Hey, That's Mine!

An All New Collection For The Whole Family!

2012-01-11T07:21:00.000-06:00

I'm not totally sure why we've just NOW gotten into our newest household collection, but we're all into them nonetheless. At least my daughter and middle son and I are. What am I talking about you ask? Why Lego Minifigures, of course! Now don't get me wrong, we didn't just discover Legos. I've been playing with them since I was a kid and my own kids have tubs and tubs full and have had for years. For some reason though, we've never collected the series of minifigures until now which is Series 5. We've got some catching up to do. Anyway, once the kids got a few in their stockings, the quest to collect them all was on!

There are 16 different figures in each series and they come 1 figure per bag for about $3. We got all of ours at Walmart, and yes, we pack searched to avoid doubles. Sorry, had to to it. Besides, it's kind of fun to feel the pieces in each package and try to figure out what is inside. The first purchase we made we grabbed 4 random packs and didn't try to feel what was inside at all. We ended up with doubles of the graduate. Since then I've managed to go double free, correctly guessing a perfect 10 for 10 with no doubles. That means we have just 3 figures left to reach sixteen. Guess what I have to show you now!

You guessed it! The final 3 figures and again, I managed to avoid doubles. It really isn't that hard once you know what pieces are unique to each figure. And, unlike packsearching for that one hit per retail box of cards, all of the figures seem to be evenly split per box, so you're not really stealing anyone's chance of pulling something awesome or anything. So I don't feel guilty packsearching in this case. So as you can see, one of the last 3 figures was the clown.

We also found the evil dwarf...

and the royal guard, both of which are fairly easy to distinguish because of their unique headwear.

Here you can see the completed Series 5 checklist that Baby Peas has filled out. As you can see there is a double checkmark next to the graduate and also the lizard man. {I actually found another lizard man on purpose because I wanted one for my desk at work.) Now that we are done with series 5 we are looking towards series 6 which should hit stores soon, though all of our local Walmarts have so much series 5 in stock, it may be awhile before 6 shows up.

Here is the completed set of series 5 figures. We'd really like to try and find some of the older series to complete, but seeing as they've been out awhile, they won't all be cheap. I really want to find a tribal chief somewhere, he's got a sweet headdress! So if you are into Legos at all and haven't given these little dudes a look, I suggest you do. They're a lot of fun! Later.

I Beat Panini To The Punch! 2012 NBA Big D Customs Are Here!

2012-01-09T21:36:00.003-06:00

Since Panini isn't going to bother giving us any new NBA cards until Feb or March, I figured I might as well get mine out there. Here are some brand spanking new, 2012 NBA cards for you to enjoy. This is basically my "flagship" BigD set for the year. This batch features a bunch of new faces in new places both veterans and rookies. By the way, Davis West isn't a rookie, just a typo I was too lazy to fix combined with a blogger snafu that put him at the bottom with the other rookies, oh well. Hope you like them. Later.

Score From The Junkie!

2012-01-05T18:50:00.011-06:00

We are still quite a few stickers short of filling our 2011 MLB sticker book, but thanks to dayf, also known as the Cardboard Junkie, we are quite a bit closer.

Dayf sent us 4 custom built packs including only stickers we needed. One of the packs was custom wrapped in this note:

Let that be a lesson out there to all you collectors. Keep your tea away from your cards & stickers! Lucky for us, the stickers turned out to be just fine. No vintage teas stains at all and they don't even smell funny! Since dayf has already filled his sticker book, he said he didn't need anything from us, but then he had to go and not play fair. There was more that just stickers in in the envelope he sent.

There were Mavs cards too, including an ant's eye view of Samaki Walker and a pretty sweet metal card of the Mantis himself, Shawn Bradley. The Bradley card is actual metal. It's much noisier than a regular card if you should drop it and could even scrape ice off your car windows in a pinch!

The previous 4 guys are relative Maverick spares (though I love them all equally!), but this next group are a few notches above. JJ, Harper, Fin and Kidd all contributed in a big way while they were here in Big D. Finley ranks number 2 in my Mavs player collection for number of cards and this sticker was one I didn't have, so that's a big plus. That's not all dayf sent, though. It gets better!

The last 2 cards are the best in the package and they both feature Dirk. One is a rookie card that I didn't have yet and the other is a sweet hand drawn custom sketch card. Is that awesome or what? Now I feel happy sad. Happy that I received such great cards, but sad that my blogger friend would double cross me so! Now I'm gonna have to dig up some Braves or My Little Pony stuff to send back so I won't feel so guilty. Though, after reading his New Year's Resolution post about getting rid of some of his junk, it will probably just get thrown out anyway, so maybe I should just save myself the postage. That'll teach him, right? Later.

My Mavs Are Disappointing, But Holy Crap, Panini Actually Made Me Happy!

2011-12-30T00:18:00.004-06:00

Well, the Mavs are of to an 0-3 start after Kevin Durant stuck a dagger in us at the buzzer tonight. I'm not worried, though. I have faith that Dirk and the rest of the Mavs will right the ship before the end of the season. What I don't usually count on is Panini producing a product that I actually want. They have an exclusive though, so if it's NBA cards you want, it's Panini you're stuck with. So it was a bit of a surprise while killing time on ebay that I ran across this gem.

Nice, right? This comes from their Black Box product which is quite simply, another in a long list of sets made by Panini that I will never buy a box of because it is too expensive and frankly not worth it. Thank goodness, for secondhand singles though. I must give Panini props, however, for at least producing several cards of my second all time favorite Maverick Mark Aguirre this past year. It's good to see that he's retired but not forgotten.

They even used a different photo on the back, something they've gotten much better at doing lately. So while I'm still not totally on board with Panini and their products, it's nice to at least know they are capable of surprising me every once in a while. Hopefully, when what appears to be their only affordable set this year (HOOPS) arrives in March, it will be full of surprises. If nothing else, the Mavs ought to be back in the thick of things by then, and that will be no surprise to me. MFFL! Later.

I'm Back With A Rant! NBA Action Is Almost Here And Panini Blows! (But You Already Knew That, Didn't You?)

2011-12-24T21:53:00.003-06:00

Well, I've been gone for a while, but today I read something that I had to post about and even though it's Christmas Eve, I'm afraid it's kinda negative. Tomorrow the World Champion Dallas Mavericks will tip off what I hope to be another successful season. I couldn't be more excited for the NBA to be back. I'm also ready for some new basketball cards to collect, but unfortunately for me, it doesn't look like I'll get to do much of that this season. Panini recently released their plans for NBA cards this year and guess what? They are gonna put out a whopping FIVE sets! WOW! Now I get that the NBA season is shortened and they are getting a late start with all the roster changes and what not, but still isn't 5 sets kinda low? The number of sets, however, isn't what's got my blood boiling. The problem is the makeup of those 5 sets. Here is what Panini says they are putting out.

Preferred - 4 cards per pack @ $200 per pack. Supposed to be all autos and the previews show plenty of empty white space and gradients! Whoopee!

Hoops - $1 packs retail and $2 hobby. Not sure how many cards per pack, but I'm gonna guess around 7 based on their other low end stuff like Score. The Hoops previews that came out last year looked pretty good to me.

Limited - Not sure what's in store for this season but I'm sure it will follow season's past. Something around 7 cards per pack for around $100.

Past & Present - Totally new concept. Who the hell knows.

Gold Standard - Again, no info for this year, but if we go by last year we can expect 12 hideously blinged out gold cards for around $150. I think Donald Trump may like these, but probably not very many other people.

So what is the problem you ask? The problem is, Panini doesn't put out anything for the regular joe to collect, and I'm a regular joe. I can barely stomach most of Panini's designs as it is, but when the prices are as high as they are it makes it even worse. The only set I'll be able to buy packs of for sure is HOOPS and MAYBE Past & Present. Won't know on that set until more details come out, but the other 3? No way! I'll try to grab singles here and there, but that's about it. I just don't get high end, I guess. Are there really that many people that blindly throw that kind of money around for hopes of pulling something good? Whatever happened to COLLECTING cards, not buying cards and then hoping to SELL them for a profit? I really feel like that is the only purpose of high end stuff. I want to collect my favorite players and teams but I'd like to have a chance to get more than one card of each guy. This high end stuff, especially something like Preferred where every card is an auto, means most likely, I won't get even ONE card of any player from that set. So that puts me realistically at only being able to get cards from 4 sets this season, and that isn't much variety to keep me interested. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on, but I have to wonder if anyone else is equally frustrated with the state of NBA cards since Panini took over. All I see on Panini's blog when they show new stuff is people gushing over their product so I feel I'm in the minority for sure. I can't wait for their license to end. Pleeeaase NBA bring Topps and Upper Deck back! Well, that's all I got for now. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Go Mavs! Later.

Anyone Wanna Trade Stickers?

2011-10-12T22:50:00.003-05:00

Nobie is getting somewhat close to filling his 2011 MLB sticker album so I told him I'd post a want list. Let me know if you've got anything we need or if you'd like to get a hold of some or our doubles. Later.

This is what we need: 5, 7, 11, 20, 39, 49, 70, 80, 89, 98, 107, 109, 111, 119, 121, 123, 128, 130, 133, 137, 145, 147, 151, 154, 158, 183, 185, 208, 211, 214, 216, 222, 227, 230, 232, 233, 238, 244, 248, 254, 255, 264, 284, 288, 291, 303, 305, 307, 308

This is what we have to trade: 2, 3, 9, 16, 18, 21, 31, 37, 38, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 55, 66, 69, 74, 75, 77, 81, 84, 85, 91, 96, 100, 101, 105, 106, 108, 110, 112, 115, 117, 126, 127, 129, 134, 140, 141, 142, 146, 146, 148, 152, 153, 155, 156, 157, 161, 163, 164, 168, 170, 171, 179, 181, 192, 194, 198, 200, 202, 210, 212, 218, 219, 220, 234, 235, 236, 240, 241, 251, 252, 258, 268, 272, 273, 280, 285, 287, 293, 294, 296, 298, 300, 304, 309

Wanna See Where I Work? A Cubicle Tour.

2011-09-19T22:33:00.012-05:00

Ok, so I said I was gonna mix it up a little so here we go with something a little different. Like a bunch of people in this country, I spend 8 hrs a day in a cubicle. Thankfully, my employer let's us pretty much decorate them however we want. Some of my co-workers have plain Jane cubes, but I wouldn't be able to stand that, so mine's pretty well covered with stuff to break up the monotony. Let's take a look, shall we?

This is the outer wall as you approach my cube. It's sufficiently Mavs championshiped up thanks to the pages of the Dallas Morning News. I'll give you a tour of the interior beginning with the view from in front of my computer and continuing to the left as I spin in my office chair.

The wall behind my cpu has a poster of Devil's Tower in Wyoming which is one of my absolute most favorite places ever. I spent a lot of summers in Wyoming as a kid with relatives and I never go there without visiting the tower. Next to that I've got a Michael Finley Sprite poster. Fin would rank third all-time on my favorite Mavs list. On top of the computer we've got Spidey, Deadpool and Hambone. What a cool superhero team they would make!

Behind my twin monitors (us artists need lots of work space) there is a Mavs team poster from 2008 I believe.

On the left side of my desk sits my scanner which doesn't get used a whole lot anymore, but it does a pretty good job of holding a Rangers schedule, an SI NFL preview issue and an Amazing Spider-man CD of comics that I'm borrowing from a co-worker. On the desk itself is a recent issue of Spider-man and the jug I bring my milk to work in for my morning oatmeal. Yummy, right?

The shelf above the scanner holds photos of the wife and kids along with bobbleheads of Cuban and Dirk. There is also a Smurf for some reason, which was given to me by the same co-worker that loaned me the Spidey CD. Two more Mavs team posters cover the wall behind the shelf.

Here is the only large interior wall of my cube which gives me some room for a couple of full-sized posters of the Mavs and a Humberto Ramos rendition of Spider-man.

As, you walk into my cube there is a pillar on the right with a little room for some full sized movie Spidey and 2 Dirk game giveaway posters.

This is my window to the outside world that I'm lucky to have. Most people in the office don't have one. Another Spidey stands watch on the ledge. On the desktop is a stack of Sports Illustrated, Playstation and SLAM magazines, a plush Snoopy and Spider-man, my fan and an old monitor that doesn't really work anymore. I've also got 2 more of the Mavs giveaway posters featuring the Jet and the Matrix. The orange you see between the desk and wall is the bottom half of a talking Ricky Rudd Nascar Tide standup. His top half is behind the bottom half and out of view. I had to take the batteries out and dismantle him to keep my co-workers from constantly making him talk. I haven't had it together for at least 5 years, but I still remember what he says, "Hi, I'm Nascar driver Ricky Rudd. On the track or off, Tide takes the checkered flag. So remember, if it's got to be clean, it's got to be Tide!" That's how many times that danged button was pushed!

The right side of my desk hold my Mavs water cup, my radio that is constantly tuned to Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket and a sweet poster of Mark Aguirre dunking in his short shorts. This is also where I tack my calendars to keep track of those precious days off.

Finally, the last part of the cube tour is the shelf above my desk on the right. I used to have about 2 paper boxes full of various toys filling my shelves, but with my last cube move I cut it down quite a bit. Now I've just got these few Mighty Muggs figures of Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Wolverine, Black Suit Spider-man and original Spidey. Oh yeah, and a sweet Chewbacca figure that appears to be threatening to blow Spider-man's brains out with his bowcaster.

So there you have it, your own personal tour of my home away from home. I hope it meets your approval. Later.

Why Invincible Really Is "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe"

2011-09-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

With all the comic book pub lately being heaped upon DC for their New 52 #1's and Marvel for their black Spider-man and X-men Schizm, it's easy to forget there are other publishers out there. One of those "others" is Image comics which just happens to be home to my favorite book, Invincible.

Invincible is written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Ryan Ottley and it is "The Best Superhero Book In The Universe!" It says so right on the cover of each issue and I'm here to tell you why.

It's not the action.

It's not the romance.

It's not the crazy super villains.

It's not the hot, alien chicks.

It's not even the brutal beatdowns. No, what makes Invincible "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe" is this...

it got my wife to read it. After all the years I've tried to get her to read a comic, Invincible finally pulled her in. She'll probably kill me for posting this photo, but I love it. Nobie and I came home the other night and she had already fallen asleep reading in bed and what do you know? There she is all snuggled up with an Invincible trade. Awesome! That is simply the clinching reason why Invincible really is "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe". I dare you to prove me wrong. Later.

So, Where Was I?

2011-09-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

So, you're wondering where I was for the last month right? Well, the answer is nowhere. I've been here all along. I just haven't been posting for lack of subject matter/want. See when I started this blog it was to keep up with other collectors and to make trades and such and it's been great for that. The problem is, we just aren't buying all that many cards anymore, especially packs, which means we don't have much to trade. Besides MLB stickers, we haven't bought much of anything. I was posting my singles purchases, but I figured I was pretty much boring everyone with just my Mavs, Rangers and Cowboys stuff. Sorry, that's about all I'm bothering with lately. My last several posts where not even about card collecting sports at all, just soccer though I tried to tie it in with some EPL customs. So I think it's time to retool a little bit. I'm gonna follow my buds TJ and Guy from Obsessive-Recreation and blog on whatever the heck I want to. Maybe cards, maybe comics or music or soccer or whatever. I'm hoping that by broadening my subject matter, I'll be more likely to keep up with it. We'll see. Later.

Don't Worry, I'm Still Alive!

2011-09-14T22:45:00.000-05:00

Some of you were probably beginning to wonder what happened to me. Or maybe not. Anyway, it's been a whole month since I last posted and I didn't want anyone to get worried, so here's proof that I'm okay.

That's me holding the first issue of the all new Ultimate Spider-man featuring Miles Morales in the Spidey suit. It just came out today, so there's your proof. In case you've been out of the loop of comics, this issue is somewhat controversial as Miles is not your typical Spider-man. A while back when it was announced that Peter was gonna die and he'd be replaced by a new Spider-man, all the buzz was about Miles' skin color. That's right folks, he's not white! OMG! First the White House and now our beloved superheroes, what could be next?

Well, guess what? It's no big deal to me what color our new Spidey is. Sure I'd love for Peter to still be around, but not because he's a white guy, he's just familiar. I think the change is pretty cool though. See I don't think superheroes should live forever. I think they should die off, retire, grow disinterested or just altogether quit every once in a while. We don't need 80 year old Bruce Wayne running around trying to still be Batman. He's had plenty of apprentices that can take up the mantel and run with it, or how about this? Create an all new character every once in awhile to replace the departed ones. I kinda wish that's what they would have done here instead of giving Miles the Spider-man name, but I also realize that he wouldn't be getting near the publicity if he was named Arachno-boy or Wonderwebs or something.

Speaking of names and people being too hung up on Miles' skin color, I read a post on a forum somewhere today where someone was complaining about Miles' last name being Morales. They said, "If his dad is black and his mom is Puerto Rican, why does he use his mother's last name when they are married?" They seemed very concerned that a black guy wouldn't have a latino last name. I guess they must not watch very much baseball. Ever hear of David Ortiz for one? Just because his dad is black doesn't mean he can't be Puerto Rican or Dominican or something. Who cares what color his skin is or what his name is, as long as the stories are well written and enjoyable, and so far, it is. In fact, the biggest difference so far between the two Spider-men is not their names or races, it's their powers. **Spoiler Alert** Miles can turn INVISIBLE! Now that's got me interested. Later.

EPL Kickoff! Big D Custom Soccer

2011-08-13T07:33:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd kickoff the soccer season with some fresh customs. Since my man Guy has no team playing to root for today, I'll start with his Everton squad.

First up is USA goalkeeper extraordinaire, Tim Howard.

Next, is pretty boy Mikel Arteta. I think Guy is gonna name his son after this fella if he gets the chance.

For those of you who don't like pretty boys, here is his hot wife instead.

One of Guy's other favorite players is Marouane Fellaini. Whoops, I got my photos mixed up...

here we go, this is the right one.

Captain Canuck is also an avid EPL fan. His favorite team is ManUre. Oops, sorry just a little typo there. ManUtd is his favorite. My bad.

Rio seems like he's been around forever. I miss his braids.

Maybe once Rooney's hair transplant is all grown in, he'll get braids instead.

Nani likes to go by one name and pretend he's from Brazil. He's really from Portugal.

Last buy certainly not least are my Magpies of Newcastle!

Ben Arfa missed almost all of last season due to a double fracture in his leg. I expect great things from him this season.

Even though the back of his jersey says Jonas, he is not the fourth Jonas brother. Jonas is actually his first name as in Jonas Gutierrez.

The final Toon player here is Joey Barton who has done his darndest to get himself shipped out of Newcastle lately, but for now he'll remain on Tyneside.

So, there you go. Are you in the mood for a little association football now? Later.

One More Day!

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is opening day for the EPL. Newcastle will open the season home at St. James Park against Arsenal. These two team met in a classic game last season in which Arsenal jumped out to the lead early and lead at halftime 4-0. I don't know what went down at halftime, but the second half of the game was all Newcastle. The game ended in a 4-4 tie capped off with this goal by Cheik Tiote.

Hopefully tomorrow's game will be just as exciting but end up with a Newcastle win. The Magpies have changed out quite a few players during the offseason and while they didn't really add a superstar with the money from selling Andy Carroll, they did pick up several players that will hopefully fit in nicely. I guess we'll see starting tomorrow! Good luck to you and whoever you root for. Later.

EPL Followers, Let Me Hear From You! State Your Affiliation

2011-08-11T08:39:00.003-05:00

Just kinda curious how many soccer fans are out there amongst us bloggers. Of course, this will only tell me how many there are who also happen to check out my blog, and therefore, won't be all that many, but oh well. In case you can't tell, I'm a Newcastle fan and I'm anxiously awaiting Saturday's game vs. Arsenal. What about you? Later.

Season Kickoff Up In Flames?

2011-08-09T23:06:00.003-05:00

The 2011-12 English Premier League is set to kickoff this Saturday, but at least some of the games could be in jeopardy. Why, you ask? Well, because of a bunch of punk assholes is why.

If you've been up with the recent news in London at all, then you've seen images like this. The town is a mess. All hell has broken loose and the police are having trouble getting it contained. I still can never believe it when I see people treating their own neighborhoods this way. I just don't get it. The riots seem to have started in Tottenham due to the killing of a man by the police last week, but there seem to be plenty of other issues that have the people pissed off. I doubt very seriously that the majority of them even know why they're doing it. They just want to be part of the mob.

I feel bad for all the innocent people who are having their lives torn apart. Hopefully the authorities can get everything under control soon and keep the damage and injuries to a minimum. The EPL is monitoring the situation to decide the safest way to proceed with this weekend's games. Let's hope the thugs decide they'd rather watch a little football than tear up their own neighborhoods some more. Seeing as how Everton is set to begin their season at Tottenham near where the riots started, I know at least one Guy who has his fingers crossed! Later.

Blog Makeover

2011-08-08T22:10:00.002-05:00

I was messing around with the look of my blog the other day and completely lost my old look. I can't figure out how to get it back. I think it was a discontinued template or something. Anyway, I figured it was a good time for an overhaul, so I decided to get ready for the new English Premier League season by going with a Newcastle United theme. What do you think? Later.

I've Got Mine, Do You?

2011-08-08T07:21:00.000-05:00

I just love how that looks! Dallas Mavericks 2011 NBA Champions! Panini put out this nice box set for the Mavs, so I had to get one. I'm not sure if they've done this before, or did they just do it for the hometown Mavs. (Panini's headquarters are down the road in Irving.)

Mavs Big 3, Nowitzki, Kidd & Terry. The set has the same layout for all 18 player and 1 coach card.

Most of the backs show the player posing with their championship trophy. Some of them just show a repeat of the front photo.

All 4 of these guys started at some point during the season and were major factors for the Mavs this season.

These guys were the invaluable role players. Caron of course, was a starte, but missed the second half of the season and the playoffs. Bummer.

This is the Mavs "future". These guys saw very little action for various reasons, but they are the young guys on an old team.

These are the guys you forget were on the team at some time during the year, but they were, so they get a card. Oh yeah, they also managed to squeeze Coach Carlisle into his own card as well. Barely.

Each win in the playoffs also gets it's own card. Here is the first round vs. Portland...

The Round 2 sweep vs. the Lakers...

The Western Conference Finals vs. OKC...

and of course, the Finals win against Miami Thrice.

Rounding out the set is this nice MVP card of the one and only Dirk! Man, I really hope the lockout doesn't ruin the season. I'm gonna miss my Mavs. Later.

Pack Rip - 2011 Score Football

2011-08-05T12:06:00.000-05:00

Score's football release actually came a couple weeks before Topps' did, but I've got them out of order. Oh, Well.

Score's wrappers are better because they've got Tony Romo of America's Team on them and they red, white and blue. What could be more patriotic than that? Let's see what's inside shall we?

These are what the base cards look like. Nice use of team colors and I like that they players are not cut out of the backgrounds this year. The Score logo at the top could be a little smaller, it seems like there is too much white space up there. Overall, though I give the design a thumbs up.

Here are the backs. Not bad, but not great either. Same photo as the front, but we get more than one line of stats, so that's good. Acceptable.

We got 2 rookie cards, one base with a dude in his training gear and one Hot Rookie insert with a player in full uniform. The insert is much better as a result, plus it's got flames! Neat! 7 cards for $.99 is a decent deal for these so Score yourself some packs of Score. Or, try a rack pack. 52 cards for 5 bucks, can't beat that. Later.

Pack Rip - 2011 Topps Football

2011-08-04T18:29:00.006-05:00

I found some brand spanking new Topps football the other day so I grabbed 2 packs. Here's one of them.

Mark Sanchez is this year's wrapper boy and there will be a rookie in every pack! Whoopee! Same wrapper design as baseball, so that's a good sign that what's inside will match too.

Wow, I was right! As you can see same design as baseball, which is fine, cuz it's a good design. The only real difference is the division names at the bottom of the logo circle. These are the veterans we got. Nobody we collect.

Here is the rookies we got. Yeah, I know my grammar is off, but it was on purpose. The pack says we'll get A rookie inside. We got 3 instead. That's too many in my opinion. I couldn't care less about any rookie cards. Most of the rookies never amount to anything in the league, so I just see them as a waste. Plus, I want my football player cards to have guys in football uniforms, not track outfits. I wish they'd go back to the good old days and not have a player's first card come out until the year AFTER they have actually played and shown whether they are worth a damn or not. Rant over.

This is a Bowman mini. Mr. Jennings should not remove his helmet on the field. He'll get a fine.

This is a Bowman rookie card. Blaine if one of the few rookies I've heard of. I have no idea if he'll be any good or not. Since he plays for Jacksonville, I'll guess not. Just for the record the Jags unis suck, the old ones were much better. By the way, when did Jacksonville change their helmets exactly? Didn't they used to be black not metallic dark teal that only look black in certain light? Any Jaguar fans out there that know the answer? Later.

Blowing Up The Lockout - Big D Customs

2011-08-03T08:24:00.000-05:00

I sure hope the doom and gloom of the NBA lockout doesn't come true. I'm totally psyched for this season after coming off of our first championship. Then again, if the season is cancelled, I guess the Mavs will be the first 2 year champs of the NBA. The lockout could even affect Big D customs as there may not be much action to keep me motivated, so enjoy this last basketball set for now. Who knows when the next one will be available.

If the NBA does loose all or part of the season, I guess I'll have to shift more of my attention to Stars hockey. Maybe we'll see the first ever Big D Custom hockey set this fall. Stay tuned! Later.

Am I Lucky Or Is This Normal?

2011-07-26T07:57:00.000-05:00

We haven't bought a whole lot of 2011 Topps baseball, but we do pick up a few packs every so often. Last year we didn't redeem any of the Million Card Giveaway code cards. We traded them away. This year I decided to see what all the hoopla was about especially when I saw the die cut diamond cards. I wasn't really interested in obtaining a bunch of random cards from yesteryear, but the die cuts I'd seen on ebay looked kinda sweet. So I entered in my 7 codes and what do you know. I got 2 die cut diamond cards. Is that normal? I think probably not. Anyway, I was quite excited and immediately set out to trade them away. Here's the deal.

Carlos Quentin and

Vernon Wells. For...

Michael Young and

Kurt Suzuki!

I must say I'm pleased with the trade. 2 dudes I don't care about for 2 of my faves. The die cut cards are pretty cool and look great in photos when the flash hits them. I dare say they are better in photos than in hand unless you get them into the proper light. Now I'm hooked. I need more code cards, though I'm afraid I may have reached my quota. I'm not sure pulling 2 of these things from every 7 code cards is very common. What do you think? Later.

Saturday Morning Cereal - Big D Customs

2011-07-23T08:54:00.003-05:00

As a kid nothing was better than sitting down to some cartoons on a Saturday morning with a big ole bowl of sugary goodness. I loved all the kiddie cereals and Lucky Charms was one of the best. Who am I kidding? I still love all the kiddie cehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifreals and not just on Saturdays! Anyway, this set idea for featuring the green St. Patrick unis came from Hupe Royalty. I know it's a few months since St. Paddy's day, but so what. Lucky Charms are good all year long.

Jose Calderon is lucky he has skills as an MLB umpire in case of a prolonged NBA lockout.

Carmelo's lucky 7 was only sorta lucky, I guess. The Knicks made the playoffs, but were knocked out in 4 by the Celtics.

Derrick Rose's luck led him to the league MVP trophy, though I suppose his skills had a little to do with that too.

That's all I've got for now. I'll let you get back to your bowl of magically delicious marshmallows. Later.

Hey, Hockey Collectors!

2011-07-15T08:28:00.000-05:00

Got any hockey cards you need to get rid of? Little Big D, otherwise known as Nobie, has decided to add hockey to his card collecting. We have very little hockey in the house and what we do have is pretty random from when his older brother Goose was collecting about 5 years ago. Anyway, he has chosen a few players to collect (I'm not sure how he came up with this group exactly) and has a binder all ready. Right now he's only got about 5 or 6 of each guy, so I thought if any of you might want to help a young collector out, I'd put it out there. These are the guys he's latched onto: Mike Modano, Jarome Iginla, Marty Turco, Mike Dunham, Joe Thornton & Mikko Koivu. We'd be willing to trade, though I don't really know if we have much to offer. Or if you'd like to make a straight donation, that would be fine too. After all, children are our future. Whitney says so! Later.

Back To Back Baseball

2011-06-27T08:10:00.001-05:00

So after a couple months of basketball only content, I've actually got 2 baseball posts in a row! Here are a few more single pickups of some of our favorites.

I really enjoy Topps' Opening Day set. It's got a lot going for it though it isn't perfect. It really needs to have an altogether different design than the Flagship set, then it would be perfect. The main things I like about it are the price and the inserts. They're just more fun, like these 3D Opening Day Stars cards.

This, I believe, is a black diamond Josh Hamilton that is from the Topps wrapper redemption program. I didn't redeem any wrappers, but someone did, then they sold it to me. These cards are pretty nice.

Here are a few more just like it that I picked up on ebay. I don't know how many wrappers it takes to get a set, but I'm pretty sure we don't buy enough packs to pull it off anyway, so ebay is a nice option for us. Plus, I can just pick and choose who I want and don't have to bother with storing a bunch of stuff I don't really want anyway. It's a win win situation. Though it does leave me short of trading material. Oh well. This officially ends our two post baseball interlude. We will now be returning you to some irregularly scheduled basketball posts. Later.

Back to Baseball - First Kurts of the Season

2011-06-25T09:54:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted about anything besides basketball. Besides customs, I haven't posted about much period, so here's a little baseball for you. If you're looking for variety though, it ain't here. This post is Kurt specific.

First up is a nice green refractor from Topps Heritage. The green border goes quite nicely with the A's uni colors. This was an ebay pickup as I have bought maybe 2 total packs of Heritage this year. I've pretty much only grabbed singles of the dudes we collect from Sportlots.

Also, from ebay I nabbed this sparkly diamond edition of Kurt's Topps card for this year. I actually don't even have the regular old version yet, though I'm sure it'll show up eventually. Later.

Base Set Take 2 - Big D Customs

2011-06-24T07:49:00.004-05:00

Before I get back to insert posts, here's another base set concept. I believe I have now officially made a custom of at least 1 guy from every team in the league. Stay tuned for more customs soon. Later.

Big D Gets NBA LIcense!

2011-06-22T22:39:00.004-05:00

Don't I wish. Anyway, if I did, here's an idea for a flagship base set. Later.

Here's To The Little Guys - Big D Customs

2011-06-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

Basketball is usually known as a sport for big guys. When you're tall everyone assumes you play basketball. I'm 6'6" and I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if I play basketball in my life. In the general public I'm usually the tallest guy around, but in the NBA, I'd be pretty average sized, probably a 2 guard. So here's a tribute to some of the smaller guys in the league. The guys who somehow pull of some incredible moves that make you elbow your buddy and say, Dude, did you see that?

Stephen Curry runs the show for the Warriors and along with his running mate Monta Ellis provides some pretty exciting offense.

I like Aaron Brooks and think he could start for a lot of teams. Right now though, he has to settle for being Steve Nash's backup.

J.J. I think shocked just about everyone around the country with his postseason play. Those of us in Dallas that have seen him all season, though, knew he had something to contribute and boy did he! He was a big factor in the Mavs run to the championship. Way to go, J.J! Here's to you and all the little guys in the NBA. Later.

MAVS WIN! MAVS WIN! MAVS WIN!

2011-06-12T23:13:00.001-05:00

I can hardly believe it! This is the greatest day in my sports fan life! I don't know what else to say. Later.

Ready for Game 5! Let's Go Mavs!

2011-06-09T08:40:00.002-05:00

The Mavs last chance to win at home is tonight in game 5 and if they pull it off, they'll be up 3 games to 2. So far, the series has been pretty thrilling and I'm sure tonight will be more of the same. Here are a few recent Dirk pickups to get you in the mood.

This is a clear plexiglass card from the UD Glass set. It's much thicker than a normal card and the little squares are actully holes in the card. Pretty sweet.

This next card is from Panini's most recent basketball release Classics. I really like the color combo of the blue jersey swatch with the bright yellow. It looks especially nice since the Mavs blue matches the blue text on the card, whereas teams with say purple or green or somesuch tend to clash a little.

Up next is a somewhat shiny Hoopla Dirk from Absolute. Of course, Panini left plenty of blank space for the jersey and sticker auto variations.

This card is my first foray into eTopps. I picked it up on ebay for cheap and was pretty impressed when it came in the mail. It's nice and shiny and sealed up in a special case. It can't go in my Dirk binder like this, so I'll probably let it out at some point.

Finally, we have a Stargazing insert, also from Absolute. There are also jersey versions of this, but I prefer the base since the team logo fills more area than the small circle hole does.

That's all I got for now. Be sure to tune in for game 5 tonight and cheer the Mavs to victory! Later.

Not Playing With A Full Deck!

2011-06-07T23:17:00.003-05:00

Well Dirk was clearly not himself tonight, but he managed to struggle through a 101 degree fever and put up a pretty good game. Fortunately, his supporting cast showed up tonight and the Mavs managed to tie the series at 2 games each with the Heat. Hopefully, Dirk will be back to 100% by game 5.

Speaking of not 100%, I picked up a few Dirk playing cards, one from each of 4 different decks. That leaves me with about 98% to go for each set to get a complete deck.

This is what the backs look like. One of the sets commemorates the All Star game the year it was held in Phoenix. The other 3 are just regular sets. As far as I can tell, they are all Chinese decks.

Here you can see the fronts. While these aren't sports cards in the traditional sense, I like them because they are something different to add to the collection. It would be nice to eventually get full decks, but pretty expensive unless I can find whole decks for sale somewhere. At $2 per card, the cost would add up pretty quickly. Anyway, the Finals so far have been awesome, though I wish the Mavs would get up early and stay up for once. This come from behind business needs to stop. Go Mavs! Later.

Anything Boys Can Do... - Big D Customs

2011-06-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

So the WNBA turns 15 tomorrow. Who woulda thunk it? While I am by no means a follower of the league, I have been known to watch a few minutes here and there for a little basketball fix during the summer. It's nowhere near as entertaining as the NBA but I do think it has it's place in the sports world. Little girls need sports heroes to look up to as much as the guys do and the WNBA is by far the most stable of women's leagues in this country. So to honor the anniversary, here are a few cards of some lovely bball playin' ladies.

I don't know a whole lot about Penny other than she's not an American, but she is an All-Star, wears the number 13 and plays in Phoenix. I guess she's the female, Australian Steve Nash.

I remember first seeing Jayne when she played for Stanford. I thought she was basketball hot. So there you go.

Abi here is the daughter of one of my all time faves. The Dream himself Hakeem Olajuwon. I guess she was traded to Indiana from Chicago. She's pretty cute too when she's all dolled up, though I feel a little weird being attracted to her, since she looks just like her dad!

Anyway, once the NBA Playoffs are done, check out the lady ballers! It's really not THAT bad! Later.

Twinkle Twinkle - Big D Customs

2011-06-01T08:22:00.001-05:00

Well game 1 didn't go as I'd hoped, but there's still plenty of time. Here's my newest set featuring 2 dudes who are still playing and one who is not.

I can't stand Kobe, but he is star & a stud.

Same for Wade, though I liked him a lot more before this whole decision thing. And before 2006.

No hate for Dirk. Just pure love. Isn't he dreamy? C'mon Dirk, ya gotta win a title for ME! Please! Later.

Every Team's Gotta Have One - Big D Customs

2011-05-28T08:48:00.000-05:00

Every team's got that one player that the whole team revolves around. That's the idea behind this set. I'm not sure Prince is that guy for the Pistons, necessarily, but that's who I picked anyway.

I've been toying with the idea of making 9 cards sets like my pal Mike over at Hupe Royalty instead of only 3 like I normally do. The drawback is I probably won't be able to make as many new designs because of more time spent on each. So what do you think? Would you rather see more 3 card sets, or fewer 9 card sets? Later.

High Flyin' - Big D Customs

2011-05-27T08:24:00.001-05:00

Some day I'll get back around to posting about something else, but right now I'm having too much fun making customs. Check out the newest batch. Hope you like them. Later.

Back To The Finals, Baby!

2011-05-26T00:36:00.002-05:00

Well, were finally back, so I gave the blog a makeover to commemorate it. Hope you like the new look. I had to watch on major delay due to Nobie baseball and the wife needing to see American Idol first, but it was worth the wait. Now it's time for bed. Later.

Here's The Rest of Them - Big D Customs

2011-05-25T08:13:00.001-05:00

Here are the rest of the cards I designed while coming up with my entries for the contest over at Hupe Royalty.

The contest ends today, so if you haven't voted yet please head on over and vote! For me! Later.

Anyone Hungry? - Big D Customs

2011-05-20T08:09:00.001-05:00

Well, the Mavs have got me kinda bummed with the loss last night, so I had to post something kinda fun. Hopefully these will put a smile on your face too!

Big Baby seems to think the ball is a cheeseburger here.

I can't talk about Perkins and OKC right now.

I think Marc is enjoying a cheeseburger mid game!

These were a lot of fun to create and I really like how the diecut turned out. Personally, I think it's one of my best designs so far. Let me know what you think of them and sorry if I made anyone hungry! Later.

I'm In A Contest!

2011-05-19T08:46:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, Mike over at Hupe Royalty is running a contest between some of us custom card designers. You can see my entries below. How's about running over to his site and putting in a few votes for me if you like them (Hopefully, Mike has my entries up. If not check back in a bit). Later.

Bombs Away Redo

2011-05-18T21:46:00.003-05:00

I've tweaked my Bombers design a little bit. I decided to brighten the green a bit and add a cloud background rather than just plain white to fill the knockout space in the 3. Here's what it looks like.

This was the original design.

Which one do you like better? Later.

Bombs Away! - Big D Customs.

2011-05-17T08:09:00.000-05:00

This next set features guys who'll drop a 3 on ya from time to time.

Bonner might seem like an odd choice, since he's no superstar, but he did lead the league in 3pt percentage this season.

Ray Allen is a natural choice since he is now the all time leader in 3pt shots made.

If you saw the Mavs last game against the Lakers then you know why JET is here. I thought I'd use a different pose than him shooting, just for some variety.
Later.

Dunkin' On Your Punkin' Head! - Big D Customs

2011-05-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a set of guys who like to dunk on other dudes.

Notice I used one of the Wizards new logos. I have to say, their new unis and logos are a big improvement in my opinion.

Blake is the NBA's Dunker... whoops, I mean, Rookie of the Year.

I sure hope the Mavs resign Chandler. I'd rather have him dunking FOR us than ON us!
Later.

This One's Mine, Get Your Own! - Big D Customs

2011-05-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

Here's another themed set for you to take a look at. This one features the dudes who really crash the boards, and they don't like to share!

As always, your comments are welcome. Later.

Get That $#!+ Outta Here! - Big D Customs

2011-05-11T22:24:00.000-05:00

I've been on a bit of a design kick lately. Here's another set for your enjoyment based on shotblockers.

Stay tuned for another set tomorrow. Later.

It's Been Awhile. New Big D Customs.

2011-05-11T08:28:00.000-05:00

Here's an idea for a die cut insert set of some of the game's greatest passers. What do you think of them? Later.

Returning A Shout Out.

2011-05-10T21:52:00.002-05:00

Michael over at Hupe Royalty gave me a shout out on his blog, so I'm returning the favor. He makes some really cool custom basketball cards, so swing by his site and check them out. Later.

Now That's What I Call An Ass Kicking!

2011-05-08T21:00:00.005-05:00

Sorry, I really don't have much more to say. Adios, Lakers! Later.

Mavs up, 2-Doh! on the Lakers! Woo Hoo!

2011-05-06T08:23:00.002-05:00

Wow! Can you believe it? I can't actually, though I'm lovin' it. So far the series with the Lakers has been awesome, but I've learned over the years to not count my chickens before they're hatched, when it comes to my beloved Mavs. I've had my sports heart broken too many times already. Here's hopin' they can keep it up when they come back to Dallas. Here are a few Mavs cards from the recently released Classics set.

Dirk has been the man so far in this series, but what did you expect. Even Sir Charles can't stop gushing about him this year, he's fully on the bandwagon. Took him long enough to get there. In Chuck's words, Dirk really has been unguardable so far.

Dirk can't do it alone, though, and this guy is probably the second most important piece this year. Tyson brings the toughness the Mavs have lacked and I've seen more finished alley-oops this year than every other Mavs season combined, I think. He's a beast!

I feel kinda sorry for Caron being left out of the fun. Hopefully if the Mavs make it to the finals, he'll be able to get a little time. He's been rehabbing like a mad man.

Ian, on the other hand is not likely to see any time unless Chandler and Haywood are in bigtime foul trouble. It's kinda weird that he's even in this set considering there are only 4 Mavs included. What about Jason Kidd?

Lastly, I also picked up this nice Dirk relic with a sweet blue swatch. I really like the contrast of the yellow and blue.

So game three is tonight in Dallas and I can't wait. I'm just glad tomorrow is Saturday. These games ending at 12:30 are rough when you gotta get up for work at 5:00. It's been well worth it though! Later.

The Other New Baseball Release. 2011 Topps Attax

2011-04-30T08:43:00.000-05:00

I have yet to see any Gypsy Queens in my area. I'm not even sure there is going to be a retail release. I'm assuming there will be, but you know what they say about assuming. So while I was in Target yesterday, something else caught my eye. A fresh feeder box of 2011 Topps Attax. It's new, so I had to give it a try. I grabbed one pack.

Well, here they are. Quite a bit different than last year. They look even more like a gaming card this season as they have a little more info on the front in the bottom portion. They also have rounded corners. In fact, they remind me a lot of Pokemon cards.

I actually like the look of these with what I thought at first was a bright sunset on each card, but upon closer inspection looks more like a flaming wild pitch streaking behind the player. If you look closely you can see the crowd in the background, so it isn't sky after all. The Minute Maid Park card is actually a shiny foil, though it's hard to tell in the scan.

I do wish the bottom portion could be a little more transparent. I think the white takes away from the overall photo a bit too much, but hey, this is a game after all and I guess you need to be able to read the info. Anyway, I don't think I'll be buying too much of this, though I may grab a few for our player collections. So there you go. It's not gypsies, but it is new. Later.

Thank You Mavs! I'll Sleep Easier Tonight!

2011-04-29T00:17:00.002-05:00

Boy am I glad that Dirk can hit free throws. Bring on the Lakers! Later.

Sportlots "Pack" 6

2011-04-28T20:17:00.003-05:00

While flipping through my Dirk binder a while back, the design of one of his cards caught my eye. It was an 02 Fleer Genuine card. I then checked my Finley binder to see if I had one of him. I didn't. In fact, I didn't have one of any of the other guys I collect, so off to Sportlots I went.

I really like the design of this set with the hardwood look and the full color players popping out of the black & white background. I picked up 9 cards total including a sweet Tyson Chandler for my newest player collection. Tyson has been an awesome pickup for the Mavs this season and he's got some pretty nice cards so I decided to start collecting him a little. Hopefully he'll resign with the Mavs in the off season and be around for a while.

Next up is a Dirk and a Kirilenko I didn't already have. They are also Fleer Genuine cards, but I don't remember which year they are from. I really miss Fleer, they put out some pretty cool stuff in their day.

These last 4 cards are all additions to the Michael Finley collection. What I really like about these is that he's in his Mavs uni and not the Spurs. Speaking of Spurs, I can't believe they won that game last night! Well, that's all for now. Just 45 minutes until game 6 between the Mavs and Blazers. Let's close it out tonight boys! Let's Go Mavs! Later.

Hangin' In The Rafters.

2011-04-27T08:20:00.001-05:00

The Dallas Mavericks are still a relatively young team. They were established in 1980 and as a result, don't have a whole lot of banners hanging from their rafters yet. They should have a championship banner from 2006, but that's another story. What they do have is a couple of retired numbers, though there should be a third already and will soon, unfortunatley, have a forth.Here are some cards I've picked up recently regarding the Mavs retired numbers.

The first number retired by the Mavs was the #15 of Brad Davis. Many around here question that choice, but I'm okay with it. Brad was a big part of the early success of the team and he's still a part of the franchise today, doing color commentary for the tv broadcasts.

The second retired Mav is Rolando Blackman. His #22 hangs beside Brad's #15. I don't know anyone who has any problem with Ro's number being retired. He was an All-Star and is the Mavericks 2nd leading scorer of all time. Like Brad, Rolando works with the Mavs on tv during the Pre and Post-game shows.

The player who should be the third jersey hanging in the rafters, is Mark Aguirre. To me his #24 belongs up there since he was this team's first dominant player. He was a multiple All-Star and led the team in scoring while he was here. He now sits in third place on the Mavericks all-time scoring list.

The jersey that doesn't currently hang in the rafters but (too)soon will is, of course, the #41 of Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk is the team's all time scorer, has been an all-star many times and also has been a league MVP. Without a doubt, the greatest player in Mavs history. I just can't believe he's only got a few years left. Where has the time gone?

So what about you? How's your favorite team's rafter situation looking? Later.

Nod Your Head If You Love The Playoffs!

2011-04-21T17:15:00.002-05:00

I'm noddin' my head are you? What I don't love are these late night west coast starts. Mavs & Blazers won't tip until at least 9:30 our time tonight, which means it will be a late one. I'm pumped though. Hopefully the Mavs will play as well in Portland as they have so far in Dallas. Since it's playoff time, I figure it's time to unleash these bad boys.

I picked these up at a couple of the Mavs bobblehead nights this season. Portland figures to be a tough opponent tonight, especially on their home court, so the Mavs might just need to unleash their ultimate weapon. He's had a pretty good series so far, though he hasn't shot particularly well. He may need to step it up a notch tonight though, so get ready for...

SUPERDIRK! Wait, he already cut his hair this season. Let's try that again...

SUPERDIRK! There, that's more like it. In a perfect world, Dirk and the rest of the Mavs will wrap this thing up in two more games, but that realistically is not likely. Even just one win on the road would be great. I just hope that they play well no matter what and provide plenty of thrilling moments so that we get plenty of chances to see this...

overzealous Mavs owner Mark Cuban going nuts. I love it when he gets so over-the-top excited. Pure greatness! Anyway, whoever you root for, have fun watching. I know I will. Later.

Because I've Got To Post Something, Right? 2010 -11 Absolute Basketball

2011-04-14T09:44:00.000-05:00

Dang, another week gone by since my last post. Where does the time go? Sometimes I guess better things to do and a little writers block will do a number on the posting frequency. What's the point of having a blog though if there aren't any new posts to read, so here ya go.

This is a rack pack of 2010-11 Panini Absolute Memorabilia. It's quite shiny. I don't actually have a lot to say. I like the design okay, glad to see some team colors on the front. The backs are typical Panini fare, but they're pretty nice. This pack had 22 cards for what I thought was $4.99. When I got to the Target checkout however, they rang up $6.99. I politely asked if that was right, I could have swore the peg said $4.99. I started to go back and check, but the lady said, Don't worry about it. I'll charge the $4.99. Sweet! I wouldn't have gotten them for $6.99.

Anyway, nothing incredibly special. We picked up a few dudes for our player collections, but that's about it. There were 2 inserts. Here they are.

Bynum & Malone. I think these are rack pack only inserts, but I'm not positve about that. I actually think it's a pretty cool, simple design with the solid color background and the white/black boxes at the bottom. The current day players would be a lot neater with a less "posed" photo, but oh well. So there you go. A post for the sake of posting post. Gotta keep the blog alive. Later.

Quite An Assortment: Sportlots "Pack" 5

2011-04-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

I guess this would be more like 2 packs rather than one, since I picked up 22 cards this time. Or maybe it's a rack pack. Either way, every card is one I want, and that's what makes buying singles so great.

This first bunch comes from 2010-11 Rookies & Stars, but there are no rookies here. Just stars and a retired guy. Caron was the last Mav I needed and I actually ended up with 2 Blackmans, as I got another in a trade while these were in the mail. Oh, well.

The next bunch comes from last year's Studio set. I still think Panini used some of their best photos in this set for the backgrounds where you can barely see them. The Kevin Love Skylines is from a cool insert set, that I wouldn't mind building one day.

The last portion,we'll call it the bottom half of the rack pack, it quite a mishmash of stuff. There's a Bowman Love, a significantly less tattooed Birdman, a Monta SPx from a few years back and 2 Skybox Mavs from 2008. I also picked up a Marc Gasol, Nash ticket, David Lee Hardcourt Hero and a mini Mark Aguirre Murad. Now is that a grab bag of fun or what? Later.

Update My Threads: Sportlots "Pack" 4

2011-04-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

Here we are with another installment of custom "packs" from Sportlots. This pack consists mainly of 2009-10 Panini Update and 2010-11 Panini Threads.

I still have never seen these cards for sale in packs anywhere. I had ordered the Mavs team set awhile back, so now I just needed to pick up singles of the dudes we collect. I mean, I collect. They're all for me except for the Durant which is one of Nobie's guys.

I also added 3 new Threads cards, a Roddy B insert from Season Update and a Topps Treasury of David Lee from a couple seasons ago. Sorry, I don't have alot to say this post. I'll just keep it short and sweet. Later.

NBA Sticker Traders, Listen Up!

2011-04-02T10:28:00.004-05:00

For those of you also filling up your Panini 2010-11 NBA Sticker Album, here is a list of our needs and doubles. Hit us up if you'd like to trade.

WE NEED: Pending in Red - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 28, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49, 51, 57, 58, 59, 60, 65, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 103, 104, 105, 106, 109, 111, 116, 121, 123, 126, 129, 130, 133, 134, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 159, 161, 163, 167, 168, 171, 173, 175, 179, 180, 181, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 204, 209, 211, 212, 214, 217, 220, 221, 222, 224, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 233, 236, 238, 241, 242, 245, 246, 247, 249, 253, 256, 258, 260, 261, 262, 265, 268, 269, 271, 275, 276, 279, 281, 282, 283, 285, 288, 292, 293, 298, 302, 303, 305, 306, 307, 310, 313, 315, 316, 320, 321, 323, 324, 325, 328, 330, 337, 347, 349, 350, 351, 354, 355, 358, 362, 364, 365, 367, 368, 369, 371, 375, 378

DOUBLES FOR TRADE: Pending in Green - 14, 22, 23, 30, 32, 41, 45, 46, 47, 55, 56, 61, 79, 82, 95, 102, 107, 108, 113, 114, 125, 131, 135, 137, 141, 156, 158, 165, 166, 172, 178, 184, 201, 215, 218, 219, 227, 239, 240, 243, 248, 254, 259, A259, 273, 274, 277, 278, 287, 290, 296, 297, 300, 308, 309, 312, 322, 326, 329, 332, 336, 339, 342, 343, 348, 352, 353, 359, 360, 366, 370, 374, 376, 377

9 Reasons I Won’t Be Buying Anymore Packs of Heritage

2011-04-01T10:07:00.002-05:00

I like the idea of Topps Heritage, I really do. I even like the wood border design of this year’s set though I know it’s not a favorite of a lot of people. When the feeder box of 2011 Heritage showed up at my local Target I was instantly excited and couldn’t decide how many packs I should grab. I eventually settled on purchasing one and boy am I glad that’s all I bought. Here are the 9 reasons I won’t be buying anymore packs of Heritage.

9 cards. 3 bucks. 0 interest. Wow, that’s completely underwhelming. Based on this pack and many others I’ve seen on other blogs, my interest in buying random packs has been depleted. Like I said, I like the cards and there are many that I want, but the complete lack of star power is a total turn off. That and the fact that favorite players of ours like Elvis Andrus are shortprinted means we’d probably never pull them in a pack anyway. So, you know what that means, right? Hello Sportlots. Later.

Opening Day for Opening Day

2011-03-31T18:04:00.002-05:00

Opening Day is here! Real, live, meaningful baseball is once again in the air. To commemorate the day I’ve got a pack of 2011 Topps Opening Day for you. This is actually the first pack of Opening Day I bought a few weeks ago. Turns out it’s the perfect pack for the first day of the season due to the 2 inserts I got. The Swinging Friar and the Padres… Versus Prince Albert and the Cardinals.

Not only is today’s matchup a perfect pairing of baseball card inserts, it’s also significant in my own personal baseball upbringing. As many of you know, I am a Texas Rangers fan first and foremost. I’ve now lived in the DFW area for 23 of my 41 years, so the conversion is complete. For all practical purposes, I’m a Texan. I’ve been to many games at the Ballpark in Arlington and even Arlington Stadium before that. But guess where I saw my first MLB game ever. You guessed it (or maybe you didn’t.), Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. I was born in San Diego and lived there until I was 6 when we moved to Illinois. We lived there until I started high school and guess where we went when we had that craving for a little MLB action. That’s right, Busch Stadium in St. Louis. So I’ve definitely got a soft spot for both the Padres and Cardinals, but the Rangers is where my true loyalties lie. Let’s hope this season is as good or even better than the last one.

Oh, and here’s the rest of the pack in case you were wondering. Though you probably weren’t. Later.

Now With More Molecules!

2011-03-28T08:00:00.002-05:00

Any other Adrenalyn fans out there? Something about the name of Panini's trading card game reminds me of the movie Idiocracy. I guess it's the funky spelling with an XL on the end. Kinda like the Big Ass Taco from Carl's Jr. in the movie, needlessly over the top.

Anyway, we are well on our way to filling up our Adrenalyn XL album. We’ve got quite a few doubles for trade if anyone else out there needs any. Here are 5 more recent packs we’ve opened.

Pack 1. Everyone’s favorite Irishman, Shaquille O’Neal and the greatest Australian since Chris Anstey, Andrew Bogut. (Chris Anstey is an inside Mavericks joke, I may be the only one laughing.)

Pack 2. Kobe has probably my favorite pose in the set, while Najera is the exact opposite. I can’t believe the Mavs traded Kris Humphries away for Najera last year. Dumb.

Pack 3. I’m not too familiar with any of these guys besides Rudy and Caron. Pops has a funny name though, so that counts for something.

Pack 4. Nash and Aldridge are the best players here. The Blazers scare me a little if we have to play them in the playoffs. A little.

Pack 5. Williams & Wade would make an awesome backcourt or maybe a law firm. It sounds good either way.

There you go, 5 fresh packs of Adrenalyn XL to get your juices flowing. Later.

In Your Face! Sportlots "Pack" 3

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Here's another intense installment of Sportlots custom "packs". It just so happened that this particular seller had several cards of interest with a little more action than usual. They are mostly inserts from recent sets.

I picked out these 2 Jam Masters cards for Nobie's player collection. I didn't actually know what they looked like (due to no photos on Sportlots) before I ordered them, but I must say I was pretty pleased. These are actually really cool and unlike most of Panini's inserts they are designed without auto & relic parallels in mind. See, they can do it!

This Rejected! set comes from Upper Deck First Edition last year. Being a big man myself, I love a good swat as much as anyone. While Damp and Birdman both are capable of their fair share of blocks, they are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the flair in which they do it. I don't think Dampier and flair have ever been used in the same sentence before.

Pau is a great all around player. He could be featured in both of the above sets. See, I've got proof. He can dunk and block shots. It seems Panini and Upper Deck had the same idea for their inserts, here they are just reversed with the Slam Dunk set from UD First Edition and the Block Party set from Panini.

These next 2 cards feature JET about to shoot a 3 in your eye also from UD First Edition and AK47 swattin' the shot of some poor Warrior fool. I could probably do some research and find out who that is, but why bother. It's the Warriors. (I think it might actually be Cliff Robinson, but again, who cares?)

The last 2 cards are the most action packed of all! Okay, so not really, but they came from the same seller and order, so I included them. David Lee lookin' like he's about to jump over some sort of steeplechase obstacle and Aaron Brooks posing for his junior high bball team photo. Something about his jersey looks oversized to me just like they all seem to be in jr high. So, there you have it, another fresh "pack" from Sportlots. Later.

He Could Have Been A Dodgeball God!

2011-03-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

With the lockout in full effect for who knows how long, NFL players may be forced to find work elsewhere. Apparently, John Elway had that same concern back in the day. Check out this card I got in a package from Adam of Thoughts and Sox.

John appears to be warming up his throwing arm with a dodgeball (or maybe it’s actually a basketball?). Scary, isn’t it? Can you imagine the extreme pain you would feel as John pegs you in the thigh just below you tiny gym shorts or maybe upside your head? I think you’d literally be seeing stars and little birdies spinning around your noggin. I think John would have made a perfect dodgeball player with his cannon of an arm and his incredible scrambling abilities. He would have been awesome!

Along with this card, Adam sent several more Elways including these…

And these. Many of these are new to the collection and greatly appreciated.

Not only that, but he sent my first Elway poker chip. I think it's worth $200, at least that's what it's marked. Nice, huh?

Besides the Elways, I also got a couple of Dan Fouts cards to add to the collection. I think Dan could have been pretty good at dodgeball too and his beard makes him a little more menacing as well. Thanks for the great cards Adam. Later.

NBA Sticker Explosion!

2011-03-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Panini catches a lot of flak for some of their card designs, but if there is one thing they seem to know how to do right it’s sticker albums. Panini recently released their NBA sticker album, so Nobie snatched one up as soon as he could. The stickers come 8 to a pack for $1. Here are 5 packs for your viewing pleasure.

Pack 1 starts off with a shiny Amar’e. Each team features one player on a foil sticker. The next 4 stickers are the base player stickers, Martin, Stuckey, Westbrook and our first Mav Roddy B. The Gallinari is an example of the one per team “international” player sticker. I put “international” in quotes because some teams feature a guy from the U.S., Lebron for example. I’m not sure he counts as an “international” player. The last 2 are rookie stickers. These go in the back of the book in the draft picks section.

Pack 2 gave us base stickers of McDyess, Ridnour, Billups, Anthony and Stuckey again. Avery Bradley is the rookie and Andres Nocioni the “international” player. The Rockets sticker is interesting. These are actually fabric stickers split into 3 parts. The large logo goes on the team page and the jerseys go in the front of the book for a division breakdown. The smaller logo, according to the instruction in the album, is for you to stick on binders, lunch boxes, dressers or wherever else you may want.

Pack 3 includes base stickers for Arthur, Maggette, Brewer, Hill, Bell & Billups again. We also got another Demarcus Cousins and a Darko “international”.

Pack 4 had base of West, Butler, Griffin, Bayless and Belinelli. The Aaron Brooks is a Team/League Leaders sticker. There is usually one of these per team page as well. The NBA Europe Live sticker commemorates the NBA’s trip to Europe this year, there is a page for these in the back. We also got another Nocioni.

The last pack was the best because we got FOIL DIRK! There were also base Bosh, Krstic & Hill and 2 Leaders stickers of Williams and Duncan. The Kobe sticker goes into a 2 page spread featuring Kobe’s many finals appearances and we wrap it all up with an “international” Varejao.

I plan on putting up a want/trade list for this album soon, so if any of you out there are also collecting these things (Madding??), let me know and maybe we can swap a few. I’ll also always welcome any Mavs or other players we collect, if you’ve got doubles to spare. I highly recommend picking one of these up if you like hoops at all. Like I said earlier, Panini knows what they’re doing with these things. Later.

Sportlots "Pack" #2

2011-03-15T23:30:00.003-05:00

I don't go to my local card store all that often and even when I do, they don't tend to have much new in the way of basketball packs. I've never even seen a pack of Absolute Memorabilia or Crown Royale in person, but thanks to the greatness of Sportlots I recently picked up a "pack" of each.

The Absolute pack contained a Birdman, KLove, Aaron Brooks and the remaining Mavs from the set besides Dirk, which I already had. I also got a Monta Ellis Stargazing insert. I really like this insert set, though I wish the player was larger and filled more of the space. But then where would you put the swatch on the relic parallel, right?

Crown Royale was one of my favorite sets from last year. I really like the gaudiness of the design with the foil crown and the checkered background. The use of team color also makes the cards look great even if it goes against Panini's usual design trend. The only one I had though was Dirk, so I went for the rest of the Mavs and a few other favorites. I hope Panini brings this set back again this year, though I wish it was priced better. If it was, I might actually grab a pack, if not, there's always Sportlots. Later.

A Panini Slam Dunk!

2011-03-14T09:53:00.000-05:00

Since Panini became the exclusive holder of the NBA trading card license, things have been pretty hit or miss. If there's one thing Panini has managed to get right though, it's this...

Stickers! We finally found them at the local Walmart and grabbed 10 packs of stickers and an album. Nobie stuck all the stickers inside right away, so I didn't get to scan any, but we'll get more and I'll post some soon. In the meantime, run on out and getcha one for yourself. Later.

I Like the Quarter Box.

2011-03-11T09:48:00.000-06:00

The local card shop I frequent has 25 cent boxes for baseball, football and basketball. If you buy enough cards, the price drops down to 18 cents per card. I like discounts.

Reggie likes trash talk.

Big Gasol likes rings.

Little Gasol likes beards.

K Love likes double doubles.

These guys like retirement.

David likes free agency.

AK47 likes hair extensions.

Superman likes self promotion.

Monta likes tatoos.

Did I mention I like the quarter box? Later.

Heaven Sent.

2011-03-09T22:10:00.004-06:00

Wow, another week since the last post. Where does all the time go? Since the wife is asleep early tonight and not using her laptop for teacher duties, I figured I'd steal it so that I can post and watch the Mavs at the same time. If my desktop was where I could post and watch tv at the same time, I might be more likely to post a little more regularly. Maybe I can get a few future posts done tonight, while I have this rare chance to multitask. This week's post features another package from Cameron at Cardboard Heaven.

First up is the Playmaker! This is a pretty cool card. I like the finish of these cards, not really shiny, but not dull either. It reminds me of stainless steel. I also think it's cool because of Mike's eyes. He's about to make the catch, but his eyes appear to be mapping his path to the endzone already. Or maybe he drops it after all, since he took his eyes off the ball. We'll probably never know.

Here we've got some Ranger prospects that I'm not too familiar with. The only one I've really seen play is Mitch Moreland who did a good job at first in the last portion of the regular season and in the playoffs. We'll see what he can do with a chance for a full season this year.

Cam also sent a few shiny Cowboys including my favorite current Cowboy Jason Witten. I really hope the Cowboys can turn it around this year, assuming there is going to be a this year!

These 3 guys are former Rangers. Well, for now anyway, Michael is still a Ranger, but we'll see. Personally I hope he stays.

Another Witten and a couple of Romos. I really like the Magic cards this year, though I bought only 1 pack. For some reason I just wasn't really into football cards this season. Maybe it was because the Cowboys sucked.

The last 5 cards are all 2011 Topps featuring the defending AL Champion Texas Rangers. Man, that still sounds kinda weird! Hopefully they'll be able to put together another great season and make it back to the World Series again. We can only hope, right? Thanks for the newest batch of cards Cameron. I owe ya. Later.

Sportlots "Pack" #1

2011-03-01T23:45:00.004-06:00

Most of you, I'm sure, have heard of Sportlots by now. It's a great place to buy singles or what I like to call Sportlots Packs. Whenever a new set comes out, I'll usually buy a few packs to get a feel for the set. After that though, I start to get tired of pulling a bunch of cards of guys I don't care about. Some are good for trades, but I still end up stuck with a lot of extras. That's why I like Sportlots. I can get on there and pick out a "pack" of cards where every card is one I want. What I do is find a seller that has 10 -15 or so cards priced around .18 cents a piece, put them in my cart and once shipping is added the total cost is usually between $3 - $5. A few days later I get my custom "pack" in the mail for roughly the same cost as any pack I could buy at a card shop. Sure I don't really get any "hits" for that price, but I don't care. When I have pulled a "hit" from anything in the past, it's rarely been of a player that I collect anyway. So what did I get this time? Let's take a look.

All the cards I got were from 2010-11 Panini Prestige. First up is an Old School Rolando Blackman from this season's Prestige. I only bought a few packs of these as I'm not a huge fan of the base card design. I really wanted this Blackman though as soon as I saw one, so I could either keep buying packs hoping get one, or go to Sportlots. Which I did. It sure would be a much nicer card though if Panini would have made the Mavs logo larger and filled up the white space instead of leaving it blank for the inevitable jersey swatch parallel.

The next card is of injured Mav Caron Butler. Panini did a much better job with the empty space on these Stars of the NBA cards. I hope Caron can make it back in time for the playoffs.

Jason Kidd appears on two cards. A Playmakers and a Stat Stars, which you would think by the large blank portion at the bottom would have a sticker auto parallel. It does not. Go figure.

Another insert that seems designed for an auto, but to the best of my knowledge does not have any are the Inside the Numbers cards. I haven't seen any auto versions on ebay, so that leads me to believe there are none. Another poor design choice by Panini, but hey, it's a Dirk card! I also grabbed the Franchise Favorites and Stat Stars Dirks as well.

The last group of cards in this pack are not Mavs. They are other players I collect and they are all Hardcourt Heroes. This is my favorite insert from Prestige this year, I really like the photography on this set. I "pulled" a Pau, Howard and Nash. So there you have it. A custom Sportlots "pack". Unlike the usual pack rip post, none of these are for trade. Well, everything is tradeable for the right price, but you know what I mean. Later.

A Good Problem To Have...

2011-02-24T23:21:00.006-06:00

is a cardboard problem. I've been reading their blog for quite a while, but had never made a trade with either of the ladies of A Cardboard Problem. Recently Marie offered up some bball cards to whoever wanted them, all you had to do was name a team. So guess what I asked for... that's right, Mavs! Marie was looking for some Lakers in return, so I gathered some up, threw in a Robbie Cano to top them off and sent them on their way to NY. This is what showed up in our mailbox.

We've got 2009-10 & 2010-11 Rookies and Stars as well as 2010-11 Prestige. I wonder if Ro Blackman wishes the shorts had been longer when he played.

There were also a few cards from 2010-11 Threads. I really like the inclusion of the occasional old-school Mav, in this case Sam Perkins. The jersey die cut cards are also pretty cool. This Kidd one is the only other one I have besides Dirk's home & away from last season.

From 2010-11 Donruss, I received a Production Line insert of Brendan Haywood and the Maverick team card. The Jet Terry card is from last years Studio line. I liked that set, but haven't heard anything yet about it returning this year. It had some really nice photography that was easy to overlook because the shots were used in the black & white background portion of the card.

The last 2 cards are of the Mavericks lone rookie this year Dominique Jones. DoJo hasn't gotten much playing time this season and is currently on the DL but he has looked promising in his stint in the D League and the few minutes he's managed to get in the NBA. Now all I need is a regular rookie card and I'll have a trifecta!

Thanks for the great cards Marie. Anytime you can get rid of some Lakers and turn them into Mavs, it's a great trade in my book! Later.

I Could Swear I've Seen Those Cards Recently

2011-02-22T17:40:00.004-06:00

Okay, here's that rack pack of Donruss basketball cards I mentioned a few posts ago. The rack packs are really the best way to go if you're looking for a good value. You really can't beat 40 cards for $4.99. Also, if you like sparkly cards, rack packs give you the funky, prism Production Line inserts that are just plain white in regular packs. Let's take a look at the top half.

The top half held 21 cards including 2 of the sparkly PL inserts, Pau & Amare. We also scored a Jersey Kings relic card of the Wolves' Johnny Flynn (notice the large blank space for sticker auto parallel). Among the base we got a Nate Robinson for Nobie's player collection and a Kirilenko for mine. There was also a Brendan Haywood to add to the Mavs collection. Pretty good so far. Let's check the bottom half.

The bottom half had 20 cards in it, which makes for a total of 41! Wow, the relic card was actually extra I guess. We also got 2 more shiny PL inserts and 3 Rated Rookies. Nobie picked up a Durantula for his PC and I got a Marc Gasol for mine. Once again, not bad. That is until you look closely at those 20 cards from the bottom section. Do you see the problem?

That's right. Unbelievably, the bottom section has SEVEN duplicates from the top portion. That's nuts. Talk about poor collation. I really like this set, but there is no excuse for this type of poor quality control or whatever you want to call it. I guess that's why they gave me 41 cards, huh? Later.

Meet The New Guys.

2011-02-20T17:47:00.006-06:00

I've decided I need to add some new blood to my list of players I collect. Since Michael Finley has retired and Kidd and Nash may not be too far behind, I'm left with a decreasing list of current players. Even Dirk only has maybe 3 or 4 years left and that would leave me with only Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Andrei Kirilenko as current guys in my collection. So I'm gonna add a few. Now I probably won't become a super collector of any of these guys like I am with Dirk and Finley, but they are guys I like to watch play.

First up is Pau's little brother Marc, though he's not actually "littler" than Pau. I keep thinking Marc may become a dominant big man. So far, he's a good big man though he's still pretty young with quite a bit of upside.

The Birdman is another guy I'm gonna add mostly because he's just wild-ass and fun to watch. He's also got some pretty cool cards out there like this one. He's pretty much the white Rodman, though nowhere near as great a player. He seems like the kinda guy most people would hate as an opponent, but wouldn't mind so much if he was on your own team.

Up next is Aaron Brooks, speedy little point guard for the Rockets. Being in the same division as the Mavs, I've seen him quite a bit. Last year he was the league's most improved player and while his playing time has lessened a bit this year he's still a big part of their team. He's had some injury issues this season as well that have slowed him down a bit.

Speaking of speedy guys Monta Ellis has torn the Mavs up a time or two. In Monta's second season, the Warriors knocked the Mavs out in the first round of the playoffs and Monta had a couple of good games that caught my eye. Now he's the Warriors' best scorer and arguably their best player.

Another of the Warriors' best players is David Lee who came over from the Knicks this year. David is one of those hard workin' guys who can do it all. I was really hoping the Mavs could have brought him here somehow during this last free agent period. Oh well.

Speaking of hard workers, this guy may be the hardest working of them all right now. K Love is averaging 21 pts and 15 rebounds per game this season thanks to a league leading 51 double doubles. That's some greatness. So there you go, just a few of the younger guys I'm gonna add to keep my collection relevant over the next few years. Later.

I Know Blake Griffin's Secret...

2011-02-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

to being awesome. It's simple really, just look at all the proof I've found.

YOU'VE

GOT

PUT

YOUR

DUNK

FACE

ON!

Later.

2 Pack Donruss Basketball Review

2011-02-09T08:10:00.000-06:00

I know these have been out for a few weeks but I haven't gotten around to reviewing them here yet. This post was actually started a week ago, but then we lost power for a few days during our wonderful Texas winter storm and I'm just now getting back to it. Blogging hasn't been much of a priority for me lately, so sue me. Anyway, lets get to it.

Panini didn't put out a "flagship" set this year so it seems Donruss is taking it's place. You get 10 cards per pack and the set features a larger player list from each team than any of Panini's other offerings so far this season. It's got John Wall on the wrapper, Mr. "I finished second in Rookie of the Year Voting". Blake'll win, for sure.

The card design is a throwback/tribute to one of Donruss's old baseball sets. I don't remember which year and don't care to look it up now. I like the design even though they decided to tweak the colors somewhat and make them look "old school". It's kinda weird at first, but I've gotten used to it. Every team has the same color treatment and a little dash of foil stamp for the Donruss logo.

This is what the backs look like. Nice and simple retro design. All the usual player info and multiple lines of stats unless you've only played one year like Jonas here.

Besides the standard base design there are Rated Rookie and Team Photo cards as well. The Production Line card is one of the insert sets included. This one is die cut though you can hardly tell, just the top is cut at a slant. What's the point really? This would also be called the non-auto non-relic version. (Distinguished by the subtle use of white space.)

Pack 2 yielded these base cards. Nice that I got a Dirk rockin' a sweet headband and Andrei Kirilenko doing his best Tom Chambers impression. Go ahead and research it. AK47 with the long 'do and Tom, separated at birth?

These are the Rated Rookies and Team card that came in pack 2. Nothing special here, but there was one more card.

A Kobe Production Line jersey card with a nice purple swatch. The cool thing about this was, half the packs at the store had been opened and put back, but Mr. Packsearcher missed this one. I'll have to say that I really like this set though I don't have plans on building it. I've grabbed a few other packs since these including an interesting rack pack I'll post about some other time. Later.

More Stuff from Orioles Lovers.

2011-02-02T09:40:00.005-06:00

We got a big box in the mail the other day full of stuff and I wasn't even expecting it. Ryan and Kalina send us a package in exchange for some custom cards I made for them and I didn't even remember that they were gonna send something in return. Well, they did. I think it was a 500 count box filled with all kinds of stuff for each of us. Here are just a few of the highlights.

Baby Peas received a bunch of mascots for her collection. These are all minor league cards from teams I'm not at all familiar with. It would appear, however, that Ryan and Kalina must go to quite a few minor league games. Around here we manage to go to a Grand Prairie Air Hogs game every once in awhile. They've got a interesting mascot named Ace Bacon, I think. He's a pig in an old school pilots jacket complete with goggles and scarf. Baby Peas thinks he's pretty cool.

Inside the box were also cards of several of my favorite players to collect. Here are a few Ichiro and Pudge cards that I didn't already have. Besides Pudge they also sent me a TON of other catchers, way too many to post here though.

Another of my favorites is Ozzie Smith. I got quite a few of the Wizard in the box here are the top 10.

There were even more Tony Gwynns included, so I picked 10 of the best ones to show here. I really like the one in the middle of the bottom row. It looks like Tony is engulfed in a giant wave. That's some 90s cheesy goodness. Thanks, again Ryan and Kalina for the great cards. Check out their blog at The Great Orioles Autograph Project. Later.

"O" No!!! Another Orioles Trade

2011-01-30T08:15:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure what the deal is with all the Oriole bloggers out there, but there are way too many. They're kinda like Trailblazer bloggers, they must multiply like rabbits. Anyway, because of their sheer numbers I told Ryan from "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog that I may not have much to send his way. He said that was okay, he had some stuff to help us on our set buildings so let's trade anyway. So I rummaged up what I could for him and this is what we got in return.

These 8 cards from 2009 Upper Deck Icons mean we only have one left to get. That would be card number 34. I don't even know who that may be off the top of my head.

Ryan sent a nice stack of base cards from 2010 Topps Series 2 also that puts us a few cards closer to completing that one as well.

This last grouping includes some insert sets we're trying to finish from 2010 Topps and 5 more cards from 2009 Upper Deck X. We are only 2 base cards shy of that set, but we need quite a few more of the die cut X cards like Ryan sent. I honestly don't think I'll be able to trade with anymore Orioles fans for quite awhile, we are pretty much fresh out (unless they've got something besides Orioles on their want lists). Thanks again for the trade Ryan. Later.

It's Baaack! And so am I.

2011-01-28T20:11:00.002-06:00

Okay, well I guess I've been a way for a little while. I've just been kinda busy and honestly not necessarily in the mood to write anything. I've got several folders all ready to go with photos for posts, I just haven't gotten around to doing it. Too many kids practices/games and also Mavs games to watch I guess. I'll try to do a little better from now on. Maybe. Anyway, Nobie and I were at Walmart yesterday so we went to check the card aisle of course and guess what we saw...

Yes, all new Adrenalyn. This was one of our favorite sets last year and arguably one of their better looking designs in my opinion. The fact that you can get a handy binder to store them all in is a plus. They should make binders for all sets, wouldn't that be nice? We haven't completed last year's set yet but that won't deter us from starting this year's, so we picked up a starter kit and 3 extra packs.

Here is a random sampling of this year's design. There are 6 base cards here and 2 inserts. This year there are again 6 cards per pack for a buck. They used the same design as the football adrenalyn which came out in the fall. The players are much larger on the cards than last year but the trade off is that most of them are cropped at the waist area. Panini used plenty of team colors which they don't like to do on other sets. One nice thing this year is that the cards are numbered, so it will be much easier to keep track and make lists of what cards are needed. Good job Panini! My only small complaint with this year's set is that the "insert" cards aren't different enough from the base or the other levels of insert. You'll still find Special, Extra, Extra Signature and Ultimate cards, they are just harder to tell apart than they were before. All in all though I like these again and Nobie and I are excited to begin another quest to fill the binder. If anyone else gets into these things, let us know and maybe we can get some trades going. Later.

Random Pack Rip NBA Panini Threads 2010-11

2011-01-20T08:00:00.002-06:00

Here's a pack I opened a few days back. Nothing too exciting. I'm gonna show the backs on the cards where I think the photo is better than the one on the front.

Tyler Hansbrough - The Pacers seem to love the white guy for some reason. They usually have lots.

Stephen Jackson - Speaking of Pacers, I'm sure they'd rather forget Jackson's time there.

Raymond Felton - I always think this guys name should be on a Wheel of Fortune puzzle where they combine 2 names into one. The puzzle would be "Raymond Felton Spencer."

Mo Williams - Is Mo his real name? I always think it should read "Mo" Williams.

Manu Ginobili - I have to hate him because he's a Spur, but I'd love to have him on my team.

La Marcus Aldridge - This guy's pretty good I guess. I don't really follow the Blazers. I'm sure one of their nutty bloggers will leave a comment and can fill us in with more info.

Kevin Martin - Used to be a King. I don't think there are any Kings or Rockets bloggers, so that's probably all you'll get.

Devin Harris - Former Maverick, traded for Jason Kidd, rumored to maybe be returning to the Mavs so Kidd can back him up. Hmm, that's weird.

Allen Iverson - I think he's in Turkey now (but injured).

Al Harrington - The guy everyone confuses with Al Jefferson.

That's the end of the pack. Like I said, nothing special. Later.

Red At The End Of The Rainbow, Not Gold!

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001-06:00

I'm not one to normally try to complete a "rainbow" of parallels. I've never really felt the need to get every variation of a any particular card, though I do have a few parallels in my collection. Well that has changed with what I like to call "Cake Topper Dirk". If I was going to renew my vows and my wife would sign off on a Dirk cake topper, it would probably look something like this.

This card is the "base" relic from 07-08 Bowman Sterling. For whatever reason, when I found out there were multiple versions of this card, I wanted to get them all. So began the hunt for my first complete rainbow. The nice thing about this rainbow is that there is only 5 versions, so it shouldn't be too hard, right? Well... more on that later. The base card was not the first card I picked up, however, it was the 3rd.

The first parallel is the regular refractor numbered to 199. This is actually card number 4 in the chronological quest. It of course is very shiny and silver, though it looks blue here.

The card that actually started it all was this one. The black refractor numbered to 99. Since the black seemed like a parallel it got me searching for other colors. That soon turned up card number 2 in the rainbow quest.

Gold! This was the second card I acquired, numbered to 25.This is probably my favorite so far and I am now 4/5ths complete with my rainbow. Man that was actually pretty easy! Just one more to go, how hard can that be? Well after a little research I found out that the missing hue is red! There is just one little problem in finding the red refractor though. It is a 1 of 1! How am I ever going to complete this small 5 card rainbow now? I guess I'll continue searching patiently, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to complete this one. Even if I stumble across it, I shudder to think how much it may cost. Anyway, if any of y'all reading this have it, GIVE IT TO ME! NOW! Later.

Big Game Weekend!

2011-01-14T08:28:00.006-06:00

My favorite basketball team the Dallas Mavericks and my favorite soccer team Newcastle both have big games this weekend against their most hated rivals. Both clubs are also anxiously awaiting the return of their biggest stars, Dirk Nowitzki and Andy Carroll.

I know it's only the middle of January and Dirk may or may not be back and 100%, but still. It's the hated Spurs. Surely the Mavs can get up for this one. Then tomorrow on the soccer field...

Newcastle and (fingers crossed) Andy Carroll will take on Sunderland in the Wear-Tyne derby looking to sweep the 2 game series with another 5-1 win. Let's Go Mavs & Magpies! Later.

Mavs for Knicks

2011-01-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I got an email from Raymond asking if a Landry Fields Rookie card I had pulled was available. I told him it was and that I'd also be glad to send him whatever Knicks I had laying around as well. So off they went, and in return I got MAVS!

Ray included quite a mix of cards. Here we've got several ex-Mavs as well as a couple of Legends and current players Kidd and Barea. I honestly don't remember Darius Washington even a little bit.

Josh Howard was a good player for the Mavs while he was here and a few years ago we all pretty much thought he'd be Dirk's Pippen for many years to come. Unfortunately, or fortunately to some, Josh had some off the court troubles and injury issues that got him shipped to Washington.

Since Howard never really became Dirk's Pippen, that role has been taken over by JET a lot of the time. I really like Terry a lot, but he sure can go on some nasty cold streaks from time to time. Stackhouse added some much need attitude and toughness while he was here, helping the Mavs to not be quite so "soft".

I've already got 218 Michael Finley cards in my collection (second only to Dirk), but Ray managed to send 2 that I didn't have so that was great! Devin Harris was another Maverick that we all thought would be around for a while, but he now plays in NJ after the trade to get Kidd back.

Raymond also sent me an auto card of Nick Fazekas. Uh... well, he played in Dallas a total of 4 games in 07-08 averaging 2.3 minutes and 1.0 point per game. He then played another 22 games for the Clippers and then disappeared, I guess. The Clippers will do that to you.

The last batch of cards are the Dirks. The current Dirk count is 351, but Ray again managed to add 2 that I didn't already have. Now if we can just get the real Dirk back on the court that would be great. I'm not really liking this losing business. Thanks again for the trade Raymond. Later.

What About The Little Guy?

2011-01-12T14:59:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks like we'll have a new Slam Dunk champ this year, if anyone even cares anymore. Lil' Nate won't be going for the three-peat so it will be between the Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin, the Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Jennings, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Serge Ibaka and the Washington Wizards' JaVale McGee. I'm betting Blake will win on reputation alone though I'm not sure how creative he can be. I'm also curious to see what Jennings can do since he's only had like 3 or 4 dunks in games this season. Personally, I still think this thing needs more big names to compete like the good old days, but somehow they manage to keep it going. Probably, because I'm not the only one who somehow gets suckered into watching this thing year after year. What about you guys, any interest? Later.

A Custom Plea!

2011-01-11T22:53:00.002-06:00

Dear Dirk,
Please come back soon, we need you real bad! Later.

My First Fathead

2011-01-07T09:14:00.000-06:00

I pulled and envelope out of the box a while back and it was from a reader named Richard I'd traded with before. He sent some mascots for Baby Peas awhile back and then ran across some Rangers I guess he missed the first time, so this was a surprise.

He sent 3 cards. The first card is a guy I've never heard of, the second is a nice painted Julio Borbon and the third is of Pudge in his early Ranger days. Richard also sent something that was a first for me. Fatheads.

Specifically, Fathead Tradeables. I'd seen the boxes of these in stores, but I'd never actually seen what they were. Unlike the big Fatheads that take up your wall, these are about 5x7". They are basically big stickers though I doubt that I'll ever stick them anywhere. I'm not sure if they are actually reusable like the larger ones claim to be, but they are pretty cool. I just need to figure out how to store them now. Thanks, for the cards Richard. Later.

Florida Sucks, But It's Also Great!

2011-01-06T08:11:00.004-06:00

Wow, it feels like I've been gone forever. Some of you probably thought I was, though I'm sure many more didn't even notice. Anyway, my lack of posting was a direct result of being away from home. Where was I you ask? In Florida, freezing my butt off of course! Goose was playing in the Disney Soccer Showcase in Orlando, so we left TX at 6am on Christmas day and drove all the way to Florida for the tournament. I wasn't too keen on having to leave on Christmas day and I sure didn't want to think of all the money we were going to spend on gas, hotel, food and whatever else. So I guess you could say I was really pissed when this happened.

Yeah, one hour after arriving in Orlando on my way back to the hotel from the most congested Wal-mart ever and wham! I was one lane from being safely in the hotel parking lot. Traffic around Disney the week after Christmas sucks big time. The worst part was, it was actually my fault for turning in front of another car. The traffic was just so ridiculous! The 2 lanes I was crossing had never ending traffic backed up for miles so when the drivers of both lanes stopped and waved me through the gap I went. Problem was, there were 3 lanes (which I somehow missed. I would have bet a million bucks there were only 2!) and the 3rd driver wasn't really letting me through. So yeah, the trip is off to a good start.

Then comes the soccer part. Now I love to watch Goose play, but I'd just as soon do it in TX as Florida. There, it's always been free, but nooooo, Mickey's gotta make some money somehow. Might as well be off of the parents who drive their kids halfway across the country to play. Wanna know how much it cost to get me, Mrs. Big D and Baby Peas into the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for ONE of Goose's games. 37 FREAKING DOLLARS!!! The only reason we didn't have to pay that 2 days in a row was because one night his team played the last game of the day so we snuck in after the box office closed and went in without paying. Man what a racket! At least Goose's team did well, though you'd never know it by this picture.

He's actually got a Silver medal around his neck, but he looks like he's the one who just wrecked the car. What can I say, he's extremely competitive. (The first and actually only time I ever heard him cuss, he was three and playing Memory. He flipped over 2 cards that didn't match and let out a SHIT! At least he used it in context.)

So the trip was somewhat good and quite a bit bad and I'm not looking forward to going back to Florida anytime soon. (Though I will have to go fetch the Dodge once the repairs have been made.) After arriving home and checking my mailbox, however, my opinion of Florida got a little brighter. That's because there was a package from the Troll inside. I had made some custom cards of Troll's wife, Esther Gin & Juice, so that he could give them out as stocking stuffers for Christmas. This package was my reward and what a good one it was. Check it out!

Mrs. Troll sent me a thank you package consisting of a program for one of their roller derby matches, a team magnet and what do you know! My own custom coming right back at me but new and improved. My very first TTM custom auto of Esther Gin & Juice herself. In silver sharpie even! It's totally awesome and makes it one of the coolest cards in my collection. That's not all though. She also threw in this...

a rookie card of one of my all time favorite baseball players Tony Gwynn. I didn't have this card yet, so it was a great surprise too! Maybe Florida isn't so bad after all. At least I know I've got a few friends there. Thanks for the great gifts guys, this was a really fun trade. Later.

2010-11 NBA Panini Threads

2010-12-22T10:05:00.004-06:00

Panini's newest NBA release is 2010-11 Threads. Here is the wrapper. It's got Derrick Rose on the front. Inside you'll find 10 cards. Let's see what they look like.

Not bad. We've got full bleed photos at the top with a band of gray crisscrossing bars at the bottom. The bars include the Threads logo and player name and while they are the neutral colors we've come to expect from Panini, it looks just fine to me since it's a pretty small portion of the card anyway. However, if they had used team colors here like on the wrapper, I think it would look even better. No biggie though. The first 6 cards included some pretty nice players including Kevin Love who is having a great season so far this year. I'm just glad he's proving that there are still some American white guys who can play in this league.

The next 4 cards include a nice insert of Bill Russell along with the crazy mop top of Robin Lopez. All in all I really like this set, though again there are not enough players represented from each team. Panini has got to put out a "flagship" set with at least 10 players from each squad. I do have one other complaint though, and that is the backs.

The design of the backs is fine, my problem is with the photos used there. The majority of them are better than the fronts! Look at these 6 for example. On each I think the back photo would make a more interesting card if it were on the front. Panini tends to use some pretty bland photos at times and I even wonder if they have decent photos to use. Then I see something like this and just wonder what is wrong with them. The same thing happened last year. They used a lot of blah photos in most of their sets but then Studio shows up with some really nice shots. Problem there was they were all used for the second smaller black & white photo in the background and appeared to be an afterthought. Come on Panini! If you've got great shots, put them on display proudly.

Like I said, I like the set but Panini still has some design issues they need to work out. I really feel like they are holding back and just being lazy a lot of the time, but they're getting better. Sorta. In some ways. Later.

My Original Favorite.

2010-12-19T11:31:00.001-06:00

The Dallas Mavericks have always been my favorite team. Not only are they my favorite basketball team, they are number 1 in my heart in all of sports. I didn't even really like basketball when the Mavericks came around in 1980, but then a couple of things happened. I finally gave in to all my friends and went out for basketball in the 5th grade. I've always been way taller than everyone else, but I didn't like hoops until I tried it and guess what, I've loved it ever since. The other factor was this guy...

Mr. Mark Anthony Aguirre. Once I started playing, I began watching and growing up in Illinois at the time I watched a lot of DePaul Blue Demon basketball and Mark was the best. When he was drafted by the Mavs they instantly became my favorite team and have been ever since. I followed them the best I could from afar. My dad would travel to Dallas on business and bring me back Maverick gear and I even subscribed to the Dallas Mavericks Press newspaper. After my senior year, my dad was transferred to Dallas and I couldn't believe it! I could finally see my Mavs in person and watch all the games on TV. Sadly though, shortly after my move, this happened...

Mark was traded to the friggin' Pistons for Adrian Dantley. I was crushed. While I still loved the Mavs, the front office was not on my friend list for quite a while after this. The next couple years after Mark left the Mavs, they began their downward spiral into being the worst franchise on earth for a period of about 10 years. That sucked big time.

For Mark though the trade worked out perfectly as he helped lead the Pistons to back to back championships. Lucky for me the Pistons were good, so at least Mark was on TV a lot for me to see. After several years in Detroit, Mark finally wound up his career as a Los Angeles Clipper. Dirk has surpassed Mark as my all time most favorite player, but I'm glad that Panini is still making a few cards at least of my original favorite. What about you? Who is your original favorite? Later.

Quick Review: 2010-11 Panini Rookies & Stars

2010-12-18T09:03:00.000-06:00

Panini's second release of the year (at least I think that's right) is Rookies & Stars. I'd been itching for something besides Prestige, so I've picked up a few packs. Here's a quick review of one of them. The wrapper features rookie of the year candidate John Wall of the Wizards and some guy named Kobe from the Lakers. This pack should be full of Rookies and Stars I'm assuming.

This is what the base cards look like. I actually like them. Again Panini has used a pretty bland, monochromatic background with a cropped player, but for some reason they work a lot better than last year to me. My kids think I'm nuts, but something about the players on these cards looks "different". I'd almost swear they have some sort of slight sharpening filter or something added to them that give them a very slight painted look or something. I noticed it with their football set too. Or maybe I am nuts and am just seeing things. Anyway, I like the look, though the team logos could be a little larger and I'd prefer one of the logos at the top be moved to the bottom so they don't bookend the players heads.

This is what the backs look like. Here Panini gives us a splash of team colors and instead makes the player black & white. We also get the standard one line of stats and blurb of info. By the way, this pack wasn't FULL of rookies & stars. We got 1 rookie (Fields), 3 or 4 stars (Duncan, Howard, Deron Williams & Bogut, I guess) and several other guys I'll call good players.

This is the only insert card in the pack, a Dwight Howard Stardom card. Not a terrible design and this is actually a numbered variation for some reason, but I can't remember what it's numbered to. This design doesn't have too much empty space expecting a swatch or auto, at least it's better than most. I keep waiting to see rack packs of these, you know, 40 cards for $5 like Panini did with Prestige. If I see them I'll probably pick up a few more, otherwise I'll go the singles route and just pick and choose. That's all I've got for now. Later.

New Big D Custom Basketball

2010-12-17T08:06:00.000-06:00

Here are my latest. Let me know what you think of them.

Later.

Check Out Some More of My Cards from COMC.

2010-12-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

By now, I think most everyone know about the greatness that is Checkoutmycards.com. It's probably my favorite place to buy cards online because of it's simplicity and I really like that every card is scanned front and back. This leads to no questions about what you are getting, although it does add to the "handling" fees adding up, which is COMC's only real downside in my opinion. I usually just do $20 sprees at a time. Here's what I got from a COMC spree a while back.

2 young/youngish stars of the American League Champion Texas Rangers. Elvis is a big part of the future of this franchise and one of the youngest Rangers as well. He is also Nobie's favorite Ranger. David Murphy isn't quite as young age wise, but he's still pretty young from a games played perspective. Murphy is a solid 4th outfielder and got a lot of playing time this year due to injuries to Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton. He is also Baby Peas' favorite Ranger.

I picked up 3 new cards for the Kurt collection including a USA jersey swatch, a Turkey Red and a base card from the blacked out Walmart set.

When I was a kid I loved the Kellogg's 3D cards. Actually, I still do, so I picked up a couple of my Cardinal faves. I never managed to build a whole set of these, just gathered some here and there, none of which I can seem to find now. I do have a whole set of 82s (I think that's the right year), but I ordered those as a whole set. I really wish MLB would scrap the exclusive Topps deal and get these things back in cereal boxes.

While rummaging through COMC is stumbled upon what I thought was a Kellogg's football card of Charlie Joiner. Turns out its actually from Stop-n-Go. It's pretty much the exact same thing as the Kellogg's cards though. I also grabbed this Kellen Winslow to help quench the nostalgia I was having for the Air Coryell days.

My current favorite player is Jason Witten of the Cowboys so I picked up a couple of his Finest. The blue refractor is especially nice looking. The other one makes it look like Jason is a member of the Red Lantern Corp or something.

Of course, if I'm gonna pick up some football, I can't do it without adding a few Elways to the collection. Nothing overly exciting, but all cards I didn't have including a nice Sportflix.

My original favorite Maverick is Mark Aguirre and I'm quickly running out of cards of his to collect. This is one I didn't have and I'm not sure where it comes from exactly. I'm not sure if it was part of a set or maybe came as a tag on a shoe or what. Except for the pricey Star cards from the early to mid eighties, I've pretty much got all of Mark's cards, although if I checked some Beckett list or something, I'd probably find that I'm not as close as I think.

Last, but not least, I grabbed a handful of the greatest Maverick ever, Dirk. The Topps Echelon or whatever its called in the upper left hand corner is kind cool. It reminds my of on old TV screen. The card next to it is an Upper Deck 3D stars Sportflix type card that Dirk shares with Jason Kidd. They're kind morphed together in that picture. The diecut Unstoppable is also cool, though it would be neater if it wasn't a smooshed stop sign shape. Anyway, there's what $20 can getcha on COMC. Later.

Awesomest Hockey Card I Own!

2010-12-10T10:14:00.000-06:00

We don't keep up with hockey much in our household. When the Stars first came to town I was into them a lot more and during their Stanley Cup season I saw the majority of their games, but I just don't have that much free time these days, so hockey is a little ways down the list. When Goose was very small (like 4 or 5) he wanted to play hockey very badly, but we didn't let him because it was too expensive. We put him into soccer instead and now we pay just as much for him to play big time soccer as we would have to for hockey! Oh well. During his early years of hockey love, we collected hockey cards for a little while. That's when we picked up this beauty!

Ooohh, look how shiny and swirly it is! Awesome, right? This card features the greatest Star ever of course, Mike Modano. I still can't get used to seeing him in a Red Wings sweater. It would have been nice if he could have retired as a Dallas Star.

Pacific sure made some cool cards back in the day. These Revolution ones are some of the neatest in my opinion. I've also got an Elway one that is very similar that is one of my favorites. Maybe Panini will bring back this set like they did with Crown Royale and do it up right. (Though I won't be holding my breath. Panini and do it up right, don't always go hand in hand.) Later.

What Will It Take To Re-sign Lee? Lyrics, Dude!

2010-12-08T23:09:00.000-06:00

Nolan and the Rangers are currently in a battle with the rest of MLB (but mostly the Yankees) to sign Cliff Lee. Who knows what the final cost will be, but I know something that will help... a song with thoughtful lyrics!

Check it out, it helped Bill & Ted land the princesses...

and it helped the Mavericks resign Dirk!

So, there you have it Rangers. If you want to keep Cliff, you'd better get workin' on a song quick! Later.

Panini Season Update - Mavs Edition

2010-12-02T21:21:00.000-06:00

I picked up this team set of Mavericks on ebay a few weeks ago. I guess the 2009-10 Season Update set must be hobby only, because I haven't seen any packs of these at Wal-mart or Target.

I actually like the design of this set and don't really have any "I can do better" points to make. I'm just glad they put out another set that actually includes the background of the photos. My only complaint is that there aren't enough Mavs in the set.

This fault seems to have carried over into the 2010-11 sets as well. So far, Prestige and Rookies & Stars are only featuring 5 or 6 guys per team including some retired guys. Since it doesn't look like Panini is going to put out a "flagship" set this year, I'm not sure where I'm going to get my JJ Barea and Rodrique Beaubois cards among others this year. I really think they should put out at least one set where you know your going to get at least 10 if not more of the guys on your favorite team. I mean, you gotta give the bench guys a little love, right? Later.

1 Pic Pack Rip

2010-12-01T21:05:00.003-06:00

I stole this idea from someone, but I can't remember who. Sorry. Anyway I picked up a pack of Prestige a couple weeks ago and what do you know. A Wally World hit!

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to repeat my luck with the Rookies & Stars packs at the same Wal-mart. Some tool has already opened all the thick packs and left them behind. What an a-hole. By the way, Mr. Pierce is for trade if ya got a Dirk or some other Mav relic you can send my way. Later.

Maverick Power!

2010-11-30T23:00:00.002-06:00

This is bad ass! (At least it is to me.)The Mavs are off to a great start so far. Let's keep it going!

Ri-Dirk-Culous!

2010-11-23T17:34:00.001-06:00

I haven't been buying tons of packs recently because frankly, I don't give a damn about half the players I pull. If they aren't Mavs or a handful of other favorites, then it kind of seems like a waste. So I've decided to focus more on singles instead. For my most recent Checkoutmycards purchase, I decided to focus only on my all time favorite basketball player, Dirk Nowitzki. Why, you might ask, is Dirk my favorite player? Here are some reasons.

As you well know, Dirk is German, so he adds some international flair. He's also 7 feet tall, but is not a big, white stiff. He's got game and is very versatile.

He can play high or low post...

he's a pretty good passer for a big guy...

he can drain shots from behind the arc...

or put it on the floor and head to the hoop. Where he will more than likely...

get fouled and nail the free throw...

or make it all the way to the rim for a layup...

or finish with a thunderous dunk. Anyway you look at him, he's pretty much the greatest Euro player ever and one of the best from anywhere to ever play in the NBA. If you are a MFFL then you know for sure that...

Dirk is Money! Later.

Gifts From Cardboard Heaven!

2010-11-22T17:02:00.001-06:00

A couple weeks ago I was checking out Cameron's blog Cardboard Heaven and noticed he had pulled this beauty.

I sent him a note asking if it was available, which it was, so a few days later it arrived in the mail. It came so fast, in fact, it seemed like he must have already been sending it to me even before I asked. Maybe he has ESP. That wasn't all he sent though.

There were a couple of Cliff Lee's in the mix. Cliff had a great season for the Rangers and I'd like to see him resign here, but I doubt it will happen. If it does, I just hope the Rangers are smart about it and don't ruin other potential resignings in the near future.

Cameron also sent this nice gold Pudge. Too bad his in his damn pin stripped pajamas!

Here are some more current and recently former Rangers he also sent. Mitch Moreland was a very nice surprise, so I really appreciate the rookie chrome.

Besides Rangers we got some glory days Cowboys...

and some of the current guys, who definitely are not experiencing their glory days right now. Dez has been a great acquisition and they seem to have turned it around the last 2 weeks since Garrett has taken over, so hopefully the crapfest this season is behind them.

Thanks again for the cards, Cameron. I'll be sending you a batch of stuff soon. I'll see what kind of Ravens and whatnot I've got for you. I'll also send you this custom...

I think you'll like it. Later.

Cards From the Hall of Fame

2010-11-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

A while back we got a package from Tim at The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame. We've traded with Tim several times so I can't remember if he owed me or now I owe him, but anyway, here's what he sent us this time.

A bunch of Cubs for Nobie. Can you spot the Fred McGriff? Tim always throws one in. I'm not sure if he's trying to convert us all to McGriff collectors or just has way to many on his hands.

Tim also sent a bunch of Cowboys including what has to be one of the worst photos for a player's card ever. I'm not even sure Darrin Smith's mom could figure out who is the featured player on this card, especially since the team name/logo is not present.

Here are the rest of the Cowboys we got, including a Daryl Johnston bipping!

Next up is a bunch of old school Rangers including what appears to be a school photo of Benji Gil.

Besides Rangers we got a sampling of some of our other baseball favorites. Eddie Murray appears to be questioning his magic mirror. Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Rounding out this package was a stack of basketball cards including some Mavs, Reggie, the Dream and the Mailman. Most of these come from the dark days of Maverick basketball, but that's okay, it really makes me appreciate the team we have now.

Thanks, for all the cards Tim. I'm not sure I have much to send in return, I don't think I have any more of what you collect, so I may have to repay you with a custom. How about this?

Later.

I Think I Can Do Better - Entry 3

2010-11-09T20:06:00.001-06:00

Okay, so yesterday I said I could do better with Panini's Prestige design for this year so here we go! First, I want to show you some cards where I think the basic design works fine.

My one big complaint with this set this year is the logo upside the head of everyone. Here I don't mind it though because it's necessary to fit the player on the card. These 3 cards do show the player's head on top of the logo, but they also overlap the stripes on the right and make good use of all of the space. So these are good in my mind (though they could use some color!)

Here are some cards that I feel miss the mark. All the heads pretty much touch the logo again, but none of them overlap the stripes (or just barely). This leaves us with players that look crammed in the card or who are dribbling half a basketball like Vince. So what can I do that will make them look better? I'll show ya.

First, I moved the players to the right a little bit so that they overlap the stripes which also moved their heads away from the logo. I even allows Vince to dribble a whole ball! Second, I added a dash of color and presto! Much better, right? What do you think? Later.

2010-11 NBA Panini Prestige Value Pack

2010-11-08T22:18:00.008-06:00

Well, a new basketball season is underway and that means a new crop of Panini NBA cards. They are now the exclusive license holder for real, so officially no more Topps or Upper Deck this year. The first set to be released this year is Prestige. I'm not sure, but I (and other fellow bloggers) think this may be Panini's "basic" set this year. I hope not, since the checklist is kinda small and there is not a sticker and/or insert per pack. They do seem to be cheaper, though. From what I remember last year, you got 5 cards per pack for $2.99 while this year it's 10 cards for the same price. Or maybe my memory is a little foggy. These came from a value pack which is 40 cards for $4.99 which is a great deal. Anyway, let's check out the cards shall we?

Here is the base card design. I like the fact that we get a background and the player is not cut out. The right side has some trademark Panini gray striping (they do shy away from those team colors, don't they!) The player and team name appear in a strip at the bottom while a Prestige logo creeps in from the upper left corner. One strange thing I noticed is no team logo. While the card design is fine without it, the strange part comes from the side of the boxes that the packs come out of. They clearly show a Kobe card with the Lakers logo on the gray stripe in the upper right hand corner. That's okay though, we don't need a team logo, because there is not room! The poor players are already having to duck out of the way of the Prestige logo as it is! In fact, that's my main complaint of this set, almost all of the players are being knocked upside the head by the logo for no reason.

This is what the backs look like. Notice the nice use of team colors here! Why not on the front? Same as all of Panini's releases last year, we only get 1 line of stats.

Besides current players, we get "Legends?" this year. I like the inclusion of retired players, though I'm not sure if Kurt Rambis and Jamal Mashburn (which I pulled from another pack) count as legends exactly. At least Mash is in a Mavericks uni on his card!

In addition to retired guys we get some young guns as well. I really like the design of the Evans Super Sophs card, there's a cool swirl pattern in the background if you look carefully. I got two of the top rookies, the Turner being on of the many parallels you can get.

This is what a rookie back looks like, same as the veterans except for one small difference. There is an extra line of text above the Panini logo and when I first read it, I was a little mad. I was going to send an email to Panini and find out what was up. Take a closer look at it...

That's right, I pulled an auto card which as you can see from the front scan is clearly missing the auto. What the heck? Well, I picked up another couple packs over the next couple of days and guess what? That's right, all the rookies seem to have this line on the back whether there is an auto on the front or not. Gee, thanks a lot Panini. I guess they decided to design the rookie cards just like all their other "hit" cards. Start with a insert/relic/auto and gradually remove items until you are stuck with poorly designed base insert cards. Figures. I wonder what they would do I if sent them all in asking where my autographs are?

All in all, I like the Prestige cards alright. I'm still holding out for a true Panini base set. I liked the chance to get more than 3 or 4 players for each team and, like I mentioned before, the inclusion of a sticker and insert in every pack. Plus, you got like 12 cards for $1.99. Stay tuned tomorrow and I'll show you how I can make a decent set design even better. Later.

Hey, B-ball bloggin' homies...

2010-11-07T17:57:00.002-06:00

anyone know if Panini is planning on putting out a plain 'ol Panini Basketball release this year? I haven't personally seen anything about one and it was probably my favorite set of theirs last year. Just wonderin' if any of you have heard anything. Later.

Hefty Bags Make Bad Uniforms!

2010-11-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

All 30 teams in the NBA this year have brand spanking new unis featuring new fabrics courtesy of Adidas. None of them, however, are made of trash bags as the Mavericks failed gray uniforms were from a few years ago. Don't believe me? I have proof, see?

Okay, so they aren't actually made of Hefty bags, but they sure were ugly. When I saw this card on Checkoutmycards.com, I had to have it. I had never seen this unis depicted on a card before (I have since found another.) Mark Cuban scrapped this uniform after just one game because everyone hated it. I don't think he should have given up on it completely though. I've always been intrigued by the Lakers home yellows and wondered why someone else doesn't come up with a light colored home jersey instead of white. When the Mavs changed their colors to their newest scheme, I thought silver jerseys would be cool and maybe that's what Mark had in mind. The end result missed the mark, but that's okay. I can fix it with the help of Photoshop.

See, isn't that better! While they look a little more aluminum foily than I would like to see in real life, I think a silver home uniform would be pretty sweet. At least it would be unique and keep the Lakers from being the only ones who are too cool to wear white (though I guess that's been toned down with their Sunday/Holiday whites they now use on occasion.) Anyway, if you're reading this Mark, why not give it another shot? Think about how awesome the pregame light show could be reflecting off these babies! Later.