The Other New Baseball Release. 2011 Topps Attax

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!

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

Sportlots "Pack" 6

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.

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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.