Three Year Anniversary = Contest

I recently celebrated my 700th post and today marks the blog's three year anniversary.  During those three years, I've constantly made changes to my collection.  Now it's time to make a change to my blog.

I have decided to scrap the annual summer contest that I run and turn it into a monthly contest.  Why, you ask?  Well... I'm not going to lie.  It was a lot of work.  Don't get the wrong idea.  I loved it.  The interaction between bloggers was amazing and I loved reading and responding to everyone's comments.  But keeping track of points on a daily basis and continuously coming up with new ideas consumed my summer... which for a teacher is suppose to be a break.

Hence the decision to spread things out and run a monthly contest instead.  Think of it as sort of a homage to one of my favorite blogs... Play at the Plate.  I'll even copy his idea of listing his monthly winners on the side panel.

I know... who cares about this silly change.  What am I giving away?  Well, since I cover a little bit of everything on my blog, I figured the inaugural prize should fit my personality.  So this month's prize package will be a smorgasbord of cardboard with players from your favorite team.

In other words, I will stuff as much as I can possibly fit into this flat rate box with inserts, oddballs, vintage, memorabilia cards, rookies, autographs, and/or parallels from your favorite team. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of mixed martial arts, boxing, soccer, or tennis stuff... so you'll have to stick to the four major sports:  baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.

I can't guarantee that you'll receive every type of cardboard mentioned above, because it depends on what I have in my inventory in terms of your favorite team.  But rest assured... it won't be a box full of Bip Roberts base cards.

How do you enter?  It's pretty simple.  Follow my blog and complete one (or more) of the following:

A.  Respond to today's question of the day below.

and/or

B.  Promote this contest on your blog, and leave a link below.

and/or

C.  Leave comments in my posts throughout the month of March.

On March 31st, I will put everyone's names from today's post into the list randomizer on www.random.org.  If you promote this contest on your blog, I'll add your name two additional times.

As a bonus, I will randomly select one of my posts from the month of March using the same website.  Anybody who left a comment on that particular post will have their name added four additional times.  That means if you play your cards right, you could end up with seven possible entries.

Okay... let's get to today's question.  The Cardboard Gods have cursed you.  From this day forward, you are only allowed to collect one type of cardboard for the rest of your life.

What would you collect?  Inserts, oddballs, vintage, memorabilia cards, autographs, parallels, rookies, or other?

I guess it's only fair that I answer the question myself.  It was really tough, but I'd go with oddballs, which narrowly beats out vintage and rookies.  I've always found oddball issues to be so interesting, because they're distributed in so many different ways.

Okay... let the games begin.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

CCW Members:  

Since I don't check my CCW feeds on a regular basis, you'll need to leave responses on my actual blog in order to participate.  I apologize in advance for the inconvenience, but I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.

I have my reasons...

Baseball Nut asked...

Why do you collect? (Seems like an overly simplified question but since you have committed to answering it as honestly as possible, it could be a very interesting answer.)

This is a great question that required a lot of thought.  And after five or ten minutes, I realized it doesn't boil down to one simple answer. 

Here are five reasons I collect... in no specific order:

Reason #1: I'm a huge sports & pop culture fan.  And it just so happens that both of these are popular subjects in the trading card industry.

Reason #2: I enjoy the social aspect of this hobby.  Card collecting & sports memorabilia allow me interact with others who share a similar interest... whether it's talking to collectors at card shops & card shows, trading with people online (on forums & blogs), or discussing hobby related topics with other bloggers and collectors.

Reason #3: Some people can't live without going to the gym.  Others need drugs to get them through their day.  I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to collecting pieces of cardboard.  I've stopped at various points in my life, but something always leads me back to them.

Reason #4: I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  Since I was a child, I've always enjoyed organizing and sorting things.  It started with dumping out boxes of crayons and organizing them by color and eventually led to the shoebox full of 1979 Topps baseball cards that my neighbor gave me.  The rest is history.

Reason #5: It brings a smile to my face.  Don't get me wrong, there are times I think about how much money I've spent during my lifetime on cards and it bums me out.  But those moments are the minority and don't occur often.  I love this hobby and it makes me happy.

I'm sure there are other reasons for collecting... but that's all I have at the present time.  Maybe I'll read some of your responses and update my answer.

Are you ready?  It's your turn:

Why do you collect?

1 Point - Leave your response below.
2 Points - If you've already answered this question in a past blog post, then leave a link below.
3 to 5 Points - Write your response in a new blog post.

I'll accept responses until tomorrow (Wednesday) at 3pm (PST). I look forward to reading your responses.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Are you ready?

On Wednesday, I asked you to send me your sports or hobby related questions.  And as I write this post, around twenty people have responded.  I've already responded to most of the questions.  But over the next five, six, maybe seven days... I'll be posting my responses to remaining questions.


Your mission... should you choose to accept... will be to answer the same question.  But there's a catch.  I'm wrapping up this contest, so you won't have the two or three days to respond as usual.  It'll be a post a day from this point out.  Best of luck and thanks again for everyone's participation.  It's been a blast reading everyone's posts.


Okay... are you ready?  Let's get it started (in my best MC Hammer voice)...


Nick asked me... 

 How did you first decide to collect sports cards, and when?

Well Nick... it sort of depends.  The first sports cards I owned were in a shoebox filled with 1979 Topps baseball cards.  My neighbor gave them to me and it was like an early Christmas present.  I would sit there and sort them into teams, then positions, the back into teams... over and over again.  If I were to guess, I'd say this took place in the summer of 1980.

In 1981, my parents bought me my first complete baseball card set during a trip to Seattle.  The set?  1981 Fleer baseball.  Over the years, the set was broken up and sold off.  But a few years ago, I picked up some boxes of this stuff and rebuilt a hand collated set.

  

But if I had to put a date on when I actively decided to collect sports cards, I'd say it was in 1983.  That's when I started saving my money up to buy packs of Fleer and Topps at the local pharmacy.  It's also when the neighborhood kids and I started sitting on our porches together sorting and trading with each other.


Okay... now it's your turn to answer Nick's question:

How did you first decide to collect sports cards, and when?

1 Point - Leave your response below.
2 Points - If you've already written about this on your blog, then leave a link below, so others can enjoy reading your work.
3 to 5 Points - Write your response in a new blog post and leave the link below, so others can enjoy reading your work.


I'll accept responses until tomorrow (Saturday) at 3pm (PST).  I look forward to reading your responses.


Happy Friday and sayonara!

I have a problem... and I need your help!

Attention readers... I need some serious help. I think I'm addicted to cards. It started out with base cards of my favorite players when I was around 8 years old. My favorite card for years was the 1982 Donruss San Diego Chicken card. I have no idea where it went, but one of these days I'll pick another one up.

Then in the early 80's my passion grew and I moved into the world of rookie cards. It was at this point in my life that I started collected in hopes of making money. I was buying everything from 1983 Fleer Ron Kittles to 1987 Topps Mike Greenwells. This trend continued into the early 90's, but soon things would change.

I switched over to insert cards. This emptied my pocket book and drove me into debt. I spent hundreds of dollars chasing inserts and parallels that are worth a fraction of what I paid. However, I don't have any regrets because it made me the collector I am today. Even though most of those inserts and parallels have been sold or traded, I still have a deep admiration for refractors, acetate inserts, and a variety of other 90's stuff.

I quit a few times in the mid 90's due to being broke, but the hobby always pulled me back in. I tried to collect autographs (Leaf Signature & BAP hockey), but I realized I couldn't afford them, so I went back to collecting rookies. This time I didn't focus on baseball. Instead, I focused on basketball and football. I was buying Vince Carter and Tim Couch rookies left and right.

Then in 2001 (after teaching a few years), I sold off the majority of my collection to pay off my credit cards. I kept a handful of cards that I wanted to pass down to my children (if I ever had any). This was one of the most difficult decisions of my life and I definitely regret giving up a few of the my old cards. But it is... what it is. I figured I was a grown man and this was a childhood hobby... one that I would never return to.

Then about three (maybe four) years ago, my students brought some of their card to class and I was hooked again. However... this time things would be different.

This time, I decided to focus on my favorite teams and players. Eventually... that led to creating a Japanese PC. Then... I even started a sports bust PC.

I know that my obsession with cardboard has been a problem... but I didn't realize that it was that big of a problem until tonight. Why tonight?

Because tonight, I spent just over $10 picking up inserts for one of the dumbest products I've ever purchased. It's the 2008 Inkworks Family Guy: A New Hope set.

I'm not embarrassed of collecting sports cards. I'm not ashamed of being a huge Star Wars fan. But after clicking the purchase button over at COMC and realizing I just bought Star Wars "parody" cards... It hit me.

I have a serious problem. More importantly... I need some serious help. The question is... Can you help me? Continue reading to see if you can...

I need the following cards to complete my master set of Family Guy: A New Hope set. Did any of you bust this product? If so... I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with a problem.

Spaceships & Transports

ST-2 Tie Fighter

ST-3 X-Wing Fighter

Scenes From Space

S-3 Scenes From Space Card #3

Case Loader

CL-1 Evil Empire

Promotional Cards

P-1 General Distribution

P-i Free Card Offer from inkworks.com

Anyways... thanks for listening to me open up to the world about my addiction.

Actually... I have decided to do something about it. It's time to grab a hold of my collecting addiction. Starting this month, I'm going to cut my sports card budget in half.

I think this is a realistic amount... and I won't feel so guilty about throwing money away on cardboard... but at the same time I'm not quitting either. The fact is... I doubt I'll ever be able to quit.

I'm starting to understand what my mom goes through every time she tries to quit smoking.

So... while we're on the topic of collecting and quitting... here's today's question of the day: Have you ever thought about giving up your favorite hobby? If so... did you? Why or why not?

Wow... I've spent almost an hour writing this post... time for bed. G'nite everybody!

Do you remember having "current events" in school?

Some of my fondest memories from elementary school was "show & tell", weekly trips to the library, playing "two hand touch" football, and of course... completing those "current events" assignments. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, then I'll try to fill you in. My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Miller would have us go home and find a newspaper article. Then, we would have to tell her:

a. who the article was about
b. what they did
c. when they did it
d. where they did it
e. why they did it
f. how they did it

Anyways, I thought that since I grew up to become a teacher... I should assign this assignment to myself to help all of you get to know me. So, here it goes:


Who: My name is Fuji and I'm a short, chunky, Japanese guy who enjoys collecting cards as a hobby.

What: I'm a middle school teacher, who loves his job and wouldn't change it for anything.

When: This is tough, because there's so many things I can answer. Well, I'll start by saying that I was born in the 70's. I started collecting in the 80's and began teaching in the 90's.

Where: I lived my whole life in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Why: Why what? I guess, I'll tell you why I collect cards. I think the main reason I collect cards is because I suffer from OCD. I've always loved sorting and organizing things and sports cards allows me to fulfill this desire. When I'm bored, I take out my cards and sort them. I know... I'm a loser.

How: So, I guess I'll tell you how it all started. I started collecting because a buddy of mine gave me a box of 1979 Topps baseball cards. The first thing I did was start sorting them into teams and then wrapping them up in rubber bands. After that I was hooked.

So there you go... my first blog entry. I'm not even sure if anyone will read this, but if you did, I hope you enjoyed it.

Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions for this blog, or if you're interested in talking about cards or trading. Have a great day!