Black Friday From Blowout and Beckett

I don’t normally bring up other sites much, and there’s a good reason behind it, especially given the sites in question.

However, with this being Black Friday, no matter my personal opinion, it’s only fair that I give a shout out to Blowout Cards as well as the Beckett Blog for their efforts today.  Blowout, for their part, is having a absolute crapton of Black Friday deals in their forum, including such deals as a 12-box case of 2008 UD Documentary for $11.27, boxes of various product for that same price as well as other deals.  I’ve already spent $90 there today, with 2 boxes of 2009 UDx Hobby, 2 boxes of 2008 UD Goudey retail and 2 boxes of …. I know I bought something else.  I’ll figure it out when it comes.  They’re also running specials with other sites, including Sports Cards Uncensored, which is great for Gellman.  While I may not like all of the deals going on, there are enough people who do that deals vanish in minutes, and sometimes seconds.

As far as Beckett goes, every Friday they do giveaways, and they’re going above and beyond today.  They’ve given away a number of autographed basketball plaques so far, and a box of 2006 Playoff NFL Playoff football, with more coming.  Both Blowout and Beckett are donating prizes back and forth between the sites, and keeping the momentum rolling through today.  There’s still another four hours to go at Blowout, so get over there and get you some cheap wax, and go to Beckett and try to win something.

 

Matthew Stafford, I Salute You

I don’t follow the Lions, or Matthew Stafford, but I saw a video clip put together by NFL Films …. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m still a bit teary-eyed from this. This kid….he’s got stone balls, that’s all I can say. Watch this video.

2009 Upper Deck Black Is Here!

Get your gambling shoes ready!  The gambling products are starting to come out, with 2009 UD Black football first, followed by Triple Threads, Ultimate Collection and presumably Topps Sterling, Exquisite and National Treasures down the line.  While the cards themselves look very nice, and there are some I want, I have some issues with some of the cards.

While this card came out in November, and still has a college uniform, it has been pointed out to me by Chris at Upper Deck that these are all ON CARD signatures.  Personally?  I’ll take a college uni on an on-card signature as opposed to a pro picture and sticker signatures.  So, someone might ask, why not have some in college, and some in pro?  Well, here it’s a lot simpler.  You want your set to have a theme.  If they can’t all be in pro uniforms, you don’t want a half and half.  So, in my mind, ‘all or nothing’ looks much better.  These cards look much better than I originally thought, with that in mind.

By the way, Brian Cushing?  I love your play and your attitude.  Your signature sucks balls, though.  It’s lazy, and uninspired.  Show some of the attitude in your signature that you show in your game.

This is a nice card.  It’s a Hall of FAmer, numberd to 5, with a beautiful autograph.  Which is then ruined by having 4 grey swatches.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this again.  NO CARD NUMBERED UNDER 25 SHOULD HAVE SINGLE COLOR SWATCHES.  If the card can’t stand alone on the basis of the autograph, then give it a patch.  Make the damn card stand out here.

These, on the other hand, are absolutely beautiful.  I know they’re manu’d patches.  It just doesn’t matter.  The card fits the patch perfectly, and these look gorgeous.  Well done, Upper Deck.

The only thing I can say in UD’s defense here is that they didn’t use a card from Donruss, Topps, or another company they’re in competition with.  Still, this is piss-poor planning.

This is as close as I’ll come to a review of this, or any other ‘gamble’ product as it simply isn’t worth buying in a box for anyone other than the gamblers.  That being said, it’s not a horrible product, just you need to be aware of what you’re getting into with it.

2009, The Year of Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

2009.

The season of shoulda been, woulda been, coulda been….

But wasn’t.

But for 2 fumbles, 2 missed extra points, and a stop, we’re possibly 9-1.

But we’re not.  We’re 5-5.  Staring down the barrel of Indy and Jacksonville, then a faint breather against Seattle and St. Louis, then Miami and New England.  We pretty much have to go 5-1 at worst here.  10-6 MIGHT get us into the playoffs, especially if we can beat Jacksonville to avoid the tiebreakers going directly to them.  9-7 won’t do it, I fear.

I make no excuses.  We’re 5-5 because we’re a 5-5 team.  Period.  We’re not a 9-1 team that just caught bad breaks.  We’re 5-5.   Live with it.  Time to prepare for Indy.

The AP Poll is a Joke

So, another week is done, and University of Houston beat 2-win Memphis by the score of 55 to 14.  In the process, Case Keenum threw for over 400 yards and 5 TDs, without any interceptions.  Houston’s reward?  To drop in the AP rankings from 24 to 25.

Stanford lost for the 4th time, and dropped from 14th out of the polls entirely.  Wisconsin loses for the 3rd time and is also out of the polls and LSU lost for the 3rd time and is 17th.  Above Houston in the polls are the following 3-loss teams:  Virginia Tech, Clemson, Oregon State, LSU, Miami, Mississippi, California, North Carolina and USC.

Houston admittedly lost to 2 unranked teams.  Virginia Tech lost to 2 top 25 teams and one unranked team.  Clemson also lost to two ranked teams and one unranked. Oregon State is the same way, as is LSU.  Miami lost to 1 ranked team, and two unranked teams, and so has Mississippi.

But wait, it gets worse.  California and North Carolina have both lost to three unranked teams.  USC is getting a similar shafting that Houston is, having only lost to two ranked teams and one unranked, and are ranked #24 themselves.   There’s also the fact that Houston beat #11 Oklahoma State, who has the same record as #25 Houston.  The AP poll is a complete joke, and has been most of the season.  Here’s the best part.  Houston went up 2 slots in both the Coaches and Harris poll, from 22nd to 20th.

AP Poll = Fail.

2010 Upper Deck NFL Draft Preview

While this won’t even be out for another five to six months, we’ve already got an early preview thanks to the folks at Upper Deck of 2010 Upper Deck NFL Draft.  The set will consist of 150 base cards, and four different inserts, each with 25 cards (Tood McShay Scouting Report, Draft Edition Magazine, Alumni Association and Conference Clashes).  There’ll be 5×7 Draft Edition Magazine box toppers, with autographed variations on the box toppers, rookies, Alumni Association and Conference Clashes cards.  Each box will have 16 packs with 10 cards per pack.  Also, each box will have 5 autographs and 4 numbered parallels.

I don’t have the checklist for this product yet, so I can’t do my in-depth analysis to see what I’d be interested in.  I’d presume boxes of these to run around $70 or so, maybe less, and this product is due out in April of 2010.

2009 Topps T-206 In-Depth Preview

With the release of 2009 Topps T-206 coming out on the 25th, it’s time to take an in-depth look at the product, especially how it concerns me, as a Houston Collector. First, we’re looking at a 300 card base set, in the visual style of the T-206 cards which originally came out in 1909-1911. The most famous card from this series is unarguably Honus Wagner. The set will also have 50 short-printed variations which will be in the original T-206 size and design. There will be five different parallels (Carolina Brights which will be 1/1, Cycle which will be /99, Piedmont, Old Mill and Polar Bear), as well as two parallels of the short-print cards (Gold Chrome which are /50, and Silk which are also /50). In addition, there are 8 printing plates, 4 regular and 4 mini. ‘Hits’ will consist of T-206 autograph cards, 80% of which will be on-card and placed in a Piedmont frame. There will then be T-206 Cut Signature Book Cards, which are 1/1 and hobby exclusive. There will also be regular autograph cards of current veterans. There will also be game-used uniform and bat cards in a Piedmont frame, with parallels for Polar Bear and Old Mill. Finally, the set will include T-206 buybacks. You’ll get 20 packs per box, and 9 cards per box, with 2 of those being parallels, and two autograph or relic cards.  Blowout Cards has these for $80 with free shipping on all orders over $100.

So now that we know what the set’s about, let’s dig into the checklist and see what we have.  Hunter Pence is card 38, Michael Bourn is 115, Roy Oswalt is 179, Lance Berkman is 226 and Michael Bourn also has a short-print variation.  There’s a Tejada card, but I won’t want that.  Bud Norris wouldn’t have been bad, but what can you do?  There are 25 T-206 autograph cards, none of which interest me, and they haven’t announced the cut signature book cards yet.  The checklist only shows 10 normal autographs, but there are some definite names in them.  The T-206 include Elvis Andrus, Koji Uehara, Ryan Braun, and a number of others, while the standard autos include David Wright, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun (again), Joba Chamberlain, and Jay Bruce.  There are then 25 T-206 relics, again with some fairly big names including Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth.  Unfortunately, the only Astro is going to be Miguel Tejada which is disappointing.

So, we’re looking at 300 base cards with a total of 300 variations and 1500 mini-variations, 2800 printing plates, 25 relics with 50 parallels, 35 autograph cards, and then the cut signature books and buybacks.  This honestly feels like 2002-2005 Donruss with the sheer number of parallels, especially given that you’re going to only get 2 per pack, with one of them being the Bronze variant.  The minis will undoubtedly sell well on eBay, at least for the first month or two, maybe a bit longer, as will the larger name relics and autographs.  You guys know how I feel about slews of parallels and everything though.  Given the release so close to Christmas, and no real draw for me in the autos or relics, I’m going to be passing on this.  I’ll probably find a team set of the base somewhere, and look for some of the mini parallels and the short print of Bourn, but that’s really it here for me.

My Challenge To The Card Companies

With 2009 almost over, and only a handful of products left to come out (other than basketball and hockey, which I don’t collect), it’s time to look towards 2010. Personally, I have a challenge for Topps, Panini, Upper Deck, and the rest.

1) Innovate: For the past few years, there’s been a lot of Me-too and one-upsmanship going on, with little actual innovation. When Topps came out with DNA relics, Upper Deck had to come out with something better to fire back. The only real innovation that’s come out recently has been the shadow box cards in 2009 SPx football. Most products have looked remarkably similar from year to year, other than the card design itself.

2) Design Better Cards: Set designers have fallen down on the job in the past few years. We started with the explosion of ‘gimmick’ cards, starting with the (presumably accidental) 2006 Topps Alex Gordon and then the upside down rookie cards, Joba Chamberlain with the wrong team mentioned, Kazuo Ishii, Poley Walnuts, and so on. Not only that, base cards are designed, and then that same design is replicated for almost every variation possible. The same applies to insert cards.

If a card is meant to have an autograph or GU piece, or both, then make the version with the AU/GU different than the normal version. Don’t just slap a sticker or swatch on the card wherever it fits. It’s lazy, it makes it look like you just don’t care about your customers, and it’s insulting to us. While I’m at it, if you can’t make a reason for two sets to be different, then don’t bother putting one of them out. If your set is a rehash of last year’s, don’t bother.

3) Stop recycling set designs: Base sets are one thing. It’s perfectly fine to have your base baseball and football sets looking similar. Your other sets, though? No. Not at all. Panini’s bad about that most years. Prestige looks the same in both football and basketball, as does Rookies & Stars. Upper Deck isn’t as bad, especially since their hockey line looks completely different than anything else they’ve put out. This won’t be quite as big an issue in 2010, with Topps not putting out football or basketball, but it’s still going to be an issue if someone doesn’t step up.

4) Stickers: For the love of god, stop using stickers from three or four years ago, just because you have them available. For that matter, stop using stickers period. Most of the time, they look completely stupid (Triple Threads, a number of Panini products), and they don’t last. Not only that, they’re an easy out for someone to make fake cards, and we all know it by now. Redemptions fall into this as well. If an athlete cannot meet his contractual obligations to sign cards (or stickers, if you must) within a reasonable amount of time, then stop paying them money. I realize you can’t sue them for breach of contract. One way around this is to have single-year contracts. Hold these guys responsible for what they do. If they don’t have time during the off-season to sign things, or can’t take a few hours out once in a while, then find someone who can. While we’re at it, hold the athletes to a higher standard on the signatures. CJ, BS, Squiggle McSquiggly …. these don’t cut it as signatures. I’m not your bank, I’m a collector. I want your signature because I prize it, and dammit, I’m worth the time it takes to SIGN the card. If you don’t give a rat’s ass about signing it? Maybe I’ll stop collecting it. And post Youtube videos burning it.

There’s probably more I’m forgetting, but I have surgery today, and I really can’t bring myself to care much more. But dammit, give us a reason to be excited about collecting. Give me a reason to buy packs of wax, instead of buying cards off eBay. Give me a reason to buy a box of 2010 product instead of 2002, or 1998, or 1985.

Act like you give a crap. Please. I’m begging you.

2002 Fleer Premium and Upper Deck Vintage Breaks

Here’s the video breaks!

more about "2002 Baseball Box Breaks", posted with vodpod

Trade Me Anything!

Okay, I have on my site a list of what I have currently.  I want to fill my holes.  I have boxes and boxes and boxes of cards, both base, parallels, numbered cards, inserts, rookies, game-used and autographs for both baseball and football.  I want to be rid of them.  I’m trying to unload them on Freedom Card Board, but due to v arious reasons, it’s proving harder to do than I thought.  Especially cataloging the thousands of non-base cards I have floating around.

So here’s the deal.  Look at my list.  Find something you have of those players that you have, whether it be a base card or a patch auto.  Leave a comment with what you have, and what you collect.  If I can, I will match base for base, parallel for parallel, insert for insert, game used for game used.  I will work something out with you.  I want these cards gone.  I am quite happy to accept base.  I’ll try to get you a list of what exactly you’ll get in return, but that may or may not be possible.  I have to seriously sort through my boxes, and am having surgery tomorrow.

I’ll probably even give you extra stuff, just to get rid of what I have.  The only thing I’m going to say, up front, is the following things:

1)  I get paid every 2 weeks, and am horrible at remembering things.  Don’t send to me until I’ve personally told you I’ve put your package in the mail.

2)  For the love of god, don’t quote book value, or even sell value at me.  Especially if you’re looking at trading base.  This isn’t about who can make the most money, this is about a personal collection.  I don’t own a Beckett subscription.  I’m not selling anything here.  This is about collecting, not money.

3)  No, I don’t have scans of most of this stuff.  I’m sorry, but I simply have too many cards, and I want them GONE.

This is going to be a long-term concept, through 2010.  I want to be down to my 1 box and 2 binders of my collection by the end of 2010.  Please help, and thank you.