BASKETBALL!!

I was at the card shop the other day with nothing in particular on my mind to buy when I had a revelation of sorts. Well actually, I just had to ask myself a question. Why aren't I collecting basketball cards? Since I returned to collecting I've focused on baseball & football only. I haven't bought basketball cards since around 1992 when I built almost complete sets of Fleer and Skybox. That was when I gave up collecting altogether. Basketball is (to quote Kurtis Blow) my favorite sport. It's the one sport I'm decent at and played in high school and in rec leagues since the 5th grade. I'm 6'6'', hence the nickname Big D. I LOVE the Dallas Mavericks and have followed them closely since the early '8os, even though I didn't live anywhere near Dallas at the time. All of these are reasons I decided I should collect basketball again, so I bought some cards, right then and there. Here are some of the cards I picked up.

A couple of Topps Finest from the '90s. Lo Williams was one of my favorite players from the really bad Mavs years. I mean they stunk back then, but I loved them just the same. Lorenzo was waaay undersized to play center in the NBA, but he worked his tail off. Derek Harper was around seemingly forever, in fact he is still featured on the Mavs tv broadcasts today. He and Ro Blackman were the guards in the Mavs late '80s heydays when the went to the Western Conference Finals for the first time against the Lakers. That was when the Mavs were great, right before I moved to Texas. I was so excited to finally be able to see the Mavericks from up close after following them from Illinois and Indiana for so many years. Of course, right after I moved here is when they began to fall apart and then spend a decade of so as a really bad team. Figures.

Here are a couple of my favorite ex-Mavericks. Yes, that is Steve Nash, long before his now famous shaggy hair. I still can't believe Mark Cuban thought Nash was basically a year or 2 from being done and decided not to resign him. That was like what, 6 years ago. Nice one! Michael Finley had many good years in Dallas and it kills me to have to watch him play for the hated Spurs now, but I still like him.

Jason Terry, Jason Kidd & Josh Howard are three of the current Mavs. "Jet" has been here for several years now and had to play a lot of point guard before Kidd returned to the club. Josh Howard has been kind of up and down over the years, hampered by injuries often. He's also had a few boneheaded off the court mishaps, but when he's healthy he is a great player, at least for the first 3 quarters of the game.

Lastly, we have my 2 all time favorite Mavericks. Mark Aguirre is the whole reason I became a Mavs fan in the first place. I lived in Illinois during his time in college at DePaul and became a big fan of his as a Blue Demon. I didn't follow the NBA a whole bunch at that time, so when the Mavericks drafted my favorite player, guess who became my favorite team? Since then I've stuck with them through thick and thin, even after I moved to Texas and they began to wallow around in their own futility. Then came Dirk and things began look up. Since Dirk arrived they have steadily stayed near the upper echelon of teams and even made an appearance in the NBA Finals, which unfortunately didn't go so well. Dirk is definitely the greatest Mavericks ever and even though he gets ripped a lot for being soft, not playing D or whatever, the truth is, we most likely will never see another guy do what he's done in a Mavs uni. I'm just glad I've been around to see it all. So there you go, my first basketball post. I have updated my header picture at the top to better represent what I plan to collect from here on. I've also updated my "What I Collect" list to include some non-Mavs as well. If you've got tons 'o Mavs taking up space, send them my way! Later.

Don't You Hate It When...

a pack fails to live up to your expectations? I'm not a pack searcher. Really, I'm not. Sometimes though, you can see through the wrapper what the top card is.

In this instance I was looking at a pack of 09 Topps Mayo and LT was looking back. Since he is Goose's favorite player, I had to pick it up. Since the top card was so good, the rest of the pack will surely be awesome too, right?

Wrong! Not only did the other five cards contain three non-football players, two of them are of the same guy! So we get a guy simply labeled athlete, 2 cards of an appliance mogul, a silver parallel of a rookie I've never heard of, and Jenkins. Meh! I guess in this case, beauty really was only skin deep. If for some reason, you disagree and think the rest of this pack was awesome, they are all up for trade. Let me know. Later.

Trade with Ryan's Memorabilia Blog Part Deux

Okay, this is it, I'm finally caught up. To the best of my knowledge, I have no more trades to post. If I happened to have missed one, I'm sorry, but all the cards are long since mixed in with everything else, so they won't be posted. This trade was with Mike from Ryan's Memorabilia Blog. We traded awhile back, but then Mike dropped me a note to say he had the last 3 cards Nobie needed to complete his 07 Masterpieces set. He was kind enough to send those along with some other goodies.

Besides the 3 cards Nobie needed which are the 3 in the upper right corner, Mike sent several others, mostly Cubs. There was also a HanRam and a Tony Gwynn for me.

Here are a few more Cubs for Nobie, plus a very shiny Peavy.

What basically amounts to 3 packs of 09 Donruss Threads were included for Goose. I think I'll steal the Romo and Barber though, for my Cowboys binder.

Lastly, we have a nice little bunch of Ichiros all but one of which was new to me. Mike also included an old school Eddie Murray with the cap and Oriole logo, I've always loved the best. Mike thanks, a bunch for the cards. Technically, I guess, this isn't a trade yet since I haven't sent anything back. It's more like a donation, but I'll remedy that soon, don't worry! Later.

Woo Hoo! Mail from Mojo!

I got a package from the great Mojo a few days ago. I contacted Mojo because I know he is a fellow Kurt collector and I thought he might have some doubles that needed a good home. Well, guess what, he did!

The question is, what would my reaction be? Would I be dumbfounded and in a state of confusion over what he sent? Would I be pissed off and regretful of contacting him in the first place? Or, would I blink wide-eyed and coo quietly and the awesomeness of what was inside? Needless to say, my reaction upon opening it was more like Marge than either Homer or Maggie, because inside the package was this...

a Kurt Suzuki Bowman Sterling Rookie Auto! Oooooooooh! Sweeeet! What a great card, much more than I expected to get. It may take me awhile to track down something of equal awesomeness, but I'll do my best. Now I'm on the hunt for something to repay the favor. Thanks a ton, Mojo! Later.

Whoops!

Don't believe him! The envelope was full, honest! Shang-Chi took them, I know he did!

Another trade with the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame

We got another package from Tim at The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame with a little mix of football and baseball.

Goose got a bunch of older football, lots of Pro Set. Most of these guys are before his time, but he gets a kick out of checking out the "old" cards. Makes me feel really old, that he considers cards from the early 90's old. Oh well, there is a Peyton in there, and he is one of Goose's favorites.

Tim sent these 2 cards for Nobie. A very shiny Soriano and a Hanley he didn't have. These 2 guys make up the largest bulk of Nobie's ever growing player collection.

For me, Tim sent 3 cards for my catcher collection and three former and current Ranger greats. Thanks a lot for the cards Tim, I'll be on the lookout for more McGriffs and screwy named players to send your way. Later.

Trade with Roll Out the Barrell

A few weeks ago I was at a card show and ran across a few Robin Yount cards I thought Ed from Roll Out the Barrell might be interested in. We hadn't traded before, but I knew he was a Brewer fan, so I picked them up. I dropped him a note about swapping some Brewers for Rangers and the trade was on. Rangers weren't the only team we got, however.

As you can see, Nobie got a nice pile of Cubs. I know it must have been real hard for you to give these up, Ed ;) but you'll be glad to know they are very much appreciated in their new home!

Ed also, sent a nice mix of Rangers old & new, including a Kinsler Icons we needed for the set and several Michael Youngs, who is my current favorite Ranger. The Canseco card is actually a Sportflix, though you can't really tell that in the photo. I didn't collect cards when these were new, so they are pretty neat to get. I'd like to see someone come out with a similar current set, but with Topps being exclusive, I doubt it will happen. Anyway, thanks for the great cards Ed. Later.