Shout out to Trader Crack's...

Ryan from Trader Crack's sent over around 65 or so '08/09 OPC Hockey cards I needed for my set. Including a few retros too....
these pictures are not the ones Ryan sent.... I got so excited when I got them that I updated Zistle and put them in my binder right away before scanning them.

so enjoy these generic scans for now.

(what? I'm getting better.... I used to just put them in my binder. Now I stop, and put them in Zistle first. Baby steps.....)

Thanks Ryan!!!

Box break ...

Yes. I'm still trying to build last years OPC hockey set. It's a tough one to build. 600 cards in the first series (100 SP's) and then another 200 in series 2. I'm not sure how far off I am, but after 3-4 trades, I still felt the need to grab another box.
In it I found a few of these.... shiny!

I got 8 of these shiny inserts.

As for base cards, I gained 56 new cards towards the set. Nice.

I also found 9 gold parallel cards.

Each pack (36 packs per box) also had a '79/80 retro insert. These go on the 'bay for around 60 to 75 cents apiece in larger lots. I figure I could get about $25 bucks or so for these...

Oh, and my one per box Winter Classic hit? None other than Sid the Kid.

I'm glad I picked this one up. The only downside to this box was the SP's... one per two packs. I ended up with 12 doubles. Only adding 6 new SP's to my set. Well, at least I have some more to trade now.

Box Break

2008/09 OPC Hockey Series One.
That's Mr Hockey, Gordie Howe telling us that this is a 600 card set. In Series One. This is not for the faint of heart.

The base cards... very old school. Matte finish. Great for TTM autos...

Inserts.... Shiny inserts. This one is the All Rookie Team, there are also 1st All Star team and 2nd All Star team insert sets.

One of two parrallel sets. This is the cool one. A retro one per pack of the old '79/80 OPC set.

The 2nd parallel set is the Gold shiny holofoil rainbow set. Or something like that.

There is a insert set based on the "Winter Classic" game that is played outdoors each year. These inserts fall 1 every 2 boxes. I found one. They are thick for some reason. It can't be a decoy card... who puts a decoy card in every 2 boxes?

But that wasn't the box hit.... oh no. It could've been. But it wasn't.... feast your baby blues on this....

Game used Triple Material Ovechkin - Backstrom - Semin!

These fall 1 in every 6 boxes, or 2 per case! Yeah baby! I have used up my luck for the next two years.

The weird thing was it came in the same pack as the Winter Classic card. One helluva pack.

Breakdown

Base cards - 188

Duplicates - 0

Inserts - lots

Pulls - Way more than I should have.

This is a set builders set. The autos fall 1 every 30 boxes, and the jersey cards, as mentioned, 1:6.

This is about the players, all 600 of 'em. In Series One.

My Series 2 box break tomorrow...

I slipped up....

So I found out about a little card show that happens once a month during the hockey season. Today was the last one until September. So I popped by. I'm saving for OPC baseball and maybe '09 A&G, but I went anyways.
Just a few local collectors selling off their singles and hits from a winter of busting cases of hockey.
One guy was selling off some boxes cheap... but I was saving for OPC baseball and maybe A&G.

He was very persuasive. $100 got me this.
and this.

Just what I needed. Another set to finish.

Why do I do this?

Time for change...

As a further aside to my previous post. I must say that I have never been a big Griffey Jr. fan. I never saw what all the hype was about. A sometime home run hitter who was below average defensively, and could never play a full season without getting hurt.

However. A lot of people loved the guy. He created fan excitement. I wanted that for the Braves. I wanted a big name free agent to say.."Atlanta is where I want to be." But no.

I am always the guy who is saying, "give the kids a chance, don't trade youth for old vets" Remember the tantrum I threw when we acquired Vasquez???
Anyways. I look forward to seeing Blanco, Shaffer, Anderson, etc... show what they got.

Until then. Until I get to see something exciting, and completely baseball game related, I will abstain. I was going to post a box break of Marvel Masterpieces, or 2007 Traks Nascar. However, dayf is on his own tirade. So, in true Canuck style, I give you a FatRackBlisterPack of 2008/09 O Pee Chee Hockey.
The base cards are okay. Nice big picture, team logo, and position. I kinda wish they had made the brand name a little smaller though. It's retro. We get it.

The backs, however, leave a lot to be desired.

A birthdate? Birthplace? Height? Weight? Favourite colour? Beuller?

In each pack, there is a retro card. Based on the '79/80 OPC design...

I also got a 1st All Star insert of Nicklas Lidstrom... oooohh... shiny!

Not bad. Although at 600 cards, I may not collect this one...... yet.