It's Just My Luck...

My recent transition from a Los Angeles Lakers fan into a Golden State Warriors fan has been interesting to say the least. Don't worry, I have no regrets. I'm now a diehard Warriors fan who will support them through the thick and thin.

And right about now... things are beginning to look thinner & thinner.

If you're a basketball fan, then you've heard about the trade that sent Monta Ellis, Kwame Brown, and Ekpe Udoh to the Milwaukee Bucks for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson. Now, I've been listening to ESPN and KNBR's breakdown of the trade... along with a variety of fans' opinions... and it seems like it's a trade the Warriors had to make, but one the Bucks will benefit more from.

But I'm not here to debate whether or not the Warriors screwed up... I'm here to show of my newly started Ekpe Udoh PC:

I started collecting Udoh a few weeks ago, because he's not on anyone's radar... but at the same time, he's been the most effective and efficient big man on the court for Golden State this season. Up until last week, he was the only player on a losing team in the NBA's top 50 "+/-" stat category with a +150. That's almost twice the total of Stephen Curry who was ranked second on the Warriors.

But thanks to yesterday's trade... I no longer have a reason to collect him. And it seems like I'm not the only collector being affected by trades. My buddy Charles over at Hoopography has a nice 2008 Bowman Chrome "Blue Refractor" rookie card of Jesus Montero, who was traded from his beloved Yankees to the Mariners in January. Montero is batting .333 in Spring Training, so my guess is he'll still have a fair share of followers.

On the other hand, Udoh is a mystery. If he gets the opportunity to play some decent minutes... who knows... maybe he'll blossom into a solid starter. The again... maybe he sits on the bench behind Ersan Ilyasova who had been on an amazing run until this past Monday. I guess only time will tell.

As for now... I'm currently trying to figure out which current Warrior I want to collect next. Then again... maybe I'll just stick to the legends like: Chris Mullin, Rick Berry, and Tim Hardaway.

Happy Hump Day! Sayonara.

Domo Arigato: Charles @ Hoopography

Last week, Charles over at Hoopography.com busted and reviewed a box of 2010/11 Playoff Contenders Basketball. When all was said and done... he graciously gave away everything he pulled in a contest he held last week.

Everything except... the Blazers cards he pulled... which he sent to The Retro-Set Addict. And all of the Lakers cards from the box... which he sent to me... along with a few other goodies.

Here's a little peek at what he sent over:

Pau Gasol was drafted by the Hawks? Lol... I seriously didn't know that. Well thanks to Charles... I do now. This sweet Place in History insert from the Contenders box is serial numbered 46/49. The next card is a One-Two Punch insert of Kobe & Pau, which went straight into my Kobe binder. The third card wasn't from the box break, but it's definitely one of my favorites in the bunch. It's a 1993/94 Finest rookie card of Nick Van Exel, which is the first one I've ever owned. Van Exel and Eddie Jones helped breach the gap between the Showtime Era and Shaq & Kobe... and I was huge fans of both during the 90's.

Charles also included a bunch of Lakers base cards from the mid 90's... up until the present. On the left are some sweet oversized cards from the 1995-96 Fleer Jam Session. My favorite out of the bunch is the only non-Laker card in the lot... it's a Tim Hardaway Pop-Ups insert card. At the top of the other picture, you can see the three base cards he pulled from Contenders box... along with some base cards from this year's Donruss set.

And finally... the hits from the box. I was stoked to receive this Pau Gasol Production Line jersey card. It looks great right next to the parallel version of this card that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. And I'm a huge fan of this year's Rookie Ticket Autographs, which feature a manufactured patch. Especially when it's a rookie autograph of Derrick Caracter... the Lakers' second round draft pick from last year's draft.

Thanks Charles... this care package was awesome and very much appreciated. Keep up the great blog... and I'll keep setting aside Bills & Knicks cards for you.

Everyone else... head over to Hoopography and you won't be disappointed. Goodnight y'all. Sayonara!

Crazy Cool Contest @ Hoopography

Do you like basketball?

Do you like free cards?

Do you like autographs?

Do you like inserts?

Do you like Blake Griffin or Kevin Durant?

Do you like Die-cuts?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then I encourage you to head over to one of the greatest basketball blogs on the net:

Hoopography

Charles just busted a box of 2011 Panini Contenders Basketball and he's giving away the majority of his pulls to one lucky winner. Are you interested? If so... then all you have to do is the following:

#1 Become a follower of his blog, a fan of Hoopography on Facebook, or a follower on Twitter.

#2 Leave a comment on his contest post: click here

#3 If you'd like receive one extra entry, advertise his contest on your blog and leave a comment on his contest post: click here

It's that simple... but you'd better hurry up. The contest ends this Friday, March 4th at 12:00PM.

Here's some of the goodies you have the chance to win:

If your name is chosen on random.org, you'll receive everything except for the Blazers & Lakers cards. Check out his blog for an explanation.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to Hoopography... enter his contest... and start reading his awesome posts. I've been a fan of his blog for quite some time now... and he's one of the handful of blogs that I check on a daily basis. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday... enjoy the rest of your week & stay safe. Sayonara!

PC Spotlight #6: My Lewis & Reed PC

I've always been a huge football fan... nope, not soccer... American football. It's pretty simple... there's a lot of action and every game is full of highlights. Offense... defense... special teams... you name it, there's thousands of sweet catches, dramatic drives, devastating hits, and explosive runs to keep us entertained.

And for more than two-thirds of my life as a football fan... I was all about offense. You can see it in how I chose my favorite players and collected cards when I was younger. Growing up... I loved Steve Largent, Eric Dickerson, Curt Warner, Brett Favre, James Lofton, Dan Marino, and Thurman Thomas. Sure... I enjoyed watching Ronnie Lott and Steve Atwater hit people, but they were just the icing on the cake... a bonus.

Then... along came Ray Lewis. For years, I kept seeing him on every defensive highlight film & hearing players talk about how hard he hits. Pretty soon... I was a fan. Not a Ravens fan... but a Lewis fan.

It was only a matter of time before I jumped on the Ed Reed bandwagon too. This guy is his own personal highlight reel. Funny thing is... the first play that comes to mind involving Reed... is the hit Hines Ward laid upon him a few years back on Monday Night Football.

Back in October, I had purchased a Ray Lewis autograph. I had no intentions of collecting him... nope... I just wanted to have his autograph for my PC.

But then I stumbled onto this card a few weeks later...

And as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it in my collection. Two of the top defensive players in the game on one card... how sweet is that?

Well... that was the start of a new PC. I had a little over $30 left in my COMC account, so I went on a little shopping spree. Here's what I have to show for it:

Ray Lewis Memorabilia Cards

Ray Lewis Refractors

Other Ray Lewis #'d Parallels

Ed Reed Memorabilia Cards

Ed Reed SPx Shadow Box

Ed Reed Refractors

The Pittsburgh Steelers officially ended their season and I'm a little bummed. I wanted to see them take on Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Championship game (oops update... I mean Sanchez and the Jets... congratulations Jets fans). It's unfortunate that the offense made some crucial turnovers that led to some easy points for Roethlisberger, Miller, and Ward. But it is what it is... I'm sure Lewis and Reed aren't sitting around making excuses... so why should I.

By the way... for the people keeping track of my New Year's Resolutions... I officially started this PC last year, so I'm not breaking my promise... YET.

A few additional side notes... I'm stoked that the Packers took care of business and beat the Falcons in their precious dome. I thought it was going to be a little closer, but I'm okay with a blowout. You won't see me getting too excited, because they still have to face Chicago again... in Chicago.

I was so close to having my two favorite teams facing off against each other in the NFC Championship game. But... just like most people predicted... it wasn't really a contest. The Bears dominated the majority of the game and held the Hawks to 34 yards rushing. Hopefully, the Packers will have different results.

Speaking of contests... Charles over at Hoopography is holding a couple. The first one involves you guessing his favorite card. He helps you out by providing a couple of clues. The prize includes a lot of Donruss rookie cards, including John Wall and a Tyreke Evans jersey card.

Contest #1

In a separate contest, he's giving away 5 cards from his 2011 Panini Timeless Treasures box break. Included are a quad jersey card, an autographed memorabilia card, and an autographed rookie card.

Contest #2

Well... I hope everyone is enjoying your Sunday. I'm off to a pretty crappy start (Seattle's loss), but I'll feel a little better if the Jets can somehow find a way to knockoff the Patriots (although that's not likely... umm I guess I was wrong again!).

Today's question of the day is...

Who do you think will win next week's game between the Bears and the Packers?

Hasta luego... Sayonara!

(not so...) Terrific Tradebait #1: Ryan Leaf

Thanks Charles for reminding me of one of the greatest busts in sports history. Mr. Leaf was one of the original members of my Sports Bust PC. If you need a little refresher course, I encourage you to head over to Charles' blog: Hoopography. He recently posted an excellent write up on Mr. Leaf and included a very interesting video.

Anyways I recently pulled a super shoebox full of 90's rookies out of storage (my buddy's garage). And as luck would have it... I had a small stack of Mr. Leaf's rookies. This was actually a pleasant surprise, because I thought I sold most of these a long time ago, when I took a break from collecting in the early 2000's.

Here's a list of what I have have:

1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars #234 Ryan Leaf $6

1998 Bowman's Best #119 Ryan Leaf $2.50

1998 Flair Showcase "Row 3" #18 Ryan Leaf (x8) $1.50

1998 Fleer Ultra #202 Ryan Leaf (x3) $3

1998 Topps Stars #80 Ryan Leaf (5715/8799) $2.50

1998 Bowman #10 Ryan Leaf (x4) $1.50

1998 Bowman "Interstate" #10 Ryan Leaf $2.50

1998 Score #251 Ryan Leaf (x2) $1.50

So... if anyone out there is interested in a beautiful card lot featuring the biggest draft bust in NFL history, let me know. Maybe we can work something out.

Okay... seriously... nobody wants to give up anything for this garbage... but I am willing to give this garbage away for free. All you need to do is complete a trade with me and I'll throw in some of this trash. After that... it's up to you to decide what you want to do with them: burn them, eat them, bend them, treasure them, or pass the trash to another collector.

So if any bloggers out there are interested in trading... PM me.

I'll leave my wantlist & links to my tradelist below:

I collect the following players:

- Kobe Bryant
- Michael Jordan

- Anthony Randolph

- Brett Favre
- Aaron Rodgers
- Steve Largent
- Tony Gwynn
- Greg Maddux
- Kurt Suzuki
- Devin Setoguchi
- Ryan Miller

I also collect memorabilia cards and autographs from the following teams:

- SJ Sharks
- Green Bay Packers
- Seattle Seahawks
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Oakland Athletics
- San Diego Padres
- SJSU Spartans
- Stanford Cardinals
- CAL Bears
- San Jose Sabercats

Random PC's:

- Sports Bust PC
- Japanese Players PC
- Damaged Card PC

Last, but not least... I'm willing to trade for the following teams, since I have students who collect them:
- San Francisco Giants
- Golden State Warriors
- San Francisco 49ers
- Oakland Raiders

Here's links to my tradelists and my bucket... hopefully we can work something out.

My Website (w/ links to my tradelists)

My Bucket

By the way... I'm on Sports Card Forum and Card Collector's World. If you are too, we can create trade agreements over there and leave each other positive feedback.

So today's question of the day is... How many card trades have you made with other bloggers? What are some of your favorite bloggers to make trades with?

So far I've made only one blog trade... and it was with Shot Not Taken last month. However, I just worked out a deal with Spankee over at My Cardboard Mistress.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. And Charles...I'll make sure to post another Sports Card Bust in the next week or so... and Spankee... your cards are packaged and will be shipped out today (sorry... I didn't throw in any Leafs... but there's a bonus in there for you).

Sayanara!

Domo Arigato: Charles @ Hoopography

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a contest over at Charles' blog... Hoopography. It involved predicting the box score for a Cardinals/Cubs game. Well I capped off a very lucky month of July by winning that contest. The prize was a sweet 2010 Court Kings Masterpieces jersey card of Lebron James.

It's only the 2nd memorabilia card I've ever had of Lebron and it's going straight into my PC.

In addition to the James jersey card, he also sent me a bunch of Lakers cards. Two of which I have been trying to add to my PC for years. They're from the 1988 Fournier NBA Estrellas set:

I'm stoked, because obviously Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest of all-time. However the Byron Scott is the hidden treasure. Kobe might be my favorite player now, but growing up #4 and his baseline jumpers was my boy over Magic, Worthy, and the rest of the Showtime Lakers.

So I just want to say thank you very much to Charles and his blog, Hoopography. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again... it's one of my favorite blogs on the net. I read and subscribe to tons of blogs, but there's only two that I read on a daily basis: The Basketball Card Blog & Hoopography.

If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to check out his blog. His focus is obviously basketball, where he covers: new products, cool inserts from the 90's, sweet autographs, funny videos, and a bunch of other stuff. He'll also post and talk about sweet cards in his PC, which includes other sports like baseball and football.

Well, I guess it's my turn to give something away to my readers. I won't tell you the exact details, but I'll give you some hints:

A. I'll add more details to random blog entries.
B. I've stolen ideas from both Hoopography & The Basketball Card Blog.
C. There will be multiple prizes & winners. I appreciate everyone who follows, reads, and comments on my blog.
D. It involves a contest, that I haven't described (yet)... but here's a hint it started yesterday.
E. I'll be giving the prizes away on my birthday.

Sorry for being a tease... but I promise you... It'll be worth the wait. Damn... I sound like a girl.

Domo arigato Charles!

Do you want to win a free Lebron James jersey card?

Charles over at Hoopography is having a contest at his blog. If you've never read his stuff, you're missing out. His articles and reviews are some of the most interesting and informative stuff on the net. So head over there now, read his stuff, and enter his contest.

The Prize: 2010 Court Kings "Masterpieces Jersey" card of Lebron James

The Task: Guess the box score for Sunday's Cardinals/Cubs game.

What's your favorite sports movie of all time?

When it comes to baseball, I have loved The Pride of the Yankees since I was a little boy. Remember the Titans is my favorite football movie and anyone who loves hockey... loves Slapshot. However, when it comes to basketball... I had a difficult time picking a favorite.
It came down to three "hoops" flicks: Love & Basketball, Hoosiers, and Hoop Dreams. In the end, I went with Hoosiers because it's the movie I can watch over and over without getting tired of it.
Well today, I'm not going to focus on my favorite basketball movie. Instead, this blog entry is going to focus on my third favorite basketball movie, Hoop Dreams.
Hoop Dreams is a documentary about two basketball players, Arthur Agee and William Gates. The movie covers their journey from high school into college. Both of them grew up in inner city Chicago and were recruited to play at St. Joseph High School, where Isaiah Thomas went. Agee left St. Joseph after one year, but helped his team win the Public League Championship his senior year at John Marshall High School. He eventually went on to play in college at Arkansas State. William Gates stayed at St. Joseph's, where earned a scholarship to Marquette University. Both of them had dreams of playing in the NBA. Unfortunately, neither player made it. However, they'll always be famous to anyone who watched the epic documentary, Hoop Dreams.

Up until a few weeks ago, I totally forgot about Agee and Gates. It has been over 15 years since I've seen Hoop Dreams. But thanks to Hoopography, I've added two cards that will forever be a part of my PC.
Hoopography is an awesome blog that covers everything related to basketball. His blog covers inserts, autographs, sets, hobby news, the draft, and a bunch of other interesting topics. Two weeks ago, he posted an Arthur Agee autograph on his blog. I knew that night that I wanted to add one to my collection. With his help, I was able to find one on eBay. A few days later, I found the Gates on Checkoutmycards.com.
Thanks Hoopography... keep up the great blog!