2 Pack Donruss Basketball Review

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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!

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.