Week 8

Some sweet matchups this weekend, not the least of which Atlanta at New Orleans monday night.
No need to think on this one. New Orleans will cover.

Happy Halloween - NHL Style

I could go the route of posting some of the greatest, bloodiest fights. But that's been done. (not that I didn't enjoy the fours hours on YouTube watching them... again...)
But instead, I'll go the educational route.
Go back. Go waaay back... to Halloween 1972. The place, Philadelphia. The Flyers wanted to play a joke on their rather portly starting goalie, Doug Favell. They took his plain, white mask, that was like the mask worn by every other goalie in all of hockey, and painted it bright orange. Like, you guessed it, a pumpkin.
You can imagine the joking and the remarks by his teammates.
This was the very first time that a goalie had a painted mask other than plain white. Doug, the good natured fella that he is, decided to stick with it... with a minor modification. No more pumpkin.

After that, other goalies followed suit. Doug was later traded along with a 1st round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Bernie Parent and Larry Goodenough.

The mask needed modifying for his new team colours. And new country.

To end his career, Doug finished out with the Colorado Rockies, and a season with the brand new expansion Edmonton Oilers.

With all of the mask art we see today, a cultural icon of sports, all of it started with a Halloween prank in 1972.

Thanks for being a sport Doug!

Contest Winnings

a little while ago, Trevor over at The Hockey Card Blog ran a contest with the first and second prize being books. Sweet! I love me some book reading. The contest was hockey trivia and the winner could choose his book, with second place getting the other book.
Hockey trivia. Ha! No problem.

Well, slight problem. It wasn't the usual sort of trivia questions. They all had to do with hockey firsts. And they were HARD! I think I answered maybe 60% of the questions, and only got around 90% of those right, but I still managed to win!

This was the book I chose.
See how the questions were chosen? It all ties in together kids. Anyways, Trevor sent this beautiful glossy 8x10 hardcover book out to me, and I ended up reading it the first day. (only 160 pages)

Thanks Trevor! Awesome contest!!!

It's Fun Time..

So the wife and I busted a box of 2009 Topps Football the other day. A lot of you know that her favourite team is the Colts. Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Dwight Freeny, and up until this season, Marvin Harrison.
When she opened up this pack, she couldn't stop giggling.
This is what was staring back at her.
Caption contest! Go!

Sunday's key matchup

The Dallas Cowboys hosting the Atlanta Falcons.

Sorry dayf, this one ain't even close.

Hockey contest

Going on over at Cards On Ice
They busted a box of In the Game's 1972 Year In Hockey. A great product designed by the fans! Yes, ITG ran a contest and let the fans choose the topic of their next product. Pretty cool.
Anyways, the hits are being given away. If you know your hockey, you'll know the names. If you're not a hockey fan, you'll have no clue who these chaps are.

But not all contests are about baseball you know.

Surprise! Surprise! This just in...

MLB has announced that "there was no reason to consider any discipline on Mariano Rivera for throwing a spitball"
Colour me shocked. MLB failing to hold the Yankees to the same standards as every other team.

For those of you just tuning in, I posted an early exclusive on this very thing this morning. LINK In other mind blowing predictions, I say the sun will rise tomorrow, gas prices will increase, and that Dan Snyder will never win a Super Bowl.

I am, that good.

Can someone tell me why....

I've had the theme song from the Benny Hill Show going through my head for two days now. I haven't seen Benny Hill in about four years.

I can't make it stop... endlessly over and over. Even while I sleep. The voices... the voices...

Leprechauns telling me to burn things...




don't say I didn't warn you...

a lot going on...

So today's headlines include;

Mariano Rivera caught cheating. Meh. It's not like MLB and Bud Selig will do anything about it. He is a Yankee after all. And the Yankees are beyond reproach. All Hail the ESPN/Fox gods, the Yankees!

The Los Angeles Dodgers have completely forgotten how to pitch. The Trolley boys should have traded for some of the Bravos pitching. What a team that would be!

Manny Acta, who was completely incapable of managing the worst team in baseball, and was fired from same in July (Nationals) is a finalist for the Cleveland Indians post. This is something that the NFL has learned. You can't just keep recycling the same old crap. (I'm looking at you Dusty and Lou) Look outside the box. Minor leagues. College. Peru. It don't matter. Just leave the has beens alone.

David Pearson was not elected to the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hal of Fame. I call shenanigans. For those of you who are not familiar with NASCAR, David Pearson is the best driver that there ever was. Think Babe Ruth. Can you imagine Cooperstown without Babe Ruth?

if I can think of anyone else to annoy, I'll be back with an update

slow weekend in sports

Not much going on. Hockey is just getting started, a few upsets in college football. (how bad was Notre Dame in the last 10 seconds??? 4 chances...) and the Cowboys and Colts are both on bye weeks.
The wife, sensing weakness, has my day and evening fully booked. Hanging a couple of new paintings, cleaning the hardwood, and a dinner concert in the evening.
It's going to be a long day.

People of Cincinnati

Shame on you! Here's a story swiped from the AP;

Ochocinco, sponsor help keep sellout streak alive, avoid blackout
Associated Press
CINCINNATI -- The Bengals have avoided a local television blackout for their game against the Houston Texans -- with an assist from Motorola and receiver Chad Ochocinco.

The club announced on Friday that it had sold enough tickets for Sunday's game to keep its streak intact. The last 46 Bengals games have been shown on local television.
More than 3,000 tickets remained on Thursday, when the club got a one-day extension from the NFL for avoiding a blackout. Motorola, which is a longtime Bengals sponsor and has a partnership with Ochocinco, bought 1,200 tickets and will give them away Saturday -- with the receiver's help -- at Paul Brown Stadium.
The Bengals are 4-1 and on sole possession of first place in the AFC North.
First of all, an thumbs up for Motorola and Chad OchoCinco. Way to step up and give back to the fans. They deserve it, and in an age of Michael Vick, Michael Crabtree, and every basketball player, it's great to see an athlete step up and give back.

But a huge thumbs down to the people of Cincinnati. Your team, long laughingstock of the NFL, is 4-1 and in first place. Wins on the road over Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Why aren't you buying tickets in droves? It's not like you haven't before. 46 straight sellouts? Now this? Do you miss the losing?

I'm sooooo behind.....

I know, it's hard to believe. Me. Behind in my posting. Shocker. I've finally finished sorting my cards from the two boxes I busted the other day. Look for them shortly. And I've got about a half dozen trade packages piling up by the scanner waiting for their turn.

So in the meantime, I give you this. A 1979 Topps Pittsburgh Steelers Team Leaders checklist (unmarked!) that was sent to me by none other than Don Ortega. The Godfather of south Florida. Or is it north Florida? No. I think it's south. Whatever. It's warm and beachy, not under the cover of snow like I am.
Recognize the dude in the lower left? No? Profile not doing it for you? How about this?
Still not helping? Well what about this?
Yeah baby. THE Tony Dungy. Slayer of Belicheks. The Guru of Grudens.
The boy's got skillz.

oops

Okay, so sometimes real life says "You don't have time to sort two boxes of cards and post a box break about them. You need to shovel 18 inches of snow for most of the day."
Mother Nature 1
Canuck 0

so the box break will be posted tomorrow*

Until then, i leave you with this. The dumbest football player of all time. Period.
It's not just because of the fumble. It's because who the hell taught the youth of today to celebrate doing your job when you're down 35-10??? Look at the scoreboard you idiot.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Once the whole weekend of family time and eating your own body weight in turkey is over, blogging will return to normal.
Look for two box breaks tomorrow.

Oh, and now that the Cardinals and Red Sox are gone, all we have to do is wait for the Phillies and Yankees to be eliminated, and baseball will become enjoyable again.

Goodwin box break, and an I Told You So...

First off, let me preface this break of Goodwin Champions by Upper Deck by saying I told you so. In at least 8 other blogs, I posted a comment when that respective blogger posted a pack/blaster/box break of this product. Every time, each blogger showed off a Chipper Jones card. Every time, I responded by saying if I did not get a Chipper Jones card, I was a gonna lose it.

Guess what? Yeah. No Chipper. No McCann either. Not in auto, jersey, base, mini, black bordered mini, shiny foil mini, or easter egg night background versions.
Nada.
Colour me peeved. (that would be a shade of magenta I believe. Or maybe puce.)

Onto the break. But be warned Upper Deck! (I know you read this humble blog) When we get deeper into the review, you will not like what I have to say. The first part is really good. The latter, is really, really bad.

The hits. (everyone has seen the base cards, yes?)
Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk. Game Used Somethingorother. (for trade btw)

Curtis Granderson Game Used Somethingorother. (for trade btw)

an auto of Evelyn Ng, pro poker player. (for trade btw)

Not bad.

Black bordered Gypsy Queen mini's - 5 in the box

(all but Mr Howe are up for trade)

Shiny foil mini of Justin Morneau - 1 in box

Citizen of the Day Grigori Rasputin - 1 in the box

48 base cards - no doubles

8 SP's (White, Hafner, Purcey, Perez, Carroll, Willingham, Hughes, Carmona)
2 Super Short Prints

Roy Halladay

and Jermaine Dye

20 mini's (with a catch)

the first 10

the next 10 or should I say 5???

Yeah. Five doubles out of twenty mini's.

Not happy. A deeper shade of magenta. Raspberry even.

And don't even get me started on the b.s. waste of space UD 20th Anniversary Crapserts.

10 of them!!!! 10!!! And they take the place of a base card!

So here it is, my two cents worth. 2009 UD goodwin Champions could have been the set of the year. It is better than Allen & Ginter in almost every way, save a couple. But these shortcomings are HUGE.

Autographs - even

Jersey cards - Ginter

Checklist - Champions (only because of the smaller set)

Card design/artwork - Champions

Inserts - Ginter (the 20th Anniversary killed Champions here)

Packs per box/Cards per pack - Ginter

If UD had upped the number of cards per pack to 8, or the packs in a box to 24, OR even just done away with the 20th Anniversary Crapserts, Champions would have won, easy.

I would have even overlooked the mini doubles. But no. you screwed up, upper deck.

The way I look at it is this, $70 for the box (98 cards) = .71.4 cents per card.

5 doubles, and 10 Crapserts is 15x.71.4= $10.71

Upper Deck, you owe me $10.71

the trading gates are open.

Now That Baseball Is Over...

Now that baseball is over, we can reflect on what an odd season it was.

Okay, enough reflecting. Since it snowed here on Saturday and Sunday, I've spent the last couple of days winterizing the property. Don Ortega has absolutely no clue what I mean by this. Tunguska does. It's a geographical thing.

Look for in the coming days, box breaks of Goodwin Champions, '09 Topps Football, '09 UD Football, and of course, for the first time ever (for me, anyway) '09 Topps Chrome.

Shiny!

Fun!

If any of you care what order I post them in, leave a comment. Right now I have to go drain the gas out of my lawnmower.

it's Sunday...

and that means football!!!!
San Diego at Pittsburgh tonight.... we covered the whole no Steelers Cheerleaders thing, so here's a Charger Girl.

Look for a pack break later tonight, and hopefully catching up with my emails from while I was away.

I'm back!

Now... what did I miss?