I'm gonna rip it!

Lookee at what I got on the 'bay for $1.75! A whole factory sealed box of 1992 Action Packed Football!
$1.75! Madness!
I loved this stuff when it came out in '91. I collected the set, bought the update set, got the All Madden set, then bought the factory set. ( The factory set is absolutely gorgeous for those of you who have never seen one.)
Now, I get to re-live that, a year later. (well, 17 years later... but you know what I mean)

And remember kids!!!!
Alright! Action Packed with the clean teen message!

Scans to come. After dinner sometime. And all of these will be put on Zistle if you want to see the whole thing.

Braves make cuts...

The Atlanta Braves cut their roster down to 44 players today by sending eight players back down to the minors.

The Braves sent right-handers Steve Marek, James Parr, Todd Redmond and Luis Valdez to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Also, Left-handers Francisley Bueno and Mariano Gomez and catchers Phillip Britton and Matt Kennelly were reassigned to the Braves’ minor league camp.

Of those, only James Parr had a shot at the club, and only a slim one. He's only 23, and should be up and down all year filling in for injuries etc... looks like a good one though.
Bobby never likes to rush the youngin's....

C'mon... a little effort people...

You're a photographer working for Topps in the mid '70's... and get a primo assignment. Get your ass to San Diego and get some shots of the Padres! Alright! San Diego! Party Town!

Crap. Now it's early on the "morning after", and you need to get the job done. Okay. Let's get this over with.
All of you Padre relievers.... stand on the white line and pretend to do a windup, that way I don't have to move. Or think.

Oh c'mon!!!! At least give the last guy a ball! Sweet Jesus. Have some pride man.

it's that special time....

If anyone needs me... I'll be on the couch in front of the bigscreen.
It's tradition... sue me.

Contest Winner!

Ross from Sports Card Info , who is sponsored by Press Pass, held a little contest a couple of weeks back.
Press Pass sent Ross a box of 2009 Press Pass Element Racing. (to read his review, go here.)
The pull of the box was this.
Jimmie Johnson 3x Champion Race Used Tire.
Unbelievably sweet.
Thanks Ross! Go check out his blog, and check out Press Pass too.... their new football stuff is looking awesome!

So close.....

The Calgary Flames lost 3-2 tonight against the New Jersey Devils.

If Calgary had won, it would've been Coach Mike Keenan's 666th career win.

His 666th win.... against the Devils.

Awesome.

so close.........

My Precious....

A bubble mailer arrived today from reader Kevin. In exchange for a stack of 2007 Topps off of his wantlist, I received 4 beautiful 1976 Topps cards I needed.

First, a checklist... a pink checklist...
next, #413 Pete Varney. Rockin' the red WhiteSox jerseys.... that makes sense, right?

#588 Kevin Kobel. Hey Kevin! Over here!

#642 Dennis Blair. That looks like old Jarry Park in the background. Sweet!

I love this set. I've been trying to complete it FOREVER! And I only have around 150 cards. Finding these in my area of the world is impossible. And ebayers always want $3.50 shipping and handling, etc....

But I'm four cards closer today!

A Yankee Problem

This just in...

March 7/09

Atlanta Braves 3
NY Yankees 1

booyeah!

Your opinion please...

My latest contributions to the 2009 Goose Joak baseball card set.

First up, BMac...
Next, a choice. Your choice. Which Chipper Jones card should be submitted?

A) It's wabbit season...

or B) Sweetswing in motion?

You decide. Post your fave in the comments please.

Group Case Break Results!!!

Saints of the Cheap Seats had a group case break going on last month. For the results, please click here to see the scans of all the really cool cards that were pulled. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Back? Good. Pretty cool stuff, eh? Well, although I was a fully paid participant in the break, I didn't get any of what you saw. Nothing. I got this.

This card is so bad, Dan didn't even scan it to show off what was pulled. And I needn't remind you of how we feel about John Smoltz, do I? You're looking at a plain white swatch of John Smoltz' pants that I ended up paying $22 for.

Crap.

Dan felt so bad, he sent along some goodies to ease the pain.

An '04 auto of Alec Zumwalt,
and two cards from 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History.

Brandon Jones and Josh Anderson. Can someone tell me why they are different colours?

and a couple of shiny '99 Topps Gold Label former Braves.

Andres Galarraga,

and Brian Jordan.

Through no effort of my own, I have become a Brian Jordan Super Collector. Everyone who sends me Braves, sends me tonnes of Brian Jordan. I had no idea he had so many cards....

crap.

this one is a little close to home.
and not nearly so funny anymore.

Reader Mail

Reader Karen emailed me awhile ago about some 2008 A&G doubles I had that she needed. Unfortunately, she didn't have any that I needed. No matter, I sent them off to a new home anyway.
This is what I received today in the mail from her....
Awesome.

The best overall player in the league!

Jarome Iginla became the Flames franchise all time leading scorer tonight. He potted two goals and three assists for a career total of 834 points, surpassing Theo Fleury's 830 points.
Iggy's first goal was also the 400th of his career. At only 31 years of age, the best two way player in hockey will no doubt get 600 before he's done.

A lock Hall of Famer.... Jarome has a sense of humour as well. I was at the game on Friday to watch him break the record.
Nothing.
Tonight when I'm at home watching on TV?
5 points.
Nice.
Thanks Jarome. The only reason I'm in a forgiving mood is that you were my 1st round pick in this year's hockey pool.

Wrong, terribly wrong...

I'm not that familiar with Vasquez yet, but I can tell you that ain't Peter Moylan and that certainly isn't Tom Glavine.
The dirty bastard Mets have sent infiltrating imposters to sabotage the Brave's pitching staff!

It's revenge for the Rick Roll!!!!!!

NFL merry-go-round

Kansas City gets a starting QB and starting linebacker for a 2nd round pick. The Chiefs acquire Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel for a pick.
Great move. A horrid team gets two starters, two leaders for their team. Nice to see KC trying to win this year. (well, 5 or 6 games anyway) This has far more value than what they would have received with the 35th pick.
New England, caught in a can't win scenario, gets a valuble high 2nd round pick in a lose-lose position. And valuble cap space. The pick will get them a starter, probably on the line or DB.


Dallas acquires a solid backup QB for Tony Romo. The Cowboys get John Kitna from Detroit for starting CB Anthony Henry.
Puzzling. Dallas needs a quality backup QB after waiving Brad Johnson last week. Kitna fills that role nicely. A quality guy in the locker room too, something lacking in Big D. But one of the weakness' of Dallas last year was their depth at DB.... trading a starter and hoping last years rookies fill in where they couldn't last season.... well, an interesting move. Time will tell.
Dallas also signed LB Keith Brooking. It looks like Zach Thomas will not be back, and the Ray Lewis rumours are just that.

Denver is loading up on defense. And offense. Brian Dawkins from Philly, Darryl Reid from Indy, Renaldo Hill from Miami all vastly improve an awful defense. Jabar Gaffney, JJ Arrington, Lonnie Paxton on offense.
New coach Josh McDaniels is not wasting anytime retooling an underperforming team.

The NFL season looks like an interesting one. Teams are not sitting around complacently.

Oh. And Dan Snyder is still an idiot. DeAngelo Hall? Really? The QB's in the NFC East rejoice.

this just in...

Braves prized free agent pickup David Ross has just hit a two run homer against Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros.
It's nice that David got this out of the way in Spring Training... now he doesn't have to worry about hitting his one homer a year in the regular season. Less pressure for sure.

Braves ownership is so pleased, they've informed Frank to trade Brian McCann to Oakland as the player to be named later in the earlier Joey Devine deal.

Another crossed off my list, and my first 2009 sighting...

Today's mail comes from Greg at Night Owl Cards. Greg was kind enough to send me a three card bonanza.
First, a card from my wantlist. A 2008 Allen & Ginter Jake Peavy. Nice. Only 11 more cards to go to complete this sucker.
Next, a 2008 Topps Gregor Blanco rookie.

and my very first 2009 card. Canada should be getting these around the May long weekend, so it was nice to see one in person.

Figures it had to be him. Well, Greg's heart was in the right place. If only John was.

Thanks Greg... as usual, I have some Dodgers saved (for you, and GCRL)... they'll go out soon.

My team isn't the only one that's completely screwed up...

This just in.

The Minnesota Vikings are near a deal to acquire Sage Rosenfels from the Houston Texans.
HA!
See? It's not just the Braves front office that has no clue.

Seriously, what options do the Vikings have? Kerry Collins is available. A dependable, viable starter for a year... maybe two. Kurt Warner is a UFA. Awesome. But if he doesn't retire... he'd be a fool not to resign with Arizona. Mark Brunell? I think he's shell shocked from too many years behind that St Louis line... T Jack? Nice upside. For a running back...
Michael Vick? Dear lord, no.

Hmmm.... maybe Rosenfels might work out after all..... *snicker*

Good luck Viking fans..... you'll need it.

The only baseball I'll even speak about right now....

It's gaining momentum... the premier Goose Joak baseball card set. The latest entries? I'm glad you asked...
One of the better moves this off season, re-signing one of baseball's best pinch hitters.

Greg Norton
Greg played simply awesome last season. Let's hope for more of the same this year.

And one of the kids. CF Josh Anderson.

Josh should've been getting his shot this year. He's not. And I don't want to talk about it.

Do they really think our farm system is no better than a no glove 37 year old???

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.