prefer these (and their parallels) to the 2022 set, which likewise happened to be released a year late. The 2022 set looks very off, like most of the photos were AI generated or enhanced.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNOV4aDLDJd5jGhQiK37Qydj6BiH3UVYSu1dwUQgvYlUOYD1jlvJpsGa8_CRKsEy07WhsIfU26ceNkvmQL6XZpTyf1ErZyWx79CE3tmG83Ud7357r5m7BjBxfBEvLo_VTE3X84pl9eTXHFmhaOATWT_Eg2wSqgPfmLYTHNDqPB1Ja-Vg7xHARYfWP6MZW/s695/drexler1516paninidonrusseliteseriespl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiNOV4aDLDJd5jGhQiK37Qydj6BiH3UVYSu1dwUQgvYlUOYD1jlvJpsGa8_CRKsEy07WhsIfU26ceNkvmQL6XZpTyf1ErZyWx79CE3tmG83Ud7357r5m7BjBxfBEvLo_VTE3X84pl9eTXHFmhaOATWT_Eg2wSqgPfmLYTHNDqPB1Ja-Vg7xHARYfWP6MZW/s320/drexler1516paninidonrusseliteseriespl.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's not all just Cardinals here, although that would certainly be nice enough. Thanks to Oren, I was fortunate to add another numbered card to one of my very favorite player collections.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALs1gmQzhGcbNAcob6P7Zo3PTXC7i7MqwmCiLDdHHIthdN3Kp6SYVcRrKRse3j_uCd0CO5B25BYqGnCOYWbvNIevGts_hL7l66OC0waWECeGCldUMYjwkEtylqJx0tebTILRt8k0fdLKC9YhQ4uNMWXK7kLsfKjHFpr8HwJa15opBmn4LPElX7a66FXQm/s702/elleby2021paninickrejersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="702" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALs1gmQzhGcbNAcob6P7Zo3PTXC7i7MqwmCiLDdHHIthdN3Kp6SYVcRrKRse3j_uCd0CO5B25BYqGnCOYWbvNIevGts_hL7l66OC0waWECeGCldUMYjwkEtylqJx0tebTILRt8k0fdLKC9YhQ4uNMWXK7kLsfKjHFpr8HwJa15opBmn4LPElX7a66FXQm/s320/elleby2021paninickrejersey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>CJ Elleby was a solid Pac-12 (RIP) player, but it didn't seem like he was cut out for the NBA. He's still just 23, but it doesn't seem like he's up to much at the moment.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_z4kx1zhwC36-yXbyz236quYJVXdIKJUH2hc4XAbJCwvtoNd9HQs2O-D3r6v6u58DHxhpkcsNZem1n_ZbyNMaslqwwWMaxIj5JbGSHv6SP2WqgTUfV-VOFFbGehAy3Js_nnzRoNuaYGvl8EfxCNW8w7pD6kpb4LH7XWfL7YJfrp8A5PXZ-XqdgWAPaJs/s696/elleby2021paniniselectconcoursebluewhitepurple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_z4kx1zhwC36-yXbyz236quYJVXdIKJUH2hc4XAbJCwvtoNd9HQs2O-D3r6v6u58DHxhpkcsNZem1n_ZbyNMaslqwwWMaxIj5JbGSHv6SP2WqgTUfV-VOFFbGehAy3Js_nnzRoNuaYGvl8EfxCNW8w7pD6kpb4LH7XWfL7YJfrp8A5PXZ-XqdgWAPaJs/s320/elleby2021paniniselectconcoursebluewhitepurple.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The Blazers have been a sad mess for the past few seasons. Elleby probably won't evoke many feelings of nostalgia for this specific era, unfortunately.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKwvTmBRMGNYiGbfDSi7pILoVGhhw-C3WA2dcwGRtu6oNMpA-TL5CqNhyHpjony7OUgko6aJAKPKgY8cVtIhrl1fqdcjVpyTTsly_PU4EyJOoYCqqZbeA5UdsgHOX3CSXexAsyHkBwdByaU9dkqhKXeobVKFKQqIp_6d4uED7CBokiMkdoEbqMnDjvqJIF/s705/nurkic1819paninithreadsbodpremiumblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKwvTmBRMGNYiGbfDSi7pILoVGhhw-C3WA2dcwGRtu6oNMpA-TL5CqNhyHpjony7OUgko6aJAKPKgY8cVtIhrl1fqdcjVpyTTsly_PU4EyJOoYCqqZbeA5UdsgHOX3CSXexAsyHkBwdByaU9dkqhKXeobVKFKQqIp_6d4uED7CBokiMkdoEbqMnDjvqJIF/s320/nurkic1819paninithreadsbodpremiumblue.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I will get nostalgic about the Jusuf Nurkic days, however. Like many a Blazers center before him, he eventually became a scapegoat for fans' negative feelings about the direction of the whole team, but this is a guy who went out and did his often thankless job night in and night out in an NBA era that isn't really built around big men like him anymore. He's doing fine in Phoenix.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDR3UnWdJs80hLTUNQcdleThDrR2Q1I1yl55S06M43ASpm-I-E8_33evzdKKKp57WPe5s6FXVIHirDSwruO6MtuI91SAWWMd4nzQjMLLaE320Ck7e8QOuF4vtSTOvQH8yiHRAAmfQdWkE7tnyVdv3SXq94COKJuxKq6gyCmT0of5Tqf30c1Hlb64df5Fi/s705/vonleh1516paniniprizmauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglDR3UnWdJs80hLTUNQcdleThDrR2Q1I1yl55S06M43ASpm-I-E8_33evzdKKKp57WPe5s6FXVIHirDSwruO6MtuI91SAWWMd4nzQjMLLaE320Ck7e8QOuF4vtSTOvQH8yiHRAAmfQdWkE7tnyVdv3SXq94COKJuxKq6gyCmT0of5Tqf30c1Hlb64df5Fi/s320/vonleh1516paniniprizmauto.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Noah Vonleh was a lottery pick who played for a lot of NBA teams in his near-decade long career. He's with the Shanghai Sharks these days which is basically a meme, even though he's still just 28.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7DurwweNLFflBJsrVnq8vkNci1jNHRmK5EmmFakGj37GSGc3Mu97VASvg8UgqhvefbAhPnZEVXuwQ3rYu4Pj5c1mjutxwxBFUs2AyiRx9icPYZQP0IyhDjsooRAlkqAHztJL5mT7rWqkQQPsI4I7FLlewhvC1Su46ZWgOOFVyn8-HgToakW6v_j-pd3S/s701/jarcegawhiteside19paniniphoenixrpsrookieautodualjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="701" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7DurwweNLFflBJsrVnq8vkNci1jNHRmK5EmmFakGj37GSGc3Mu97VASvg8UgqhvefbAhPnZEVXuwQ3rYu4Pj5c1mjutxwxBFUs2AyiRx9icPYZQP0IyhDjsooRAlkqAHztJL5mT7rWqkQQPsI4I7FLlewhvC1Su46ZWgOOFVyn8-HgToakW6v_j-pd3S/s320/jarcegawhiteside19paniniphoenixrpsrookieautodualjersey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There were even football cards on offer. Today was apparently some sort of NFL free agency day as my phone kept blowing up with Eagles notifications. They were busy! </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxn8FLDJfL4TL0BHZqL6eGqmKeavkGV_nseHLEdXiSdyirCQXvf8i0461zIpR-UUibcAumQPWRsh5zEhTlZq5hMzeD_Vj5FEFW9uCGf1FUDiWz6Mc4Vk9niEf3UncRXE1nfuOyf11WC2LfALkGmlPvxuCXnwlu4nL4-m2dpE13P_9rmpaGfI612JRtWl8/s696/lblount18paniniscoreendzone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxn8FLDJfL4TL0BHZqL6eGqmKeavkGV_nseHLEdXiSdyirCQXvf8i0461zIpR-UUibcAumQPWRsh5zEhTlZq5hMzeD_Vj5FEFW9uCGf1FUDiWz6Mc4Vk9niEf3UncRXE1nfuOyf11WC2LfALkGmlPvxuCXnwlu4nL4-m2dpE13P_9rmpaGfI612JRtWl8/s320/lblount18paniniscoreendzone.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This is just a good looking card. It's probably the green. Blount is an Eagle here but a Duck first, so he goes into the Ducks collection.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIuEd17lq4WiZJRdHymY7q144Q2BIov3q9bskboaYk_VdXQkAzwbo-y9ASpgyppnknQGglpJeMcclFyynF1o9zud9JelZlhp06vu3YomSpsmhOCUuJxfS1xSh3sXsa0agUUpezjgEZJRFPYvTpSWuwA_0DJFILNWUDG7Am6sDqmmscKe2FdhkPZpWVjDq/s712/nagholor15toppsinceptionrpjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="712" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIuEd17lq4WiZJRdHymY7q144Q2BIov3q9bskboaYk_VdXQkAzwbo-y9ASpgyppnknQGglpJeMcclFyynF1o9zud9JelZlhp06vu3YomSpsmhOCUuJxfS1xSh3sXsa0agUUpezjgEZJRFPYvTpSWuwA_0DJFILNWUDG7Am6sDqmmscKe2FdhkPZpWVjDq/s320/nagholor15toppsinceptionrpjersey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to like Nelson Agholor, especially after the Eagles wisely moved him to the slot and started taking advantage of his speed more than his pass catching ability, but... I don't know, never trust a guy from USC, I guess.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHQTjs-NfiXwSI51623d18skEtimbRLlCw1vk-LZlL1L6dDeqOer0S0IHrhPyzYJc48YkcTRFByN2q5yMuDscwlZBlhjt4Ux0fbojUkAGyuSFGKhfK2ngYKTqyq7KNJC-S-1uwnYP0xnc2-vf8X-M5S7CwZ1YYWw3UQcevwEhEMlQRAS7STIEwlBYWiQP/s2016/IMG_8381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHQTjs-NfiXwSI51623d18skEtimbRLlCw1vk-LZlL1L6dDeqOer0S0IHrhPyzYJc48YkcTRFByN2q5yMuDscwlZBlhjt4Ux0fbojUkAGyuSFGKhfK2ngYKTqyq7KNJC-S-1uwnYP0xnc2-vf8X-M5S7CwZ1YYWw3UQcevwEhEMlQRAS7STIEwlBYWiQP/w300-h400/IMG_8381.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Well, we've reached the end of the scans, but there is so much more. What all can you spot in this photo? There is some amazing stuff!</div></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-80743736355900732882024-03-11T11:41:00.000-07:002024-03-11T11:41:42.136-07:00March Radness is Coming (... paging Pete Lugo ...)<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4Kij-dVx9K2Epj1ssLjxBZzmdRdaA4HQT0ftZBAid9zc7G5xg6XHf8ZWa7y-p6Ea3m5BVwScNp8MGdjodfxaw9_XikQvFVZaPO39pRkre1V_rDY7qWyezHu5ekOQs1_rFhUwuetLSRh4jBKO64CiLga3KxZ-FXYWapASPlDcwFJFBmHRKDPg-HkTtMnH/s512/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="512" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4Kij-dVx9K2Epj1ssLjxBZzmdRdaA4HQT0ftZBAid9zc7G5xg6XHf8ZWa7y-p6Ea3m5BVwScNp8MGdjodfxaw9_XikQvFVZaPO39pRkre1V_rDY7qWyezHu5ekOQs1_rFhUwuetLSRh4jBKO64CiLga3KxZ-FXYWapASPlDcwFJFBmHRKDPg-HkTtMnH/w400-h375/unnamed.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><b><span style="font-size: large;">A contest is brewing. Addresses are needed. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">It's officially conference championship week in college basketball, which means that we're gearing up once again for the annual March Radness contest. I am still looking for mailing address confirmation for a couple of folks from the last (football) contest. If you're Pete or Danny, please get back to me as soon as possible via email. Thanks!</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-56407734652453158052024-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:002024-03-06T16:09:42.694-08:00In the Year 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIisZ8KyauOOyECXQk3kLNUYhtQyq1_ijabMcPEDMyN175MA6ujqoB-GvUwkMnoXOgL63TlJahfeI6PgqIpaQfYUobEcuOjkHXJGxHAUZf1xor5fTa7lakaDNcwNXzSCDs8__Z-uOQBT_leX5x1ciUK-LpmC3e0d4Z6EBTFreQuvv0bB-DAuzp0dHSMxQR/s703/arenado24toppsrainbowfoil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIisZ8KyauOOyECXQk3kLNUYhtQyq1_ijabMcPEDMyN175MA6ujqoB-GvUwkMnoXOgL63TlJahfeI6PgqIpaQfYUobEcuOjkHXJGxHAUZf1xor5fTa7lakaDNcwNXzSCDs8__Z-uOQBT_leX5x1ciUK-LpmC3e0d4Z6EBTFreQuvv0bB-DAuzp0dHSMxQR/s320/arenado24toppsrainbowfoil.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A look at the ubiquitous 2024 Topps set. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">This would have been a bit more timely if it was posted closer to the release date of a few weeks ago, but I thought I'd show off/give some thoughts on the latest Topps flagship set.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxOhzzGmh9sdP8VzyLqsS_QMgxYEhgsXetxWHkZDA0nvk2jMmqtN-NIMwWrMyLuF3LD9XqdB28RKuEcFjWsT0otnyyPC-T8u47zhxL_WHobI1QmBClrqntXMjIkuFSJbglmpMx3dh2StZSVFZDtwXsj5rtpRssbYmCCowvuYPRWYZhkqNaKK1-tItYR39/s1000/2cardinals24topps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1000" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAxOhzzGmh9sdP8VzyLqsS_QMgxYEhgsXetxWHkZDA0nvk2jMmqtN-NIMwWrMyLuF3LD9XqdB28RKuEcFjWsT0otnyyPC-T8u47zhxL_WHobI1QmBClrqntXMjIkuFSJbglmpMx3dh2StZSVFZDtwXsj5rtpRssbYmCCowvuYPRWYZhkqNaKK1-tItYR39/w400-h278/2cardinals24topps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Chances are, you already have a few of these cards and may have formed some opinions of your own. I do really like the design quite a bit, particularly with the way they used foil in the team names. If Opening Day was still around, I could see a cheaper and therefore uglier version of this without any of the foil printing or stamping. With the foil, however, it pops. Aside from this significant turn in design direction, a lot of what you see is going to be the same. Heavily zoomed/focused photos help you get a little more familiar with your favorite (or least favorite) players, but they tend to wash out the background and remove the "action" part of the game, which is a shame. For this particular rookie pair, I do like the way the player positions are stacked when they fit into multiple categories. I like that they chose this route instead of forcing a single position on someone who does a lot of different things on the field.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvA4qUqwnc3S_VXWVPSMx6TihdB-s0LRZEgFaNOYqMS6K6KSAoSycdBPO9ZMKu3KDSnNzchBq2pV5Gk3nKADEqtBl4G_0CafpzU3rIl5S-LBua5x-tUzzsjDkXqQMIDJ9d9hiBtVqipVosFGNQUboH3kys_UEvi9DbhM0DZHkTZB8jTvcLfC1TlVvn775p/s1499/5cardinals24topps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1499" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvA4qUqwnc3S_VXWVPSMx6TihdB-s0LRZEgFaNOYqMS6K6KSAoSycdBPO9ZMKu3KDSnNzchBq2pV5Gk3nKADEqtBl4G_0CafpzU3rIl5S-LBua5x-tUzzsjDkXqQMIDJ9d9hiBtVqipVosFGNQUboH3kys_UEvi9DbhM0DZHkTZB8jTvcLfC1TlVvn775p/w400-h374/5cardinals24topps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The Cardinals only managed to get nine cards into this expanded set of 350 cards. There's enough players to field a complete lineup on the field, but that's it. The two rookies likely won't be much of a factor with the big club this year, and Tyler O'Neill is already gone. There's no sign here of Nolan Gorman or Jordan Walker, two of the Cardinals brightest young stars, nor do we see Gold Glover Tommy Edman. Masyn Winn, who debuted last season, is expected to be the team's starting shortstop this year but his RC is also being held back for some reason.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsQ9azep0j9Lw-gGpg-OIMSOSj_3qAhQNnQ2UCxrv6AwKpypSLXHn28JgsJ6vBccCxP7vZDwngFmPL7H7tWJ4BSCxhFONqZiyvPKlz92c6MF13d6RnmQUKz_xR_PEtw5JGo4lengLEBctSSoZID6z5ForjJ2oeIPFHirB7fn0InzsfuxUgLqhaBRIcWMK/s1000/2winns24topps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1000" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsQ9azep0j9Lw-gGpg-OIMSOSj_3qAhQNnQ2UCxrv6AwKpypSLXHn28JgsJ6vBccCxP7vZDwngFmPL7H7tWJ4BSCxhFONqZiyvPKlz92c6MF13d6RnmQUKz_xR_PEtw5JGo4lengLEBctSSoZID6z5ForjJ2oeIPFHirB7fn0InzsfuxUgLqhaBRIcWMK/w400-h278/2winns24topps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>This is why I will never get involved in the deeply stupid RC or rookie card debate. Masyn Winn already has multiple insert cards in this set, and yet he couldn't get a measly base card.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuU6P_mwJubUTklnLSmSB0TR4roO8SUD5y_LfvQHPscjsiqmwaMW496-skncAw4ZjIzMpFfdJxGjtIGMdVIaCW7l8HRJzkNW0OzdoGsI4fW6zGjUyH5jhLG_Pq2W3-lcs70n4QEKu87h37oCsuuBtlcPUuRydwd-DjlcPo7pg2D5Fht1nBrhyr5Yy14Od/s705/goldschmidt24toppsback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="705" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuU6P_mwJubUTklnLSmSB0TR4roO8SUD5y_LfvQHPscjsiqmwaMW496-skncAw4ZjIzMpFfdJxGjtIGMdVIaCW7l8HRJzkNW0OzdoGsI4fW6zGjUyH5jhLG_Pq2W3-lcs70n4QEKu87h37oCsuuBtlcPUuRydwd-DjlcPo7pg2D5Fht1nBrhyr5Yy14Od/s320/goldschmidt24toppsback.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Back to things I do like. The card backs have gotten a bit of a facelift after looking pretty much the same over the last several years. Full stats are represented once again, and everything just looks a bit cleaner.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntx-zk6r1nvrNIp2BbRpvR2GPQxCY3dyx7PJXJ0VaLLaVEu8eIL_P-CYT0Y9o1DlDEFQUNR6ouO0uCHFY2kQ626n9iXpavm_exGZRzhYKqEUyZ8uPVY1o4mIB897JNcdAfJgQ3FbGJUNHeou3yC8a_YQzOEFestKdQu5sBFYNRYewCAnCEHnPCSpTgguo/s700/wcontreras24toppsholidayfoil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="700" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntx-zk6r1nvrNIp2BbRpvR2GPQxCY3dyx7PJXJ0VaLLaVEu8eIL_P-CYT0Y9o1DlDEFQUNR6ouO0uCHFY2kQ626n9iXpavm_exGZRzhYKqEUyZ8uPVY1o4mIB897JNcdAfJgQ3FbGJUNHeou3yC8a_YQzOEFestKdQu5sBFYNRYewCAnCEHnPCSpTgguo/s320/wcontreras24toppsholidayfoil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Let's look at bit more at some of the parallels and inserts. After the success (?) of 2023 Update's holiday-themed parallels (Halloween, essentially), even more retail exclusive parallels were added to fit with this season. This set's theme is Easter, apparently, although the base "Holiday" parallel foil pattern looks a bit like some crappy wallpaper in an old building. It's also going to get confusing very quickly if they insist on calling these "Holiday" if they also continue making a separate Holiday set at the end of the year. (The holiday parallels, it should point out, were ostensibly to replace the one-per-pack manufactured relic cards that used to be inserted into blasters.) Due to the ever popular "shrinkflation", however, you get fewer cards than you used to in a given blaster, as there are now two fewer cards per blaster pack than 2023 Series 1, and still no relic!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lY8tDDu1Xx32zsNL_zPgPNairc39nLTjoCRp65C691yL8u9g8u32Nh-2ffy6x4E1nrYHnogJwoF-uSmKXvjCr_C8dIr0FcravE97qZr5GRX-VW-jLS66ttMu5xtISB1dIeQaHyytruqv-Vifbrpcdz8MDfGCnuR6a8dZBb52LMEP71MmSFfagwT-JMvn/s699/goldschmidt24topps89.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9lY8tDDu1Xx32zsNL_zPgPNairc39nLTjoCRp65C691yL8u9g8u32Nh-2ffy6x4E1nrYHnogJwoF-uSmKXvjCr_C8dIr0FcravE97qZr5GRX-VW-jLS66ttMu5xtISB1dIeQaHyytruqv-Vifbrpcdz8MDfGCnuR6a8dZBb52LMEP71MmSFfagwT-JMvn/s320/goldschmidt24topps89.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 1989 inserts are back to mark the 35th Anniversary, which is apparently always Topps' favorite anniversary to celebrate. Who knows why? This set is actually fairly large (100 cards in Series 1) this time around, which would make it quite a challenge to complete the whole set if it continues the same way through Series 2 and Update.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwIy1dk8V5-YIHTE0PcgQT7fWBfsU6PC-R0AHXujHTgqBx2b_oB7E-m3PFvjyaluaXANjGzmMDpvAE-VDiXpZvgtAKpyfeaEtXijqBXW01lpzr7mMyQJPRRge_vRt06douREWfo8qoXvV7h-VyY_hEiLlXSQh-f-Aw5bed4OBLmGeyjy7dgbrEV5XEpr9W/s707/goldschmidt24toppssom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwIy1dk8V5-YIHTE0PcgQT7fWBfsU6PC-R0AHXujHTgqBx2b_oB7E-m3PFvjyaluaXANjGzmMDpvAE-VDiXpZvgtAKpyfeaEtXijqBXW01lpzr7mMyQJPRRge_vRt06douREWfo8qoXvV7h-VyY_hEiLlXSQh-f-Aw5bed4OBLmGeyjy7dgbrEV5XEpr9W/s320/goldschmidt24toppssom.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stars of MLB are kind of plague if you only buy retail products. On average, you get around 10 cards per blaster pack and one of these in every pack. With the base set being 350 cards and the Stars of MLB set being 30 cards, it's almost as easy to pull this Goldschmidt insert as it is his base equivalent.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEQwHW4BI_KBKx73VURLJKjQEMRoRHTatattmLn3A0zlKrY3D7IaZy63omrsnae9KxXm-BeB7fwaTISY0ohZMRFlCRYeV4xrbFWi7blHDyIMWowIC9HmBDDs6QjznVSsEGfUPr7G2bZWLD8vHHqMXbWt540o9LAYVJcsQ46_71BRUuGwOtSH5J8BPC7Bl/s702/devers24toppshrc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEQwHW4BI_KBKx73VURLJKjQEMRoRHTatattmLn3A0zlKrY3D7IaZy63omrsnae9KxXm-BeB7fwaTISY0ohZMRFlCRYeV4xrbFWi7blHDyIMWowIC9HmBDDs6QjznVSsEGfUPr7G2bZWLD8vHHqMXbWt540o9LAYVJcsQ46_71BRUuGwOtSH5J8BPC7Bl/s320/devers24toppshrc.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">They've been doing this contest for years now, but I never participate. I'm just not much of a gambler and don't want to deface the cards for no reason.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLTnRXJW-kbIHteJ_pPqAltpStpuZqET6QTYuZ6QTrxQpWV-oLgsMtYWxqVe_AsqIw-QFVF9Cpg8SIGqM5ZTRlEVFbJPRvBIhXknXosa11FDPgSM7bIw5Tddy0BlnyeRHkcep8hWr-WMK1Fdqrfh8EwJhiPv4P_GiVyk4tJf6Yk5rJezEgLJSUma3v7SX/s703/gwynn24topps89.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiLTnRXJW-kbIHteJ_pPqAltpStpuZqET6QTYuZ6QTrxQpWV-oLgsMtYWxqVe_AsqIw-QFVF9Cpg8SIGqM5ZTRlEVFbJPRvBIhXknXosa11FDPgSM7bIw5Tddy0BlnyeRHkcep8hWr-WMK1Fdqrfh8EwJhiPv4P_GiVyk4tJf6Yk5rJezEgLJSUma3v7SX/s320/gwynn24topps89.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A retired player like Tony Gwynn who was actually in the 1989 set really shows off the deficiencies of this design, with the left justification of the player name font being the hardest thing to swallow. It also looks odd that this uses traditional Padres colors while Gwynn is wearing the '90s (and beyond) shade of blue that they went for at the time.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1_LTYCO74uInpvH4dTEX1wN7Ru7yPpFesQbvo9KuSO_YmASvU9t2aeB8G_yIq043aho-NNXeNu24mksdLZ8j7xudbkDgmUAr8IEcUf2_piIOB7OT0uljT_vrB01Tg8mYOquOTXMxacsPuYBNqsSpsxmlyeC2XZnnM6a16Gnp_BDORmLibdHQ9kEitX4g/s694/jrodriguez24toppsatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1_LTYCO74uInpvH4dTEX1wN7Ru7yPpFesQbvo9KuSO_YmASvU9t2aeB8G_yIq043aho-NNXeNu24mksdLZ8j7xudbkDgmUAr8IEcUf2_piIOB7OT0uljT_vrB01Tg8mYOquOTXMxacsPuYBNqsSpsxmlyeC2XZnnM6a16Gnp_BDORmLibdHQ9kEitX4g/s320/jrodriguez24toppsatt.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I think these All-Topps Team cards were supposed to look classy, but I can't say a single thing nice about it. It's so weird that the coloring choices make Julio look like some weird clown alien here.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bHdChoE63AOmd8ZrBzfS4HzpbsIbw8T-niOLcgsJjw_rC_wyd4tZWHH2QFZ_630-nqMFC6egXTlL92MiKaJoKHxb7wHkZWyPtrLGiKTheRjrrW4RSI1apy3psZPsjWmv_MwSeY7infxuv6HIWUdDlk0ZyMvv8U8Nt1Sc-XrtZt5gi5E07LpvyA_rMh5i/s703/posey24toppsgg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-bHdChoE63AOmd8ZrBzfS4HzpbsIbw8T-niOLcgsJjw_rC_wyd4tZWHH2QFZ_630-nqMFC6egXTlL92MiKaJoKHxb7wHkZWyPtrLGiKTheRjrrW4RSI1apy3psZPsjWmv_MwSeY7infxuv6HIWUdDlk0ZyMvv8U8Nt1Sc-XrtZt5gi5E07LpvyA_rMh5i/s320/posey24toppsgg.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm not a fan of this one, either. I haven't seen much of Buster Posey in sets since his retirement, so that's probably fun for some Giants fans at least.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7uhwcyo75BLEuvhdXWQSd9YI8RCulLXJPmTAKHeO_3JJ0zere43zHwP-uN_SUeYkbI-_riyFCc5YScvOrNDmEsYcFyM5LLp5VHAvMl1q1jjXRC3aaSsSlR8EgOuDi-wvhgQP1Htj31bJobs332-h7IpHljI6sq73YQ4NO2lS_XPbOreooHS9LU2y_7j9/s1000/2cards24toppsyellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1000" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7uhwcyo75BLEuvhdXWQSd9YI8RCulLXJPmTAKHeO_3JJ0zere43zHwP-uN_SUeYkbI-_riyFCc5YScvOrNDmEsYcFyM5LLp5VHAvMl1q1jjXRC3aaSsSlR8EgOuDi-wvhgQP1Htj31bJobs332-h7IpHljI6sq73YQ4NO2lS_XPbOreooHS9LU2y_7j9/w400-h278/2cards24toppsyellow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yellow parallels are hanger box exclusives and no longer exclusive to any specific retail store (I'm not sure if there are any store chain exclusives anymore.) The design works better for some teams than others.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsJf5QDFBSzCk-tobzC8h36c3ltKTZ7Y1yaRd-spqb84s6xrzSJah316XrOkxadXFDAfGlER4dl1kv86lh_IEFjSrsOcWkldKnBs-3-8AcbR8j7lPuESylhr4V2lpyC0zpLJsOtNFePQXoTKmTQmzAlGKOUqpSod4czcH6lnaGKSqAZ_AsRHIpeVW80sQ/s703/gkirby24toppsroyalblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsJf5QDFBSzCk-tobzC8h36c3ltKTZ7Y1yaRd-spqb84s6xrzSJah316XrOkxadXFDAfGlER4dl1kv86lh_IEFjSrsOcWkldKnBs-3-8AcbR8j7lPuESylhr4V2lpyC0zpLJsOtNFePQXoTKmTQmzAlGKOUqpSod4czcH6lnaGKSqAZ_AsRHIpeVW80sQ/s320/gkirby24toppsroyalblue.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Royal blue parallels are here once again. I feel like they've never settled on a consistent shade of blue for these, but I don't think I've sat examples from each year side by side to get a good comparison.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QqoYelC6LN0mKui7RDxWd8B3R0nq34_IHSZDRAqtrDl7JDl3KI2pdU7ZExOWNoiQ3X5ZfIw2E796P44Gl0_ONsnKYpOrmrP35J4Pe6WyvcixK2a4LhpbBRfav8NYNhcIQrhVveVkm1DUYoZfh3ovUHbeIPbuKEZJl5tEuy1rEZ1uV093C6YDZ3Gt1gcr/s707/slugo24toppseggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QqoYelC6LN0mKui7RDxWd8B3R0nq34_IHSZDRAqtrDl7JDl3KI2pdU7ZExOWNoiQ3X5ZfIw2E796P44Gl0_ONsnKYpOrmrP35J4Pe6WyvcixK2a4LhpbBRfav8NYNhcIQrhVveVkm1DUYoZfh3ovUHbeIPbuKEZJl5tEuy1rEZ1uV093C6YDZ3Gt1gcr/s320/slugo24toppseggs.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And here is a card full of eggs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I didn't intend this to be an exhausting review of all things 2024 Topps, so I've left out a few bits and pieces. The Superstar Blueprint cards have caused a bit of a stir but every time I pull one someone snatches it up right away. There are more parallels than what I've shown here, of course, but they're mostly just different colors and shiny accoutrements.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In short, I like this set quite a bit and it's one of the few flagship ones I normally wouldn't mind building, but I'm also trying to steer myself away from doing much more set building as it just takes up a lot of space. I'm always going to have more fun digging through my Cardinals binders than I would have in looking through a complete set. For that reason, I do have quite a few base cards that I don't need. Hit me up on TCDB or elsewhere if you're looking for anything. Thanks!</div></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-39610494430455993032024-02-26T17:50:00.000-08:002024-02-26T17:50:39.987-08:00Baseball is Back!<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJx3RB8oOuB6gOnQwQB4pAWNZRt_E8Qvxdyf3tUOB0zsCANfeIvN93cEZDolq4-SF2kd-msMWMnBWQ9hYoN2mJpiqqq5lMJ9dL_KRoo07AeDtxFFW-14FngxYcPQRY6EibLkKKzHSLM4a8OWazN4QBBrGCsYLd_vs6i8H7avFAC78QFniRn6_V6wnZRE7s/s685/tsimmons78opc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJx3RB8oOuB6gOnQwQB4pAWNZRt_E8Qvxdyf3tUOB0zsCANfeIvN93cEZDolq4-SF2kd-msMWMnBWQ9hYoN2mJpiqqq5lMJ9dL_KRoo07AeDtxFFW-14FngxYcPQRY6EibLkKKzHSLM4a8OWazN4QBBrGCsYLd_vs6i8H7avFAC78QFniRn6_V6wnZRE7s/s320/tsimmons78opc.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Baseball cards are back as well, and they brought a few other sports with them. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Let's hop in the wayback machine and check out some cards that <a href="https://buckstorecards.blogspot.com/">Sportscards From The Dollar Store</a> sent quite a few months ago -- last year, in fact. Yes, that means that I'm quite a bit behind in the blogging show-and-tell here, but I'm not going to explain myself or make any apologies for it. We're here to look forward, and forward we shall look!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoimDxtJeJliZXztl4unwkIXneyIt1AROsufW3VuqVbJ1aEf0PF4NWhkaHjhMw_5cgyqWUa3KKxvFoKKHgU3-SrzB85DLqBULDNrsg57uunbNoMITcrvrSrE1hivPjfC7jigJFhNsAJns2DG_DYvYtPAGRu4Zc1Kwoen86EF20MbG5xixyVL8C7-b2u8cg/s704/dhudson19paninillrookieleathersigsdarkbrown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="704" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoimDxtJeJliZXztl4unwkIXneyIt1AROsufW3VuqVbJ1aEf0PF4NWhkaHjhMw_5cgyqWUa3KKxvFoKKHgU3-SrzB85DLqBULDNrsg57uunbNoMITcrvrSrE1hivPjfC7jigJFhNsAJns2DG_DYvYtPAGRu4Zc1Kwoen86EF20MbG5xixyVL8C7-b2u8cg/s320/dhudson19paninillrookieleathersigsdarkbrown.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Along with a really nice '78 O-Pee-Chee HOFer came a few Cardinals cards, including another one of those "so weird, it must be Panini!" cards that features a silver ink autograph on a leather swatch. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the one year (2019) that they brought typically high end Leather & Lumber brand to retail, which would also mean it was my first dip into the Panini Points realm.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyt5FnGubVgneAPjCzlWvR3cmC2GhNABB6gSWLPPiZ3nUYLM5PaN6DxsqYDeLlWnB_VZFjgFPmaEbJLh8iwDei8bpJsYNvH9gNCX3BPodPjuk4jKOxbp-g-jF38ITOyOFJt8Sy1Be6at4c1cYBoCiF2KmFa4vp_-h-exYXO7nbU_mAGVL75ieBurtpNiVQ/s705/rosenthal14bowmangreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyt5FnGubVgneAPjCzlWvR3cmC2GhNABB6gSWLPPiZ3nUYLM5PaN6DxsqYDeLlWnB_VZFjgFPmaEbJLh8iwDei8bpJsYNvH9gNCX3BPodPjuk4jKOxbp-g-jF38ITOyOFJt8Sy1Be6at4c1cYBoCiF2KmFa4vp_-h-exYXO7nbU_mAGVL75ieBurtpNiVQ/s320/rosenthal14bowmangreen.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Like many a pitcher with a rocket arm before him, Trevor Rosenthal seemed to burn hot quickly and then more or less disappear. Since departing St. Louis, where he was a full time closer, Rosenthal has logged big league innings for four other organizations but hasn't made it back to the big leagues since the cursed 2020 "season".</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xbO9C4YTNwBzuHfHzzI68qQuzxDnpJ0lJCXwFZXAcZUFQukuLIN0TA9-nUYx2KO4IXTqkOdQikFb3b92mbiuPi2NRBqR4OgvFgVX3J7ULiaxPD0xX4bEDn7CeINcKOXKjtlcPnkpcYTc64XYLEIyXDUhO8TgekpmkpJcoal12X9OEs7w9-YX2CZYWA6c/s710/musial05donrusselitelegend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xbO9C4YTNwBzuHfHzzI68qQuzxDnpJ0lJCXwFZXAcZUFQukuLIN0TA9-nUYx2KO4IXTqkOdQikFb3b92mbiuPi2NRBqR4OgvFgVX3J7ULiaxPD0xX4bEDn7CeINcKOXKjtlcPnkpcYTc64XYLEIyXDUhO8TgekpmkpJcoal12X9OEs7w9-YX2CZYWA6c/s320/musial05donrusselitelegend.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, I assume you all know all about Stan the Man's story, so let's just take a beat and enjoy a cool looking card. I'm sure that photo has to be colorized, but I don't care.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v13Y_uBT2klGS4gZcUGu9KKIPk8ANQUHGL9LFTBdVvQl76ezA53zs0fhMO5wKNZ2CwlsU_wATnygSt_Y27oKYxd1bEUl1KuVgJUhsLMpDsjZ6gOz1hedz_QyKCWi7Ggc1qF9q6X1mP8mhUnTLI5WrC9MKr1EcUeMz7YnBVmqIMxAqbUGBpFwJwGXY5hs/s703/psewell21paninicontenderscollegeticketautored.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2v13Y_uBT2klGS4gZcUGu9KKIPk8ANQUHGL9LFTBdVvQl76ezA53zs0fhMO5wKNZ2CwlsU_wATnygSt_Y27oKYxd1bEUl1KuVgJUhsLMpDsjZ6gOz1hedz_QyKCWi7Ggc1qF9q6X1mP8mhUnTLI5WrC9MKr1EcUeMz7YnBVmqIMxAqbUGBpFwJwGXY5hs/s320/psewell21paninicontenderscollegeticketautored.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Moving on to tackle football, buckstorecards always finds me some really fun Oregon cards. Bonus points should be awarded for catching a Duck in Duck gear.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9egJxwisUPyoea3TW90Ai3TKsDqGNwJE7c2mQGT957-jNm_pX3np2Y1XXzMF0dY4LOeQXkZoir04eAgYTRTThk7M5X8de05f5zxZp6alM2BaK-p_jjtxj28ZEyg7pqf-bLCTQg8Xgela0QWQ6jISwCKlGFrjHejon37j-kmeFjqh6Z5-h_VV0JHWoFPfL/s716/pbrown17paninidayjumboauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="716" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9egJxwisUPyoea3TW90Ai3TKsDqGNwJE7c2mQGT957-jNm_pX3np2Y1XXzMF0dY4LOeQXkZoir04eAgYTRTThk7M5X8de05f5zxZp6alM2BaK-p_jjtxj28ZEyg7pqf-bLCTQg8Xgela0QWQ6jISwCKlGFrjHejon37j-kmeFjqh6Z5-h_VV0JHWoFPfL/s320/pbrown17paninidayjumboauto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There's no gear here at all, and this weird Panini Day set seems to have a lot of unaccounted inserts in the TCDB files, which can be a bit frustrating. No, I don't really want to figure out my own checklist for this set. Panini can be a real nightmare when it comes to that stuff.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zx-pvry42BLi3g1l2yaqnqSq8vEfld5gs1p38r1UnwBt6TufqXsamyHYns7_bd8SG59UWGa92L5c2MhTUYnI1lSP4pIKRl58zfv7-Hg2MLLhy3UzNv9nadVWAKOY7_CZST4R1KDmbWRorJZyPgRte7n0NON4bYCgPp8UiatzQFpBy5O7MKZwD8LTW6G7/s705/ngata15paniniprizmgreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zx-pvry42BLi3g1l2yaqnqSq8vEfld5gs1p38r1UnwBt6TufqXsamyHYns7_bd8SG59UWGa92L5c2MhTUYnI1lSP4pIKRl58zfv7-Hg2MLLhy3UzNv9nadVWAKOY7_CZST4R1KDmbWRorJZyPgRte7n0NON4bYCgPp8UiatzQFpBy5O7MKZwD8LTW6G7/s320/ngata15paniniprizmgreen.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Haloti Ngata is a very large man, so it must have been difficult to fit him in the frame here,. They almost nailed it, but not quite.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEyYE2ps8PxeRer-6RiUDwY2-ZRzFtEiftl3J91SCLFMnudunXOZO709A0lvJ1YOBV7ZRGf8X3J8pivy7IFGlOZA4uQy_CHOqpwSFXZDlOY7qwI7x9OlOzcYY2OpflG2b3Tl8H7zv1MuLxYyzx2cj4Mc4HfmSDcgwXVe4D4CX8NCIQmxhlUEFMLQvWK3a/s704/mcnabb03toppsfinestrefjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEyYE2ps8PxeRer-6RiUDwY2-ZRzFtEiftl3J91SCLFMnudunXOZO709A0lvJ1YOBV7ZRGf8X3J8pivy7IFGlOZA4uQy_CHOqpwSFXZDlOY7qwI7x9OlOzcYY2OpflG2b3Tl8H7zv1MuLxYyzx2cj4Mc4HfmSDcgwXVe4D4CX8NCIQmxhlUEFMLQvWK3a/s320/mcnabb03toppsfinestrefjersey.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I really like the design of this old Topps Finest Donovan McNabb relic. It has a honeycomb thing going on.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7-k6knzPLY2drLV4O2XcewsQFJVslIPj8q2Gz9iPg2gtRDBi87ewK-9c9we_YD5NxILkNeKl0uYxTbUVOFJKxHNcT0a2U3gzNBsHZCyD_RzE7ULs4sXivO5R4ABe1aQ5xTOmbCtuzM986bj9odkZUtPzW9CPZoth9qsaye5ZkTTSRq-W0Mftc1CmNB-2/s709/mcnabb03playoffprestigeghjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7-k6knzPLY2drLV4O2XcewsQFJVslIPj8q2Gz9iPg2gtRDBi87ewK-9c9we_YD5NxILkNeKl0uYxTbUVOFJKxHNcT0a2U3gzNBsHZCyD_RzE7ULs4sXivO5R4ABe1aQ5xTOmbCtuzM986bj9odkZUtPzW9CPZoth9qsaye5ZkTTSRq-W0Mftc1CmNB-2/s320/mcnabb03playoffprestigeghjersey.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This one isn't bad, either. There's no honeycomb, but there's still a hexagonal jersey swatch.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nwKEWmdadsWxAU2aE7iBRu4SJsFxqvGf1EdxdQC1MArSEqdxwaPKg8q3YghkHQI51_EKioF844_fOErRkXrve_4tP6UmcPYa6eDiOOPFKzaJbFKbLjaqO_C1IY8-P0n1wzVZFjGYXDI_1n0mQ5382yOq6uIf90meRO92_NijpNV0IJiKum-qZqft5UvH/s695/mariota19paniniunparalleledundeniablejersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="695" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6nwKEWmdadsWxAU2aE7iBRu4SJsFxqvGf1EdxdQC1MArSEqdxwaPKg8q3YghkHQI51_EKioF844_fOErRkXrve_4tP6UmcPYa6eDiOOPFKzaJbFKbLjaqO_C1IY8-P0n1wzVZFjGYXDI_1n0mQ5382yOq6uIf90meRO92_NijpNV0IJiKum-qZqft5UvH/s320/mariota19paniniunparalleledundeniablejersey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the other hand, I feel that this design is unspeakably awful. The glittery background almost reminds me of "snow" on an old TV set. This might have looked better with more of a television theme to it, but what do I know? They don't consult me on these things for some reason.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaUbnzI8AtbjmSGg0ABkmQqFYMHjfXOXPSImnLcZhzWo4xNzwfznCx1WRFb0AYaoXaIns7Tqtshi625C6ssiziddVLj8YvhJ0BNHEzqOVqpg4SuEKVH95UaA3WYDxm8ePhlH3VckfDuN7Bb7BnweHeDugqu5gWTsJ0WnWITccgIRVnO5CHraVEutoIGJah/s708/hjosey14toppstrauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaUbnzI8AtbjmSGg0ABkmQqFYMHjfXOXPSImnLcZhzWo4xNzwfznCx1WRFb0AYaoXaIns7Tqtshi625C6ssiziddVLj8YvhJ0BNHEzqOVqpg4SuEKVH95UaA3WYDxm8ePhlH3VckfDuN7Bb7BnweHeDugqu5gWTsJ0WnWITccgIRVnO5CHraVEutoIGJah/s320/hjosey14toppstrauto.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a Turkey Red design that I don't recognize. Did they ever make tobacco cards that looked like this? (I mean, besides the sticker signature, of course.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-u_hkEdP3MYGoD6ub3Cc1ZYBc0ob6IhOSNQMDNljzxYBHubuH59xhdFz0w17Uy3XCGeoGrRbYaIWKMCI4b9rDf0Efiet7ztZwH_pIJYfwO4V8_FXeG3Au1ODsCSJ7qpe0FVsPmSfUFX3rfkMxaVeS79qW6NmPTiRtk6SgPsF_FQExG47Av886wZSlbwz/s709/harrington04toppspristinecpjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-u_hkEdP3MYGoD6ub3Cc1ZYBc0ob6IhOSNQMDNljzxYBHubuH59xhdFz0w17Uy3XCGeoGrRbYaIWKMCI4b9rDf0Efiet7ztZwH_pIJYfwO4V8_FXeG3Au1ODsCSJ7qpe0FVsPmSfUFX3rfkMxaVeS79qW6NmPTiRtk6SgPsF_FQExG47Av886wZSlbwz/s320/harrington04toppspristinecpjersey.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'll always wonder what Joey Harrington's pro career would have looked like if he had started off with a better franchise that didn't rush him to the field because they didn't really have any other options. He was never a big numbers guy, but he was more of a leadership pro. In the right system, I wonder if he could have thrived.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDXu_s6-A60lZzhbhzo415tkjEcjSpsAPq4orZek-3fNe9o5_ZpQ8f4AcqMPrLn9yYqhTBpHJsM9yeP7GLDsIzQLDVqEgCqc-UZ0ZQHWIYjKntIovYSszWSyG7NRqLmIaxkIbA4jfXnzGqt5Z-chj3NgYt824J41Wx4fXuVluYMtzmq3gvuAKE9Lf-uNj/s697/fmitchell02udspxssauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="697" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDXu_s6-A60lZzhbhzo415tkjEcjSpsAPq4orZek-3fNe9o5_ZpQ8f4AcqMPrLn9yYqhTBpHJsM9yeP7GLDsIzQLDVqEgCqc-UZ0ZQHWIYjKntIovYSszWSyG7NRqLmIaxkIbA4jfXnzGqt5Z-chj3NgYt824J41Wx4fXuVluYMtzmq3gvuAKE9Lf-uNj/s320/fmitchell02udspxssauto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's the man of many nicknames, FredEx, The People's Champ, etc. (Most of these he gave to himself.) He only really had that one memorable play, but it was definitely a stunner.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e-ruWd-sH-rK19xVe4Ma7IFDy65PsLTo_0s50Qp1-XKTdsghMnb8G2C-qxupMMBaSgxseSIOKjUes6su04NE424JF2Ezv_yEiPOzf8knTCWmxR9m7dah3vW3acbL2-C6c3nr4fjYbYAcEAoYpQ7wCAh2D40xSGETQLaCqVfKPweMHPmi7oBLB7DVrFZn/s695/dwilliams06sageaspireauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e-ruWd-sH-rK19xVe4Ma7IFDy65PsLTo_0s50Qp1-XKTdsghMnb8G2C-qxupMMBaSgxseSIOKjUes6su04NE424JF2Ezv_yEiPOzf8knTCWmxR9m7dah3vW3acbL2-C6c3nr4fjYbYAcEAoYpQ7wCAh2D40xSGETQLaCqVfKPweMHPmi7oBLB7DVrFZn/s320/dwilliams06sageaspireauto.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's another "bonus points" Ducks card.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4ZEDki4VFNzKAkdHZqpRG4r-bpC4SG35qJp-KlCSDRxPLQV-50iYqZjvPcoRbtTfPyF_Z08EkrrE4YIQzmAwW12avWVQHA3RRl2aasSH5uuMEtKZuNrPXz3x3panItdcts0Gvt6UfGaw5Wau5nmjfEenKdTWgW3tRmpLRVIlFCB5UUFjYMontzSCxK-p/s689/djordan13paniniprestigeppmjerseyblack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="689" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4ZEDki4VFNzKAkdHZqpRG4r-bpC4SG35qJp-KlCSDRxPLQV-50iYqZjvPcoRbtTfPyF_Z08EkrrE4YIQzmAwW12avWVQHA3RRl2aasSH5uuMEtKZuNrPXz3x3panItdcts0Gvt6UfGaw5Wau5nmjfEenKdTWgW3tRmpLRVIlFCB5UUFjYMontzSCxK-p/s320/djordan13paniniprestigeppmjerseyblack.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's the first of a pair of fancy looking Dion Jordan "material" cards. Jordan has a ton of cards, and almost all of them are with him wearing Dolphins gear. He didn't really get a chance to make an impact in the pros until he got to Seattle, though.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGUf1S819iv70ehXIx90_9vZowlTTbfprq7sfpMueGq2absae7GuMYawXmCC24EAjjQOI4h7UGGGx2iX6wLJZ9bGwNmtQHBp5oEN0rfNDElo0uJBLWXnJYHk1fnb_99qPcdKMXGh-0LFh3cV7RThARIrvoOypgeeG34TCxGUG3-gCha66XrMXYxR7Eafx/s692/djordan13bowmansterlingrookieautorelic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="692" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGUf1S819iv70ehXIx90_9vZowlTTbfprq7sfpMueGq2absae7GuMYawXmCC24EAjjQOI4h7UGGGx2iX6wLJZ9bGwNmtQHBp5oEN0rfNDElo0uJBLWXnJYHk1fnb_99qPcdKMXGh-0LFh3cV7RThARIrvoOypgeeG34TCxGUG3-gCha66XrMXYxR7Eafx/s320/djordan13bowmansterlingrookieautorelic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">How long are these rookie photo shoots for the NFL? There are so, so many different cards out there and so many dorky poses that they have to make.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-32vY2XCDfstU4WsPdMxFYqCPEltELsM09GPjH6P1t8kTjxJ9o8xcccmajZZe_kpaEgawNLKqpEDd4dgDaJFzz5Dve-WP5_71bOUG5uTkTB4zH-NBGgREA8HSN8O97igf_4zdUYN62z-EdaDEoXYFnHd8HtbAgMqb2HaxblZEiMPgrkhBvWddk-WpG5-/s698/dat14toppsrookiepatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-32vY2XCDfstU4WsPdMxFYqCPEltELsM09GPjH6P1t8kTjxJ9o8xcccmajZZe_kpaEgawNLKqpEDd4dgDaJFzz5Dve-WP5_71bOUG5uTkTB4zH-NBGgREA8HSN8O97igf_4zdUYN62z-EdaDEoXYFnHd8HtbAgMqb2HaxblZEiMPgrkhBvWddk-WpG5-/s320/dat14toppsrookiepatch.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This counts as a little bit of a patch, doesn't it? I can see a little bit of color there that isn't white.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSlSFRk24_CCejp5C_ermvlvemZhuYaOHDg-Fvad2AI-tJwlpEg4oSRcuXJhodTEHt3zVtoV9_Nb2MKAYKMKqFYhg9LzJryTS0ZWc9I48I9rZNUvUTaWrx4QuOVsuvtjrHj0oL2Q8fs66woIeiHeb73lKuLbUeaH1GutswRBfsVkxv__u9JJjIaCw-JPc/s709/dat14paninihotrookiespurpleauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSlSFRk24_CCejp5C_ermvlvemZhuYaOHDg-Fvad2AI-tJwlpEg4oSRcuXJhodTEHt3zVtoV9_Nb2MKAYKMKqFYhg9LzJryTS0ZWc9I48I9rZNUvUTaWrx4QuOVsuvtjrHj0oL2Q8fs66woIeiHeb73lKuLbUeaH1GutswRBfsVkxv__u9JJjIaCw-JPc/s320/dat14paninihotrookiespurpleauto.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wish the careers of De'Anthony Thomas and Patrick Mahomes had overlapped a bit more. I could see DAT getting utilized more as a gadget type player once Mahomes started getting more established.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59VUUSALhyphenhyphenfD867IVWRt7MhErcLa3h0uYhMFBodhB5VQUrp7-x359qF5yqhGFQ_PvY-RipbrdRIjvApq1nXZv6c9VBJ3hK4yRsgmyHdT6pd_MDAXFg92od_fw8xX0KXNLD-MLm0UYmnm_S4OSOW9HNHiZSZNwRf9-mpbxIaAXafexV0uNDsNfXVz9BUqp/s709/psewell22paniniscoregoldzone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi59VUUSALhyphenhyphenfD867IVWRt7MhErcLa3h0uYhMFBodhB5VQUrp7-x359qF5yqhGFQ_PvY-RipbrdRIjvApq1nXZv6c9VBJ3hK4yRsgmyHdT6pd_MDAXFg92od_fw8xX0KXNLD-MLm0UYmnm_S4OSOW9HNHiZSZNwRf9-mpbxIaAXafexV0uNDsNfXVz9BUqp/s320/psewell22paniniscoregoldzone.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Our last Duck of a very excellent group of Ducks cards is a "Gold Zone" Score parallel of Penei Sewell, numbered to just 50. You can still find some interesting cards in a lower end product.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71Zqr10sqK1z6HRNz1-cIrp7FyQoQqu1k9XOjFC8ztk41LGjkCDW7zShRn_-_rQKVRV9paWCc8qldBHGo02hPpbr3SYpeArvOyj4M6NcX7XEvUwgpQJ8V7FtwQIjRrQbQDX4CNqT_b6HkBTOtdVWJMkmzNjSKfFCVDX81VImbSSiYBXJmFFcqQPXEqxij/s701/aminu1617paninispectrassautojerseyneonblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71Zqr10sqK1z6HRNz1-cIrp7FyQoQqu1k9XOjFC8ztk41LGjkCDW7zShRn_-_rQKVRV9paWCc8qldBHGo02hPpbr3SYpeArvOyj4M6NcX7XEvUwgpQJ8V7FtwQIjRrQbQDX4CNqT_b6HkBTOtdVWJMkmzNjSKfFCVDX81VImbSSiYBXJmFFcqQPXEqxij/s320/aminu1617paninispectrassautojerseyneonblue.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There's even a basketball card in the mix. Al-Farouq Aminu was a consistent presence in the peak years of the Blazers "Dame Time" era.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLRWfYPo0zS-DYBawG3y9EdX33hmOrYP3_RQZO6sLMCWB1x3r2TeW0agH_pkat73rofe-l_HllmyHtk1B4ASP8_HXwN6Qw-Px6Do8v081ASZGsrGzcwfdOJrHdSM6zEydQKgo7iBWyQzeR0r8sQ0FUw3Qg-nTgeRPJAT8y29xpnwIWktF49FYfCi0R5rF/s749/belliott1314paninipaninititaniumjerseyauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="749" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLRWfYPo0zS-DYBawG3y9EdX33hmOrYP3_RQZO6sLMCWB1x3r2TeW0agH_pkat73rofe-l_HllmyHtk1B4ASP8_HXwN6Qw-Px6Do8v081ASZGsrGzcwfdOJrHdSM6zEydQKgo7iBWyQzeR0r8sQ0FUw3Qg-nTgeRPJAT8y29xpnwIWktF49FYfCi0R5rF/s320/belliott1314paninipaninititaniumjerseyauto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Sports cards with no printed name or photo on the front are a bit weird. I can assure you that this is a Brian Elliott card, a longtime goaltender who was still active in the NHL as recently as last year.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcK8WSJG9qKpj5M2VNj3gIERqGMHvosMejsCp3deAQLB7oWjCIQHepf6SeVADlSqaE3fv5rMWTtuAmg6ph4yPOaJSgpALJBSCC2xUyz9KSfQBWTLvzl5-BBYJX8wpYTKP15YThxttMTFkmrSUFvb6StJgAEKYDi9tIOVT3RWHEyy1EY8z3uv8DbkB4cC7/s706/blues9091kraftsingles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="706" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcK8WSJG9qKpj5M2VNj3gIERqGMHvosMejsCp3deAQLB7oWjCIQHepf6SeVADlSqaE3fv5rMWTtuAmg6ph4yPOaJSgpALJBSCC2xUyz9KSfQBWTLvzl5-BBYJX8wpYTKP15YThxttMTFkmrSUFvb6StJgAEKYDi9tIOVT3RWHEyy1EY8z3uv8DbkB4cC7/s320/blues9091kraftsingles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>I do love a good team photo, even a hockey one. This is apparently from a 1990-91 Kraft Singles set. I'm not sure if it was a regional thing or a wide release, aside from the copyright info on the back telling us it was a Canadian release of sorts.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-89802717769148161602024-01-21T11:17:00.000-08:002024-01-21T11:17:24.759-08:00Damaged Goods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6AQp_lEfAiMsor4GvH4lwyWkQX3SyHqamZlfgx0CcO-BtG-KzG5tSbHn7Pw96PWr37f5QS-suk0FkmteRh1h_pShygSaZdxQ-vdOrLuRwnRWFJmwaJL0BwmFMt7g4S4GnC1LTPLGGvylxJtglzOvJeH12RIJaE2bUXTBnps1OyGn37iIl9KJ7GTpi0rq/s2036/damaged1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2036" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr6AQp_lEfAiMsor4GvH4lwyWkQX3SyHqamZlfgx0CcO-BtG-KzG5tSbHn7Pw96PWr37f5QS-suk0FkmteRh1h_pShygSaZdxQ-vdOrLuRwnRWFJmwaJL0BwmFMt7g4S4GnC1LTPLGGvylxJtglzOvJeH12RIJaE2bUXTBnps1OyGn37iIl9KJ7GTpi0rq/w295-h400/damaged1.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Free to a good home. </span></b></div><div> </div><div>I accumulated a small pile of cards that I didn't feel completely comfortable adding to my <a href="https://www.tcdb.com/Profile.cfm/madding">TCDB Trade List</a>, and similarly I wasn't certain if I should just send these out blindly to people knowing that in each case there's a flaw. People aren't always into modern cards with dinged corners and the like. I thought I would go ahead and offer these up here with the caveat that there's a noticeable flaw in each of the cards. Let me know if you want to know more details about the condition of any of these cards as it may not be evident by the scan. (Click on each image to enlarge, as usual.) Claim away in the comments, or by email/Bluesky/whatever.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi04V0Qarems6N3uULG2yRYGbtjYJc1aUxLlXmP9IKEe_qgJ4bM4k6KbjaeEDwPIcSI_SLzbQGQx4xSCreFtVGew-JCnW10BWl8diS8T5Gihi-haGuyRqlwI0TWIcgqYDhdd1pSIlaOYd2rpqPwC2SAGL9pOeQy3C26sqCrFvb6nuy7q7IdUh2hukIuhISm/s2067/damaged2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2067" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi04V0Qarems6N3uULG2yRYGbtjYJc1aUxLlXmP9IKEe_qgJ4bM4k6KbjaeEDwPIcSI_SLzbQGQx4xSCreFtVGew-JCnW10BWl8diS8T5Gihi-haGuyRqlwI0TWIcgqYDhdd1pSIlaOYd2rpqPwC2SAGL9pOeQy3C26sqCrFvb6nuy7q7IdUh2hukIuhISm/w290-h400/damaged2.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkWIPQxN9K_SL3fmyqaAxxn7Bpy9d_NssQYhuwc3oFRXptGrCeUiQM4hJz-bbeyAAz1HdgBK7cmUtgQ7zT5s_SwGEh4EfyR27nnbcp3Ltlt4vIN53IWdM-UqEQZVGU4D-MZQ46UatybqeagvxkhwJNBDWxJh-OYMMlHjhmgJ6u4mfFiMDXxZP2l5RvKYJ/s2028/damaged3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2028" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkWIPQxN9K_SL3fmyqaAxxn7Bpy9d_NssQYhuwc3oFRXptGrCeUiQM4hJz-bbeyAAz1HdgBK7cmUtgQ7zT5s_SwGEh4EfyR27nnbcp3Ltlt4vIN53IWdM-UqEQZVGU4D-MZQ46UatybqeagvxkhwJNBDWxJh-OYMMlHjhmgJ6u4mfFiMDXxZP2l5RvKYJ/w296-h400/damaged3.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-HbktVdAt3_KVKL5h9ZKhdCBRoiUVf5I72WtyReq-ssEq7DsCmbPmSAyqHQfRQ3eYQ47e9Wx33LYi4KZMjidpGJAx3HLYk3tJZoh3OErHoeNBzNhg21u6QpwFZnzKprob4jx-A7Pw6B-9dhJD9BsahGzcLYPPT2k5SUE8rMilbYsHlAkjqlD3i2Rbm7t/s2030/damaged4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2030" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-HbktVdAt3_KVKL5h9ZKhdCBRoiUVf5I72WtyReq-ssEq7DsCmbPmSAyqHQfRQ3eYQ47e9Wx33LYi4KZMjidpGJAx3HLYk3tJZoh3OErHoeNBzNhg21u6QpwFZnzKprob4jx-A7Pw6B-9dhJD9BsahGzcLYPPT2k5SUE8rMilbYsHlAkjqlD3i2Rbm7t/w295-h400/damaged4.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_donLPzLkRce6_cpQ4iwle7Pmg-3Rw9Fw01pzAXNsBR1Jpu1mhiVilKtjTH5_p360RcUauNBpat5s3b5ny0ax1rmNkiIsN0m3OIPm_ulq4BjVLmKWL7s-1QRKBrhmwlbs7rGOQs834Z8ZrwnHUYLGP-T7iitkJtcNhJbEXshyLFhU54-Q_sC91tDHHKio/s2067/damaged5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2067" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_donLPzLkRce6_cpQ4iwle7Pmg-3Rw9Fw01pzAXNsBR1Jpu1mhiVilKtjTH5_p360RcUauNBpat5s3b5ny0ax1rmNkiIsN0m3OIPm_ulq4BjVLmKWL7s-1QRKBrhmwlbs7rGOQs834Z8ZrwnHUYLGP-T7iitkJtcNhJbEXshyLFhU54-Q_sC91tDHHKio/w290-h400/damaged5.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-34713457227365003622024-01-17T15:51:00.000-08:002024-01-17T15:51:07.857-08:00An Icy PWE Round-Up<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj85PP8t2hJTFAMUeQPZoe64H-xAHT123gsuwRrYeQz933V0oXPiW1yMfN_5uURY85RI2LFr_bOv4kUV1hwRyOqBek2N8Gk99Fax8i6zN8ByoJqqfAvuNdtbyaFBgaFN44-ezGotohuArtvyIS6ERA40zD3GFl-XafaVBz1OGFKOZuhH-YlonEK3v470bO3/s702/wainwright22paninichroniclesrevolutiongroove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj85PP8t2hJTFAMUeQPZoe64H-xAHT123gsuwRrYeQz933V0oXPiW1yMfN_5uURY85RI2LFr_bOv4kUV1hwRyOqBek2N8Gk99Fax8i6zN8ByoJqqfAvuNdtbyaFBgaFN44-ezGotohuArtvyIS6ERA40zD3GFl-XafaVBz1OGFKOZuhH-YlonEK3v470bO3/s320/wainwright22paninichroniclesrevolutiongroove.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Envelopes galore from @nightowlcardz.bsky.social and @thorzul.bsky.social and more!</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Well, it's very icy here in Portland and it's taking its sweet time thawing out. There hasn't been any mail delivery all week, but we can still look at some cards I got back in November. Let's check it.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITy3YYOIpnsfv7Uxg4bFC0Jjx2BBAr27KLSGvozKBFU_u_hLdM2xYYJBUUpq6MAqEqqzV9wvDKoQ_rJMF8yD9rIexvaPbw1TP_f2jVhKYZPlHDpVXx5d2EyIQ96QdUnQ8NoNuh74z-N0-4dauKls3DwUzKMpBWaR3uZUCXFQMqY-F0tYv0GoKN5MEixfV/s702/helsley23toppsredfoil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITy3YYOIpnsfv7Uxg4bFC0Jjx2BBAr27KLSGvozKBFU_u_hLdM2xYYJBUUpq6MAqEqqzV9wvDKoQ_rJMF8yD9rIexvaPbw1TP_f2jVhKYZPlHDpVXx5d2EyIQ96QdUnQ8NoNuh74z-N0-4dauKls3DwUzKMpBWaR3uZUCXFQMqY-F0tYv0GoKN5MEixfV/s320/helsley23toppsredfoil.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/">Night Owl Cards</a> probably deserves his own tag here considering how many times he's sent cards over the years. This time it was a twin set of envelopes stuffed with Cardinals and set needs. Ryan Helsley came with his own fancy serial number stamped on the back (177/199). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk805byPP_tvNd8KUDq8b57gtQnBVQcm_JIWgqD2eOZsrp51F4zPNN85D_GsX_gPS6PiAmvKKjkQ_v-DMmqwBouIhGsXeJSUYe5v3d4p8rxJuh6UoZ59uIQsTQwKYMCudxKnAAunJ-XLgjaCfxHG30WPu88_DVO0GWVZIlXv7WlcLJGxcXwc6Q0PbAEws-/s694/1944cardinalsbrowns71fleerws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="694" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk805byPP_tvNd8KUDq8b57gtQnBVQcm_JIWgqD2eOZsrp51F4zPNN85D_GsX_gPS6PiAmvKKjkQ_v-DMmqwBouIhGsXeJSUYe5v3d4p8rxJuh6UoZ59uIQsTQwKYMCudxKnAAunJ-XLgjaCfxHG30WPu88_DVO0GWVZIlXv7WlcLJGxcXwc6Q0PbAEws-/s320/1944cardinalsbrowns71fleerws.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This one commemorates the rare and long impossible all St. Louis World Series. I believe it's from one of those early '70s Fleer World Series sets featuring artwork by the mysterious R.G. Laughlin.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyBiaQYYk57qqaQyu_nrAcu8Es5HAxIOLw_UagWVHeQfuVab7lWLKj0BJpLXeskRw0ryz3slJ8PNRRMkTYXFJDCMYD3D7aeNpuxs8YkPRT25XCnwifY7b4pNi6Opmda7biIcHLIg3Ywb6rdZ_gjUwzpiCOESB93VJ2-28E1KNBEa4j0cgo5_cGRSli5nf/s699/arenado22toppschrrefpink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="699" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyBiaQYYk57qqaQyu_nrAcu8Es5HAxIOLw_UagWVHeQfuVab7lWLKj0BJpLXeskRw0ryz3slJ8PNRRMkTYXFJDCMYD3D7aeNpuxs8YkPRT25XCnwifY7b4pNi6Opmda7biIcHLIg3Ywb6rdZ_gjUwzpiCOESB93VJ2-28E1KNBEa4j0cgo5_cGRSli5nf/s320/arenado22toppschrrefpink.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>When Panini makes pink and purple (and sometimes blue) parallel cards, I occasionally have a hard time distinguishing the difference and often have to result to comparing images online. That's not the case with Topps Chrome. There's no disputing that this is pink, unless you only see in monochrome like an old '60s television set.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkb9tOYOdCv7_u1_th1zoA0BGFtGlxa2fUhoalRzK7bavhIyNeWDxZ-bPHQVe8L9retwehF65Mq9BrvnVEzYeZ_sziKe1GNMhKd_t1m8FcS342qKkt9LtDy_BW_6huw7wm8TL4Ww4i7hlntc2OOOplMStLk3mal_tD2_nmROpTHcypDgnvXXK4l2znEX-U/s703/dcarlson23toppsasg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkb9tOYOdCv7_u1_th1zoA0BGFtGlxa2fUhoalRzK7bavhIyNeWDxZ-bPHQVe8L9retwehF65Mq9BrvnVEzYeZ_sziKe1GNMhKd_t1m8FcS342qKkt9LtDy_BW_6huw7wm8TL4Ww4i7hlntc2OOOplMStLk3mal_tD2_nmROpTHcypDgnvXXK4l2znEX-U/s320/dcarlson23toppsasg.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Occasionally I have been gifted a special All-Star Game stamped Cardinals team set, but that wasn't the case this past year. I can cross DC off my list, though!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmgwd983zn_NKIF01uv7KeRHAQpVIj8uNpFHP-9lXOTUTDzRzx-baWRH_wwAzEXdzhQLbUkj7MrWy6qGaPaP5IIqI0Gksyg9KAnSYntrXKcVjZSnNdTMspCT7jtJs5eV5OFR5e6nI4j2Qp3e-msFDNT6nppKh3ARY46Qfq-XUf3klb5cCpcHSpzAofjot/s1000/2cards23toppsher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="702" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmgwd983zn_NKIF01uv7KeRHAQpVIj8uNpFHP-9lXOTUTDzRzx-baWRH_wwAzEXdzhQLbUkj7MrWy6qGaPaP5IIqI0Gksyg9KAnSYntrXKcVjZSnNdTMspCT7jtJs5eV5OFR5e6nI4j2Qp3e-msFDNT6nppKh3ARY46Qfq-XUf3klb5cCpcHSpzAofjot/w281-h400/2cards23toppsher.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some of the aforementioned set needs. I am now done with all of the non-SP base cards (including the High series!) from 2023 Topps Heritage.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfpwYM9PrCeMDFzTZdcODiqBa_ezQsMnd7cDWJtZAMBFR_3D-ffG_f-7fx3QsPPatjFKXv5r5o4VeNbomk1IF91N7PV0iIqOM4xnC_FdU-G3obFtvXMKsLo87vXiRlXasLbqXhhVWpzdW1vNSzNLUbvW-3hdEFZf2kxj2-CQ8zIpYpwgbfbgBkO5atu5B/s1500/3cards23toppsher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1500" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfpwYM9PrCeMDFzTZdcODiqBa_ezQsMnd7cDWJtZAMBFR_3D-ffG_f-7fx3QsPPatjFKXv5r5o4VeNbomk1IF91N7PV0iIqOM4xnC_FdU-G3obFtvXMKsLo87vXiRlXasLbqXhhVWpzdW1vNSzNLUbvW-3hdEFZf2kxj2-CQ8zIpYpwgbfbgBkO5atu5B/w400-h186/3cards23toppsher.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I think I "completed" this set in record time, folks. Of course, I had to modify that statement with quotation marks because no Heritage set is ever truly complete, at least not by my standards.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3snCo58Hs8lwl6kN6IaB99SniCOR-x8IhWLqmBxG9XXqauRK-FcjSjXvQQYCYNm5YIJJvIy3UZnQIqizjQlJn5F8IiPDlfJXJFn_EVe4R3l6L4Zmn_eWrBJ9Tz0oknKRWjR3ACpwRLi3ue8bHXkUTmL51TuW9GIgLclEikJMha5hyQ1axztFuud-3vvX/s704/jwalker23toppsas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3snCo58Hs8lwl6kN6IaB99SniCOR-x8IhWLqmBxG9XXqauRK-FcjSjXvQQYCYNm5YIJJvIy3UZnQIqizjQlJn5F8IiPDlfJXJFn_EVe4R3l6L4Zmn_eWrBJ9Tz0oknKRWjR3ACpwRLi3ue8bHXkUTmL51TuW9GIgLclEikJMha5hyQ1axztFuud-3vvX/s320/jwalker23toppsas.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Death Stare Cards aka THORZUL had his annual <a href="https://deathstarecards.blogspot.com/search/label/Trade%20Me%20Anything">Trade Me Anything</a> event a couple of months back, and I took it upon myself to snag a couple of cards from his freshly opened Topps Update box as per tradition. I have become less adventurous over the years at finding "anything" to send and have mostly stuck to want lists, but one of these days I'm going to find something weird with his name on it and send it on over to Milwaukee.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtPJbTZKPRTf8UhOkWG7fw4jwJjluvhdxUpSbDf-074_a7_KlK0OBYECmMBW4DEY2zrdxzdHKKbhV-JtbDbE_BsJJsbK8PiiPAr3TA8FvewkhRtm_n7nbctOW_WuGZHsoeSFZpkEtleaPgDoRELkeNik7vY9ktcgEEh1hlBzURx-cQoeD1gKC71zV9Iw-j/s705/rutschman23toppsclrainbowfoil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="705" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtPJbTZKPRTf8UhOkWG7fw4jwJjluvhdxUpSbDf-074_a7_KlK0OBYECmMBW4DEY2zrdxzdHKKbhV-JtbDbE_BsJJsbK8PiiPAr3TA8FvewkhRtm_n7nbctOW_WuGZHsoeSFZpkEtleaPgDoRELkeNik7vY9ktcgEEh1hlBzURx-cQoeD1gKC71zV9Iw-j/s320/rutschman23toppsclrainbowfoil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The other card I claimed was an Adley Rutschman foil parallel. I'm not overly fond of these checklist cards with the dumb captions, but my secret Adley stash is very small you see. One of these days, I might have to add an "unofficial collections" list to the menu.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnBBK_mUu4hb5HbGdBJOkYfoOYJWZRB40fKyMni-9ym_unaHGj6ehxQmNt73mmdQJIrnquNVDZa75dK4wYlAFr4o-bmisAolE1T9Wk9NR-naafT8Zp7sBKbLBexIVWBprgDnyHJH9-chP8x8k2j9atjqPUTTxG2Ndpfw7z7n-HfRiHQ0yulh9aEtDNdRI/s705/edman22paninimosaicgreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnBBK_mUu4hb5HbGdBJOkYfoOYJWZRB40fKyMni-9ym_unaHGj6ehxQmNt73mmdQJIrnquNVDZa75dK4wYlAFr4o-bmisAolE1T9Wk9NR-naafT8Zp7sBKbLBexIVWBprgDnyHJH9-chP8x8k2j9atjqPUTTxG2Ndpfw7z7n-HfRiHQ0yulh9aEtDNdRI/s320/edman22paninimosaicgreen.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The last group of cards was sent over from Jeremy of <a href="https://toppscardsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/">Topps Cards That Never Were</a>.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvDcwh5pWFnDRdiDAp_qE14_i1fMUuM04KSnqlRzKuHOHwK9U6EOMbojI1XuCAnK__KjVP4f_E6tb6ckbEAqIwPdGWSApPPn4Pqq6R2xsxLHh2C1VCA2SJL9pnK5-HNl0B7fJ38f1wX8iy3KertizffVrfbCqU4RJOcc9mJUgo-xYbhXTAOL3kHViD4tz/s707/edmonds05donrussteamheroesshowdownblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvDcwh5pWFnDRdiDAp_qE14_i1fMUuM04KSnqlRzKuHOHwK9U6EOMbojI1XuCAnK__KjVP4f_E6tb6ckbEAqIwPdGWSApPPn4Pqq6R2xsxLHh2C1VCA2SJL9pnK5-HNl0B7fJ38f1wX8iy3KertizffVrfbCqU4RJOcc9mJUgo-xYbhXTAOL3kHViD4tz/s320/edmonds05donrussteamheroesshowdownblue.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Fortunately, Jeremy has been very patient with me, well, forgetting to mail the vintage-y cards that he claimed over the summer, but they're in the mail now (or at least will be when the streets thaw out.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmsQ11DCCHudOlS-gEj6oxZg4rFkPYZkmC6zSREXx05gkONFc6ZXeY2CpHNEfz-Auy_vzZ_MyGbbtrqyNEfcSVJxOL3gs1crscYdqi9Onuiu7OEA82c40I414qaPvIphIHYK99Ldigfc-j11cHqbWh5pZBEEGvrOWZDS7dD_ZtTCww7-03R5ReMkGh7N6W/s703/edmonds05donrusszenithap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmsQ11DCCHudOlS-gEj6oxZg4rFkPYZkmC6zSREXx05gkONFc6ZXeY2CpHNEfz-Auy_vzZ_MyGbbtrqyNEfcSVJxOL3gs1crscYdqi9Onuiu7OEA82c40I414qaPvIphIHYK99Ldigfc-j11cHqbWh5pZBEEGvrOWZDS7dD_ZtTCww7-03R5ReMkGh7N6W/s320/edmonds05donrusszenithap.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I was thrilled to land not one, but two mid-00's Jim Edmonds parallels for one of my highest priority player collections.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJBbouVXyD_UiqWGcrl9k7PkWWqLi7GlQ2Gvq9KGRh__qK9BvZaXd17z42eC5btC2MB9kV5S1AV53HFqT7bPwB1qkxVA4Px0fH7tTskIFAmaUQ8Gn0fvmPdfZQKeODtuJi2qnmMi4inmdPYDJwi1BSRKrQfxwoJ24Tost3nfPWihOU5XAwrBhF50P6oBP/s702/flaherty22paninimosaicpinkcamo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjJBbouVXyD_UiqWGcrl9k7PkWWqLi7GlQ2Gvq9KGRh__qK9BvZaXd17z42eC5btC2MB9kV5S1AV53HFqT7bPwB1qkxVA4Px0fH7tTskIFAmaUQ8Gn0fvmPdfZQKeODtuJi2qnmMi4inmdPYDJwi1BSRKrQfxwoJ24Tost3nfPWihOU5XAwrBhF50P6oBP/s320/flaherty22paninimosaicpinkcamo.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Oh Panini. We're going to miss your silly little "camo" parallels that just look like a failed pixel-based art project.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6se0W_TrlJBb0qwucAB7e9pvzIkWFbXBZlLbtSxeWnn0A9lgrMu-eNAqufhBN9m1tix-MDMDbb1a6WDBTlK1ViJWBgFXVdo7aP5vWQj0jtwVWNhyhNIYBpoVKustopv8e-i4c0hZVNleFk1mLbr1Fq1F7867kRdfpBBNoY3N2OUrGSzej3ngJJ7qUX4QB/s705/arenado22bowmanplatice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6se0W_TrlJBb0qwucAB7e9pvzIkWFbXBZlLbtSxeWnn0A9lgrMu-eNAqufhBN9m1tix-MDMDbb1a6WDBTlK1ViJWBgFXVdo7aP5vWQj0jtwVWNhyhNIYBpoVKustopv8e-i4c0hZVNleFk1mLbr1Fq1F7867kRdfpBBNoY3N2OUrGSzej3ngJJ7qUX4QB/s320/arenado22bowmanplatice.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Topps isn't without blame here. I'm not entirely sure why they are so in love with foilboard "ice" parallels that just look like they have random shape patterns when scanned. I feel like Bowman Platinum is always made on a small budget, however, even if the "Platinum" branding would suggest otherwise.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0YWqY4z5V6vcWCffpKbsN6UXUepcjU88p4tpyM2nJHj-EkKPZIgZ7ToAVpmZA5p3MjXYItY_rvInYaLvmdClHWWSVvdE7iUQMPNloTmsEK4O21NCWvnedD7JwPYuoPRwTB1haasbxjeZPRhuyMwzyuxbXD_vd5ZDt4CDNN7rnDus2bak3fccom99fJUe/s705/dhudson20toppsodblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0YWqY4z5V6vcWCffpKbsN6UXUepcjU88p4tpyM2nJHj-EkKPZIgZ7ToAVpmZA5p3MjXYItY_rvInYaLvmdClHWWSVvdE7iUQMPNloTmsEK4O21NCWvnedD7JwPYuoPRwTB1haasbxjeZPRhuyMwzyuxbXD_vd5ZDt4CDNN7rnDus2bak3fccom99fJUe/s320/dhudson20toppsodblue.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I know that no one really misses Opening Day, but I don't really think they've found a suitable low budget replacement for it, either. I have not been a fan of Big League at all, even though for some reason I buy a box or two of it every year. (Probably because it's cheap?)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56UZskpIGLI9BnA2BKrPj2hGA5w3qjHntZy6GEv-ZrA4Zhhv1ZvfCulo3JpvXtrX2NFe0kBvrAB12mI4KjPPcOtb4GFk3q32FG2lc4BVW-1CheTA5aq5zxq-mZnzsm4GaDGkVchMp4TIcBlFM9Zd3HiBu3_oRFanF0cOhTurxHphIX_iV6qyel78y8xwt/s711/edmonds04uddcasl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56UZskpIGLI9BnA2BKrPj2hGA5w3qjHntZy6GEv-ZrA4Zhhv1ZvfCulo3JpvXtrX2NFe0kBvrAB12mI4KjPPcOtb4GFk3q32FG2lc4BVW-1CheTA5aq5zxq-mZnzsm4GaDGkVchMp4TIcBlFM9Zd3HiBu3_oRFanF0cOhTurxHphIX_iV6qyel78y8xwt/s320/edmonds04uddcasl.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We end things here with another mid-00's Jim Edmonds card: a weird contest card doubling as an insert. I don't feel like the card companies really intended for collector's to actually hang on to stuff like this, but here we are nearly 20 years later and I'm still looking at it and talking about it.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-45514762110319679502024-01-16T10:49:00.000-08:002024-01-16T10:49:52.288-08:00Contest Results!<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IYLHnfWrrtV4S2iWLXe5QfsJV9_HEaolUi1SENyKBpAm6QOR8TaFQzaA81o1zsuGdUszrn1FB7GN5pZzeKPw6TxXknvtVgi9ymhfkXCiWP2MiYL2JnAWTXYFczV68EIHokJ85B94vIyv7QCOLvM7IQPuz8OArzsFwm28Jsoppcz-sdlGPfUcS8RPskES/s955/Screenshot%202024-01-16%20103521.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="955" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IYLHnfWrrtV4S2iWLXe5QfsJV9_HEaolUi1SENyKBpAm6QOR8TaFQzaA81o1zsuGdUszrn1FB7GN5pZzeKPw6TxXknvtVgi9ymhfkXCiWP2MiYL2JnAWTXYFczV68EIHokJ85B94vIyv7QCOLvM7IQPuz8OArzsFwm28Jsoppcz-sdlGPfUcS8RPskES/w529-h335/Screenshot%202024-01-16%20103521.png" width="529" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Congrats to Pete L. and the rest of the winners! </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This year's big football contest is in the books and once again we have a brand new winner. <b>Pete L. (LUGOAZUSA13) took home the top prize</b> with an excellent batch of picks that landed him in the 99.6 percentile of all ESPN contestants. <b>Danny L. (ConfidenceLad) and Brian P. (i miss old school espn) finished second and third</b>, respectively. Taking home the <b>worst place prize this year is John S. (Michigan 76)</b>, who unfortunately did not quite have the success that his Wolverines did on the field, but I'm sure he'll take a real title over this any day of the week.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If you're on the list here, please get in touch so I can get a prize out to you after the weather thaws out a bit.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-2261782064158527252024-01-05T14:58:00.000-08:002024-01-05T14:58:27.871-08:00A Yepez New Year<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYRFTLmYPd7sLCCTgpdCqLmZnby4qZDGcaFL2dzN3tPecIh3foT-1WCvVFkfpjy5UU0FoMjp5APljh79Nj6NFvTLfDQhbVKc8_B2xMrLGZWDSDcc0iSwgrklDRUk8OFRn7AcxuYYb_9CSj6QvN96bfVFSJHJ6yrJ52nJLDXiWBe7Dldwvp4-mbyNGEP96/s696/jyepez22toppsagframedminiauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYRFTLmYPd7sLCCTgpdCqLmZnby4qZDGcaFL2dzN3tPecIh3foT-1WCvVFkfpjy5UU0FoMjp5APljh79Nj6NFvTLfDQhbVKc8_B2xMrLGZWDSDcc0iSwgrklDRUk8OFRn7AcxuYYb_9CSj6QvN96bfVFSJHJ6yrJ52nJLDXiWBe7Dldwvp4-mbyNGEP96/s320/jyepez22toppsagframedminiauto.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Group Break cards from Nachos Grande. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">This latest batch of Cardinals cards came from assorted group breaks held by <a href="https://fanofreds.blogspot.com/">Nachos Grande</a> around the early part of fall. With one exception, these cards were mostly from breaks of products released in the past couple of years.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIz6mXevftjmp2S8bev_0b5vdrZ6KSbBiJyHEsreBQH25PO0Wlnol9FrWlkvnH_4bjrLdMt59hZXXKrXdshWuOxlUX81QjAZDp5Nh4LezKxpcK8etdkKiSCDr8fUwXRU5ezHWMw1MWPeuv1U0-OLd9X8W6C09MFtT0BiXzjnNghycezFFwTE5JXpM4Fm1F/s707/jyepez22paninidonruss88auto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIz6mXevftjmp2S8bev_0b5vdrZ6KSbBiJyHEsreBQH25PO0Wlnol9FrWlkvnH_4bjrLdMt59hZXXKrXdshWuOxlUX81QjAZDp5Nh4LezKxpcK8etdkKiSCDr8fUwXRU5ezHWMw1MWPeuv1U0-OLd9X8W6C09MFtT0BiXzjnNghycezFFwTE5JXpM4Fm1F/s320/jyepez22paninidonruss88auto.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Juan Yepez was once an Atlanta prospect, but he didn't make it to the big leagues until he had established himself as one of the top bats in the Memphis Redbirds lineup, the Cardinals' AAA affiliate. While he had some bright spots in 2022 while Albert Pujols took him under his wing, Yepez didn't really get much of a shot last season and has since moved on to the Nationals organization. Of course, the framed Allen & Ginter mini card is going to get a lot more love than the generic looking Panini sticker auto, but I am happy to have added both to my collection.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7AuxMenBv5R5rDwRQJ3ZhlKfPZfLqnIodWT3UnokL2zds6On7qwfxZujWA9s7-QwcwZVyJseUlZuapcL_HHIgsSzjD0osjiz3M97NlOus1_BNA2MEB0U2ZOniUwJjz_D3-cO4bTRp2RL92z9Ig-kEVusdv44W-xg5ewYNZZJsYjuBN6YV_oj_0V-5DJJ5/s715/edman22paninimosaicblue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7AuxMenBv5R5rDwRQJ3ZhlKfPZfLqnIodWT3UnokL2zds6On7qwfxZujWA9s7-QwcwZVyJseUlZuapcL_HHIgsSzjD0osjiz3M97NlOus1_BNA2MEB0U2ZOniUwJjz_D3-cO4bTRp2RL92z9Ig-kEVusdv44W-xg5ewYNZZJsYjuBN6YV_oj_0V-5DJJ5/s320/edman22paninimosaicblue.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Tommy Edman makes an appearance on another Panini product, this time a red, white and blue parallel from last year's Mosaic set. I don't believe there was a 2023 Mosaic baseball set as the number of Panini products in this sport dropped significantly after losing the MLBPA license.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlQw1cPeqMwNFq-jxYmkoDqPNDeeWXrRnqEiRpTBun2cr-WeocvExQnQmUoDo2FrApkSV9_HZsLcmi4Qcy0A2l01ktG8t-FdCYSNWcXe_WO-t7YCSE3Eci7Q52RcXDYUOat6AM8wMmhtQVqLvoJWu2eQOKxT8tCBQ3kxtNC92aaQuXdshjz0lu5vU7GA3/s699/arenado23toppsfinestgreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlQw1cPeqMwNFq-jxYmkoDqPNDeeWXrRnqEiRpTBun2cr-WeocvExQnQmUoDo2FrApkSV9_HZsLcmi4Qcy0A2l01ktG8t-FdCYSNWcXe_WO-t7YCSE3Eci7Q52RcXDYUOat6AM8wMmhtQVqLvoJWu2eQOKxT8tCBQ3kxtNC92aaQuXdshjz0lu5vU7GA3/s320/arenado23toppsfinestgreen.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 2023 Finest break was one of the big highlights. I landed this Nolan Arenado green parallel that is numbered to just 99 copies.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNmRkIJJRZ2aetAzfPwF_kLGL6Yhy015FJ4yGm6iE7XBCgjGBx_e5OemsNhdmTzEJUwUO_NVREoWPUTP3c1Qjiyac0YqzpVyu2x5RxVffUKeZ91yTKZOuehgVac4DXGmFl3DSHAcsX1HPTuUxhonesGT-kxO1d5SyswiUeGt5gEQLeF5dWvcgdF9f2QnB/s712/arenado22paninimosaicmosaic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNmRkIJJRZ2aetAzfPwF_kLGL6Yhy015FJ4yGm6iE7XBCgjGBx_e5OemsNhdmTzEJUwUO_NVREoWPUTP3c1Qjiyac0YqzpVyu2x5RxVffUKeZ91yTKZOuehgVac4DXGmFl3DSHAcsX1HPTuUxhonesGT-kxO1d5SyswiUeGt5gEQLeF5dWvcgdF9f2QnB/s320/arenado22paninimosaicmosaic.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Nolan's arm is bent at a very tough to look at angle here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Kuw7eAyK09-uwl4bV4Aii8YDLtbLA1S1Q4RFSTklkyJgPIiXs5-CeXlNacS_thgr_efi9CZ9Z5-o5PZvE-93bNZDRojS4r4Th01-DyofotLtqzq94oSefOzkuElOAfO8_DIDJoVrjpU8jL8ibV3HIwARCooEEYdHMpoAgJ1Y0DmL3fwSrSGnbokdp3QP/s704/arenado23toppsfinestheadliners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Kuw7eAyK09-uwl4bV4Aii8YDLtbLA1S1Q4RFSTklkyJgPIiXs5-CeXlNacS_thgr_efi9CZ9Z5-o5PZvE-93bNZDRojS4r4Th01-DyofotLtqzq94oSefOzkuElOAfO8_DIDJoVrjpU8jL8ibV3HIwARCooEEYdHMpoAgJ1Y0DmL3fwSrSGnbokdp3QP/s320/arenado23toppsfinestheadliners.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Another Arenado Finest highlight, this Headliners insert kind of reminds me of an old Fleer insert with a modern Chrome refractor flourish.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEPuyjbsGf2f1lVijnKu2yYF9rXor_7y5cg5GAAhNaI18-uRy12XdktTRvCBlc-27Af3sP6W0rNNT586EEIL1bodHeVQsrb-x1d2YqGxYOKbDOi3IlNamQLna65F5UAeGjvwlZ8mD7W3IG-5Y50Ya_2GbDyuon4rrE2-VWoYyyUF0L68-kTpTJls5sSTC/s691/dcarlson21toppsarchives94dp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhEPuyjbsGf2f1lVijnKu2yYF9rXor_7y5cg5GAAhNaI18-uRy12XdktTRvCBlc-27Af3sP6W0rNNT586EEIL1bodHeVQsrb-x1d2YqGxYOKbDOi3IlNamQLna65F5UAeGjvwlZ8mD7W3IG-5Y50Ya_2GbDyuon4rrE2-VWoYyyUF0L68-kTpTJls5sSTC/s320/dcarlson21toppsarchives94dp.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Apparently these 1994 style Draft Picks inserts from the 2021 Topps Archives set were quite a tough pull, landing at 1:24 packs or roughly one per box. I haven't found any Carlsons for sale on COMC since I ended up with this card.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRba1fUwHmflGyaiTM_mnzEMZtH9G_heMvnqKSas5jJbsC6KUn6uDpKtydl0ErbtlZlFtlzuSLhKv9txQ3rRUj7hfsxLsJSbe8UzYx_Iv4oc00Zu_x0PIJv5yDPGCw7kgIVsxxH0XBA5SifRnzyh7Jmf9TWQ0oa33Zt13TfUXFj0bAaUnlWGV1zjUyE1D/s707/flaherty21paniniprizmpurple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRba1fUwHmflGyaiTM_mnzEMZtH9G_heMvnqKSas5jJbsC6KUn6uDpKtydl0ErbtlZlFtlzuSLhKv9txQ3rRUj7hfsxLsJSbe8UzYx_Iv4oc00Zu_x0PIJv5yDPGCw7kgIVsxxH0XBA5SifRnzyh7Jmf9TWQ0oa33Zt13TfUXFj0bAaUnlWGV1zjUyE1D/s320/flaherty21paniniprizmpurple.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's back to the unlicensed realm here with a PPP (Purple Prizm Parallel.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjtQpt7ZxGYAPZBJuPOyJwNjP_GKVu559HOBq2RQJFucU_OxG7LFM2d5pnfc1-CVyjXom3tsAlNRuPSPFKdR79obSTPn7P_AiTXFZJqXw9Wxd_md9ZPT2PTlosv9Zg3z5DBQW7dGNgb_srqSPgbhJxkIy__wMefoorBd3Ldn4HpnUkVuxL2nUMVNrEUD0/s705/goldschmidt22paninimosaicsf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjtQpt7ZxGYAPZBJuPOyJwNjP_GKVu559HOBq2RQJFucU_OxG7LFM2d5pnfc1-CVyjXom3tsAlNRuPSPFKdR79obSTPn7P_AiTXFZJqXw9Wxd_md9ZPT2PTlosv9Zg3z5DBQW7dGNgb_srqSPgbhJxkIy__wMefoorBd3Ldn4HpnUkVuxL2nUMVNrEUD0/s320/goldschmidt22paninimosaicsf.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There's almost a good insert idea in here, but besides the obvious lack of MLB logos, there are some things I take issue with. I am not sure exactly what the weird angular pattern behind Goldschmidt's photo is supposed to represent, and that "Straight Fire" font is just hideous.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAuEY7SXGvjdMyH-LtsnpRh6Gv1Qb3J9V22Y_ZGDgjcj0NO-ksx7WfRvw18J6Cs5BpwcNK9T6FrULsfQ4iC9GLFHhBd5oRsXiZdSyhvLuOMYfqIqC80wQrxuNZ2__d_dB5FL-bu30Jqssx6gLtV1mQtkrDX3KJGibneA_4t4YE0LeLVbvy8_4hAS6hRig/s704/pujols02donrussoriginals84.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKAuEY7SXGvjdMyH-LtsnpRh6Gv1Qb3J9V22Y_ZGDgjcj0NO-ksx7WfRvw18J6Cs5BpwcNK9T6FrULsfQ4iC9GLFHhBd5oRsXiZdSyhvLuOMYfqIqC80wQrxuNZ2__d_dB5FL-bu30Jqssx6gLtV1mQtkrDX3KJGibneA_4t4YE0LeLVbvy8_4hAS6hRig/s320/pujols02donrussoriginals84.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We travel all the way back to 2002 here with a second year Pujols card that mimics the original 1984 Donruss design. This would have been a fun set to collect back in the day, aside from it being marred by the typical short print confusion of the era.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3be-xkjmAaDHyz3-T8gqqvwzIW1q3xEjLd9ijeDva8yf3dM_HitVp4clkLBHuOlub6YDptDxjMgCqJW8G1MCkTCHl51ZNZZrCXmJ6HjqEn_zWn_FvjernYKIdz8iQ0BgOBv1EFuY3i9rPAnQY2DMG35OgI_kN4JItCJSJIJPPY1GwCyEc9UAaY52c9nDY/s703/musial21toppsgallerypi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3be-xkjmAaDHyz3-T8gqqvwzIW1q3xEjLd9ijeDva8yf3dM_HitVp4clkLBHuOlub6YDptDxjMgCqJW8G1MCkTCHl51ZNZZrCXmJ6HjqEn_zWn_FvjernYKIdz8iQ0BgOBv1EFuY3i9rPAnQY2DMG35OgI_kN4JItCJSJIJPPY1GwCyEc9UAaY52c9nDY/s320/musial21toppsgallerypi.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I also added a numbered Stan the Man card to my collection from the 2021 Topps Gallery set. Gallery could be hit or miss for me (mostly miss), but I did like this particular year's design more than others.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-75239690018251742802024-01-01T06:00:00.000-08:002024-01-01T06:00:00.141-08:00Good Luck Ducks: Fiesta Bowl Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgez_tfv05MjfLPdLfVK46FBDBNYzGpn9sa-efJEiErh1E9PK_u_5HJoPc89F0i6SaRQlrSfUWIG0tRh-Q2frkKmR_n457vZ8lmMLSh1Y2FH9hBAJFiqc4xrNLyFjcTYoRxhUa2n1FASODg9st8v8e80ImMpEUwIeVUMpaFVolQPxm1YMrLv9m74MxE_-1h/s708/vanbrocklin16paninintcollegiateblack.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgez_tfv05MjfLPdLfVK46FBDBNYzGpn9sa-efJEiErh1E9PK_u_5HJoPc89F0i6SaRQlrSfUWIG0tRh-Q2frkKmR_n457vZ8lmMLSh1Y2FH9hBAJFiqc4xrNLyFjcTYoRxhUa2n1FASODg9st8v8e80ImMpEUwIeVUMpaFVolQPxm1YMrLv9m74MxE_-1h/s320/vanbrocklin16paninintcollegiateblack.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Ducks fly to Arizona to take on the Conference USA champion Liberty Flames. </span></b></div><div> </div><div>Now that transfer portal season is over (or is it?) and most of the subpar bowl games are out of the way, we've finally arrived at college football's showcase day. Of course, Oregon is not taking part in the playoffs this year, but with a couple of highly touted quarterbacks on the way and an expanded field next season, we could be singing a different tune this time next year.</div><div><br /></div><div>But really: who knows? In fact, that seems to be the theme of bowl game season. In the midst of transfer, opt outs and probably even a few suspensions, it's never easy to tell who is going to win these games. I have been running a contest to pick the winners of these games each year for the past decade and a half and I don't think I've ever finished in the top three. (To be fair, there are some good prognosticators out there, but I am just not one of them.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Bo Nix is back for one last hurrah, making a statement to opt in to this game and maybe even take down a few more records in the process. Bucky Irving, easily my favorite Duck of the past couple of seasons, is headed to the NFL after forgoing his final season of eligibility, but he too is planning on playing today. While it was certainly a let down to fall from a possible playoff berth to a New Year's Six game, it doesn't sound like that let down is getting through to some of the key players on the team. With a strong coach who doesn't seem to have one foot out the door (that we know of!) and a bright future, a match today against a private Christian school from Virginia doesn't really feel like a disappointment after all. (I was about to call Liberty a <i>small </i>private school until I checked the enrollment numbers, where they have something like four times as many students as UO.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFhCIQWc-T8eN2rw8gLz8ftjVs8jq2SnPQKXZ8wByepSzPLOk4fH9q_CpoEi3ROC8ZumBKo5V-GWUN7YQGCADcuXjKHStCrO0C9wSGq6FLSzKYJwQ4-RRSmPfr1ota34QO_toM1DD-rO8S5vr-GGqy2mCcrWkd8pLvkLdgoZM2HUMpzbeFvrClL7Oa5FR/s704/vanbrocklin16paninintcollegiateblackback.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVFhCIQWc-T8eN2rw8gLz8ftjVs8jq2SnPQKXZ8wByepSzPLOk4fH9q_CpoEi3ROC8ZumBKo5V-GWUN7YQGCADcuXjKHStCrO0C9wSGq6FLSzKYJwQ4-RRSmPfr1ota34QO_toM1DD-rO8S5vr-GGqy2mCcrWkd8pLvkLdgoZM2HUMpzbeFvrClL7Oa5FR/s320/vanbrocklin16paninintcollegiateblackback.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I'm writing this a full eleven days before the actual game, so it's possible that someone mentioned above will have a change of heart and won't be at the game. Or, you know, a giant hole could form in the earth and devour us all.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> Well, Liberty isn't going anywhere, but Kennesaw State will be joining C-USA next year with Delware joining a little further down the road.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week:</b> Oregon landed at #8 in the final rankings. Next year, there will be 12 playoff teams.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch:</b> Nix finished a very respectable third place in the Heisman voting, with Jayden Daniels taking home the top honors.</li><li>Game time is 10:00 AM PST on ESPN in Glendale. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-54489202509023466352023-12-28T15:48:00.000-08:002024-01-16T10:50:07.491-08:00Mayo Contest Winner and a Reminder<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0MjHPILKRueG0-QqTnspajQ8WUVQCx0KUc0IiJ5PDo1v52yxSh7vyv_JPgDWYdJnfaOlmvJ4N20hosZeN-7sZHFCfFj1ovPUP6iEmcSfTViPCSyU4NOhmY9aLcpkqjTmKd9GyaKZoAuLjaUt7JHGLL5lan7huN9ON9cxoB3HjtX1DpCS9-ylJrpCQeib/s599/IMG_8211.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC0MjHPILKRueG0-QqTnspajQ8WUVQCx0KUc0IiJ5PDo1v52yxSh7vyv_JPgDWYdJnfaOlmvJ4N20hosZeN-7sZHFCfFj1ovPUP6iEmcSfTViPCSyU4NOhmY9aLcpkqjTmKd9GyaKZoAuLjaUt7JHGLL5lan7huN9ON9cxoB3HjtX1DpCS9-ylJrpCQeib/s320/IMG_8211.jpeg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Congrats to The Lost Collector, who had the closest guess in this year’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl. WVU handily defeated UNC by a 30-10 score. The Lost Collector will win a new chunky pack of baseball cards to be sent sometime in the new year.</p><p>If you’re part of the big contest, don’t forget to make any last minute picks you may have left until the end. And make sure to come back after the big games on Monday night to make or adjust your championship predictions before the big big game.</p>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-82855436855111197312023-12-19T12:34:00.000-08:002023-12-19T15:04:14.009-08:00Too Many Sports<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4pbGTTM9VYJe40XPW3VcE_zSVLhyHG5UR4Hq6Qt_5jHJI0fug5z2l7fjxQ-s7bwvB6U4pJ_-gKvICgLLeqLcFBo0EKF_sHbAqSwx15p4m3S7wxa-80pTV59QNv6fZ5Wogt8_NOT4GGEhqxmFuehDRGZsHr0TxSk_zZ4uHaOEm3EPV7t_6diZNZAjQHLy5/s702/dat14paninirsgoldauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4pbGTTM9VYJe40XPW3VcE_zSVLhyHG5UR4Hq6Qt_5jHJI0fug5z2l7fjxQ-s7bwvB6U4pJ_-gKvICgLLeqLcFBo0EKF_sHbAqSwx15p4m3S7wxa-80pTV59QNv6fZ5Wogt8_NOT4GGEhqxmFuehDRGZsHr0TxSk_zZ4uHaOEm3EPV7t_6diZNZAjQHLy5/s320/dat14paninirsgoldauto.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Trying to avoid the end of year sports fatigue. New cards like these will help. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">A couple of blog announcements before I get into the good stuff from <a href="https://toomanycg.blogspot.com/">Too Many Verlanders</a>: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If you missed out on the big college bowl contest this year, don't worry. There's still plenty of time to pick a winner of the dumb greasy white condiment bowl game. All you have to do is <a href="https://cardsoncards.blogspot.com/2023/12/contest-time-college-bowl-pick-em-14.html">leave a comment on the original post with your predicted score</a>. Even if you did enter the big contest, you can drop a guess there as well. Winner gets some sort of new pack next year.</li><li>I am no longer active on Twitter for reasons that should be fairly obvious by now. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/cardsoncards.bsky.social">I am on Bluesky</a>, however. Let me know if you need an invite. I don't post tons and tons of content, but you will get a link to any new blog posts as soon as they drop (or as soon as dlvr.it decides to post them.)</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhN4GC_Rw2tW6jC1mklopIDlYqtBDn4gIEVLRofihczn3mN6pfRbpsgJ8d4AG2jsYDVlZT_0hA_fFDbKVJVCjJj8rQSfQc4qlHE2-97whyuTeviUyFy2kYXIabod6cR3xwRShiNEagnIdUiOc2iv-WGuDpKkS5zFG9C17u1GAHr6ph4nGJMidIUc7eiq0/s705/thunt07toppstxbronze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjhN4GC_Rw2tW6jC1mklopIDlYqtBDn4gIEVLRofihczn3mN6pfRbpsgJ8d4AG2jsYDVlZT_0hA_fFDbKVJVCjJj8rQSfQc4qlHE2-97whyuTeviUyFy2kYXIabod6cR3xwRShiNEagnIdUiOc2iv-WGuDpKkS5zFG9C17u1GAHr6ph4nGJMidIUc7eiq0/s320/thunt07toppstxbronze.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, where was I? Oh, yes. Sports. I am suffering from quite a bit of sports fatigue right now. The Eagles seem to be hell bent on pissing away their season. The Ducks made quite a run towards a potential playoff berth but couldn't figure out how to beat Washington... twice. The Blazers are probably going to end up tanking for the third season in a row with an awful head coach. (I can handle a bad Blazers team, but they've never been less fun to watch than under Chauncey Billups.) The Timbers just finished up their second straight playoff-less season in a league where it's increasingly difficult to miss said playoffs. The Cardinals finished the past season with their worst record since 1995, a year where I am quite certain I watched zero baseball games.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTPpSWFdaRjWiZ5kv2qzDAct6u3QAjgKnpC-SqZxQ_PYshFLxMVo35Fe7KDL4755om-b0eRa5Oozi2YBaBhO-ndVzDM-nQADokTGZa67zDsiz48XA7Jsp4vhMFhTT6qZaJCGlX_GAnf3usHN-teYSG93-2FzrXRPjgAvTG2b-2L-eD89ySRMHbE6s6OYr/s709/nallen10paniniepixsilver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTPpSWFdaRjWiZ5kv2qzDAct6u3QAjgKnpC-SqZxQ_PYshFLxMVo35Fe7KDL4755om-b0eRa5Oozi2YBaBhO-ndVzDM-nQADokTGZa67zDsiz48XA7Jsp4vhMFhTT6qZaJCGlX_GAnf3usHN-teYSG93-2FzrXRPjgAvTG2b-2L-eD89ySRMHbE6s6OYr/s320/nallen10paniniepixsilver.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And yet, the cards keep rolling on in from great trade pals like Dennis from Too Many Verlanders. Dennis sent tons of great stuff, including cards of lesser known Eagles players like Nate Allen. He also included a bunch of oversized cards, a baseball pin and other great things I can't even fit into this space here. For the sake of brevity (and my sanity), I just chose the cards that I scanned for the TCDB site to show off here.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfytrfrnAeRfGuMQR7HNjU6atXr8tSD8n0W9qIOPjj-sMhopK7-7kloNXLYibIcnfdY3zPIslptoJOgnDJNGDjxQJQiDKWxM3luxCGvzBVwukJSfoe-VrIgJ_3wRFR21_bP_8xclAxuEH2fuz-oB1f-G0ABEnbZJwh92wWRUKLXsn8k6FA2EY3-qTWzXn2/s702/msanders21paniniprestigextrapointsdiamond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfytrfrnAeRfGuMQR7HNjU6atXr8tSD8n0W9qIOPjj-sMhopK7-7kloNXLYibIcnfdY3zPIslptoJOgnDJNGDjxQJQiDKWxM3luxCGvzBVwukJSfoe-VrIgJ_3wRFR21_bP_8xclAxuEH2fuz-oB1f-G0ABEnbZJwh92wWRUKLXsn8k6FA2EY3-qTWzXn2/s320/msanders21paniniprestigextrapointsdiamond.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Fortunately, no current Eagles were harmed in the making of this blog post. I might have had something really grumpy to say about them if they were. To be fair, Miles Sanders would probably rather still be with this trainwreck of a Philly team than his current 2-win Carolina Panthers.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAz02P87JY9-SAcNEs0thCJKtvzz8cOOH5elQ6OInqfjpCR3Z52Qf6aEf42y80b8sDLUFuvWz0Us0NuQZfkT6AA177dmn9pVmg-FKAod10OuagSC87sXJ6X5HuHnVS0btLq-6LQhnVCVo-CvJyoehCM5cuSc6ZML6Y-ai2IG0fVYYXQtnrmo_s5vJjizWi/s705/mcnabb99tsceotz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAz02P87JY9-SAcNEs0thCJKtvzz8cOOH5elQ6OInqfjpCR3Z52Qf6aEf42y80b8sDLUFuvWz0Us0NuQZfkT6AA177dmn9pVmg-FKAod10OuagSC87sXJ6X5HuHnVS0btLq-6LQhnVCVo-CvJyoehCM5cuSc6ZML6Y-ai2IG0fVYYXQtnrmo_s5vJjizWi/s320/mcnabb99tsceotz.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In happier times, there was Donovan McNabb. I did realize the other day that I've seen the Eagles play in 3 Super Bowls (winning 1, though they really should have won all 3.) That's more title opportunities than some teams I root for.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvth1Kzn3o3JM7K6rUfxvaiBup1q3wSFZqZ_xg9MxU8Qpv8qpzVFNi4Il6BtO1czAQhHsoH6TX5E8zQOGvJbA6eorOPdZ1-XfgKdzoTkaubfneQ6ltAIad51EePpblOUo0kXEr9ntDkRo-ma0iiKLBuAdz1aiDkBbcE81JJ9rO3LRWgw-GYyam0fQmZjJ/s704/mbarkley13paninielitenbjersey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvth1Kzn3o3JM7K6rUfxvaiBup1q3wSFZqZ_xg9MxU8Qpv8qpzVFNi4Il6BtO1czAQhHsoH6TX5E8zQOGvJbA6eorOPdZ1-XfgKdzoTkaubfneQ6ltAIad51EePpblOUo0kXEr9ntDkRo-ma0iiKLBuAdz1aiDkBbcE81JJ9rO3LRWgw-GYyam0fQmZjJ/s320/mbarkley13paninielitenbjersey.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I love the "New Breed" font on this Matt Barkley jersey card. So futuristic!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyZknqbdLthlyBAEVip9gilrFicXkTyyUjpNOxXguZ4OB3P9sBcXiGSYoVmk1-3Xw8r1a7cO9R6hCKKkHWg6-riCLgzEPSThE9ySpsTSgu3K3gbuzhNpFK0wy99JQcVxcx7zo4_FZWNjPENi-gV_M3HtXTXdP4jyxNAMopRSAF7q1n8qkcdglZ9BKmHkL/s705/mariota18paninidonrusselitered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyZknqbdLthlyBAEVip9gilrFicXkTyyUjpNOxXguZ4OB3P9sBcXiGSYoVmk1-3Xw8r1a7cO9R6hCKKkHWg6-riCLgzEPSThE9ySpsTSgu3K3gbuzhNpFK0wy99JQcVxcx7zo4_FZWNjPENi-gV_M3HtXTXdP4jyxNAMopRSAF7q1n8qkcdglZ9BKmHkL/s320/mariota18paninidonrusselitered.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There was another version of last night's Eagles/Seahawks game that would have had Marcus Mariota starting in place of an ill Jalen Hurts. (And not ill, like '80s cool.) I wonder what that would have looked like.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii_1pR5z8C1aTdRCErwOkrm_tH22gOAKsoSja3eWL696waeUvFJ9IIzasF-WllLIVZaawPxgeP2B0B-bmLRJzciXAukk8-9knvjDxRw-T5-L1ov5fCkFkbKiT5E7_vgbfdCGXJHjIudRPQBUFCbvLc5CgISMTyIcQwDbDIeouqRquk6-ZlqHq8X4_vK1Lk/s701/holliday08toppsmm125-135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii_1pR5z8C1aTdRCErwOkrm_tH22gOAKsoSja3eWL696waeUvFJ9IIzasF-WllLIVZaawPxgeP2B0B-bmLRJzciXAukk8-9knvjDxRw-T5-L1ov5fCkFkbKiT5E7_vgbfdCGXJHjIudRPQBUFCbvLc5CgISMTyIcQwDbDIeouqRquk6-ZlqHq8X4_vK1Lk/s320/holliday08toppsmm125-135.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hey, it's baseball! Dennis included a few of these Moments & Milestones cards with the package. I'll never have them all, but it's fun to accumulate them.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqk1Qt5YLAHc2v0LMzwS80VTUVPFKR75S7T1jWTgivwQXv7MZuVpBdOcFPJ9ZwhAbo4iev02IgS9vLfs0C2gWwvGGfJ1OTCajRRj3y8nffmPXVMZp4N1s75iR2mqIRSN3RnNpDfMvkicmg2ZIPKsdFDM3XQsKwfGQTLP2idUCvH_DX0De7heH3tO-_zalk/s701/djordan13paninicertified.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqk1Qt5YLAHc2v0LMzwS80VTUVPFKR75S7T1jWTgivwQXv7MZuVpBdOcFPJ9ZwhAbo4iev02IgS9vLfs0C2gWwvGGfJ1OTCajRRj3y8nffmPXVMZp4N1s75iR2mqIRSN3RnNpDfMvkicmg2ZIPKsdFDM3XQsKwfGQTLP2idUCvH_DX0De7heH3tO-_zalk/s320/djordan13paninicertified.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">At some point I may invest in a new scanner. I've had my current one since early 2009 when it was purchased at a Circuit City (!) closing sale. And it still works just as well as it did on day one, but part of me always wants to see if I can solve the "foilboard looks terrible when scanned" conundrum. (It does also tend to wash out certain colors like red, but there's probably a setting or two I could tweak there.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyCm0vc2mqMHiFYEqI9kqiUNVITE8UeDlCU6zX6mlU2OAgmB4IzXjO3AjRe_F97_IWaYCeyPX3ZL8e2YzjbfOfVyoOpZft-5amSmOI6f_uUVZULuwZDSZqIHX58QmXE6JA6JEOBT2TysGLNUxNcbjeif7koXyHe1qhk9d0cjbH1FVgq_lSPaDrJzwSQl_/s710/cthorson19paninixrred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyCm0vc2mqMHiFYEqI9kqiUNVITE8UeDlCU6zX6mlU2OAgmB4IzXjO3AjRe_F97_IWaYCeyPX3ZL8e2YzjbfOfVyoOpZft-5amSmOI6f_uUVZULuwZDSZqIHX58QmXE6JA6JEOBT2TysGLNUxNcbjeif7koXyHe1qhk9d0cjbH1FVgq_lSPaDrJzwSQl_/s320/cthorson19paninixrred.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Clayton Whoson? Apparently he quarterbacked Northwestern, a bit of trivia I would have maybe known if the Oregon Ducks had joined the Big Ten sooner. Erin asked me the other day who all was in the Big 10 now, and I got through maybe half the list before I gave up. I might be able to recite that list from memory by this time next year, but I'm not going to guarantee it.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2dV9UtDBee8IwG7-WLf3s-FpSWWz64Hmr3TS3l15G2nrkY5H1OAxw3RR8PsqvJLylFEc1gUJD6K8IZtWuxOV2uzbFPFoPw69IA2fCA1KzZJMNW9IUNU8Z8zYr9lrdr36hzaWIigocvVgNUSGZCftSuUsg-EJsvQXFRF4fyx4CxsDLG9eUMzSaDomuHSc/s713/carp08toppsmm111-8black.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2dV9UtDBee8IwG7-WLf3s-FpSWWz64Hmr3TS3l15G2nrkY5H1OAxw3RR8PsqvJLylFEc1gUJD6K8IZtWuxOV2uzbFPFoPw69IA2fCA1KzZJMNW9IUNU8Z8zYr9lrdr36hzaWIigocvVgNUSGZCftSuUsg-EJsvQXFRF4fyx4CxsDLG9eUMzSaDomuHSc/s320/carp08toppsmm111-8black.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's another of those Moments & Milestones parallel-o-rama cards. This is a rarer black version that is numbered to just 25.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSePS4blmT2OaPAZ8qmHE1UNwT9gSUHv-l1xv4CwPeLrarfKoIi-egiwP4J4RLIY4PP_IkAgGYwv_eVzqDyY0NmZnYIXKgI1g0ZAy94BzQZ34xbX6OzBkPLrhNbCOuquucuD2-ubU2IZDPudJ5M-1G9Df8HFziGvbG0k5saNk9uwYzRTb6Rg-Z-tEvfWAi/s695/asmith99toppsstarsnd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSePS4blmT2OaPAZ8qmHE1UNwT9gSUHv-l1xv4CwPeLrarfKoIi-egiwP4J4RLIY4PP_IkAgGYwv_eVzqDyY0NmZnYIXKgI1g0ZAy94BzQZ34xbX6OzBkPLrhNbCOuquucuD2-ubU2IZDPudJ5M-1G9Df8HFziGvbG0k5saNk9uwYzRTb6Rg-Z-tEvfWAi/s320/asmith99toppsstarsnd.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We end things here with Akili Smith, whose son (Akili Smith Jr.) is an Oregon QB recruit for 2025. Of course, with the transfer portal madness, he'll potentially follow in the footsteps of Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma transfer for 2024) and Dante Moore (UCLA transfer). Or maybe not? Sometimes these dudes just up and leave.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks again to everyone who has sent me cards this year! I'll try to be less grumpy next time.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-63406442115193538742023-12-15T10:54:00.000-08:002023-12-15T10:54:35.541-08:00Contest Reminder and District Update!<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dPO55KhyphenhyphenRGfBbBBqMDYxFGPDeAbsp1n-5kErnE8vrd2O1c_b7sKWO87ZLeY_LuJRIe913qH9k_eNeg15YJKdcDGfUoRnZp9AIhtWIaM8dQjjdOnPgHLiWcVv3YHRahzaex2oJsvTbBOIYFR5zSpd67PRVU8N7vQHEyAb7bM1U2CrZXY2VZceQCnfzsHw/s1024/_88c2c711-6cdb-4a0a-a892-6a2f04cd6f00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dPO55KhyphenhyphenRGfBbBBqMDYxFGPDeAbsp1n-5kErnE8vrd2O1c_b7sKWO87ZLeY_LuJRIe913qH9k_eNeg15YJKdcDGfUoRnZp9AIhtWIaM8dQjjdOnPgHLiWcVv3YHRahzaex2oJsvTbBOIYFR5zSpd67PRVU8N7vQHEyAb7bM1U2CrZXY2VZceQCnfzsHw/w400-h400/_88c2c711-6cdb-4a0a-a892-6a2f04cd6f00.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">There's less than 24 hours left to sign up! </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Don't forget to sign up for <a href="https://cardsoncards.blogspot.com/2023/12/contest-time-college-bowl-pick-em-14.html">the big 14th annual bowl game contest thing</a>! The first game kicks off tomorrow morning, so if you have already signed up, make sure you start getting your picks in.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVOqhLmZUc4wyEHwHEIUVNi0Im9EJSZuWm3tBatbyJ2kL9V6SaXygPp1bIMQnrmc7R5IRBTnkZ9Nyfks2S1gaZMJBIqe7vNOMBFZdr9QuW7_HdLwxadbw8yGMmYFv53DdE-19HRTdT6q78R0etbgUzKAi9lfJyxnnUcpZ80iwEyV9_acgQFXDPPV4Ty1H/s1024/_04e22e09-a18f-4b18-954a-b96bb4e5c661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVOqhLmZUc4wyEHwHEIUVNi0Im9EJSZuWm3tBatbyJ2kL9V6SaXygPp1bIMQnrmc7R5IRBTnkZ9Nyfks2S1gaZMJBIqe7vNOMBFZdr9QuW7_HdLwxadbw8yGMmYFv53DdE-19HRTdT6q78R0etbgUzKAi9lfJyxnnUcpZ80iwEyV9_acgQFXDPPV4Ty1H/w400-h400/_04e22e09-a18f-4b18-954a-b96bb4e5c661.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">While we're doing reminders, here's another one: there are cards for sale up at District that might be calling your name. And there's now a code that can get you $10 off your first purchase of $10 or more - just enter <b>CARDS24 </b>at checkout. I just added a handful of cards to the site in the past couple of days, but the code should work for the whole marketplace. <a href="https://cardsoncards.blogspot.com/2023/09/cards-for-sale.html">More details here</a>.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-69296054480589297522023-12-12T11:32:00.000-08:002023-12-12T11:32:09.127-08:00Affordable is the Right Price<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW80rqyxh_ygN2-60MhIkR4-Yy3KWl1jgmScq5swWdNxPxvMV7g7f6b4j8zJjFVcl3COO-w_2WTd1oa8hen9353PJQprw0ABLIbY4slcO0IAq3wayQplptmBS_Mwevz5Vuow92h7yUleP2tM_3VKs7u7WE_U_eUa4lcodBaIZXfWRiLD0y_XRYwmgfqpWN/s693/mwinn23toppspdchr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW80rqyxh_ygN2-60MhIkR4-Yy3KWl1jgmScq5swWdNxPxvMV7g7f6b4j8zJjFVcl3COO-w_2WTd1oa8hen9353PJQprw0ABLIbY4slcO0IAq3wayQplptmBS_Mwevz5Vuow92h7yUleP2tM_3VKs7u7WE_U_eUa4lcodBaIZXfWRiLD0y_XRYwmgfqpWN/s320/mwinn23toppspdchr.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">It's another batch of group break cards. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">We're inching closer to the end of the year, which also means the end of the baseball card year. It's been a weird baseball card year. Let's catch up with some Cardinals (and Eagles) cards from some 2023 releases thanks to another batch of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/affordablegroupbreaks">Affordable Group Breaks</a> from <a href="https://cardboardcollections.blogspot.com/">Cardboard Collections</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLt8_L-cjZ3yGLwduJ_iremaVmzQHR12d6LJWGKxW_8zdvimA38UniyvsS1tjAqHvR64qCAtGnAOmLctj3LjwoUx6O5QYe5zyKxaUPWsj_EAq1p9X_OSXRJA3V2aa0WaNqm1-KlFUVpUMMEq8PL9sOjRoNt_D4mNVYyFgwdv-fS-gNewLkjYWfSkki8qu1/s706/ngorman23toppsrd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLt8_L-cjZ3yGLwduJ_iremaVmzQHR12d6LJWGKxW_8zdvimA38UniyvsS1tjAqHvR64qCAtGnAOmLctj3LjwoUx6O5QYe5zyKxaUPWsj_EAq1p9X_OSXRJA3V2aa0WaNqm1-KlFUVpUMMEq8PL9sOjRoNt_D4mNVYyFgwdv-fS-gNewLkjYWfSkki8qu1/s320/ngorman23toppsrd.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was very delayed on getting my hands on any Topps Update cards this year, but for good reason. There's only five Cardinals cards in the entire 330 card base checklist, so I wasn't really in any hurry to start buying boxes of the stuff. This Nolan Gorman Rookie Debut card means that I'm 80% done with the tiny team set.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdNsRtebCagGx9fnZWO70qnpaPUw7a24i-YWi5S2WY1c0Sz1b2c12NDR9khsqqe_kJwTIb3ctqYHjqXqNekfAYEajzGIR7mKKWwFqK1Z_EJqKz23eNMbjDz4GPuPAQNzH7fszzpfOG_5_0nLcwMDfmUbj-tu56gZpyJaoTsaKkUP-5aAAUTuVE87BY2TR/s711/jwalker23topps1988chr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdNsRtebCagGx9fnZWO70qnpaPUw7a24i-YWi5S2WY1c0Sz1b2c12NDR9khsqqe_kJwTIb3ctqYHjqXqNekfAYEajzGIR7mKKWwFqK1Z_EJqKz23eNMbjDz4GPuPAQNzH7fszzpfOG_5_0nLcwMDfmUbj-tu56gZpyJaoTsaKkUP-5aAAUTuVE87BY2TR/s320/jwalker23topps1988chr.jpg" width="225" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fortunately, while the base Cardinals cards might be lacking, I did snag a pair of the 1988 style Chrome inserts.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRFe2FoZipc7guwkoKgGyia7uBLCBOjjIYBAh7ZCzXcoERD5ANw9I039yqtQsQPlKB6qGEox-pHgkfxErYAV2uxoewqZNGg_WNAOeQSPkwjH2XAS0vqZxgGIOb9o5zsRqE3fVsrfU6MpHXG9OlQg74_raym9SzQDu8PAI7Y1EHmxgi8CLMx17Ij4QVZla/s702/wainwright23toppschr88silverpack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRFe2FoZipc7guwkoKgGyia7uBLCBOjjIYBAh7ZCzXcoERD5ANw9I039yqtQsQPlKB6qGEox-pHgkfxErYAV2uxoewqZNGg_WNAOeQSPkwjH2XAS0vqZxgGIOb9o5zsRqE3fVsrfU6MpHXG9OlQg74_raym9SzQDu8PAI7Y1EHmxgi8CLMx17Ij4QVZla/s320/wainwright23toppschr88silverpack.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really hoping Adam Wainwright gets a final card into the 2014 Topps set. It would be extra nice if he got card #50, but I'll take anything at all.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJueMgA0aGR6jd6SCrpAxRvNJPQmRSG1d3OAbqpJfJiBzLDaoyLn4Ue6hLa55-t2ZuSopw_nSWfvjt3emzi46SF8ttEiNZQpNqPod31x-PPB9mwJSled67YGm_jV1btLKH0gM1ifoZd93QXAs24KV4-P2PjjQokmjmACXGU6mTEpxesZWndijYWHWZFtM/s1000/2cardinals23toppsag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1000" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJueMgA0aGR6jd6SCrpAxRvNJPQmRSG1d3OAbqpJfJiBzLDaoyLn4Ue6hLa55-t2ZuSopw_nSWfvjt3emzi46SF8ttEiNZQpNqPod31x-PPB9mwJSled67YGm_jV1btLKH0gM1ifoZd93QXAs24KV4-P2PjjQokmjmACXGU6mTEpxesZWndijYWHWZFtM/w400-h279/2cardinals23toppsag.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I added a few more 2023 Allen & Ginter cards to my team collection here as well. I wish I liked these more, but I'm glad I decided not to collect the set.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNc4gF8fX-aG3LXKrgBL70A6dp_fkl7YSFe5WhFZun4nFp-HyqQMa7XY3KHGX-xqaMgalCmh1oS7e5fuFZAHXwICT6RXITsaI7Pqpdat_7bzf0ouOfg75Cd4PyYKuwLKP3EneVnOCqrHbcIIfzrizCqbrYg_egDh88rHMRnOzTQvGmn2herD-X0IVcR24m/s678/edman23toppsagmini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNc4gF8fX-aG3LXKrgBL70A6dp_fkl7YSFe5WhFZun4nFp-HyqQMa7XY3KHGX-xqaMgalCmh1oS7e5fuFZAHXwICT6RXITsaI7Pqpdat_7bzf0ouOfg75Cd4PyYKuwLKP3EneVnOCqrHbcIIfzrizCqbrYg_egDh88rHMRnOzTQvGmn2herD-X0IVcR24m/s320/edman23toppsagmini.jpg" width="177" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really distracted by the A&G logo in the lower corner of this design. It makes it look like it's a team logo, but it's not your team's logo.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9cllZNvczBCNA04SLLdkVWdTSTCgSBe3FksDyYRrwSKBC6jFVKEE4bX5lotVP3O1JtJfTXzBF3hV6rBTRDYzOnR4rK1X6FhaUSKyeh_OBLl0qbUCu9qebUW9Csegn_Mc5b7NPsTJuzhwUS4cVM5Ll2NGnZcQZBF06uFqJIZoW05oZvLwHmAQAHzXx0xYR/s1000/2cardinals21paninidonrussopticlimegreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1000" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9cllZNvczBCNA04SLLdkVWdTSTCgSBe3FksDyYRrwSKBC6jFVKEE4bX5lotVP3O1JtJfTXzBF3hV6rBTRDYzOnR4rK1X6FhaUSKyeh_OBLl0qbUCu9qebUW9Csegn_Mc5b7NPsTJuzhwUS4cVM5Ll2NGnZcQZBF06uFqJIZoW05oZvLwHmAQAHzXx0xYR/w400-h279/2cardinals21paninidonrussopticlimegreen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A couple of cards from an earlier set managed to sneak in here. These are both lime green parallels from the 2021 Donruss Optic set. Does anyone know what Panini's plan is for baseball cards in 2024? Is there one?</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y-GD4ICUJlk4AjImkpu8atJ8Wp7H5rafWoqY80RT2maUpGWXeh26QyrLEy9Hxai1BeqlNQ9mkwDcU7bhBuU_pabCUE0whM3pjxP4rqbbekbJ88L3gM1urdhibGW2PRgL7CpAzToOdTUvbCfrDJTScj-3qIdJsFlnRhrpdVV54IvXOGL2P0rvXiMWUgQ6/s1500/3cardinals23bowmanplat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1500" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y-GD4ICUJlk4AjImkpu8atJ8Wp7H5rafWoqY80RT2maUpGWXeh26QyrLEy9Hxai1BeqlNQ9mkwDcU7bhBuU_pabCUE0whM3pjxP4rqbbekbJ88L3gM1urdhibGW2PRgL7CpAzToOdTUvbCfrDJTScj-3qIdJsFlnRhrpdVV54IvXOGL2P0rvXiMWUgQ6/w400-h186/3cardinals23bowmanplat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>These are all supposedly base cards from the 2023 Bowman Platinum set. They all look like they could be red parallels to me, but that's not how this set was designed. I think this is still a retail only product, something I never see on the shelves because it's mostly sold through Walmart.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaISDdKmfYV38cancM7g5jUmsJ3HrFukMycnUc6RBKXgCMXjVX-6lHt6Xibpn90xS1X2HL43A0XghJfSdb4liUJ-P6eoY_h-xdz_f2HPuHhd7J6P3we8ZdyBz-dlXpfox7g2bXDqF3gv5yT8kvPhMIx5r7AWKtGep-FwQUDGdPSyDOe2-z2QptwTuy2Xek/s1396/4cardinals23toppspd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaISDdKmfYV38cancM7g5jUmsJ3HrFukMycnUc6RBKXgCMXjVX-6lHt6Xibpn90xS1X2HL43A0XghJfSdb4liUJ-P6eoY_h-xdz_f2HPuHhd7J6P3we8ZdyBz-dlXpfox7g2bXDqF3gv5yT8kvPhMIx5r7AWKtGep-FwQUDGdPSyDOe2-z2QptwTuy2Xek/w286-h400/4cardinals23toppspd.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Topps Pro Debut always seems to be a blink-and-you'll-miss-it release, probably more known for its autographs of prospects than most people's desire to collect minor league cards. I happen to like minor league cards, however, and wish that there were more of them.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2KZrvxk1tgyxI4hYAxuXP-3MbCF2yqe75kbSrSURv2PS8Clg5q2Sb-P9kdTmnVy4sPr_beIIMt39Y05hyphenhyphenHnyLrqWg_93tnv6JfGA5tk062BuGidLBTaSC5QW4pVm83ODPeSj04YsKaKwnKnQUTTpFkpmtSHwOlldEBEOOH6uzHBgJe1wAmadHuj1YE2bv/s1397/4eagles23paniniscore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1397" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2KZrvxk1tgyxI4hYAxuXP-3MbCF2yqe75kbSrSURv2PS8Clg5q2Sb-P9kdTmnVy4sPr_beIIMt39Y05hyphenhyphenHnyLrqWg_93tnv6JfGA5tk062BuGidLBTaSC5QW4pVm83ODPeSj04YsKaKwnKnQUTTpFkpmtSHwOlldEBEOOH6uzHBgJe1wAmadHuj1YE2bv/w286-h400/4eagles23paniniscore.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I promised some Eagles in this post, and here we are. Two of these guys (Smith and Brown) form one of the deadliest receiver tandems in the NFL. The other two are a former star QB (McNabb) and a rookie I've never heard of. I'm hoping this current Eagles team can get it together soon after suffering a couple of humiliating defeats in consecutive weeks.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-50647986186334127452023-12-08T11:55:00.000-08:002023-12-08T11:55:22.195-08:00Contest Time! College Bowl Pick 'Em #14<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0_VZB_gtxDjdSIhK6VjnS2stPhX89hjzqcHVaKoB5AMLXM_zFXBRmje2uI8gB-zeHKCtndOY31v0AiwecdhS9zX4UFGldoBek9firrxBPn2hRe-yMAO4RitexSLyEBJEMlvVENF3GfqDaHsb_9_9J0JAdFLEeSOvHn_nABqwRn0l-PoRIHZRf-1JDvhw/s2000/ae8003e9-ee11-4f88-9cb3-d2da35606baf.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="2000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0_VZB_gtxDjdSIhK6VjnS2stPhX89hjzqcHVaKoB5AMLXM_zFXBRmje2uI8gB-zeHKCtndOY31v0AiwecdhS9zX4UFGldoBek9firrxBPn2hRe-yMAO4RitexSLyEBJEMlvVENF3GfqDaHsb_9_9J0JAdFLEeSOvHn_nABqwRn0l-PoRIHZRf-1JDvhw/w400-h225/ae8003e9-ee11-4f88-9cb3-d2da35606baf.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Step right up and make your picks for a chance to win some prizes by knowing which college football teams will beat other college football teams. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>It's officially Contest Time here at Cards on Cards once again. This is the 14th year of the College Bowl Pick 'Em contest. Since some of last year's participants did express that they prefer the "confidence system", we're going back to that for the 2023-24 games. If you aren't familiar, this basically means that you'll need to pick the winner of each game and rank each pick in order of how confident you are on said pick. Read on for more details.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our past winners include Adam from Thoughts on Sox (2009-10), Mark from Stats on the Back (2010-11), AJ from The Lost Collector (2011-12), Royal Dan (2012-13), The Prowling Cat (2013-14), Jeff from One Man's Junk (Wax) (2014-15), Matt of Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits (2015-16), MrHaverkamp (2016-17), Anaconda37 (2017-18), Trevor of Bump and Run (2018-19), GLM1 (2019-20), Johnny G (2021-22), and Nachos Grande (2022-23). We've still never had a repeat winner!</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to skip all the blah blah blah and just get to the <b>free stuff</b>, go to the bottom of the post for the sign-up link and make sure you submit picks for every game. There is a separate sub-contest for the non-ESPN people (or whoever!) which should only require a modicum of thought. If you don't have an ESPN account and don't want to give your personal information to Disney, there are burner email options out there (like Proton Mail)... just saying!</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>First place will receive: a <b>2024 Topps Series 1 blaster box</b> OR suitable equivalent (subject to availability)... as well as a small plastic pouch of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc.</li><li>Second place will receive: <b>a mystery unopened sports cards item and a bubble mailer containing cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc</b>. So mysterious!</li><li>Third place will receive: <b>a bubble mailer including cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc</b>. I will also probably toss in a few cards from whatever happens to be lying around on my desk.</li><li>The Worst Place winner will receive: <b>whatever I feel like sending you</b>. This is probably also going to involve whatever happens to be lying around on my desk and hopefully nothing illegal.</li></ul></div><div>Here are some rules you should really read (important stuff in bold):</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>No ghosting!</b> Almost every year, someone fails to claim their prize (the top prize, even). Please email or DM me your contest information after you sign up. You can't assume that I will automatically recognize your contest entry name. [<a href="https://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989">Blogger profile</a> / <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/cardsoncards.bsky.social">Bluesky profile</a>]</li><li><b>Participants must sign up through the official ESPN link.</b></li><li>Promote this contest! This is not an actual requirement for entry, nor does it mean that you'll gain any competitive advantage by posting about this contest. I just want to see a lot of people participate.</li><li>Points are scored according to the Confidence System. This basically means that while you are predicting which team wins which bowl game, you will also be responsible for ranking how confident you are in each pick. The higher you rank those games, the more points you'll get when they win and prove that you're totally right and deserve all the I-told-you-so's in the world. <a href="https://fantasy.espn.com/games/college-football-bowl-mania-2023/howtoplay#CompleteRules">See ESPN for complete details</a>.</li><li><b>You can change your picks at any time, so long as your pick is made before the official start time (usually the TV broadcast time) of each game</b>. This is what ESPN calls a "rolling lock" time.</li><li>Don't be a jerk and lose on purpose just to try and claim a prize. There are many, many of us who are bad enough at picking these without extra help.</li></ul></div><div><b>Click <a href="https://fantasy.espn.com/games/college-football-bowl-mania-2023/group?id=b8a6fa77-efe6-46b6-b302-2a2be15f71c7&joinKey=62ac769b-1689-3529-910e-f683fce9d8e6&joining=true">here</a> to sign up, and click on the 'Join Group' link!</b> It's free! First-timers are always welcome! Password: quackquackquack</div><div><br /></div><div><b>DEADLINE: There's a deadline of Saturday, December 16th at 8:00 AM PST</b>. That's the start time of the first bowl game.</div><div><br /></div><div>But wait... there's more! Available to all entrants as well as non-entrants who don't want to use ESPN, there's a bonus contest:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Leave a comment here predicting the final score and winning team of the DUKE'S MAYO BOWL before the Mayonnaising officially begins (the game is on December 27th) and win a retail pack of new baseball cards.</b> Whoever is closest gets it. Make sure you watch the end of the game because someone will be getting an actual mayonnaise bath!</div></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-80602955757447321722023-12-06T16:17:00.000-08:002023-12-06T16:17:14.481-08:00New Archives<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjKoj9xsgHmOCPbwL_9cw3U_iozkXI_xbTQaQ8AsDNWz9EHLy-Oo6BNPslBTG_K3gvkAW_9X2aa-fGiuJfYPZoiYkWjZTXc-rsfsb-0E9zessrcDhjnL_EuB9KExtotRY0VnhuXCmra4x-WRgX_3BHB-rH9tyibgL8aetcdWpaet3fjBsebiyK_uGjN_g/s708/wainwright23toppsarchives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJjKoj9xsgHmOCPbwL_9cw3U_iozkXI_xbTQaQ8AsDNWz9EHLy-Oo6BNPslBTG_K3gvkAW_9X2aa-fGiuJfYPZoiYkWjZTXc-rsfsb-0E9zessrcDhjnL_EuB9KExtotRY0VnhuXCmra4x-WRgX_3BHB-rH9tyibgL8aetcdWpaet3fjBsebiyK_uGjN_g/s320/wainwright23toppsarchives.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Temporarily jumping back into the group break fold with some Topps Archives. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Traditionally a summer release, the past few years have seen Topps Archives tacked on to the end of the calendar year after the baseball season is already well past complete. This year's version features the usual dip into the past design templates. I picked up an Archives group break slot from Crackin' Wax over at <a href="https://district.net/crackinwax">District</a>. (FYI, you can use the code CARDS24 for your first purchase from the Crackin' Wax marketplace at District for $5 off anything priced at $10 or more. Nice, huh?)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_Qm18KshwAg_lDXkbusIBc7vR-TDoZu3BpbOr8k8Wd-3NHlj2sy6-pLPURBHlp5n3v5IOjLaTnWhbs1r6I4SwYsDvncmiK9wZoK0KqcnMnVehZbu5DHJHVDeemUgvm2cwtRFEJxOILDeX70wZQ2CSWY2Ah3H0unLRPXUde69v9gBxSdLEL5x97NSq-5M/s703/ozzie23toppsarchives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_Qm18KshwAg_lDXkbusIBc7vR-TDoZu3BpbOr8k8Wd-3NHlj2sy6-pLPURBHlp5n3v5IOjLaTnWhbs1r6I4SwYsDvncmiK9wZoK0KqcnMnVehZbu5DHJHVDeemUgvm2cwtRFEJxOILDeX70wZQ2CSWY2Ah3H0unLRPXUde69v9gBxSdLEL5x97NSq-5M/s320/ozzie23toppsarchives.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 2003 Topps design is one of the few that hasn't been completely done to death (looking at you, 1987) and so the burnout hasn't set in. In fact, the original set is such a favorite of mine that I built the flagship set from scratch (and am only two cards away from completing the Rookie/Traded set.)</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtM78jGjf5EVWJ9P3l3YPifcMQ87IBoDIQp9bJ8rOzZBP2Z6klsLasSdn6ybQ5BMXFa2SPTbd93J-_9H8SUof1gsqOYad5Yd0g17YJ-6RHW84K0BMLXKfwF-6-10yU3tozxnNsg0U3irSKuekSC174tBESWfndUb1-KTzWokilAkXaCDQgu8i3_PyG3VW/s702/goldschmidt23toppsarchives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtM78jGjf5EVWJ9P3l3YPifcMQ87IBoDIQp9bJ8rOzZBP2Z6klsLasSdn6ybQ5BMXFa2SPTbd93J-_9H8SUof1gsqOYad5Yd0g17YJ-6RHW84K0BMLXKfwF-6-10yU3tozxnNsg0U3irSKuekSC174tBESWfndUb1-KTzWokilAkXaCDQgu8i3_PyG3VW/s320/goldschmidt23toppsarchives.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The 2003-style cards actually feel a bit cheaper/flimsier than the real thing, which is odd because that set pretty much used the same card stock and gloss that today's flagship sets use. Of course, these have a matte finish to them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpGubIXJ0j0HQFw9t1_f_T7ahbQneC-E3AnsJKKLMJ9UYuTUiGxtyMINojq_G60P82U6rNBHpu_b_kz3CjFGjZwe3yJYp8USh_anZe_hlPBKEnEr2SCbQg0cE-hj2SFz8L2a0PgwZ368mZziTvzo4Rifp-Ph0f8a66w6l9JtVEIz3fNp73PghdcVglEiP/s697/iherrera23toppsarchives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="697" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpGubIXJ0j0HQFw9t1_f_T7ahbQneC-E3AnsJKKLMJ9UYuTUiGxtyMINojq_G60P82U6rNBHpu_b_kz3CjFGjZwe3yJYp8USh_anZe_hlPBKEnEr2SCbQg0cE-hj2SFz8L2a0PgwZ368mZziTvzo4Rifp-Ph0f8a66w6l9JtVEIz3fNp73PghdcVglEiP/s320/iherrera23toppsarchives.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The 1956 set is another of the three main design inspirations. When people complain (okay, that includes me) when one of these things doesn't quite look like the original, I have to keep reminding myself that they're supposed to be "inspired by" the original set. They don't have to look exactly the same.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcghNi5aLmfd03aNV7VTuK_BxJYhxfjaZ0OEJ2C_Y0-8GKQfwG6WLFbKvI1cZRTTnUrYrMOITX0ab74rsXe4u6SpZ-7QiJzDd59qXs4z2gUvAZaSpu9ExNZzbJOJAM9g3Cq1Bhhbyt8rWTYpd2N8sQ8xCGY6QMuy2bQq6DVacurAqWchZD3R0zvbMjWP_v/s694/hornsby23toppsarchives57hs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcghNi5aLmfd03aNV7VTuK_BxJYhxfjaZ0OEJ2C_Y0-8GKQfwG6WLFbKvI1cZRTTnUrYrMOITX0ab74rsXe4u6SpZ-7QiJzDd59qXs4z2gUvAZaSpu9ExNZzbJOJAM9g3Cq1Bhhbyt8rWTYpd2N8sQ8xCGY6QMuy2bQq6DVacurAqWchZD3R0zvbMjWP_v/s320/hornsby23toppsarchives57hs.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This Rogers Hornsby insert is inspired by (there, I said it) the 1957 Topps Hit Stars set, which featured various big time stars of film and stage of the day. It's pretty cool, although I think this is a colorized version of the most overused photo of Hornsby in existence...</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiws0sKN9d7VABaz6hAw5SuJsAQZX4jH4dYp6vZPakukn5OHfbFLVkxgh-zlpkwvBrFeO-MZOnjHPIRjegSAYTzEsPh1R3xamX3lZcT6M75QyuY9zchW-LkBR_IwjLuLe2Qvt2N-eWQSqNrba136IojudA_1gCIXij3wqVzWwQCTM2fVamwHZ8nIzwkZLiv/s695/hornsby23toppsarchives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiws0sKN9d7VABaz6hAw5SuJsAQZX4jH4dYp6vZPakukn5OHfbFLVkxgh-zlpkwvBrFeO-MZOnjHPIRjegSAYTzEsPh1R3xamX3lZcT6M75QyuY9zchW-LkBR_IwjLuLe2Qvt2N-eWQSqNrba136IojudA_1gCIXij3wqVzWwQCTM2fVamwHZ8nIzwkZLiv/s320/hornsby23toppsarchives.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>... which makes it all the more disappointing that the same photo is featured on Hornsby's base card, on the 1965 Topps design that makes up the remaining third of the set. I realize that there's a finite amount of decent photographs of old retired legends of yesteryear, but c'mon Topps: please try a little harder.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y6BoZDKwuW7ov80p-n3N5lSy8lofncHMEngaEBibj2yFMiKMRomrBGVQRNzmt__pk8b_pHUjHe-rlOm6d2-VLA96YDLhyphenhyphens6OwukWwtTjRG_lNybI8aMJUipFyWITduSEszB0ooTJSnPkKW1ENDZKtE-EhFDTuzPhp_i-EXjSmL-LDHnRwNI-Ym4zJxNx/s703/jwalker23toppsarchivesffautogreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y6BoZDKwuW7ov80p-n3N5lSy8lofncHMEngaEBibj2yFMiKMRomrBGVQRNzmt__pk8b_pHUjHe-rlOm6d2-VLA96YDLhyphenhyphens6OwukWwtTjRG_lNybI8aMJUipFyWITduSEszB0ooTJSnPkKW1ENDZKtE-EhFDTuzPhp_i-EXjSmL-LDHnRwNI-Ym4zJxNx/s320/jwalker23toppsarchivesffautogreen.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div>My group break bunch did result in this fantastic on-card auto of Jordan Walker, with a special green border. It's numbered to just 99 copies. Since Archives is typically known for its lower cost Fan Favorites autographs that tend to feature a lot of players that never got the typical superstar treatment, hitting this high-powered rookie was a pretty big surprise.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-89350555397846657702023-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:002023-12-01T13:00:00.145-08:00Good Luck Ducks: Pac-12 Championship Edition<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXJaXYk_9B84RnyD8GXpIWYZCP9SQ5Z3XTFCm1Lk3r7xI3s3b_FV605HjugIwGgGmhHJZk0MRg3Q7-auaOazp8wodVHRaSz7j55EVyqisLh8SebhZQFnx0zcJ3V9OI5VGKAK-y_stzCISdmpm8dxp9FKC-K77RSJAOys9fLNrdoIZ7O3Ehxd_u3lURlwD/s704/cmatthews11sagehitauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXJaXYk_9B84RnyD8GXpIWYZCP9SQ5Z3XTFCm1Lk3r7xI3s3b_FV605HjugIwGgGmhHJZk0MRg3Q7-auaOazp8wodVHRaSz7j55EVyqisLh8SebhZQFnx0zcJ3V9OI5VGKAK-y_stzCISdmpm8dxp9FKC-K77RSJAOys9fLNrdoIZ7O3Ehxd_u3lURlwD/s320/cmatthews11sagehitauto.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Oregon's biggest game in nearly a decade sees them in a rematch with the only team that beat them. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Here it is! After a full season of dominance, aside from a bit of a hiccup against Washington, we've finally arrived at the final Pac-12 Conference Championship game. This rematch wouldn't have even been possible just a couple of years ago, but a decision was made to effectively eliminate the divisions in the conference and just have the top two teams battle it out for the title. (This change, of course, did not save the conference.) Setting aside the fact that the title actually loses a bit of its meaning when it no longer pits the best from one division against the other, this should be a really exciting game!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oregon has been, shall we say, <i>on one</i> since the unfortunate loss to UW. Bo Nix has the offense humming. School records have been falling week after week. Could the Ducks be any more prepared for this one? I don't think so. It would be the ultimate capper to everything this team has accomplished if Oregon could take the final conference title home tonight.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Washington will have something to say about this, of course. In the first game up in Seattle, which feels like a lifetime ago, a lot of what went wrong in the end felt self-inflicted. In the weeks since, none of this poor decision-making has cropped up again, although to be fair the Ducks haven't really been in a close game since.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwqfQOodFmVhISMGx5lemjv4q5xVnJ63X0nhSRrzHTSUn1itQVdxMi2RJ0TCrAJAqFOwF-7oHKFx8jZANNE4X8dmbtZCuqljwWvj4zH1OXPIabIxQFZMML3-tYRJjdhZP7fG8_YCeLjN3lsV-C8-UMhecQSk8zZhFJxGf2TAGaLrA5EG66tAGolXGh7Q4/s712/cmatthews11sagehitautoback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuwqfQOodFmVhISMGx5lemjv4q5xVnJ63X0nhSRrzHTSUn1itQVdxMi2RJ0TCrAJAqFOwF-7oHKFx8jZANNE4X8dmbtZCuqljwWvj4zH1OXPIabIxQFZMML3-tYRJjdhZP7fG8_YCeLjN3lsV-C8-UMhecQSk8zZhFJxGf2TAGaLrA5EG66tAGolXGh7Q4/s320/cmatthews11sagehitautoback.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If we were still operating under the old rules, Washington would be playing 9-3 Arizona tonight. That would still be a fun game, but super frustrating considering where Oregon stands in the overall rankings right now. Hey, the Pac-12 finally got something right!</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> As mentioned previously, Oregon and Washington will meet during in late November every season for the foreseeable future. While tonight's game will close the books on the old conference (and a number of hugely successful college careers), the rivalry and all that goes with it will go on.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week</b>: 5. Oregon still finds themselves outside the top 4, but have a chance to move up if they win tonight. Nothing is certain, however.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: Not only are the conference title and playoff hopes on the line, but this game could decide the Heisman race as well! The primary competition for Nix and Penix is Jayden Daniels, whose season is already complete.</li><li>Game time is 5:00 PST on ABC in Las Vegas. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-89631942031861527802023-11-30T10:32:00.000-08:002023-11-30T10:32:42.713-08:00New Address PWE Round-Up<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekHtfoLlqDDH2axwJ7iz_LFfcOzk3yhsPcr8JWnLAqtyM6q2IZDgZb8U5Y5q4zDvx5KU-I6NpfY2vVPiTqgfh_aoyR-ONYeCwKnQU11lPz_DsfQ099x7NNQaJz0HS9RhuPvLzQGcF6HHu-PIev2_S9CQaKdIHURDEbEFVynt_Wic88P4U0J0snonxB8v/s629/lweaver19toppsminipink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ekHtfoLlqDDH2axwJ7iz_LFfcOzk3yhsPcr8JWnLAqtyM6q2IZDgZb8U5Y5q4zDvx5KU-I6NpfY2vVPiTqgfh_aoyR-ONYeCwKnQU11lPz_DsfQ099x7NNQaJz0HS9RhuPvLzQGcF6HHu-PIev2_S9CQaKdIHURDEbEFVynt_Wic88P4U0J0snonxB8v/s320/lweaver19toppsminipink.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Loads of Cardinals, football players, pink cards and mini cards (and pink mini cards?)</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">If you hadn't heard, I recently moved after being in the same spot for more than seventeen years. It was quite a chore! Thankfully, everything is done now and I had a number of envelopes with cards in them sent to the new place. Let's check out a few of them.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiOmmgGLVXdFEZgdI7I8HouYBJQALCpHs34IxfCYg8CiPLEXXjWaCjqx87-JPRutmEVhwTx42aj-r7bL7g0kdoDVsCkO0kidvHXj8FQ0ItW03X3NpL-RTHH4Q1pU2aOWAdG08GmrZV5ZFUXDusFENgb403PaC9HcIWWeDAxryEe-1S86ndFAgkw0M6JMp/s629/jmartinez19toppsminipink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAiOmmgGLVXdFEZgdI7I8HouYBJQALCpHs34IxfCYg8CiPLEXXjWaCjqx87-JPRutmEVhwTx42aj-r7bL7g0kdoDVsCkO0kidvHXj8FQ0ItW03X3NpL-RTHH4Q1pU2aOWAdG08GmrZV5ZFUXDusFENgb403PaC9HcIWWeDAxryEe-1S86ndFAgkw0M6JMp/s320/jmartinez19toppsminipink.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">First up is a stack of Cardinals cards from <a href="https://cardsasiseethem.blogspot.com/">gcrl / cards as i see them</a>. I'm not sure how he ended up with so many pink parallels from the 2019 Topps Mini set, but I'm certainly glad they were sent my way!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mMz0tdexiVGvN_pD6yyYh3sXVUGP-7svybn6s_njMkvWCUkGNuRkWYIZo7iEQ4gvag4SXZ94a3r9Ap1zUhYMLgLeiZFrA0vIDfho9O3d59Fd_ANkJfabuUURG7G58_391IiQ_allnIPrgroJ_miaVon5tXY6uHWsP7EsXIKKDLSwSy3eutAFD4zUl_34/s984/3cardinals19toppsminipink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="984" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mMz0tdexiVGvN_pD6yyYh3sXVUGP-7svybn6s_njMkvWCUkGNuRkWYIZo7iEQ4gvag4SXZ94a3r9Ap1zUhYMLgLeiZFrA0vIDfho9O3d59Fd_ANkJfabuUURG7G58_391IiQ_allnIPrgroJ_miaVon5tXY6uHWsP7EsXIKKDLSwSy3eutAFD4zUl_34/w400-h183/3cardinals19toppsminipink.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>As you may have noticed, all of these cards are numbered to just 25 copies. I don't believe the print run for the base cards from this online exclusive set was all that high to begin with, but this is still really cool.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcGBBmWuDveAY1gsuyph6Fh0_6xvwYyAeyWpjcAGOOG4A02rB3sFY5W7lnkO7OoaBkEeOPBM3q-e9y6LklEXSEhJNhxbIuHpV7RiFFazwHsQ1ox7iz8WwhrkVl4FE63_i_aCsS8AFSjCeHnwBYwDWqQb96BdCBQ6bIAo2RepIs2-J6-8_L2mqNx62LUPA/s717/jmejia22bowmandraftchrsapphire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcGBBmWuDveAY1gsuyph6Fh0_6xvwYyAeyWpjcAGOOG4A02rB3sFY5W7lnkO7OoaBkEeOPBM3q-e9y6LklEXSEhJNhxbIuHpV7RiFFazwHsQ1ox7iz8WwhrkVl4FE63_i_aCsS8AFSjCeHnwBYwDWqQb96BdCBQ6bIAo2RepIs2-J6-8_L2mqNx62LUPA/s320/jmejia22bowmandraftchrsapphire.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of low print runs, I also found this Sapphire Chrome card inside the envelope. This is a set that I would never join a group break of, let alone buy a box. It's so expensive! That's why I enjoy picking up the odd common Sapphire card every great once in awhile. They're just parallels (or parallels of parallels?) but they at least look nicer than when they just slap a foil logo on the flagship factory set and call it good.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguvzg9Ppr8XBwELgVWZiuWZj5_nkrPr6ga2ONoXgzWvZYyCnJ4kOyThy1CmbccGGlGFELWtg7Rq6Rmaksk3IiSlH1LW7yI4WKoGufxUUzAUvyEwc1ioQ5bhErfGruSk-kCd-5jeLcv6YK6WFV6h9X2UutZQMFQ7vB9ecqVYtoDFDS0hxeDCfEBLnbv2HC/s703/knizner19toppsyellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguvzg9Ppr8XBwELgVWZiuWZj5_nkrPr6ga2ONoXgzWvZYyCnJ4kOyThy1CmbccGGlGFELWtg7Rq6Rmaksk3IiSlH1LW7yI4WKoGufxUUzAUvyEwc1ioQ5bhErfGruSk-kCd-5jeLcv6YK6WFV6h9X2UutZQMFQ7vB9ecqVYtoDFDS0hxeDCfEBLnbv2HC/s320/knizner19toppsyellow.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I think they dropped these Walgreen's exclusive yellow parallels after a time, which is too bad, because the pharmacy closest to me just started regularly stocking cards.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4IWHfLGhVrpZF1j8MOZEJLZwLIAmVz49SxiVDTYs_KEuUBUnmMWXBxOJ7Ksohiox56KAN413rIpHyT00j6W8GvtbFSKyQVdlAIQuye0dvb7fRktg5ukK06M1guKKbsXlegjkD6p13e9m_NBX5BPW6otCi2J68VD88yme-LwqpQhfTUjj2UmBX9wJrQRE/s705/brock23paniniprizmgreenice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin4IWHfLGhVrpZF1j8MOZEJLZwLIAmVz49SxiVDTYs_KEuUBUnmMWXBxOJ7Ksohiox56KAN413rIpHyT00j6W8GvtbFSKyQVdlAIQuye0dvb7fRktg5ukK06M1guKKbsXlegjkD6p13e9m_NBX5BPW6otCi2J68VD88yme-LwqpQhfTUjj2UmBX9wJrQRE/s320/brock23paniniprizmgreenice.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next up was a cool batch of Redbirds from <a href="http://marcbrubaker.com/">Marc Brubaker</a>, another long time trading buddy. I haven't bought any of this year's Panini baseball products since they lost their MLBPA license, so it's always nice to pick up some of those Cardinals through trading channels.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IGorIGfv-KMZ9i54Cgg-3zIMG5x65lRVwFvRKAzqL-rMg2L6JzunSaOq9rdXatbgQJAcKCg0AtFRtM30H7PS7x-wF2Wphdue9hsypNmUhAsT1LLDGwlLulJYtrd9MBb8Em0CmGQdtO_80LkzQT-pc3eiDBRYk7lqHNeSTWVuBi18d7BJC3wG0Dtd04CH/s1398/4cardinals23toppsag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1398" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IGorIGfv-KMZ9i54Cgg-3zIMG5x65lRVwFvRKAzqL-rMg2L6JzunSaOq9rdXatbgQJAcKCg0AtFRtM30H7PS7x-wF2Wphdue9hsypNmUhAsT1LLDGwlLulJYtrd9MBb8Em0CmGQdtO_80LkzQT-pc3eiDBRYk7lqHNeSTWVuBi18d7BJC3wG0Dtd04CH/w286-h400/4cardinals23toppsag.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Speaking of stuff that I'm not buying, it's the new Allen & Ginter set. I finally put my foot down and decided to end my run of trying to put together this set every year. It's not that I don't like the way these cards look. They just don't really look like Allen & Ginter cards anymore, so what drew me to this brand seems to have been totally lost. If you slapped the dreaded GQ logo on these, I'm not sure that most would really notice.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uUWpyrhILQCjuMjK1SUfUQn7LjCwfSAPSC4xvdy-VnC9lK66nqhoP9Avo2KGFginePm7kvaeULDtwxz45HKVukXpsJHECPy9FXLbc2boyRFgeK51UjVkMRb9ssyHEPjq3JiTg4s5cDac5_ak6NS9Nq_OQXcX5cLk8K6n3-4iM4QmTK7KTadY93kzpKL2/s750/2cardinals23toppsagmini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="750" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4uUWpyrhILQCjuMjK1SUfUQn7LjCwfSAPSC4xvdy-VnC9lK66nqhoP9Avo2KGFginePm7kvaeULDtwxz45HKVukXpsJHECPy9FXLbc2boyRFgeK51UjVkMRb9ssyHEPjq3JiTg4s5cDac5_ak6NS9Nq_OQXcX5cLk8K6n3-4iM4QmTK7KTadY93kzpKL2/s320/2cardinals23toppsagmini.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's a couple of really nice minis. Pujols has the A&G logo on the back, and Walker is, obviously, a black parallel. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWYYmGi2MECEIQlqdNYEo5YfHp2wLssEMOE2xwVYXvKpkoFJ0WPSWu4LXSTbRCuL9A3_4N46Ju6kXYnlPgQIbdsJYkipMMsIRMhegSPct_q0n0Fwi-nvmPcIC0jsZ_-zZ5W-xZCnNAgzT2zRf7Pjt9PHjx_3FeMfKQWVJxxnZoxEQBrQF9M305PWm0Ecj/s1000/2cardinals22toppschrpa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1000" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWYYmGi2MECEIQlqdNYEo5YfHp2wLssEMOE2xwVYXvKpkoFJ0WPSWu4LXSTbRCuL9A3_4N46Ju6kXYnlPgQIbdsJYkipMMsIRMhegSPct_q0n0Fwi-nvmPcIC0jsZ_-zZ5W-xZCnNAgzT2zRf7Pjt9PHjx_3FeMfKQWVJxxnZoxEQBrQF9M305PWm0Ecj/w400-h278/2cardinals22toppschrpa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of sets I've been avoiding, well... here's another one. This is another "art" set where they take a photo of a player and add some effects to it to try to make it look hand drawn or something. Instead, it kind of looks like all of the photos are AI-generated. Has anyone played around with Bing's AI image generator to try to make fake baseball cards? I know what I'm doing tonight!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4khwYltletAVzwTYejSs21kUszJImpxIuPYmUJG1dxshx043ApU5jgoB9ehRKmFnLM9zMR3wABf7m04Lfr0QnUnPzJup2ksoMFcHVTMIULRpwj3p0gbIfbnTrSpWdDZGNdrruWWrQqAl3ijekHWxRS6EjLK-kia2x6zEAtUiBcOn1yDdLfsYDuc62l82y/s705/arenado22toppschrpa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4khwYltletAVzwTYejSs21kUszJImpxIuPYmUJG1dxshx043ApU5jgoB9ehRKmFnLM9zMR3wABf7m04Lfr0QnUnPzJup2ksoMFcHVTMIULRpwj3p0gbIfbnTrSpWdDZGNdrruWWrQqAl3ijekHWxRS6EjLK-kia2x6zEAtUiBcOn1yDdLfsYDuc62l82y/s320/arenado22toppschrpa.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>It's AI Arenado!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0B-Ipq9zUfoUvZEyXEbi_OxQZU-OH3Ob3DD7WxsX3WNTo15LhNt3-JauVgBNB44TflgfUOvxywbHFuCZliH4WRUcdTw8_eM3mg3E7BrvaiCi-SmIjgH0BZPjpV9ZgleTfKr8XGNSD2yB_NPQ4aLMhS2V7kAH8Yoi895SpGh9h05sFUZFuW_ItXDVAG_r/s709/cgonzalez23paninichroniclesdraftblack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0B-Ipq9zUfoUvZEyXEbi_OxQZU-OH3Ob3DD7WxsX3WNTo15LhNt3-JauVgBNB44TflgfUOvxywbHFuCZliH4WRUcdTw8_eM3mg3E7BrvaiCi-SmIjgH0BZPjpV9ZgleTfKr8XGNSD2yB_NPQ4aLMhS2V7kAH8Yoi895SpGh9h05sFUZFuW_ItXDVAG_r/s320/cgonzalez23paninichroniclesdraftblack.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This last group of cards is from the football realm and comes from <a href="https://buckstorecards.blogspot.com/">buckstorecards</a>. I have come to really appreciate these Draft Pick sets that Panini churns out year after year because they feature players in their college uniforms. I think that tends to diminish their overall value, but it makes it really fun to collect for me, especially as I've always been a bit lukewarm on the NFL game. Here Christian Gonzalez is showing off the Ducks eggshell uniform that they break out a couple of times a season.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUu2WGVrF67fCvbfJBJ6Ul9vZ_jdY2wg9u4Dju-xz9Qo4uR_5JkWHPvnkoPxUoonZJy9P0loJlH_MYR1ybffdPJQZLg9dmNRSdEA3giqchAtWWCvMGiAmsm4Tw-F00ajnHbe1JSkui-lcCViqgmW2hjfwNWZ_XiYwylwUCxKmyvFJ06kgH8_9RqSnW8L6Y/s703/cgonzalez23paninichroniclesdraftdonrussoptic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUu2WGVrF67fCvbfJBJ6Ul9vZ_jdY2wg9u4Dju-xz9Qo4uR_5JkWHPvnkoPxUoonZJy9P0loJlH_MYR1ybffdPJQZLg9dmNRSdEA3giqchAtWWCvMGiAmsm4Tw-F00ajnHbe1JSkui-lcCViqgmW2hjfwNWZ_XiYwylwUCxKmyvFJ06kgH8_9RqSnW8L6Y/s320/cgonzalez23paninichroniclesdraftdonrussoptic.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>On this one, Gonzalez is wearing more of a classic green. I do like the all green look and wish we'd see it a little more.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tyrTFT_OBNrQfq-Hy98tLO0GdWrwHbgHNvu5DOXFr7xxKDslhlfZ2nxAf0lhGCXsj-CZGR6AwAZUBu0-_33drvFwu4h4ne9RhNYmlvnDGL_NFFH2iV6hS-sse8ot2puOAQ7IHpKzmS6x-T10Ht2LfOSWO9QR-TA5GtzeHy8Lw4qbn_0szCCXea-Sxjzm/s1000/2cards23udcfl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="1000" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7tyrTFT_OBNrQfq-Hy98tLO0GdWrwHbgHNvu5DOXFr7xxKDslhlfZ2nxAf0lhGCXsj-CZGR6AwAZUBu0-_33drvFwu4h4ne9RhNYmlvnDGL_NFFH2iV6hS-sse8ot2puOAQ7IHpKzmS6x-T10Ht2LfOSWO9QR-TA5GtzeHy8Lw4qbn_0szCCXea-Sxjzm/w400-h278/2cards23udcfl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">These aren't Ducks uniforms, but they are (former) Ducks players! I always love getting CFL cards from across the border, since I tend to never know who is in them. Apparently Upper Deck also does an e-Pack line of CFL cards, which is something that I wish existed for baseball. (Well, maybe.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If you have any spare Dodgers (gcrl), Astros (Bru), or whatever the heck buckstorecards collects (he has diverse interests!), definitely consider dropping them in the mail to these guys.</div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-22521173681810030142023-11-24T12:00:00.000-08:002023-11-24T12:00:00.156-08:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 13: The Last Civil War?<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLgZeqm8WuCp5F1I_oSvfG-O7sATUhJwons8DoYOkQh1S72lMCOaRXPk8oW13mg__uotrOg6vf_lz8kRsXdv6Dw1nvY1DNnTXICizlRhoBjr9mjxfntlZzSF8RxC2ies_ctvNk0FVbwd-tuLlW_W7abG0TlZRhIKkiSysuUAHkL0CaBQnx3EGc_8Uxlhj/s703/djordan13fleerretro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaLgZeqm8WuCp5F1I_oSvfG-O7sATUhJwons8DoYOkQh1S72lMCOaRXPk8oW13mg__uotrOg6vf_lz8kRsXdv6Dw1nvY1DNnTXICizlRhoBjr9mjxfntlZzSF8RxC2ies_ctvNk0FVbwd-tuLlW_W7abG0TlZRhIKkiSysuUAHkL0CaBQnx3EGc_8Uxlhj/s320/djordan13fleerretro.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">It's the Ducks final conference meeting with their Corvallis-based rivals. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">The 127th meeting between Oregon and Oregon State on the football field is their last scheduled game together. When Oregon finally bit the bullet and decided to join the Big Ten after seeing other schools seize their own opportunities, most local fans immediate thoughts were "welp, there goes the Civil War." And it's true: there will be no more last week, Black Friday or late November rivalry games between these two teams no matter what they end up working out in the future. There's persistent talk of Oregon trying to back out of or adjust their contract with Boise State that is supposed to run for the next three seasons in order to get that Beavers game on their non-conference schedule next year (which would happen in mid-September), but they're eventually going to face a long term scheduling issue to try to keep alive a rivalry that now spans multiple conferences.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Tonight's game is particularly notable, because the Ducks have managed to pass all of their tests following the regrettable loss to Washington with flying colors. The Huskies hung on at the end last week in Corvallis to remain undefeated. The possibilities are still there, with Oregon being the consensus pick for "best one loss team in the country" and a potential rematch with UW in the very last Pac-12 Championship game looming. A Ducks win tonight and a Huskies win in their last Pac-12 Apple Cup would set it all up. From there, it would be up to the voters to determine if an Oregon conference championship would be enough to propel them to a coveted top four playoff spot. Thanksgiving is over. There aren't many games left now.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bo Nix was absolutely stunning last week against an overmatched Sun Devils defense. He threw for a school record six (!) touchdowns, all in the first half, before being treated to a lot of second half rest. Troy Franklin broke the school record for most receiving yards in a season, still with games left to play. These Ducks have reportedly been replaying the horror show that was last season's Civil War 4th quarter on loop to prepare for tonight's game. It's something as a fan that I would never want to revisit, but at least this year we know we're in for good clear weather and no obnoxious chainsaw sounds blasting through the PA. I certainly can't complain about the last real Civil War game being played in Eugene.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6g52WlhipG7PuGq7e3vICdNBT52KrKujPP167a4z6Z6BbfpQt1Vn1vcUN4dpht1Ww-_xc8H1DMgZLxKZD4gPY9Tfv18hRMNiEpMA203yzVz2JPfCuQnCejnLCPnQL8f17Gh7dtxlI3fW0cIXh1t6IEGz4TXUxgnievjJtjKio7oayPaeeroAYDwRcFrEO/s703/djordan13fleerretroback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6g52WlhipG7PuGq7e3vICdNBT52KrKujPP167a4z6Z6BbfpQt1Vn1vcUN4dpht1Ww-_xc8H1DMgZLxKZD4gPY9Tfv18hRMNiEpMA203yzVz2JPfCuQnCejnLCPnQL8f17Gh7dtxlI3fW0cIXh1t6IEGz4TXUxgnievjJtjKio7oayPaeeroAYDwRcFrEO/s320/djordan13fleerretroback.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things</b>:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I don't often talk about whatever random Ducks card I feel like attaching to these posts, but this one I just received from <a href="https://buckstorecards.blogspot.com/">buckstorecards</a> strike a particular interest. I do really like sports cards where you can pinpoint exactly what game the photo is from, and this one makes it clear that it's from the 2013 Fiesta Bowl win over Kansas State. That game was notable for being only <a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/2013/01/04/fiesta-bowl-safety">the second ever game with a recorded 1 point conversion safety</a>.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> Well, it still seems that Oregon State is heading nowhere. There's been no indication that either of the last two standing Pac-12 members are wanting to join up with anyone else, with a potential long term plan being to lure members of other (lesser) conferences to head to them. I don't know how this would even work or what their schedules will look like going forward, but I wish them luck. I hate that this breakup is happening.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week</b>: 6. This should be the last week of no significant changes among the top six ranks. Many eyes will be on the Ohio State/Michigan game.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: I mean, 6 touchdown passes in a half while hardly breaking a sweat? What more could you ask for?!</li><li>Game time is 5:30 PDT on FOX in Eugene. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-55876963403820826882023-11-18T09:00:00.000-08:002023-11-18T12:36:51.019-08:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 12: The Fork Realm<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSt-yBVx1IUDMIFBNX4zZuZ4oPjVZhjahhPWho9ztHZQu18YBJ2UsHet-Qwxavjweafv4PxAHjP92Qc92h-H3xl9i3VKSZOsrulLnjpu_wgtnYFFIaSR_nSN-cb4k7TAY6zIbr_txR692GYCz0IiLsPOwKOK4944aYR7V3aDIBR8f5Ulmw3sr52qdeNfkx/s702/mariota16paninicdpstainedglass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSt-yBVx1IUDMIFBNX4zZuZ4oPjVZhjahhPWho9ztHZQu18YBJ2UsHet-Qwxavjweafv4PxAHjP92Qc92h-H3xl9i3VKSZOsrulLnjpu_wgtnYFFIaSR_nSN-cb4k7TAY6zIbr_txR692GYCz0IiLsPOwKOK4944aYR7V3aDIBR8f5Ulmw3sr52qdeNfkx/s320/mariota16paninicdpstainedglass.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Ducks penultimate game of their Pac-12 run sees them facing off against Bo Nix's longtime coach.</span></b> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">There's two games left on the scheduled now for Oregon, and before the big (last) showdown against the increasingly dangerous looking Beavers, it's time to face the 3-win Arizona State Sun Devils. This seems to be innocuous enough, except when you consider that Kenny Dillingham is the head coach down there. Not only was Dillingham the Ducks offensive coordinator last season, but he also served in the same position at Auburn when Bo Nix excelled as a freshman QB and... well... ruined Oregon's season before it could get off the ground.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With the way things have gone so far, I wouldn't expect anything too shocking today, but there is always the "trap game" potential. Dillingham's presence only adds to that potential storyline. With Nix and the Ducks at the top of their game at this point, it would be very surprising, but funny things happen on the road in November.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Scoreboard watchers, be aware! In addition to this game that Oregon totally needs to be focused on, their very close rivals will be in Corvallis to host Washington in one of the biggest conference games of the season. I am no expert, but I think... with some reservation here... that it would be most beneficial to the Ducks playoff hopes if Washington did win this game. The Huskies would retain their undefeated record, and would conceivably play Oregon once again in the Pac-12 conference championship game if everything played out according to plan. A Ducks victory over Washington would potentially elevate their chances at the playoff due in large part to recency bias. Of course, that pesky last Apple Cup is lurking to ruin everything.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU91VZlkn4I9jsVbXWnuN21S9BmScPVTKGRXbTIRiI1AMhGXVkHPVBtXCgvNRQKBVjhtt5R7KsMzbVWZE11B82WDr42rcIQS86EnGLhqOzjbVCH9F6orfTiN_OxEmoxXygoSFXweQax-vY1VCmKyZ8aX76uvwLKOw1Ew3_9thzW7avkhhuBFpYfbFin4Nj/s703/mariota16paninicdpstainedglassback.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU91VZlkn4I9jsVbXWnuN21S9BmScPVTKGRXbTIRiI1AMhGXVkHPVBtXCgvNRQKBVjhtt5R7KsMzbVWZE11B82WDr42rcIQS86EnGLhqOzjbVCH9F6orfTiN_OxEmoxXygoSFXweQax-vY1VCmKyZ8aX76uvwLKOw1Ew3_9thzW7avkhhuBFpYfbFin4Nj/s320/mariota16paninicdpstainedglassback.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Two weeks ago, the Sun Devils lost 55-3 in what <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/asu/2023/11/04/asu-football-falls-to-utah-in-loss-of-historic-proportions/71427577007/">some have considered their worst loss ever</a>. This was sandwiched by two closely fought defensive struggles, including last week's win over UCLA. It will be interesting to see what kind of game they unleash this afternoon.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> The Sun Devils are headed to the Big 12 next season. Fun.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week</b>: 6. No changes this week. There's more than the pressure on winning out, hoping Washington wins out and also beating Washington in the Pac-12 title game. Someone else above them probably has to lose. Maybe two of them.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: Like everything else,<a href="https://www.addictedtoquack.com/2023/11/16/23960223/why-and-why-not-oregons-bo-nix-could-win-the-heisman-trophy-odds-history-michael-penix-jr"> Bo's chances would be highly influenced by a Washington rematch victory</a>.</li><li>Game time is 1:00 PST on FOX in Tempe. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-49515507644032775722023-11-11T14:32:00.002-08:002023-11-11T14:32:33.647-08:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 11: Join 'Em<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9dBPuCELcWRI5QDqbK6SvXR37UDjgU9cI37RkDEYXxQX6Dz630iNkc1eagUOZ82O7PczjzTcRZUvxMTbDEVl9YySEpx_DGwGYyNDhXnxwbzV0_C8UK2YSPDTS29kso113Li96iorynIdQsOZUA7AeCrpxt1Mf2aqmLqWtRzMFnWjerDM23xvzPZjVB-Q/s704/jstewart08playoffprestigeppmjerseyred.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="704" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH9dBPuCELcWRI5QDqbK6SvXR37UDjgU9cI37RkDEYXxQX6Dz630iNkc1eagUOZ82O7PczjzTcRZUvxMTbDEVl9YySEpx_DGwGYyNDhXnxwbzV0_C8UK2YSPDTS29kso113Li96iorynIdQsOZUA7AeCrpxt1Mf2aqmLqWtRzMFnWjerDM23xvzPZjVB-Q/s320/jstewart08playoffprestigeppmjerseyred.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Ducks host another California team in some Pac-12 After Dark action.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Looking back to just mere months ago, I was really salty about tonight's game. USC was among the first to defect from the Pac-12 and had poached both the head coach and starting quarterback from the University of Oklahoma. Fast forward to, well, now and it's pretty easy to just be over it. Oregon will be in the same conference as USC (and UCLA) after all, opting to leave for the Big 10 after this season. It's hard to be mad at that anymore. What's done is done.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Can I muster up some enthusiasm for tonight's game? I definitely can! USC still hasn't managed to reach the heights of the Reggie Bush years despite being treated like college football royalty. A late night game at Autzen Stadium is always fun, but this could be a seriously high scoring one if the weather cooperates and if things go according to script. The Trojans defense has seriously struggled this season, relegating them to being shut out of the conference picture for now unless some upsets happen.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It will be a battle of two highly decorated college QBs, with Caleb Williams facing off against Bo Nix. I can't wait to see what happens!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHXB-yLb1CeIBeU1-WZfJkKIi-sb35aDFiY4FUdYnQGX9Wx160KkIwWMd6ATJW0kkh-h4ZzImimmCSdRkJLU3SWX8A55RpW2vBGYvzq_MCW1xhUjHOlJWvKJHLhQZAvJESyE0A_uy2utQZCE6Oi-nHuNF7JvAidNVGzlDtJiDwH_hBowTJCX607Igbgm3/s699/jstewart08playoffprestigeppmjerseyredback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="699" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAHXB-yLb1CeIBeU1-WZfJkKIi-sb35aDFiY4FUdYnQGX9Wx160KkIwWMd6ATJW0kkh-h4ZzImimmCSdRkJLU3SWX8A55RpW2vBGYvzq_MCW1xhUjHOlJWvKJHLhQZAvJESyE0A_uy2utQZCE6Oi-nHuNF7JvAidNVGzlDtJiDwH_hBowTJCX607Igbgm3/s320/jstewart08playoffprestigeppmjerseyredback.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Apparently <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/11/10/sports/chris-rock-tries-to-convince-caleb-williams-to-join-the-jets/">Chris Rock is heavily recruiting Caleb Williams to join the New York Jets</a>. If you were truly a Jets fan, would you really want to wish that misery on anyone else?</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> The B1G!</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week:</b> 6. Not much changed in the past week, and Oregon did enough to solidify their position for another week by putting up 63 on Cal.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/heisman-trophy-2023-top-candidates-voting-schedule-past-winners-more">Bo is in good shape according to FOX</a>. Caleb Williams, last season's winner -- not so much. It just goes to show you what a team's record will do to its star's Heisman hopes, regardless of how well that player actually plays.</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-57249802848310474462023-11-04T13:16:00.005-07:002023-11-04T13:16:36.242-07:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 10: The Cal of it All<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1A2MgMYDAVTqBi6muCCf4IllMRHWhlkQ95VDCJwKTrl9Dz9BC1xNN7TcNuvIClq-_yWXkmJPt5YL3xRQjUxqxHtOYdEYeY8r2NryZ3DHPdHNiuu6iPOkp7R0wNNwHr1RGgoXBoumcvIas7zTE1sQlzAuyeOJJTHkVuWIarcxxxYtTI38Ip5HobN32aAP/s699/birving22onitjacksonsoregonducks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM1A2MgMYDAVTqBi6muCCf4IllMRHWhlkQ95VDCJwKTrl9Dz9BC1xNN7TcNuvIClq-_yWXkmJPt5YL3xRQjUxqxHtOYdEYeY8r2NryZ3DHPdHNiuu6iPOkp7R0wNNwHr1RGgoXBoumcvIas7zTE1sQlzAuyeOJJTHkVuWIarcxxxYtTI38Ip5HobN32aAP/s320/birving22onitjacksonsoregonducks.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Oregon hosts a familiar foe from NorCal. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Fresh off of a dominating win over Utah, Oregon takes their shiny #6 ranking and solidified position in the new College Football Playoff poll back home to Autzen Stadium to host California. Everyone will be missing the rivalry with Oregon State for years to come, but there are other annual matchups that are being eliminated that sting as well. The Ducks and Bears have a long and interesting history of entanglements, which has only been amplified with the vast number of students that live in northern California but choose to go to school at UO.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On paper, this game isn't expected to be as close or competitive as their usual meetings, but these things have a strange way of playing out on the field sometimes. At last check, the Ducks were favored by more than three scores, but we all know that games aren't played on paper (because that would be boring.) Of course, the Bears haven't actually won in Eugene since 2007 for what it's worth.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Bo Nix will look to be in top form again, although the damp but mild weather could lead to the Quack Attack leaning heavily on the ground game. This is also something that suits this Duck team just fine, with their two-headed attack that features Bucky Irving and Justin James. This tandem reminds me of when Oregon had LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner running wild all over everyone.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAB1IETrjm-JzGSGDTv4ENNDU8r2tMRaWoDPgcmAX1aiPJYci0uiOb58tT6I4gzLXPqXMZOUmM7gFiqIvmlng3Q-VaZCbzZ3ULq1KSn-oQWIqk-OaoLq7QeJ8EXpv_D0vQpbHpSC9KKZdz-hLv0BLg4A0aHiebQflMQdpM6kZIqG-Or7VP_CSbugA8rid/s700/birving22onitjacksonsoregonducksback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAB1IETrjm-JzGSGDTv4ENNDU8r2tMRaWoDPgcmAX1aiPJYci0uiOb58tT6I4gzLXPqXMZOUmM7gFiqIvmlng3Q-VaZCbzZ3ULq1KSn-oQWIqk-OaoLq7QeJ8EXpv_D0vQpbHpSC9KKZdz-hLv0BLg4A0aHiebQflMQdpM6kZIqG-Or7VP_CSbugA8rid/s320/birving22onitjacksonsoregonducksback.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Last week's wild 50-49 loss in Berkeley to USC was delayed by more than seven minutes due to a student protest which had something to do with a former professor. This sounds like a very Cal thing to do.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> The Northern Cal team will be headed to the eastern seaboard for a chunk of their schedule as they are joining the ACC. We'll see how long this stuff lasts.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week:</b> 6. The CFP is finally in action and they felt that Oregon is the best of the one-loss teams. Sounds good to me.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: <a href="https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/38083662/2023-heisman-trophy-candidate-tracker-rankings-stats">He's back in the discussion</a>, it would seem.</li><li>Game time is 2:30 PDT on the Pac-12 Network in Eugene. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-42189711016672722112023-10-28T09:00:00.001-07:002023-10-28T09:00:00.140-07:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 9: Ute Talkin' to Me?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFV8UbTL57R7OsqTcgPn15f0PrhnXyZNcllZIxt98cGHrLlBRuDAHbCBjgvNmeQyvATqWHhba3_bD11QSCXpHd6YporrWD7NBOggiJr0jszZ_EeCQTAuPCJ9xx0RLJ_4s8_MqVsXrpSdMJ_hCHViYAE0cuciUMExlrjh0zuiMDDnx6VxZOXePsgltcmky/s702/jjohnson09sagehitauto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="702" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFV8UbTL57R7OsqTcgPn15f0PrhnXyZNcllZIxt98cGHrLlBRuDAHbCBjgvNmeQyvATqWHhba3_bD11QSCXpHd6YporrWD7NBOggiJr0jszZ_EeCQTAuPCJ9xx0RLJ_4s8_MqVsXrpSdMJ_hCHViYAE0cuciUMExlrjh0zuiMDDnx6VxZOXePsgltcmky/s320/jjohnson09sagehitauto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Your eighth ranked Ducks hit the road again to tackle a familiar ranked foe. </span></b></div><div> </div><div>Oregon bounced back last week from a really tough-to-stomach road loss by winning in relevantly uneventful fashion against the Washington State Cougars, one of the two surviving members of the Pac-12(er 2) Conference. Nearly everyone in the conference is really good this season, which makes the rest of the Ducks schedule quite the minefield. Even the two weaker opponents left to go (Cal, ASU) seem like potential trap games at the very least, and home games against USC (ehhh) and the last ever (?) Civil War meeting with the Beavers are still lurking. And yet, today's game at Utah could be the biggest one.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Utes are eyeing their third straight conference title, a position that Oregon has frequently been in especially since the conference expanded to twelve teams over a decade ago. While the Ducks squeaked out a victory last season, there has to be a little something extra in this meeting as they attempt to take the title for the last time.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite today's game being a road game for Oregon, they are nearly a touchdown favorite over a team ranked just 5 spots below. It goes to show that the polls, especially at this point in the season, are not nearly as big of an indicator as to how a team's overall abilities are perceived as it might seem. The people with the money on the line definitely feel that Oregon is a clear notch above Utah this season on any given Saturday.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6rWgQhtypW9LDcqD46blao6CZdn3Ofa8wPCbyUEZOt_RC5-NZ42QEn7CyICZtaOUnoELWlsKUTAHHnY_8R57Dg66pX4GrsGDxCnjX0a-JYKsYHku_XywzT84rOzzjwwx4qczLUS1Pp-p97zuHkCTs-ZbqfVIdPZq0cttZNoBvbstlRfft23ixIv9Ozjl/s699/jjohnson09sagehitautoback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="699" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6rWgQhtypW9LDcqD46blao6CZdn3Ofa8wPCbyUEZOt_RC5-NZ42QEn7CyICZtaOUnoELWlsKUTAHHnY_8R57Dg66pX4GrsGDxCnjX0a-JYKsYHku_XywzT84rOzzjwwx4qczLUS1Pp-p97zuHkCTs-ZbqfVIdPZq0cttZNoBvbstlRfft23ixIv9Ozjl/s320/jjohnson09sagehitautoback.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things: </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Utah will be without Cam Rising, a Ducks nemesis of the past, under center. Rising was playing with an injured knee and struggled against the Ducks last season, before tearing multiple ligaments in said knee in the Rose Bowl. His status was fairly murky for most of this season until he was recently declared out for the season.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> The Utes are headed to the Big 12 next season, their third conference since 2010, where they will compete with such luminaries as Texas Tech and Central Florida.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week:</b> 8 (AP). We're still a few days away from the first CFP ranking this season, the only thing that actually matters. Is Condoleezza Rice still on the committee?</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch:</b> It doesn't seem like he's in the top 3 or maybe even 5 anymore, but at least no one is calling him "Bo Pix" anymore. It's almost like there's a higher profile dude with an even funnier name in contention.</li><li>Game time is 12:30 PDT on FOX in Salt Lake City. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-30661739613323447462023-10-21T09:00:00.083-07:002023-10-21T09:00:00.155-07:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 8: Picking Up the Pieces<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Z5p7fOpKg7q9Hm0JOyES4eq7k_WVMhp2eWml4C1t9z7Ut-ycARi-Va66hxCkqZUJCBVEvFsdcx6q2ihHcFrrGuIvM9VJf_XMSedHT5Pm57fYL_EqRVm7QA0NnwPfbY6MU3lvchGhvty6AyXixF9U7dc52CnUldUgozlGgovnPSy8hI9PoQrwwaqhMu-q/s705/tday06donrusselite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Z5p7fOpKg7q9Hm0JOyES4eq7k_WVMhp2eWml4C1t9z7Ut-ycARi-Va66hxCkqZUJCBVEvFsdcx6q2ihHcFrrGuIvM9VJf_XMSedHT5Pm57fYL_EqRVm7QA0NnwPfbY6MU3lvchGhvty6AyXixF9U7dc52CnUldUgozlGgovnPSy8hI9PoQrwwaqhMu-q/s320/tday06donrusselite.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Oregon hosts the other Washington team after a tough loss. </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">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.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">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.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">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.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc45UICISd2nOJf9x0rqlIQvoJDHaWnU_Qup_cqIHkBwVSrTc9gBb7TG4ZJEg5HFgdQuq023gndoHWXVjevLMMDrlvuW3BPiHOk5iAbJaRcF7DtDLwbZlZ-5PhIo4sAy-ZPlAGcD8SKCZdTDtUT25FuAV6LO8r_AN5Ywd1Y8Bwgkm766MFnXYMdJn_z24j/s702/tday06donrusseliteback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc45UICISd2nOJf9x0rqlIQvoJDHaWnU_Qup_cqIHkBwVSrTc9gBb7TG4ZJEg5HFgdQuq023gndoHWXVjevLMMDrlvuW3BPiHOk5iAbJaRcF7DtDLwbZlZ-5PhIo4sAy-ZPlAGcD8SKCZdTDtUT25FuAV6LO8r_AN5Ywd1Y8Bwgkm766MFnXYMdJn_z24j/s320/tday06donrusseliteback.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">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!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A palate cleanser, maybe? The <a href="https://duckswire.usatoday.com/lists/look-ducks-to-wear-mighty-oregon-throwback-uniforms-for-homecoming-vs-washington-state/">Ducks are finally wearing throwbacks</a>. And they are fantastic.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> 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.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week</b>: 9 (AP). They dropped one spot but it felt like one hundred.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: His candidacy took a similar hit that the Ducks overall season hopes took, even if the stats didn't change remarkably.</li><li>Game time is 12:30 PDT on ABC in Eugene. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999088286115850898.post-25464974799564753912023-10-14T09:00:00.001-07:002023-10-14T09:00:00.151-07:00Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Fuskies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48YvqvyyYUcAke2NWMEZiS5k71HW649uL5sGU75rTFIT8yO_cxI4Ta0gTZGsXnRf5rSfAACXK2Ej0c7bpE5IwJEWb4mlp8Ofcf8CmM2-VIMJxJJSAdpSQL9urQAviQz3HR7KkUjk2fLZIayVyWXRCEg0We-3ybvnm1tKtEKG2n46I8-Pjn191VbvdoVFM/s704/armstead15paninintcollegiate.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48YvqvyyYUcAke2NWMEZiS5k71HW649uL5sGU75rTFIT8yO_cxI4Ta0gTZGsXnRf5rSfAACXK2Ej0c7bpE5IwJEWb4mlp8Ofcf8CmM2-VIMJxJJSAdpSQL9urQAviQz3HR7KkUjk2fLZIayVyWXRCEg0We-3ybvnm1tKtEKG2n46I8-Pjn191VbvdoVFM/s320/armstead15paninintcollegiate.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">It's number 7 versus number 8 in a game that's received increased national attention. </span></b></div><div> </div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBEkQxm1sNVcV-bo5bNfSI-RKouMf8R_C14B97dOV2knHvn-ZNvU1gzayb5KeWVFwzcqvZAvulah6rbzoRfLY7iZh5RTOP3PzuIIVFFfn4wiQReqL09utHrI6uHAxNaCStkc0azIz9C-bNnB4VsqC0tVa0MQo1DnMd9-Qi6PHyHV0zECdI581IWBYeJFe/s701/armstead15paninintcollegiateback.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGBEkQxm1sNVcV-bo5bNfSI-RKouMf8R_C14B97dOV2knHvn-ZNvU1gzayb5KeWVFwzcqvZAvulah6rbzoRfLY7iZh5RTOP3PzuIIVFFfn4wiQReqL09utHrI6uHAxNaCStkc0azIz9C-bNnB4VsqC0tVa0MQo1DnMd9-Qi6PHyHV0zECdI581IWBYeJFe/s320/armstead15paninintcollegiateback.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes and other things:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>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.</li><li><b>Where Are They Headed?</b> Well, we covered this already, but the B1G awaits Washington, bonded in football life with their webfooted bros. Ew.</li><li><b>Ducks Ranking This Week</b>: 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.</li><li><b>Bo Nix Heisman Watch</b>: 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.</li><li>Game time is 12:30 PDT on ABC in Seattle. Go Ducks!</li></ul></div>maddinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493650721714521989noreply@blogger.com0