Premier League contest - Match 30

Welcome to Easter weekend and match 30 of 38.

After a week off in the Premier League in which we saw most of the players compete for their home countries in World Cup qualifying, we get right back to it.
During the last round of matches, we saw Liverpool and West Brom eliminated from championship contention.

Club	Pld	Pts
Man Utd	29	74
Man City	29	59
Chelsea	29	55
Tottenham	30	54
Arsenal	29	50
Everton	29	48
Liverpool	30	45
West Brom	30	44
Swansea	30	40
Fulham	29	36
Stoke	30	34
Norwich	30	34
Newcastle	30	33
West Ham	29	33
Sunderland	30	31
Southampton	30	31
Aston Villa	30	30
Wigan	29	27
Reading	30	23
QPR	30	23

With a win or draw at Sunderland, United will knock off surprising Everton. A win combined with an Arsenal draw or loss and the Gunners are done. A drw or loss also eliminates Tottenham.

At the bottom of the Table, the bottom six all play superior opponents, so they'll all be looking for the upset in order to try and stay top flight.

Reading named their new manager this week. Nigel Adkins, the former Southampton boss, takes over this week. Good luck Nigel, you've got quite the task in front of you. No pressure.

Go United!

Are you hungry??

most of you know about the big hootenanny that went down in Las Vegas a week or so ago. All the cool kids were there. Which may be why I wasn't.

It was the Industry Summit, or some such nonsense. Most of the card manufacturers and a whole whack of card shop owners in one place.

Chaos ensued.

But my point is, and I do have one, honest, is that my local shops were well represented.

Well, at the bar and craps tables anyway.......

But throughout the slot machines, video poker, and disease infested strippers, my local card shop thought of me. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or not.

Anyways... as we all know, it's not whether our friends have a good time on vacation or not, it's whether they brought us anything or not.

Am I right?

Well I got something.

and like I said, Are you hungry? Too bad because......

 

HA!

 

Thanks Darren, this is awesome.

You can't even make a phone call for that anymore...

.25 cents. You can't get much for .25 cents anymore. Not even a phone call. IF you can find a payphone that is.

But I found something I wanted, and yes, it only cost me .25 cents.

 

At a card show, one of the regular sellers brough a big box filled with small sets from the late '80s and early '90s. Mostly hockey. Stuff that really no one wants, but everyone had at one time when they were sure it was part of a well thought out retirement plan.

 

You know what I'm talking about.

1991 Score Young Superstars set.

1990 Classic set

1991 Upper Deck Hi number set.

1991 The Tuxedo set.

 

You get the drift. Nothing worth grabbing. In fact, it might be better if it was burnt for warmth.

 

But at the very bottom, tucked in a corner, was this beauty. Still in it's original package.

 1992 Kellogg's 3-D All Star set. 10 cards, sealed for freshness.

How much is this package of goodness? .25 cents was the answer. And just like that, it was mine.

My buddy Brett asked me, "Are you going to open it?"

Hell yeah! It's mine now... not going anywhere.

Now I'll share it with you. Aren't you lucky? Of course you are. It's why you come here.

According to my up to date and highly accurate 2009 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, this is the highly sought after Canadian version. What are the odds?

Like a lot of Kellogg's cards, they're oddball sized at 2 1/2" x 2 5/16"

 being the Canuck version, you of course have bilingual backs.

 The American version had only English backs naturally.

 Also, the Canadian cards were found in boxes of Frosted Flakes...

 while the U.S. cards were distributed in boxes of Corn Flakes.

 So you can tell the difference in the sets from the front, and back.

 Schmidt seems to be the most valuble card in the set...

 I was hoping to find a Brave inside, and I did!

 Quisenberry was on the front of the package...

 ... and Schmidt was on the back.

 Pretty decent player selection, but not who I expected in a 1992 set.

Pops seems a great way to end off in a Post dedicated to Cereal cards.

See what I did there? Post cereal? Pops? As in Corn Pops?

m.a.i.l.f.r.o.m.g.c.r.l.

I've received a few packages over the last little while. Most of them have included cards from my wantlists, which is awesome.

Some people may not get excited over '89 Score, or '93 Upper Deck... but I do. As long as it's on my list, it's golden.

 

 

My pal Jim, otherwise known as gcrl, sent me a few cards the other day. I won't bore you (too late) with most of them, particularly the six cards from 2012 Topps Update that I needed... so I'll so you some shiny instead.

 

From last year's Bowman chrome, a green refractor of Brandon Beachy. These are awesome. I would like all the colours please.

 Speaking of colours, let's have a xmas theme and show a red bordered parallel from the previously mentioned 2012 Topps Update set. Big Ben came back from two years of injury for one last go. He pitched really well for the Braves, including one last emotional start on the last day of the season against Pittsburgh.
Knowing he was retiring because of another slight injury, manager Fredi Gonzalez told him he was getting the start, and to let it all hang out because he would be pulled after one inning.
Ben lit it up, 12 pitches, 8 strikes, 4 foul balls and two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning.
Thanks for everything Ben.

 Another card from 2012 Bowman Platinum... everytime I think I've completed the Braves team set, someone sends me a card I don't already have. That's Bowman in a nutshell.

 a couple of cards that weren't on any list.... from 2003, cards of Al Hrabosky...

 ... and the man himself, Eddie Mathews.

Pretty damn cool. Thanks Jim!

A package is already on it's way in your direction.

Premier League Contest - Match 29

Getting down to the grit. Only 10 matches left for most, for some clubs, only nine. We'll get into more of that at the bottom.

Welcome to Match 29.

Manchester United managed to eliminate another club last week, as Swansea, despite winning their match, was mathematically eliminated. If United beats Reading, West Bromwich and Liverpool are out. If United win, and Everton lose or draw, they are out as well.

Club	Pld	Pts
Man Utd	28	71
Man City	28	59
Tottenham	29	54
Chelsea	28	52
Arsenal	28	47
Liverpool	29	45
Everton	28	45
West Brom	29	43
Swansea	29	40
Fulham	28	33
Stoke	29	33
West Ham	28	33
Newcastle	29	33
Norwich	29	33
Sunderland	29	30
Southampton	29	28
Aston Villa	29	27
Wigan	28	24
Reading	29	23
QPR	29	23

Speaking of Liverpool, it was brought to my attention that not everyone had last weekend off for FA Cup action. Okay, I'm an idiot. Thanks for the email Richard....

A partial schedule was played, with 6 matches.

IF your team played last weekend, you may make a seperate post on this weekends action for that result.
Please make it seperate and put the date on there somewhere so when I tabulate points, I know why I'm counting your team twice.

Enjoy the full slate of games this weekend, and let's have your results posted by late Monday afternoon.

and as always, Go United!!!

Habemus Papam!

We have a new Pope! Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires is now the new Pope. Popes are elected for life, but at 76 years of age and already minus a lung due to severe illness, we may be seeing more smoke quite soon. Don't burn those unused ballots quite yet.

He took the name Francis, mainly because Jorge Mario Bergoglio just takes too damn long to say.

Do Popes get their names like tropical storms and hurricanes? Is there a list somewhere?

Welcome Pope Frank.

For those of you keeping track, that makes five Popes since the Leafs last won the Cup....

Can they hold out for a sixth?

Probably my only Heritage post...

Ahhh... Topps Heritage. The one set every year that sends collectors off on a rant... either good or bad. Love it or hate it.
The love of retro, the hatred of thin, shiny cardstock. The love of set building, the hatred of needless short prints and gimmicks.

I could argue and debate until the cows come home. (usually around dusk, depending on the weather) but instead, today, we'll just talk about cards. (with one, minor exception.) Focus on the positives!

At trade night last Thursday, the card shop owner called me over as he wanted help busting a box of this year's Heritage. He knew I was pretty much the only one there out of the 25-30 people that would appreciate it.
So I grabbed a few packs and tore in.

And I have to say, other that a few poorly chosen photos.... it looks like a fun set to build and put in pages.

Will I?

Maybe... but later on. I can't right now... tight budgets you know.

A few cards were thrown my way for "helping."

A brand new Adam LaRoche for my rather large LaRoche collection. I've ignored it over the last couple of years and I feel bad about it.

The Braves starting SS, Andrelton Simmons.

Michael Bourn shows his displeasure after finding out no one would sign him because of the 1st round pick compensation rule.... Cleveland finally caved.

The best pitcher in all of baseball early last year until his elbow fell off, Brandon Beachy.

The best pitcher in all of baseball in the 2nd half, Kris Medlen. 11-1  1.57 ERA. Yes please.

Kris Medlen hot box!

There was also a couple of Braves purple refractors and a Tim Hudson relic, but those were kept towards his master set that he's building. Hopefully he gets dupes.

I also bought a pack out of a fresh box. I won't bore you (too late) with all of the cards... but I will show you two.

First, this card of Red Sox thirdbaseman Will Middlebrooks.

What in the hell is that??? What a horrible airbrushing job. And why? Will Middlebrooks plays for the Red Sox. Will Middlebrooks has only ever played for the Red Sox. Will Middlebrooks has never played for anyone other than the Red Sox.
Sooooo.... they airbrushed out a Red Sox uni and hat, and replaced it with a Red Sox uni and hat?

Whatever. Stay positive. Right?

How about this for positive?

Boo yeah!

Regular blue ink autos fall once every 5 boxes.... no idea what the odds are on these red ink autos /64. But I pulled one.

Now if I can only trade it for a Brave.

Premier League Contest - Match 28

Pay attention! It's Match 28 of 38.

It seems that the Table is starting to take shape. The top is seperating themselves, while the bottom feeders are struggling to stay out of relegation.

Manchester United eliminated two more teams this past weekend.

Club	Pld	Pts
Man Utd	27	68
Man City	27	56
Tottenham	27	51
Chelsea	27	49
Arsenal	27	47
Everton	27	42
West Brom	27	40
Liverpool	27	39
Swansea	27	37
Stoke	27	33
Fulham	27	32
Norwich	27	32
Newcastle	27	30
West Ham	27	30
Sunderland	27	29
Southampton	27	27
Wigan	27	24
Aston Villa	27	24
Reading	27	23
QPR	27	17

They have the opportunity to eliminate three more teams if everything falls correctly. Although I don't think Liverpool is going down quite that easily...

Matches this week fall on Sat, Sun, and Monday... so get your updates in by Tuesday lunch.

Go United!