Canadian Football and a Big Contest Update

 

Who will win the annual college football contest? Plus, cards! 

 

We're getting really close to kickoff in the final college football game of the longest season of our lifetimes. Who is going to take this one? More importantly: who is going to win the big Cards on Cards contest? It looks like the top prize is down to two competitors, based on their total points accumulated and the maximum amount of points still left on the table: Ginko-5 and EternalSigh (Elliptical Man). I won't be watching the game because I don't really want to watch either team win, but I will tune in later to check out the final standings.

On an unrelated note: cards! Actually, I received cards and a really nice signed 8x10 photo back in late November from Sportscards From The Dollar Store. This package sneaked in right before the big Canada Post strike that threw mail deliveries between Canada and USA in all sorts of upheaval during the busiest time of the year.

The signed photo is of Oregon Ducks QB Vernon Adams Jr., who is shown with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, meaning that this must have been taken during the 2017 season. I really don't have a lot of stuff like this, so it was a really nice addition to my collection. 

Of course, this package wasn't all Canadian American pro footballers (not to be confused with Canadian-American pro footballers, as Adams is from California.) Brian Westbrook is not Canadian and was not a CFL player, of course, but he does wear green! This is one of my first looks at the Topps Composite set, their apparent answer to Panini Chronicles.

I've actually been spending all day watching pro basketball and ignoring the real world. Here's a pro basketball player that I collect. Chris Duarte hasn't yet seen a ton of action with the Bulls, his third team in four seasons.

Speaking of not seeing much action, Jusuf Nurkic might be on his way out of the league after being removed from the starting lineup in Phoenix, a steep fall for someone who was essentially moved in exchange for Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara. (Of course, there were other factors and players involved, but this was mostly what Phoenix got out of it, give or take a Grayson Allen and a couple of guys who aren't there anymore.) While people have been trying to run Ayton out of town since as soon as he arrived, Camara looks like a keeper to say the least.

Here's another Duarte card. I like that this is from the hobby release of Select. Too many times, people have traded me the retail versions of these cards when I already have them. (Those ones are blue.)

Payton Pritchard, one of the greatest high school players to ever come out of the state of Oregon, has taken on a much more consistent role for the defending champion Celtics. Boston is never going to be my favorite team, but seeing Pritchard do well there is a good enough reason for me to not to change the channel when they're on.

Josh Huff is another Duck who also became an Eagle.

I swear that I have about 100 different versions of this card with its unnecessarily closely cropped photo, and yet I didn't have this gold one apparently! I've made some good progress in collecting the various gold Cardinals parallels that Topps has put out in the last 24 years in their flagship sets.

I might not be the biggest hockey fan, but I definitely know who Keith Tkachuk is! This is a really fun looking jersey card from Pacific of all companies. Tkachuk spent the bulk of the last decade of his career with the St. Louis Blues and now has two sons in the league.

Thanks again to buckstorecards and everyone who entered the contests this year!