A pack of hockey cards to pass the NBA lockout

So I finally broke down and bought my first official pack of hockey cards even though I was holding out for UD Series 1.  What can I say?  I walked into Target and those double pack things were just staring me in the face....and there was the O Pee Chee hockey right along with them.  I couldn't resist.  I didn't exactly expect to pull anything, but I wouldn't have minded getting a Penguin or two.  And hey, pulling a Malkin in a pack would be more fun that buying it online, right?

I should say though that this purchase was made partly because I'd just heard the news that the NBA Players Union walked out of the negotiations today.  There was so much hope and optimism this morning when I went to work that I was actually surprised that it ended in a walk-out.  I bet that the head honchos over at the NHL shouted rather loudly when they heard that there would be no NBA games for all of November now.  Imagine that, other than football on the weekends, the NHL has nothing to impede its progress for at least an entire month.  If the NHL sold stock, I'd be buying it right now.

So given that, I was feeling particularly 'hockey-ish' today and bought the only hockey offering I could see.  I didn't pull any Penguins - or any of the stars from my just-now-heating-up fantasy hockey team.  But I did pull two inserts; well I pulled one insert and one SP base variation.

The Marquee Legend is pretty cool, but it reminds me of a time when I knew nothing about hockey outside of Gordon Bombay and the Mighty Ducks (don't hate me).  It's for reasons like this that I feel like I would get more out of my collecting experience by going for a modern-theme set.  Still, I'm a bit of an insert nut, so pulling something other than base is always fun.

Then I pulled the Torrey Mitchell card, which made me think of Fuji.  This has to be the luckiest scan ever.  The card is a refractor, but somehow then only color that showed up in the scan off of its spectrum is the San Jose blue.  I don't know that I could duplicate this scan again if I tried.  It makes the card look like an ultra-rare.  I'll have to start setting aside piles of hockey teams to send out to my hockey friends.  For the $5, I actually had a good time shuffling through cards again.  And for another $5, I was able to pick up a George Strait CD with some greatest hits at checkout.  I had a good run of 5 dollar bills today.