Summertime Flying Blues

I am sure as hell not talking about them boys from St. Louis...

So...here I sit again in an airport (Richmond Virginia) playing the waiting game.  My flight to Philly was was supposed to leave at 3:30, it was bumped to 4:36 by the time I got to the game, then 4:46...so our plane arrives at 4:30 and the pilot informs the gate they they have been asked by Philly to wait another hour...so now its somewhere around 6:00 we "might" be leaving.  At least my new connecting flight in Philly is not until 8:40 (to Hartford)...so there is still a pretty good chance that I make that one...maybe...

The trip down here was the pretty much the same song and dance...the 11:30 am flight was already delayed an hour by the time I got to the airport.  So 12:30 turned to 1:15 turned to 2:00 and we were finally off.  Was supposed to get into Richmond at 3:30...got here at 6:00.

At least I have the laptop, a good box, seasons 1 & 2 of The Office, and ok wi-fi.  If only I had a few packs to rip...I would so welcome a chance to satify that little craving..but until thent I will have to let the blog A Pack to be Named Later (http://apacktobenamedlater.blogspot.com/) help me out for now.

Could be worse...I could be stuck in Pittsburgh...LOL

Recent Pack Pick-ups

So I was running late (ok to be honest, the cell alarm went off at 6 am and I decided that I just did not want to get up...a very rare occurance) for work on Thursday last week and just so happened to be driving by my LCS...so I decided to stop in and see what might be available.  I picked up six packs of 2010-11 Donsuss and one Pinnacle.

Ended up pulling a Cody Almond (I hear he is nuts) Rated Rookie, a Tough Times Tim Hunter and a Nathan Lawson Ice Breakers Rookie as well as the following:

2010-11 Donruss Die-Cut Gems #115 Martin St. Louis (30/30)

and...wait for it...

2010-11 Donruss Boys of Winter Threads Prime #3 Evander Kane (021/100)

That is a nice thick piece of jersey there...so much so that it is bulging out of the card.  It looks to be the seam from the forearm of the jersey shown in the picture (well maybe not that one specifically).

Been a while since I had a decent jersey pull so I was pleased.

Watcha think?

Also, I have a box of 09-10 Champs and Ultra on the way from Dave & Adam's so I will post anything good I pull in the next few days.

Grand Theft Larceny - eBay Style!

So I happened upon a little lot of cards earlier last week on eBay with very little in the way of a description and a picture of the 20 or so cards in the lot (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150640526250&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT).  So as I am one to do if I am even moderately interested in a lot, I will bid the minimum and watch it over the course of its listing to see if it moves.  Part of the reason for bidding as opposed to just watching is that I might like the cards and if I get it for $.99 I am not going to complain, and part of it is to see how much it will go for (lets call it "market research").  Anywho, back to the story...

I bid the minimum and waited to see what happened.  From just the picture, I saw what appeared to be a number of 2010-11 Black Diamond cards including a Luongo Team Canada die-cut, a 4 diamond Joe Thornton and a Jamie McBain RC as well an assortment of other cards.

Well the cards arrived today...lets see what we received...

Card #1 - 1992-93 Upper Deck Euro-Rookie Team #ERT3 Dominik Hasek

For you younger collectors, inserts and parallels are the norm in packs these days...however, back in the day (70's and 80's) the best you could expect in terms of an insert was an All-Star or Helmet numbers sticker...of course all of that changed in 1990-91 when Upper Deck introduced the first set of holograms...you know the ones that made the player move (somewhat) when you tilted them?  They evolved over the following two years and UD produced a moderately nice set in 1992-93 featuring a Euro-Rookie Team that included the Dominator as well as Lidstrom, Bure, Ahola (HI!), Semak, and Forslund.  Having bought enough 1992-93 packs to build a house out of, I have seen my share of these over the years, but its always a nice to look back to the past.

 Card #2 - 1994-95 Leaf Crease Patrol #3 Curtis Joseph

Kind of a neat looking card produced by Leaf/Donruss from the mid-90's.  I don't have any of these, so its a nice addition.

Card #3 - 1994-95 Ultra Power #1 Dave Andreychuk

Fleer went through this phase in the mid-late 90's that incorporated a metallic look to their cards.  This one from an insert set that featured this look as well doing a vertigo kinda thing with the spiral...ok, gonna blow some chunks now...so dizzy...

Card #4 - 1993-94 Donruss Team Canada #1 Jason Allison

It was all the rage in the early-90's to feature players who participated in the annual IIHF World Junior Championships in their home country's colors.  They were in base sets and inserts a plenty, including the set below that featured Mr. Allison (who during warm-ups before a game while he was a rookie with the Capitals missed the empty net with shots a number of times...I proclaimed to my girlfriend that he could not hit the broadside of a barn if he was standing a foot away from it...sadly he went on to have pretty good career so I have not lived it down since).

Card #5 - 1992-93 Upper Deck All-Rookie Team #AR1 Tony Amonte

Another card from the afore-mentioned 92-93 Upper Deck set that, surprisingly, I did not have!!

Card #6 - 1992 Classic Autographs #NNO Petr Hrbek

I saw this card in the picture but was not sure who it was.  It turns out it is Petr Hrbek...um OK...never played a game in the NHL and part of a season in the AHL.  At least its an on-card auto...right??

Still with me???  Here is where this gets interesting...

Card #7 - 08-09 Black Diamond #188 Roberto Luongo (Quad)

I don't have a lot of cards from the 08-09 set, so this was a nice addition to my collection!

Card #8 - 2006-07 Black Diamond Ruby #72 Keith Tkachuk (44/100)

Excellent!  One of my favorite American players of all time!  Sweet!  Unfortunately, the sides of cards have some wear...but its still a nice card and a welcome addition to the collection!

Card #9 - 2010-11 Black Diamond Ruby #15 Bryan McCabe (087/100)

McCabe has played with six teams over the course of his career and put up 528 points (145 goals) in 1135 games.  Respect...

Card #10 - 2010-11 Black Diamond #181 Joe Thornton (Quad)

Yup, there's that Jumbo-Joe card!  One of the league's premier top line centers!  Had a bit of a dip in his production last year (21-49-70) posting his lowest point totals since his last full season with the B's in 03-04 while playing 80 games.  Will Havlat be enough to return Joe to form for 11-12?  We shall see.  Nice card!

Card #11 - 2010-11 Black Diamond Team Canada Die Cuts #TCRL Roberto Luongo

Yup, as I noted at the start, here it is!  Will this be his year to finally claim the cup?  I feel for you Canucks fans, so close last year...BTW - this card is available for trade if anyone is interested...I am looking for any UD Ice Jersey cards from either before or after the lockout (before preferred, but I will take what I can get).

Card #12 - 2010-11 Black Diamond #180 Jamie McBain RC
Yup, there it is...as I noted in the opening.  Woohoo...only six triple diamond RCs left...WTFMcBain...its FREAKING JEFF SKINNER!!!!  Scratch that crap out from before...it should read:

Card #12 - 2010-11 Black Diamond #213 Jeff Skinner RC

The current NHL Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner!!  Need I saw more???  This freaking lot just went from pretty good to f-in great!!!  WOW!!!!

BTW - I HATE MY SCANNER...these cards look so much better in person...

On with the rest of the cards from the lot...like I really care at this point seeings as how I went from thinking I had picked up another XXX diamond to quad city!  But I shall press on...

Card #13 - 2009-10 SPx SPXcitement #X13 John Tavares (288/999)

Yes sir, not a bad pick-up if I say so myself...not as good as a JEFF SKINNER DB RC...but still nice!  This lot just keeps giving huh???   BTW this card is also available...my comments above still apply about trades.

Card #14 - 2007-08 SP Authentic Limited #88 Jason Arnott (068/100)

OK, not bad...Jason give me a nice raised lip like you are annoyed would you???  PERFECT!  HOLD THAT LOOK!!  An annoyed Arnott!!

 Card #15 - 2007-08 OPC Premier Gold #93 Jason Arnott (20/75)

Dem R ducks...A R NOTT...they R TOO! Moving on...

Card #16 - 2009-10 Upper Deck Victory Black #267 Dan Cleary

Very nice!  I actually have a number of Victory black cards from 08-09, but none from 09-10...I like!

Card #17 - 2008-09 Artifacts Blue #94 Marc Savard (38/50)

OK...one of the seven different parallels found in 08-09 Artifacts...hope he able to resume his career...if not, he should be allowed to cold-cock Cooke right on the kisser for ending his career!!

Card #18 - 2008-09 Artifacts Blue #198 Jean-Sebastien Giguere S (28/50)

Time to get JIGGY with it!!!  Will JS be the answer to the Aves goal tending woes in 2011-12 or will Capitals sendoff Varlamov stay healthy and emerge as a #1 goalie (the Aves brass must think so after giving up their 2012 1st and a 2nd in 2012/2013)?  After serving up three different goalies in 2010-11 to the wolves (Budaj, Elliot, Anderson)...not one of the three ended up with a GAA below 3.20 or save percentage above .900...it just might be a LONG year for anyone manning the nets in Colorado!

And lastly but not leastly...the only card in the lot that appeared to be a base...Was not a base! 

Card #19 - 2010-11 Donruss Press Proofs #93 Johan Franzen (081/100)

The Mule potted 28 goals after missing most of 09-10 with a torn ACL.  Not a bad ending to what turns to be a really good lot of cards!!

So, what do you think??  Worth the $6.00 ($0.99 + $4.99 shipping)???  Lock my ass up and throw away the key cause that seller got robbed blind!!!!

Ho-Hum

They say that an idle mind is the devils playground...boy an I BORED...nothing to watch on the boob-tube...tired of looking through and sorting hockey cards...kids are all doing their thing own things right now...the wife is napping...and here I am sitting at my table in the only place that I truly call my own...with nothing to do.

Ho-hum.

Trading away!

I just completed a trade with Sal @ Puck Junk whereby I acquired a handful of 2003-04 Ice base cards (which, like the other Ice sets from the 2000's just don't seem to be out there from what I can see) and a few 2010-11 RCs as well as this nice Derek Roy Artifacts Patch card.  I am a sucker for patch cards since I have so few of them, and this one stood out to me...

In addition to the cards in the trade, Sal threw in a little suprise (knowing that I am a Caps fan) of some Washington Capitals police cards from 1986-87.  Growing up in the DC area, I picked up various promo cards over the years, but these were before I discovered the greatest game in the world so I had not seen them before.  The cards measure 2 5/8" by 3 3/4" and were issued in two-card panels. The front has a color action photo on white card stock, with player information and the Capitals' log below the picture. Inside a thin black border the back features a hockey tip "Caps tip", an anti-crime tip, and logos of sponsoring police agencies (ok, way too much detail for me I know...I kinda borrowed it from: http://www.nhlcollector.com/website/Regional%20Issues/CAPITALS.html).

That stash on Dave Poile is so 80's...and that jacket on Bryan (I am pretty sure my father has that same jacket in his closet)...double UGH!!!!

One of the Caps all time greatest d-men, also refered to as the "Secretary of Defense", Rod Langway and current sidekick-color guy on local Caps TV broadcasts Craig Laughlin.

Do well in school and respect your parents???  Something beaten into us by our parent in the 70's and 80's which (IMHO) many kids just seem to be missing these days.

Overall some nice additions to my growing collection!  Thanks Sal!!!

Where-O-Where Did the Hockey Card Addict Go???

Where-O-Where could he be???  Same place he has always been...of course!

Spring sprung in Connecticut and the lure of the great outdoors drew me outside to enjoy its plethora of tantalizing treats!  Gardening, mowing, whacking, digging, planting, pooling, walking, and girl ogling were all on the menu!!! 

Now that does not mean that my appetite for hockey cards was curbed tho, I have still been actively buying and selling on eBay and have picked up some cool lots of stuff for dirt cheap over the past few months.

A few things that caught my attention:

I like autos, but don't go out of my way to buy them unless its something that interests me.  These made up part of a buy-it-now lot that included a few BAP duals and SP Authentic FW autos.   Not something I have seen before, so I wanted them for my collection.  These were never used, so the scratch-off bar code on the back is still intact.

Growing up in DC, I watched Bondra from his first few games in 1990 until his retirement after the 05-06 season.  Always one of my favorite players, an exciting mix of speed and skill was always on display!  I actually picked up one of these a few years back, but sent it to one of my buddies still in the DC area that is a massive Bondra fan.  I have been on the lookout for this card for a few years, but when I came across a lot that included this card recently (as well as one for Kenny Jonsson from the same set as well as a Marcel Dionne stick card and few throw away SPX jersey RCs from early 2000's), I had to get it!!!



Of course, no good post would be complete without a few scans of cards pulled from packs!!  Money has been REALLY tight, so the number of packs being purchased has been down...but still managed a few nice pulls:

Pulled this from a pack of 10-11 Donruss just the other day.  With the Caps being my squad, this was squeal like a little girl seeing a mouse kinda pull for me!! 

Surprisingly, with the sheer number of packs of UD purchased over the past 5 years, you would have thought I would have hit at least one of these before now...but alas that was not the case until 10-11 Series II.  First one pulled was this Eric Belanger card...not exactly a superstar, but hey I was not going to complain!!  Of course the second one made my month!!  Super sweet pull!!!

Pulled these two in consecutive packs of 10-11 Pinnacle from my LCS...not a bad couple of packs!!  Is it me, or does it look like Taylor Hall had a botox treatment on his lips???

That's all for now, I hope to get back into the blogging swing as summer comes to a close and the boys start back...till then remember, you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you cannot pick your friends nose!!!

A word from the son

My son Spencer wants to help the blog, so heres something form him:

Hey hey hey! I know the blog may have been dead for a while, but Id say me and my dad could "spice it up", and get it running up again! Considered ideas:

Wendsday art: Art snapshots on some wensdays.
Stories on friday: Part of Spencer's stories he came up with, being posted almost every friday.
Preferred game: This would be posted every few days or randomly. Spencer would post the game he wants to play the most at that time.
Comment to give opiuons and ideas!
Spencer