The thrill is gone...

The thrill is gone away.

And what I hate the most is that the national media talking heads who only watch Cleveland, Orlando, Boston and LA and say that they're NBA experts are all saying, "Told ya so."

This team was better than their finish.  I could fall back on the injury excuse, but we brought Camby in to not have that excuse.  This was a good team that was out-played.

I will have to shave off the rally beard now - though coming into the warmer months I don't really mind that.

Right now I'm just frustrated.  I'm frustrated with Alvin Gentry talking to the refs and patting them on the ass when they call fouls for him (that did happen).  I'm frustrated with Brandon Roy coming back and not being ready to really contribute.  I'm frustrated that Batum wasn't left to play defense for more than five minutes at a time.  I'm frustrated that our team won't come back with all of the players we loved this year.

I'm just frustrated.

The off-season starts now.  Of course I'll watch the rest of the playoffs though.  I'm still an NBA honk.  But it will feel bittersweet nonetheless. 

I'm hoping that OKC can put up a fight and take it to Game 7 with the Lakers.  I'm hoping that Lebron and the Cavs are knocked off.  In the East I like the blue-collar feel of the Bucks and the Goliath-feel of Howard and the Magic.  And really, I'll be rooting East from here on out.  Being a hometown fan like I am, I absolutely hate every team in the West still playing right now.

Tomorrow will be better.  Now we have the Kentucky Derby, Baseball and a little thing called the World Cup to look forward to.  I'll survive.

I'm nervous now - Game 6 looms

Well, I've got my rally beard going in full effect.  I've taken the Big Papi David Ortiz route and have shaved off the mustache and have gone with a hybrid mutton chops look.  And I've discovered that I've now got a few gray hairs in my beard.  So that's not stressing me out or anything.

I'm watching some horse racing at the moment.  I've got a Pick 3 that's live at Evangeline Downs right now.  I figure I'll get all of my nervous energy out now so that I'm a freaking Shaolin Monk in calmness by the time tip-off comes around.

My wife is also trying to remain calm.  It's really great having a wife that's as in to the teams as I am.  Although she took her nervous energy out in the dinner she made.  There was a sauce made that consisted of 5 chiles and 1 tomato.  That tomato didn't stand a chance.  So I've got the racing going on, I'm sweating from the chile sauce and the gray beard is hanging out for all to see. 

I had to bust into the Summer Ale sooner than anticipated.

Now where's that Steve Nash sticker so that I can put it on my shoe....

Unexpected Hobby Packs

A few weeks back, my dad came out to visit the family.  And while he was here, we packed as much stuff as possible into the few days we had so that my girls could stay busy and still have fun.  And this last week he told me that he was sending out some pictures from the trip.

And they did send pictures.  But also in the box was some hobby packs of Panini flagship for me to open.  When my dad was out here I showed him the site and everything I'm doing.  And getting packs of basketball cards from my dad made me feel like a kid again - in a good way.  Brought back lots of memories.

In any event, the only two active sets I'm doing is the Panini flagship and the Murad.  I'm just short RC's on the 09/10 Panini so I was hoping to get a few lucky pulls to bring that set closer to completion.  And right off the bat I pulled cards that might be a sign of things to come:

I pulled the B Roy All-Pro card.  Is that a good sign?  Maybe B Roy is set to shut up all the critics that put him at 30% health and is poised to have a huge night?

And then I pulled the Steve Nash sticker....

Steve Nash.  The guy all the refs wait a whole minute for so that he can practice two free throws before actually taking the free throws.  Steve Nash.  The guy who doesn't sit on the bench, he just sort of lays on the floor with his legs crossed 'just so'.  Steve Nash.  The guy who would rather tuck his hair behind his ear every time the camera is on him instead of just getting a hair cut. 

That Steve Nash.  My apologies to Big D - a fan of Nash - but I'm a bit on edge here.

So in the same pack I pull a B Roy insert and a Steve Nash sticker.  I was conflicted.  But then I had an epiphany.  The Nash card is a sticker after all.  So I think that for tip-off I'll be wearing a Steve Nash sticker on the bottom of my shoe.  I thought about wearing it on my ass - but that might convey the wrong message.  The bottom of the shoe is a much clearer metaphor.

And I pulled a Tyson Chandler Artist Proof /199 and a Durantula insert.  Pretty good packs.

But I pulled the box hit auto as well.  And it's not too shabby either.

Austin Daye was bigger in our media market being from Gonzaga.  But it's cool to pull the auto from the box from five or six packs that were sent to me.

And that's another reason why 09/10 Panini was a score.  It made pack searching impossible.  No dummy cards.  No oversized inserts.  No jerseys.  So the autos remained pretty much "searcher free".

And in the end, I didn't get any RC's that I needed.  But the inserts and the auto really made up for it.

Steve Nash get ready to taste shoe.

We don't really wear shoes in the house.  But tonight I'm making an exception.

Boston wins in 5 - Contest Winner revealed

Well, it's really no big surprise - Boston took that Game 5 at home without much of a problem.  And so, we arrive at the moment of truth and see who was closest in guessing the points total of the series.

Total points = 917

Unless I'm mistaken, the total is indeed 917.  I really thought that the total would've been much higher.  But as you can see, only three times did a score go 100 or more.  So, it was a bit of a dud as far as offense goes.  So let's see who got closest to 917.

Offy said...

775 points

Offy was the only person who guessed under the total.  He had Boston winning that series in 4 - and he was close.  As it stands he was 142 points off.

TJ said...
1006 points

TJ came within 89 points.  TJ had an excellent guess.  Really as close as you can get...



But in an unprecedented move -

Neilson241 said...
1005 points

As TJ put it, Neilson "Price is Righted" him.  And so, we have the equivalent of somebody betting the dollar for the three tier barbeque - and walking away with it!  So, Neilson241 takes the contest by getting within 88 points of the total (88 is a great number by the way).

So Neilson, write me back with your address again just so I'm sure that I have it.  And this prize will be yours.  Congrats man.

I guess OSHA doesn't cover mascots - Big Bucks Dunk

Well, I'm calm again from last night.  I've taken a walk, got some fresh air and have gone to work and back.

But aside from the Suns sealing a blood feud with the Sanchez household (my first act of vengance will be to cut Nash's damn bangs already), there was an awesome act of mascotery (I just made that word up).

I personally wouldn't have the stones to even climb the ladder this fool is on, much less do what he's doing.  Check this out.

The Rally Beard - and other quirks from fandom

I am growing the Rally Beard.  The Blazers plight is worthy of the Rally Beard.  Here's the rules.  I grow a beard until the Blazers are officially out of the Playoffs. 

I was thinking about it, and the last time I shaved was the day before Game 4 - so there was some stubble going on there for the game.  And after seeing B Roy come back, and seeing Batum stick up for himself and watching LaMarcus actually go to the basket, I decided to let the caveman out. 

And that's just what fans do.  I can only image what shape I'll be in when the World Cup finally rolls around. 

Also, I have a cigar that I won't light until Portland wins a Playoff series.  Hopefully that will be this year.  I don't want that cigar to get too stale - but it sure as hell hasn't seen a humidor in a while either.

But yet, I don't think that my Rally Beard is anywhere close to what those folks in OKC are doing.  Have you seen those people.  Game 3 the entire stadium was wearing the same blue shirt.  And they all wore the same white shirt for Game 4.  That's the kind of fan support a team needs.  And it really made me think that we, as Americans, can't agree on anything.  But for the playoffs, we'll make sure we all match.  Politics should be more like sports, we'd get more done.

Blazers/Suns will just be a monster game.  I'm actually nervous - and it's four hours until tipoff.

Points totals update on Bob Cousy Auto Contest

Well you can check my math, but as of the end of Game 4 the total points in the Boston/Miami series stands at 735 points. 

I kind of feel bad, I was really hoping that this would be more of a series.  Of all the matchups, I expected this one to go 7 games more than any of the others.  As it is, I'm shocked that Miami pulled out Game 4.

Here's a recap of where people had their original guesses.  Offy was close, and would've won for sure if Boston could've closed it out this morning.

11 Entries:


TJ said...
1006 points

Nate said...
1200 points

shahekee said...
1265 points

MC said...
1324 points

Neilson241 said...
I'll say 1005 total points

Offy said...
775 points

Bryan said...
1108 points

Curtis said...
1127 points

Jesse Wayne said...
1055

dayf said...
1164 points

I-love-cards said...
1175 points


I'm really expecting to see Boston close it out next time.  I could be wrong - but Miami has looked sorry this whole series.  Good luck all.

Keep your eye on the prize

Sportlots issue resolved - with mixed success

A while back, I commented on my issues with a Sportlots.com seller and my Murad minis.  And after waiting a few days, sportlots' site informed me that the seller had been banned from the site due to multiple failures to ship cards.  So I got a big refund of about five dollars into my account. 

I was seriously kind of bummed out.  I had spent a lot of time looking for the best deals - and now I was back at the starting point.  And my Murad chase hasn't stalled out by any means, but I was waiting to bring in a nice little haul of minis before I actively went after more cards.  One step at a time, you know.

In any event, I got my funds back and I didn't feel like browsing the Murad minis list again matching up as many cards to an individual seller as possible.  I searched to see if a Bowman Batum had come up that I could use - and still none.

So I took the meager sum and bought me some Heritage - of my new favorite player to watch.

I've been watching the Mariners this year.  And really, when I refer to myself as "that guy", I really set out to be that guy.  I don't watch any team I follow casually.  I watch it all, start to finish, pregame and postgame, and check the web for the up-to-minute stats at the end.

And I love baseball.  I absolutely love it.  And right now, the Seattle Mariners are a good team to be watching.  The Mariners mania finally has overtaken me - and my wife is just as pleased as could be over this.  Even though people might say I should stick with the Portland Beavers and follow the players down to the Padres - because the Padres are playing winning baseball now - I'm going to follow the northern squad. 

SIDE NOTE - The Padres have gone on runs before, just wait till they remember what jersey they're wearing.  It won't last.

And my favorite player to watch on the M's is Franklin Gutierrez.  The guy is hitting on an incredible .382 clip right now.  He plays defense the right way and bats patiently but with some power.  He's slugging at .544 right now.  So I don't mind getting behind a kid who's coming into the spotlight for the right reasons.

The cards above are from '03, '05 and '08.  The '03 card is really a RC card I guess, but it's from a prospecting year.  I can't figure out for the life of me how he got into the set in '03 and '05 - maybe somebody could tell me.  He really didn't break through until 2006 with 43 games and 2007 with 100 games.  But what do I know?  They're sharp looking cards and I'm a Heritage honk.  And if I couldn't build a Heritage set this year due to Murad obligations, at least I can get some Heritage of a great player.

And I rounded off the 5 bucks with his current '09 and 2010 offerings for Heritage.  I could've been more studious and looked for deals for the Murad minis I guess.  But really, how hard should I work for five dollars the second time around?  I like baseball, I like Heritage and I like Franklin Gutierrez - 5 bucks with no hassle.  Wam bam thank you ma'am.  I could've done better.  But I could've done worse too.

And I guess kudos to sportlots.com.  It's good to know that their sellers are just cut from the roster if they can't get their act together.

And that happened....

The title is from one of my favorite youtube videos of all time.  And it's appropriate.  Even though the video clip is pure comedy - the title really fits for how I'm feeling after watching Game 4 of Blazers and Suns.

Brandon Roy - coming out of nowhere.  It was like watching WWF wrestling from the 80's.  All of a sudden the hero is in trouble...and the Ultimate Warrior comes from backstage and starts knocking guys out with crazy fists to the head.  Those of you who know what I'm talking about can relate to how that fits this game.  Just seeing Roy suited up dictated a different defense from the Suns - and a different level of mania from the crowd.

The team got nasty today.  Both teams did actually.  But Blazers stayed nasty longer.  I couldn't care less that Bayless got a flagrant foul - they had it coming.  And Stoudemire elbowing Batum in his sore shoulder should've got pushed harder.  Batum isn't taking this thing lying down anymore.

It was a great game.  We're 2-2.  And that's all that counts.  Quick, how many points did Phoenix win Game 2 by?  See?  Nobody remembers the margins of victory.  All we know is that the series is tied up.  I would type more, but my hand is screaming.  It was hard not to clap today.  Very difficult indeed.

Even the fans are coming down with injuries...

So this post is mostly written one-handed.  I smashed my hand pretty good at work today.  Went and got the X-rays, the tests and the whole sha-bang.  I'll live, but my right hand (and I'm right-handed) is out of service for a while.

And losing your good hand provides some interesting challenges - that can't be discussed here obviously.  And not the least of my problems at the moment is typing.  I'm making every word count here.

So I've had a cooling off-period from last night's beatdown of the Blazers - and I'm still pretty raw about it.  It's a good thing I can't type all that I want to right now. 

Long story short, I'm leaving you with this thought:  All of our hopes for the year hinge on Game 4 tomorrow.  Without Game 4, it's done for.  Tomorrow I won't be able to clap or fist bump.  I can't jump up or down.  But I still have my voice.  Let's hope that it counts for something.  Let's hope that the Rose Garden has a good reason to be loud tomorrow.

Well that didn't go as planned

Portland lost 89-108.  Words kind of fail me at the moment.  It wasn't even close.  It was never really that close.

Batum looked like he was in serious pain - he was a non-factor.  But at least the guy sucked it up and tried like hell to play defense until he was knocked out of the game while driving the lane.  Imagine that, the French guy understood the English gameplan to play defense and drive the lane.  I'm not sure that message was understood all around the locker room.

At this point, we can only hope that Amare gets the Kevin Garnett treatment for the elbow he threw and that the Blazers came come back in Game 4 like the Suns came out in Game 2.  We can still hope.

Batum could play - all is well again

I've been scouring sites looking for any information at all about Nic Batum's playing status for tonight.  In fact, the initial lack of information was more worrisome than anything else.  I was even considering going down to his favorite French restaurants downtown Portland and waiting him out to ask him myself.  But reports are out and....it's a gametime decision.  And that's really great news.  That lets you know that even if he doesn't play tonight, he's not hurt so badly that he couldn't play Game 4.

The Blazers are just getting ready for that cheesy sports-movie moment.  All the chips are down, slow-motion ensues, queue the violins and then bam - something magical happens.  The David brings down the Goliath.  Fireworks go off.  Flash bulbs light the darkness. 

That's just my feeling anyway.  Could be wrong.  I've been wrong before.

And it's going to be a bigger deal than the NFL draft.

Freaking NFL.  I'm with Mark Cuban on this one - and how often would I ever say that?  The NFL draft going primetime during the NBA playoffs is bush-league.  Really, all those working stiffs feeling left out by watching their teams pick a QB that will make 50$ million dollars and have less than a 10% chance of making good on that money?

Did the NBA have any games on Opening Day Baseball?  No.  There's a certain code amongst sports leagues that on the big stuff - you defer to the league with that has the most important thing going on.  Who the hell needs to see Mel Kiper and Adam Schefter during primetime?  Damnit, I can't stand seeing those guys talk.  Well, not talk.  It's the talking over and over and over about the same exact thing that gets me.

As if I didn't need one more reason to roll my eyes about the NFL - they're going to make this thing go primetime.  I prefer to watch Nic Batum and the Blazers.  And there's less chance of seeing Chris Mortensen telling all of us what he already knew by his "sources" a week ago.

A personal look into my life - and how this scene may change

Well, how's that for a cryptic-ish sounding title to get you to come over to my site and read this article?  Well done me.  But in all honesty, this is a serious post.  And the title was not misleading.

First, let me admit that I am a sports addict.  And not in that "I have a disease" kind of way either.  I just love sports.  I love my teams and my favorite players.  And I love knowing the numbers.  I love knowing the numbers better than the next person.  Yeah, I'm that guy.  Talk to me at a bar for five minutes and you'd know that I'm there just as much for the HD TV coverage of a big game as I am for a beer.

When I come home from work I check the numbers that I missed when I wasn't home.  I check wins and losses, scores, ERA's, FG%, yellow cards and the whole nine yards.  And I guess I'm a lucky guy that I have a wife and kids that are just happy they have a husband and father who's always home with them - even if that means that I'm clapping or pouting depending on how the game is going.  But they get into it too.  My youngest daughther can recognize and say "Batum", but she can't yet say "glasses".  My oldest daughter (and I didn't teach her this) chants 'no no no no' when an opposing player is at the free throw line.  We're just that household.  It works for us.

And at the center of my little sports universe is my computer.  It is the 'Holder of Great Numbers' if you will.  And above my computer, you will find the true essence of my fandom - and this is where the title of the post comes in.  I took a picture so that you might see what I'm talking about.

First off, the most obvious if you read this site, is the Nicolas Batum autographed photo.  It was one of the first things I bought of him before he became as well known as he is now.  It's one of my favorite sports things that I own.

Secondly, on the other side, is an autographed Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca, of course) photograph.  My younger brother sent that to me for my birthday.  It's my ode to my nerdiness.  And it doesn't get much cooler than Chewie.

And on the bottom is my daughter's school project that she made for me in kindergarter or 1st grade.  It's a whole little book dedicated to me being the best dad ever.  Of all the crazy stuff that schools make our kids do, this is probably the only thing that didn't get moved to the circular file.  And since schools are too poor to change curriculums anymore - I'm looking forward to getting two more of these from my younger daughters someday.

But my post really is about what's at the top of the photo.  This picture here:

I bought this off ebay the year after they won Super Bowl XL.  It's not autographed or anything.  Just a plain photo that some industrious bastard printed on his mother's photo printer and hawked on ebay.

For me growing up, Jerome Bettis was the man.  He was the big guy who got to run the ball.  And coming from a line of big guys, that was pretty cool.  And then this kid Roethlisberger comes in and turns the scene upside down in Pittsburgh.

I was a Steelers fan longer than I was a fan of anything else.  And to watch them win that first Super Bowl in my lifetime deserved at least a picture to commemorate the event.

But as I've said before, I've started to fall out of love with football.  And coming from Montana where football is the only real game in town, that's surprising to some people.  What can I say?  My horizons have been broadened.

Living in Portland has got me into BlazerMania with the best of them.  And living in the Mariners market has finally got me watching all of their games and really pulling for this collection of guys they've assembled to succeed.  And discovering the English Premier League (soccer) has blown my mind as to what a sports league is supposed to look like.  And so where did that leave football?

It left it on the outside looking in as far as my life was concerned.  I still watched when I could.  Still talked to the family about the team and the games coming up.  But my passion had shifted.  At first I felt like I was betraying my father and my brothers.  But I'm a grown man, and I know that even when I 'casually' watch a sport, I still know more stats than the average fan.  But my heart wasn't in it like before.

And now, today, it seems like a combination of Big Ben, Roger Goodell and the league are putting the final nail in the coffin of my NFL viewship.

I waited with everybody else to see if the Big Ben scandal was going to go the way of the Michael Vick saga.  I wondered if Big Ben would be getting a ticket to the Big House.  I waited while I watched the legacy that the Steelers had built this last decade was on the point of collapse.  And then...nothing.  No charges.  No judges or more lawyers.  No jail time.  Nothing at all.  We can all go home now.

But I guess that wasn't what Goodell had in mind.  Even though 'higher authorities' had found Ben innocent - Goodell hadn't.  So ESPN got 'sources' to finally reveal that Big Ben is getting suspended for four to six games.  And not only that, the Steelers are shopping Ben for a first round draft pick.  Whatever.

There is a 'right and wrong' button in each and every one of us.  And mine is going haywire right now.  Because one of my favorite players - though he's coming off poorly here - is being suspended for being...what, exactly?  He's innocent by the law of the land - but not by the law of the NFL.  Is that a fair assessment? 

And yet, my other side of me is telling me that Ben just isn't going to 'figure this whole thing out' until he hits rock bottom.  The motorcycle crash, the Vegas incident and now this - do show at least a pattern of behavior that he's putting himself in bad situations all the time.  And I ask myself, "is Ben Roethlisberger the kind of guy I'd want around my daughters?"  And the answer is no.  Should I have a guy like Big Ben hanging over my daughter's 'Best Dad Ever' project?  No, probably not.

But what the hell does it matter what I think?  The authorities in Georgia and Nevada have told the public that the man is innocent.  He's free to walk the streets with the rest of us.  But THE Authority in the NFL tells us that he's unfit to perform his job functions.  His innocence is not enough to let him lead a team, throw a pass or recieve concussions for the sake of the greater profit. 

The NFL has been the king of the sports world too long.  And now I'm going to just have to turn my back and walk away from it.  I'll have the memories of my father and brother and I talking about Neil O'Donnel throwing the Super Bowl against the Cowboys.  I'll have the memories of opening that present of a Ben Roethlisberger jersey and being so grateful that I had it.  And I'll have the memory of calling my dad from Oregon when I saw the Steelers put away the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. 

I know now that turning away from the NFL isn't turning away from the memories.

When my brother and I talk sports, we'll talk about the NBA.  When my father and I discuss a game, it'll most likely be about the Dodgers or the Mariners.  And when we talk about the Steelers and the NFL...we'll talk about what used to be.

Product Preview - 2010 Panini Platinum

Panini sent me the images a couple of days ago of 09/10 Panini Platinum.  Due to the playoffs, I was a bit behind in putting it up.  I figured that a slew of other people would've beat me to the punch by now, but everyone else must be as busy with the post-season as I have been.  In any event, here's the preview of Platinum.

It's interesting seeing the first-year company releasing cards.  And by the look of this product, it's looking like Panini Flagship version 2.0.  And that's not a bad thing.  The flagship got a lot of things right - and it looks like this release is merely trying to capitalize on that.

The first thing that jumped out at me on the Box Break information is that there is no jersey cards included.  And that's ok - you'd be getting two autos instead.

It doesn't say anything about sticker autos or on-card autos - so that will still have to wait to be seen.

And here's where I started to like what this offering could provide.  My favorite insert of the Panini Flagship was the Franchise inserts.  If you add autos to that - well that's just a bonus.

It looks like the more popular inserts of before are brought back with auto parallels and the base cards now have different variations.

Now, this preview shows all on-card autos.  If that ends up being the case, this will definetely be a successful release.  If not, it will be a release made for people who really enjoyed the first release.

Either way, kudos for Panini for having a release that will take us into the off-season.

That was a tough night's sleep - aftermath of Blazers/Suns

How many different ways can I possibly express 'WTF'? 

I, along with many in Portland, kind of suspected that Phoenix would find a way to take Game 2 back.  It's a pretty tried and true pattern - road team takes Game 1, home team takes back Game 2.  What none of us expected is that the margin of victory would be nearly 30 points.  To take a page page from the great Mike Rice, "my tooth hurts."

But I'm ok with that.  At the end of the series, nobody will really remember the margins of victory.  We'll only remember who won the series.  And Portland still has a fighter's chance of getting out of this thing alive. 

But that being said - what about Nicolas Batum?  Did I really just see him get his shoulder taken out again?  Did that just happen?  It did.

Of course, in team management sport speak, Batum is listed as having a shoulder strain.  He's getting an MRI today here in Portland.  I'm just beside myself with disbelief. 

Seriously, who put the voodoo on this damn team this year?  Camby just signed a huge contract - and all I can wonder is how long will he play before somebody breaks his knee going for a routine rebound?  It's really that kind of mentality this year with the club.

As we stand though, we don't know anything yet.  So I can't jump to conclusions - or jump off the bridge - quite yet. 

And in other playoffs news, the Celtics and the Hawks rolled, convincingly.  And the Lakers still haven't lost yet to the Thunder.  I was really hoping that OKC could go into Staples and steal one of those.  Oh well.  I've got bigger things to worry about. 

More to come after Batum's MRI results are released.

Larry Johnson: A retrospective - reader submitted article

This article is submitted by reader Zach.

Once again, big thanks to Zach for submitting material, and good material at that.  Zach sent me this article a couple of days ago.  I'm putting this article in today because it's Game 2 of the Blazers/Suns series, and I am looking forward to focusing on the game tonight.  Besides, Zach's got a talent for writing and his work is always a welcome addition to the site.


Larry Johnson: A retrospective

Two things come to mind when I think about former UNLV legend and NBA forward Larry Johnson- the 1996 movie Space Jam and his guest spot on the early 1990’s sitcom Family Matters. Johnson was a budding star in my formative years, but thanks to my parents’ aversion to cable television, I saw him make more appearances on TGIF than I did on the basketball court. Since I’m too young to provide an adequate breakdown of Johnson’s game, allow me to instead recap the 1993 Family Matters episode “Grandmama.”


Steve Urkel asks Eddie Winslow to be his teammate in a local 2-on-2 basketball tournament. Reluctant to partner with the notoriously clumsy nerd, Eddie agrees to participate only when it is revealed that the tournament’s winner will receive a full set of Chicago Bulls season tickets. However, while in line to register for the contest, Eddie decides to team up with high school star Kenny “The Spider” Jackson. This leaves Steve without a teammate and disheartened by his friend’s abandonment.

While Steve is confessing his disappointment to Eddie’s grandmother, Ethel, it is revealed that one of Ethel’s good friends is an accomplished basketball player. Steve seeks out the help of the towering pensioner, who agrees to play with him in the tournament (enter Johnson as his Converse alter ego, Grandmama). When the pair arrives at the competition, they are ridiculed by the other participants for their seemingly unathletic appearance. However, Grandmama surprises everyone with moves that would please a NBA coach. Even Steve demonstrates that he is capable of hitting an open jump shot.

In the championship game, Steve and Grandmama narrowly defeat Eddie and The Spider. Eddie is not only upset that he has lost the tournament, but also he is disappointed in himself for letting Steve down in the first place. He graciously congratulates Steve on his victory and leaves the court. Sensing his friend’s sincerity, Steve returns to the Winslow home and offers Eddie one of two Chicago Bulls seasons ticket packages. Eddie is overjoyed by Steve’s kindness, but Steve downplays the gesture by explaining that Grandmama is a fan of the Charlotte Hornets.

In a previous contribution to The Basketball Card Blog, I noted that I had bought a lot of 400 Charlotte Hornets cards on eBay for only $2.79 (shipping included). Originally, I had bought the lot with the intention of mining for one of my favorite basketball players- Tony Bennett. However, the lot also included 145 Larry Johnson cards from his five seasons in Charlotte. Here are the highlights:

1991-1992 SkyBox # 513 RC






Larry Johnson was drafted #1 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in 1991 … apparently just before solid color shirts were invented

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
1993-1994 SkyBox Premium #4






In this tribute to the 1993 NBA Playoffs, 16 players appear in clear sight over a blurred television screen

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
1993-1994 SkyBox International #7






Johnson averaged 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game for the JV team at the 1994 World Championships in Toronto.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
1993-1994 Topps Stadium Club #323

(reverse)





What would today’s sports statisticians say about the “Topps Skills Rating System”? I give it a 2.3 for creativity.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Again, thanks to Zach for the material.  It made my job easier and my site better today.

My gripe with national TV coverage of the playoffs

Now that the afterglow is waning from the game last night, I can think clearly and put together some thoughts about what I watched.  In short, the Blazers have depth.  They have players that can finish the task at hand.  Whether they continue on this path is yet to be seen.  But it showed Charles Barkley what the rest of us already knew - the Blazers are pretty good when they put it all together.

Now, that being said, the first round of the playoffs is the worst for TV coverage.  There are so many games that games start to overlap each other.  Instead of starting games earlier to allow for more transition time, the networks just seem to think that games will all last exactly two and a half hours.  When I turned on my TV last night to watch the Blazers - I instead had to watch Dallas finish off the Spurs....slowly, with all the fouls and the timeouts.  We all knew that Dallas was going to win that game.  But we had to watch.  And I'm ok with that.  If I were a Dallas fan, I would want to see the game to the very last shot.  That's what fans do.

But with that game taking so long, TNT had to switch over to the Blazers game at the 8 minute mark of the first quarter.  What the hell?  I didn't get any pregame coverage.  I didn't get to see the starting line-ups.  I didn't get to see the tip-off.  And I didn't get to see Nicolas Batum score the first five points for the Blazers.  What a joke.

Really?  Do we have to let each network run a line of games?  Couldn't TNT take an early game and ESPN take a late game?  Don't fans get a choice?  I'm debating on whether or not to boycott every product I saw advertised last night just out of spite.  I'm so sick of corporate America tainting everything they're trying to promote.  In the Portland area, the big controversy is that Comcast Sportsnet has the exclusive rights to the Blazers' games.  And Comcast is cable and they refuse to release the games to satellite providers.  So that means we have legions of fans, with their DirectTV dishes, that can't watch games (this is not a problem for me - I would rather pay for the cable and have the games obviously).

And now, when the games all finally go national, we miss the whole first part of the game.  And there is no second option to view the game.  None.  It's a sham.  And it's only about the networks making as much money as possible with little regard to true fan bases that only want to watch the damn game start to finish.

The above paragraph has been disproved.  Apparantly there was a second local option that I was unaware of because my cable provider listed regular programming instead of the playoffs on a local station.  I'm very glad that I get to watch my local guys for the next games though.  Even so, the national TV broadcast still shafted Blazers and Suns fans not living in local markets. 

Now, if the Blazers had lost that game last night, I'd be a whole new level of pissed.  What if the Blazers couldn't feel me shouting through the TV and had taken a loss.  But we won.  And I got to see the most gut-churning endings I've ever had to endure.  But I still would've been in on the game from the start.

And that's just how we do it...

I should be sleeping.  The Corona is wearing off.  But I had to watch to the end of the Blazers / Suns game.  And my prediction of the game was true.  It was Andre Miller being Andre Miller - driving the lane like nobody's business.  And Bayless followed suit.

Batum was stellar - and not showing any signs of being intimidated this year.  Amare fouled out late in the 4th quarter - and it was...it was just great.  There were some shaky moments in the final minutes, but the Blazers figured it out.  I tell you what, watch SportsCenter - and in the moment when Marcus Camby completely misses a dunk, you should've heard the words I had for my television set.

Portland wasn't closing it out like they should've, but Phoenix wasn't capitalizing like they should've either. 

I can't fully break this baby down right now, I've got to get to bed.  But this is why we watch all of the 82 regular season games - just to get to games like this.  It paints the rest of the playoffs in a whole different light.  We have a chance, baby.  We have a chance.

Portland wins 105-100.

And I really don't know how I'm going to sleep.  My pulse is racing and my stomach is turning from the stress.  Damn.  What a game.

Game One - Blazers & Suns - This is what we've been waiting for

Well, the time has finally come.  All year long I've watched the Blazers.  I've yet to miss a game.  And now, even after winning more than 50 games for the second year in a row, it feels like this whole thing is in jeopardy.  It feels like we're going to be let down.

Brandon Roy is out.  I just don't get how the Blazers can have such a strong team that is built on such weak bones.  From Roy to Oden to Przybilla to Webster - you'd swear by the medical records that this team had osteoporosis.  But that is neither here nor there.  We are where we are.  And that's at a number six seed.  Not bad considering what the team has gone through.  But I said about a week ago that nobody wanted to play the Suns in the playoffs.  Nobody.  But here we are.  Typical.

So that's the rational side of me.  Screw that side.

Here's the super-fan side of me.

Look at what happened to the Jazz last night.  Okur is out for the rest of the playoffs with an injury.  I'm not saying that I wish the Suns to get injured - but it happens.  If Amare would somehow eat a bad sushi roll - I'd wish him well, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it either.

But I'm not saying that our only hopes hinge on an injury to the Suns.  In some ways, having Brandon out may be a better thing for Andre Miller in this matchup.  Without Roy calling for the ball, Miller will charge the lane and get the Suns into some early foul trouble. 

If I were the coach, that would be my strategy.  All the guards and centers must be driving the lane at all times.  The Suns will foul you like anybody else.  Oh, and Batum doesn't have Ron Artest to deal with this year, so I look for him to come up big this series.  But I look for him to come up big every game. 

In short, do we have a chance?  Hell yes there's a chance.  And that's worth rooting for.

The winner of Contest #1 is....Bryan

Quite the game.  Much lower scoring than I thought it would've been.  Everybody overshot the points on their guesses.  The Celtics beat the Heat 85 to 76 for a point total of 161.  And Bryan's guess of 179 was actually the closest.

Bryan, please write me an email and we can get your shipping information taken care of.  Congratulations to Bryan once again.

Last chance to enter contest - 8PM EST

So the playoff season has kicked off.  The biggest non-story of the playoffs will be the Cavs mopping the floor with the Bulls.  Actually, I had to work all day, and I knew I wouldn't miss much on that game.  I'm ok just catching the highlights on that one.

And the countdown is on to lock in the picks for the contest - if you haven't signed up yet, you should. 

It's going to be a busy day here for me.  I've got to catch my DVR'd Everton v. Blackburn game.  Man it would be nice if Everton could move past Villa.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, just check out the EPL one day.  You won't regret it.

And after I'm done watching that, it's onto the playoffs.  It's a great time of year for sure.



UPDATE:

Contests are CLOSED 

We got a good mix of people in these contests.  Good luck everybody.

UD did right by Blazer Land this day

I had a whole other post planned for today.  But Walker at the Blazer Blog had a new post up that I decided to read before I started writing.  And his post today is a stunner.

Typically, when a card company sends a replacement for a redemption that isn't going to be filled, you get screwed.  I got Saer Sene a while back.  I'm still getting over that one from Topps.

But Upper Deck did way right by Walker this day.  Check out his card - it's worth the time.  And put Walker on your blog lists - why wouldn't you want more Blazer honks in your daily reading?

Contest Time - Contest 2 of 2

Here's the big contest - the contest for this gem of a card:

I've given a lot of thought about how to do an appropriate contest for this card.  Unlike the first contest which focused just on game one of the series between the Celtics and the Heat, this contest will focus on the entire series.  I know, people love instant gratification.  But c'mon.  This card deserves a bit more than just a one-and-done contest. 

THE RULES:

You must register in the comments section below.  You must be logged in to a google or blogger account to register.

This contest will be a bit trickier.  The first contest needed the total points for Game 1.  This contest requires you to guess the total points combined between the two teams for the entire series.  And that's where the challenge comes in.  First off, if the series only goes four games, the total will be lower than if it went seven games.  That sounds simple, but I'm looking forward to seeing the variety of guesses I get.

Even though it will be nearly impossible to need a tiebreaker - I figured I should add one just to be sure. 

Tiebreaker:  Below your guess - put how many Blocked Shots will be tallied between both teams for the entire series.  It's kind of a quirky stat, but I want to be absolutely sure that there isn't a tie and somebody ends up feeling shorted.

Example:

Total Points for series:  1350 points

Tiebreaker:  26 Blocked Shots

I think we should get a winner without the tiebreaker easily.  But just to be sure - and it kind of makes you think at the same time.  So there it is.  The contest ends at tip-off of Game 1 on Saturday April 17.  Sign up and enjoy.  Good luck everybody.

Contest Time - Contest 1 of 2

Well, it's that time of year.  It's time for the playoffs.  And thanks to Panini, I have some great prizes to give away for a contest.  So here goes.  I'm not a fan of dragging contests out.  And I'm looking at the cards I pulled from the 09/10 Classics box - and I decided to let the card I pulled dictate the contest.

Since I pulled a Bob Cousy as the main hit of the box - I decided to focus on the Celtics and Heat playoff series to do the contest.  And this also works because I'm not emotionally invested in that series - so I won't feel like I'm rooting for or against anybody.

So this is contest number 1:  And I'm going to make this the quicker of the two contests.  This contest will revolve solely on Game 1 of the series.  And the prize is:

The 2 relics and the Sam Young auto.

I'm going to leave these grouped together to provide maximum value possible for the contest.  I thought about putting the relics together and splitting the auto into another contest.  But in the end, I thought it would be more rewarding to package it as is.  Plus every box I'm seeing of 09/10 Classics is featuring on-card autos - so the Young auto should be nice.



THE RULES:

In the comment box below, submit your entry.  You must be logged in to a google account or blogger account to register. 

You must register prior to tip-off of game one between the Celtics and the Heat (Saturday April 17, 8ET/5P) .

You do not need to pick a winner of the game.  This contest is based more on a 'prop bet'.  Simply guess the total points of the game combined between the two teams.  The closest pick wins.

Tiebreaker:  Also, below your guess, put the margin of victory for the winning team.  You do not need to give the winner - just the margin of victory.

Example:
Total points - 200 points
Margin of victory - 6 points

I tried to make it as simple as possible.  This format seemed to work really well for the All-Star game contest I did.  Hopefully it's as fun this time around.  Enjoy.

Some days you're better off not checking the mail

This post has nothing to do with sports, nor cards nor anything entertaining.  It's just a bit of a rant about this world we live in.  I've already posted a sports article today - so I feel ok letting this out.

Here goes.

What the hell is wrong with people?  Really.  I've about had it.

I go to the mailbox today.  Still no manila envelope love from sportlots.  No bills either.  I got my Netflix movie and one letter from my student loan guarantor.

I went to college for one year by the way.  The fact that I quit college is neither here nor there.  I left and met my wife and had my children.  So I can't wish I would've continued in college if it would mean that I wouldn't have had them in my life.  So that's a side note for you.  Either way, I have a small student loan.

And my account is current with my student loan.  You can't default on the government.  They don't like it very much.  So I keep it current.  But in my mailbox is a letter from the loan guarantor that starts with red lettering.  And that's not good.  Red letters on official mail always means bad things.

Turn out, my loan guarantor has been hacked.  Myself, along with three million other people, have had our names, date of birth, address and Social Security numbers stolen.  Great.  Just F'ing great.

Really, I'm thinking about having a grand ol' time and wrecking my credit so badly that nobody will want to use it.  But I know I won't.

My loan guarntor is providing us with a year free of some super duper credit monitoring service so that we can track our credit.  Now, if you were a thief with three million identities, wouldn't you just wait out the year to start using peoples' numbers?  C'mon people.  You gave away my identity with shoddy security.  You owe me that service for LIFE.  But that would cost money.

Ok.  Nothing like a little identity theft to bring a downer to the playoff season.  And I guess that the only reason I even bring this up is that we are all on increasingly computerized existences.  If you're reading this site you've probably bought and sold items on the internet.  You've probably paid bills online.  Just watch yourselves.  Be safe.

Thanks for being patient with my little rant.  Sports coverage will resume tomorrow.  Some people, though.  There's always one who has to ruin it for all the others.

The Final Day of the 09/10 NBA Regular Season

It's a bit bittersweet coming to the end of this season.  This season was full of storylines and surprises - for the good and the bad.  For some, this is the last time they will see their team until the fall.  For others, myself included, we know that there is a distinct possibility that we could only see our team play four more games.  Though we hope for much more than that - even if the pundits tell us it is hopeless.

There has been a lot of unrest in basketball this past year.  From the court to the hobby, it has been a decade that has now been capped off by doubt and unrest - and change.  In many cases, the NBA has a broken business model.  Teams are struggling and many arenas are nearly empty.  There is always talk of a future lock-out if things aren't changed.  And this is on top of one of the greatest officiating scandals that rocked the integrity of the game only a short while ago.  Many fans have walked away - and it shows.

But we could focus on the negatives all day.  Cynicism never got anybody anywhere.  There are a ton of positives we could focus on too.  This year gave us another stellar rookie class.  In the midst of all that is troubling the league, the talent pool is not one of them.  Tyreke, B. Jennings and Curry will be stars for years to come.  And the draft class coming this next year isn't looking to be a bust either.

And for every team in the East that has attendance issues, there are teams on the West side that are hitting sell-out marks on a nightly basis.  Expansion teams are proving to be an asset to the league, and not a deterrent.  The Thunder and the Grizzlies, two franchises in relatively new markets are poised to change the race for the playoffs in the West for years to come.

And the mark of a great season is that there is still a reason to watch games on the last day of the year.  In the East, the battle for the 8 spot is still up for grabs.  And in the West, there still isn't a clear picture of how the matchups will shake out.  It makes for great entertainment.

So no matter how it all looks tomorrow, I'm hoping for a great playoff season to cap off a memorable regular season.  And, if the Blazers could shock the world, well that wouldn't be a bad thing either.

Sportlots issues - we'll see how this goes

Well, first off, there's no way to top yesterday's love-fest with basketball cards - so I won't even try.  The box of cards arrived.  A box was busted.  It was great.  But I can't repost the said greatness two days in a row.  So I'll just jump into some business.

My Murad chase hasn't come to an end.  But it has come to a bit of a speed bump.  I have expanded my buying into a couple of other sites not named ebay in an attempt to keep costs down to build my set.  Now, I've been on ebay a while.  When something arises, the issue resolution is actually pretty straight forward and simple.  It's something I'm used to.  And let's face it, when you put your money out over the internet, you want a bit of security.  Or a lot of security, actually.  I've bought boxes of cards on ebay before and have never had a problem.  Problems always arise on the purchases that are menial in terms of cost.  And this case, though from a different site, is no different.

I went to http://www.sportlots.com/ to buy some Murad minis.  And the total purchase was in the $5 dollar range.  But after a couple of weeks, I still haven't recieved my order.  I've bought from this site before with no issues - and I'm not blaming the site, it's obviously a seller issue.  But I am looking to see how the site will handle the dispute that I just filed.  The resolution of the matter will decide if I continue to use the site or not.  And I figured I'd document the process here so that people can decide for themselves if they're willing to take a chance on another site for their card needs.  There are amazing deals on this site, so I hope this all goes smoothly.

First off, here's what I bought:

As you can see, I got some amazing deals.  The last three on the list are mini SP's.  Less than a dollar per SP is an amazing deal online.  Considering that they are more rare than the full size SP's, I was thrilled to see them at this price.  But again, I haven't actually checked them off my list yet.

Now, here's what the status of my order is:

So obviously the seller is saying he sent them...a while ago.  But no manila envelope love has been passed my way.  And this is really one case that I don't want my money back.  I'd actually rather have what I paid for at the price I paid.  There is no way I could take the same five bucks and get as good of a deal as I got on this sale.

So, here's what I'm looking at; the seller has five days to respond to my claim and start the resolution process.  I'm looking for a couple of things.  First off, how much power does the seller have to resolve this on his own?  Secondly, if it turns into my word against his, does this go on my buyer record?

I'll keep everyone in the loop.  I'd love to use this site again for set building purposes.

Box Break - 09/10 Panini Classics

Imagine my shock - I got a box of cards to review today.  A box that I didn't order and didn't pay for.  And it's from Panini.  So double score.

First and foremost I get to open a box of new cards.  That in itself is something I get to do maybe two or three times a year - so this is great.

Secondly, Panini thought enough of my site here to allow me to review a box of cards.  And that feels good.  It just does.

So, I get the box of Panini Classics and I filmed it.  I edited the film down to show pretty much just the hits towards the end - and there is a huge hit.  Stay with the video - trust me.  What I saw when I watched the video back is that I'm still a rookie at this box breaking thing, at least on camera anyway.  Next time I'll have somebody film me from behind so that we can see all the cards as they go along.  And I really was excited - I was just trying to "enhance my calm" - and I came off pretty subdued.  I'll fix all of that next time I do a box.

In any event, here's the video break.  Or you can skip the video and look below at the scans of the hits.

Two jersey swatches here.  The Iguodala is centered and framed well for a jersey card.

The Beaubois is a good card simply because of the player on it.  I think this kid could be huge as well. 

And lastly, just for proof so that people don't think I'm stashing a Tyreke Evans rookie auto, is the Sam Young redemption.  I'm a huge Sam Young fan - but I got the patch rookie auto already (and it's numbered to 5) so this card won't be nearly as hard to let go of.

And lastly, the real star of this box break is that awesome Bob Cousy on-card autograph card.  This card will be tough to let go.  It's a really great card.

I was under the impression that Panini was only featuring Kobe Bryant with on-card autos.  I'm really glad that I was wrong about that.  Seriously, pulling an on-card auto makes this a huge box.

I'm sure that not all autos can be on-card, but if they got signers like Cousy to do signings like this - it means a lot to a collector like myself.  I know that there has been a whole to-do about UD getting pushed out of the basketball side of the hobby.  But really, there isn't any way you can complain about a card like this being included into a product by a first-year company.

This made my day in a very huge way.







And the box breakdown:

18 Packs, 5 Cards a Pack
$82-$88 online (various outlets)
4 hits per box

-- My Box --

Base (1-100)
71% complete, 1 dupe (#27 OJ Mayo - SP version /100)
Base SP's (101-200 - all serial numbered to /999 or less)
5% complete - 4 Legends and 1 Rookie

Inserts:
Dress Code: 1 A. Horford, 8 S. Marion, 24 C. Boozer, 25 C Billups
Classic Combos: 6 B. Russell / B. Sharman
Classic Confrontations: 1 M. Johnson / L. Bird, 10 O. Roberston / J. West
Classic Greats: 1 B. Russell, 13 J. Worthy, 29 W. Unseld, 30 W. Reed

Memorabilia: R. Beaubois, A. Iguodala
Autos: B. Cousy, S. Young

Overall Grade:  I give this box a 4.5/5.  I like SP layout of this set, but the regular base blended a bit with other past releases.  This set would be a challenge to collect though.  Only getting 5 SP's out of 100 means that to complete this set, you'd have to put down some coin to finish it off.  Not that I have a problem with putting in the time to collect a set - but 5 cards out of 100 is a bit low to me.

And pulling an on-card auto...I can't emphasize enough how great that is.  I don't know that I've ever pulled an auto that wasn't on a sticker.  Typically one would have to buy high-end to get on-card service - but this proves that it doesn't have to be so.  Just knowing that buying a box gives you the chance to pull an on-card auto is a great incentive to give it a try.

If you want a chance to win these cards - including the Cousy auto - check back into the site later this week.  There will be a contest, and I'll try to make it worth everybody's time.

Thanks again to Panini.  It was great.

Well if that aint a kick in the pants...or the knee

Brandon Roy is awaiting an MRI.  Again.

Evidently his knee 'popped'  and 'definetely doesn't feel right'.  Are you kidding me?  We just beat the Lakers - and I'm completely stressing out about Brandon Roy.  I can't even enjoy the victory.  The Playoffs start on Saturday.  He doesn't have a ton of time to make this right.

Without Roy, this club isn't going anywhere.  I can't believe this is really happening.  Damn.

But hey.  The Blazers beat the Lakers. 

I hope the Blazers get the Mavs first round...

Seriously.  There will be no other team that Blazer fans would be more geeked to see in the Rose Garden than the Dallas Mavericks.  Apologies to Big D, but that game last night was very poorly officiated.  In fact, the step above poorly officiated is "horse-shit".  And I can still smell that equine aroma wafting out of my television.

The technical foul-fest against the Blazers was disheartening.  But the flagrant missed calls were just beyond me.  To be fair though, the refs missed a few traveling calls on Portland.  But it almost felt like the other refs were trying to "give back" to the Blazers for other poor calls.  I don't know. 

But the Blazers have done well against the Mavs this year - and last night's loss was no blowout.  I think that the Blazers can actually take this team.  We matchup well.  And aside from Kobe Bryant, it sounds like the Blazer fans would love nothing more than to see Dirk and company come back a couple more times.

Frustrating.  I'm still frustrated.  But it's ok.  The playoffs are right around the corner.

And finally, TJ, you must not mock what you don't know.  Stargate: Universe is so much more than scientists and military men bumbling around space.  Just try it.  And then I'll continue my quest to get you to read the Star Wars expanded universe novels.

Huge game tonight - Blazers vs. Mavericks

If you're able to watch this game - do it.  This game is the sequel to the game where the Blazers went into Dallas and finished off the Mavs in spectacular fashion.  That last game for me was the game of the year.

Really, it's playoff basketball.  My DVR is already loaded with shows that I'll have to forsake in order to watch the game.  I've waited months for Stargate: Universe to come back on - and I have to DVR it.  I mean, I probably would've DVR'd it anyways - in case it was really good (Nerd Alert).  I really would've rather seen it with the rest of the west coast.  No bother, though.  This game tonight is going to be huge.

Will Dirk have his way on offense?  Or will my boy Batum be the lockdown defender that he had to be last game?

Does Kidd rain three's all night long?  Or does Miller get to the lane early and often and get J. Kidd in foul trouble?

Remember, the game against the Mavs had Andre Miller score a career high in points.  I can't remember how much it was right off the bat.  But he dropped 50+ on a very good Dallas team.

Really, do yourselves a favor and watch this game.  You can even root against Nicolas Batum if it makes you happy.  Go ahead.  I won't care - because I won't have to see it.  When we play the Mavs, my catch phrase is, "suck it, Dirk."  Seriously.  When Dirk misses a defensive switch, "suck it, Dirk."  When Nicolas hits a trey, "suck it, Dirk."  When Nowitzki misses a three himself, "suck it, Dirk." 

That is why when the Blazers play big games in the West, I put the little ones down to bed ahead of time.  I know.  It's childish of me to develop Tourette's when the Blazers play a game.  But I can't help myself.  I tell my wife, "I can either sit here and scream at the TV.  Or I can go to the pub and scream at the TV and spend too much money.  Either way, I'm screaming at somebody's TV."  She usually just relents and lets me scream at our own TV.

It's so on.

Oh.  If you haven't seen Stargate:Universe yet, here's the trailer.  You can watch all the season's episodes online and start to watch the rest as this season progresses.  Such a good show.  They just released a Stargate card collection with all the autos from this latest installment.  And I might get some of those, if I get a chance.  Awesome show.  Let your geek flag fly.

Getting prepped for the NBA playoffs

It's just a good time of year - especially if you have a team in the NBA playoffs.  If you don't, it's still a good time of year because hope springs eternal for the new baseball season.  But in all honesty, the NBA playoffs should be good enough to edge out the non-stop Yankees / Red Sox love on ESPN.  I say should be good enough.  ESPN loves it some NY / BOS rivalry. 

But heading into the playoff stretch, it's still all up in the air as far as the seeding is going to go.  Nobody really knows.  And it's almost like the playoffs have already started in the West.  There's no more teams fighting to get in - just teams jockeying for position.  It's been fun to watch.

Here's what I'm looking at going into the playoffs.

1. Nicolas Batum is leading the True Shooting Percentage category (Hollinger numbers).  And I must say that it's nice to know I've put my time and my hobby collection behind a young guy who's now getting the numbers to stay relevant.  Last year Nic got shut out by the Rockets.  That can't happen again this year.  He's playing with some gusto.  That alone makes me excited to watch the playoffs.
2. I think the Thunder, out of all the teams that will probably be in the bottom four of the eight, have as good a chance as any to go to the second round.  Right now, if the playoffs started today, the Thunder would be playing the Lakers.  Even that being said, I'd still give them a chance to get to the second round.
3. The Lakers are not without flaws.  They can be beat.
4. Nobody wants to play the Suns in the first round.  Nobody. 
5. And lastly, I'm not sure how much it matters who comes out of the West.  It really could be Lebron's year.  And everybody in New York is hoping against hope that he doesn't start his championship legacy in Ohio.

Another day passes...and no Manila Envelope Love

It's already heading into the second week of April - and I should have had a bunch of Murad minis on their way already.  But everyday that I go to the mailbox all I find are bills.  No Manila Envelope Love. 

I've already gone over that feeling of seeing a stack of manila in your mailbox.  It's a great feeling.  It's what you've been waiting for.  And it's even worse when you know that it's due to you, and it doesn't come.

And I'm really needing a basketball pick me up right now.  Tonight, for the first time, I'll have to switch back and forth between the Blazers and the Mariners game.  Obviously the Blazers take precedence.  But watching the top of the Mariners lineup will be fun this year.  I've watched them the last couple of nights, and even though last night was a dud, there's a ton of talent on this team now.  Not enough talent to skip watching Batum rain down threes on the Clips.  But I'd hate to miss a key moment in another game as well.  Baseball is a lot of waiting for that three-second payoff.  It's entirely possible that I'll miss that whole payoff while on another game.

So, yeah.  A bit of a ramble today.  I only have these minis coming today, and they're not here.  The Blazers only have five games left of the regular season.  And the M's are starting up.  Did I mention I'm trying to coordinate taking the family to their first AAA Beavers game this year too?  I just wish that people would build their schedules so that I just do things one at a time.

And the winner is...TJ

So I had a contest yesterday - that wasn't publicized or hyped for the typical week.  It was kind of a 'gimme' for those few folks who decided to check into the site on a Sunday night to sign up.

I got three entries.  And the contest was to determine who could guess as close as possible the number of K's that Felix Hernandez had against the A's on Opening Day.  And he only ended up with 4.  TJ had the closest guess with 7.

No tiebreakers were needed.  Felix looked sharp early on - but faded a bit after the fifth and sixth inning.  SIDE NOTE:  What a fun game to watch that was.  It's not often that you see that many stolen bases, attempted stolen bases and full counts in a game.  This Mariners team kept me interested from start to finish.  5 runs isn't a bad total either. 

So TJ, who's site is now all bright and cheery, you win.  And Chase Headley had a killer game yesterday.  It is an Exquisite rookie auto - so wait for him to have a great string of games and flip that sucker.  Or keep it, he was a Portland Beaver after all.  Probably the last great Portland Beaver we've had - as far as 'hype' goes.  How bout you save me on the shipping costs and we'll go have a beer sometime in the next week or two?  Mmmm.  Beer.

Where has E-Gon gone to?

My favorite Padre, is no longer a Padre.  You may not have seen much of him, but Edgar Gonzalez, older brother of Adrian Gonzalez, is not on the team's roster.  That probably pissed Adrian off.  But what do the Padres care?  Everybody and their mother knows that Adrian will be shopped heavily before the trading deadline anyway.  Why would a Major League team like the Padres want to keep All-Star Major League talent?  It's ludicrous.  What they hell did Jake Peavey ever do for them anyway?

Sorry.  I have Padres aggression.  But on the other hand, I do get to watch my favorite players from the Padres go onto better teams - and be happy and successful.

I digress.  Edgar, my man E-Gon, was my favorite.  Because he reminded me of...a version of me.  That passionate, never quit version of me that I used to know.  Edgar was born in '78.  He's 31 or 32 now.  He didn't get the call-up to the Bigs to be with his brother until 2008.  That guy stuck with it.  I remember when I thought I loved things enough to stick with them like that.  But that guy loves baseball.  I'll never forget his first homer.  He hit it for all of us.  All of us sports junkies who are heading towards 30 and 40 and who'll never have the chance to get a "do over" and play any form of professional sports. 

And Edgar is playing for the Giants now.  The Yomiuri Giants.  In Japan.  I respect that.  Play until you can't play anymore.

It'll be hard to follow his progress from here - but I'll try.  In the meantime, I'm watching Ichiro and Figgins try to outduel each other with stolen bases.  It's actually quite nice to watch intelligent, competetive baseball.  I hope E-Gon is enjoying the same, wherever he is.

It's the first day of baseball - and now I'm not ready.

I was totally ready for baseball like a month ago.  Now, I wish it would kind of just wait another month or so.  I've got to get into basketball playoff mode first.  But ready or not, here it comes.

I am kind of excited to watch what the Mariners do this year.  Their off-season moves have been the talk of the town, so I'll follow them - see what happens.  One thing I WILL NOT do - follow Padres baseball.  I get into teams that I follow.  And that team will break your heart, let me tell you.

Actually, it wasn't really that I followed the Padres, I just followed certain players.  I was a huge Peavey fan, I'll root for him wherever he goes.  I like Edgar Gonzalez, but who knows what'll happen with him.  And I followed Chase Headley through Portland to the bigs.  And now he's kind of stalled out in a crappy team.  But he'll be moving to 3rd this year with Kooz out to the A's.  So maybe he'll pick up.

But I'm 'purging' lately.  I'm getting rid of cards that I don't really need - and getting cards that actually mean something to me.  So my latest purge is this card here:

It's a Chase Headley Exquisite Rookie auto.  It's pretty nice.  And it could be yours. 

So, it's contest time!

Here's the rules:

1)  You must sign in with your google or blogger account.
2)  How many strikeouts will Felix Hernandez of the Mariners have?
3)  Tiebreaker 1 - How many innings (in thirds of an inning) will Felix pitch?
4)  Tiebreaker 2 - How many hits will Felix give up?

This is a transitional contest for me to move into the Mariners from the dreaded Pads.  And I'm not dragging this contest out.  You have until first pitch tomorrow of the Seattle / Oakland game to post your response.

Hey, it's an Exquisite auto.  Could be a worse.

Sunday Morning Pack Battle - April 4 2010 Edition

Today is a bit of a switch.  I went to the local Target and instead of grabbing the same old Topps or UD basketball releases, I switched it up and went for the UFC vs. Star Wars.  I'm a big MMA fan too.  I know, I know.  How many freaking sports can one guy follow?  A lot.  It's kind of what I do.  Later this month the Ultimate Fighter reality show is starting up again.  That's Must See TV in my house.

In any event, I like watching UFC, but I've not yet been inclined to actually invest in a collection.  So when I saw a retail pack, I couldn't resist picking one up to 'see what I see'.  In fact, in each of the above packs, there was 1 insert per pack.  So this shapes up to be a pretty good pack battle right from the start.  Here's UFC's base:

The base aren't actually all blue, that's just how they scanned.  They're holo-foil times Panini squared.  There is a ton of foil in this set.  It's all foil.  And while I like a nice chrome look for a certain card.  It just really goes overboard here.  Actually, you can see the pictures better in the scan than you can in your hands.

The other thing is the script they use for the names.  Kind of hard to read.  I'm not illiterate or anything.  But I don't often read that script. 

The Silba card is nice - he's a good fighter for sure.  The Stefan Strube card is a bit of a failure. You at least need to show the guy's face, Topps.  But other than that, the photography is actually pretty good.

The backs of the cards are really informative.  They give a good background of each fighter.  The only problem here is that there isn't any comprehensive stats for the fighter.  Half the purpose of the sports card has always been for reference.  It would be hard to imagine a baseball or basketball card without percentages and tons of useful numbers printed on the back.

Here there's no such luck.  And I hope that Topps can rectify that.  Before the age of the internet, that was how people looked up stats - on the cards.  UFC fighters should be afforded the same courtesy.

Here's the insert card.  It's kind of a miniature promotional poster for a past UFC event.  I like the idea.  Again, foil overload.  The card isn't that blue.  But the back of the card is matte.  So you can see the main event and the under card.  Pretty cool idea actually.  Just tone it down a notch.  I wouldn't put together this insert set just for that reason.  But it is of a Couture event, so points there for sure.

Now the Star Wars.  May the Force be with us. 

Again, a great variation of the art styles.  The propaganda stuff is really appropriate here.  The Topps baseball propaganda stuff was hit or miss with some collectors.  But in this format - it's F'ing genius.

My favorite card of this lot is the Stormtrooper raid on the Sandcrawler.  Click on the photo to enlarge it.  That's some killer stuff here.  It depicts a key piece of the Star Wars story that wasn't shown in Episode IV.  All we see in the movie is Luke and Obi-Wan driving up to the burning sandcrawler.  Here it shows it in detail.  It's a killer card.  Really huge fan of the painting style cards here.

The art-noveau style Leia card is great because it's unique.  This release is putting a whole new spin on what should and shouldn't be on cards.  The space around the 'picture' is great because it fits with the style of the art-noveau.  It's almost like every card in this set was made without apology.  And it looks like the sets was made for fans, by fans.  You can just tell.  How many times have you opened up a sports card release and asked yourself if the designers even like sports at all?  Like how could they get it so wrong?  You don't ever have that feeling here.  I'm loving this stuff.  I might actually buy a box of this.  It's just that fun.  You literally spend a couple minutes looking at each card.  That's rare.  And the inserts are great too.  Here's what I pulled:

The Vader, though not etched like the Boba Fett I pulled earlier, is surrounded by a mirror like foil.  It works because Vader is a great character to put in contrasts like that.  The card is just a great visual gem.  It makes me want to see the other 14 cards.  Well done Topps.  Well done indeed.

Obviously Star Wars wins again today.  Though I was expecting more from the UFC release - the Star Wars didn't let me down.  I'll wait for the prices to drop on this stuff and try to get a hobby box to officially review in the future.