30 Day Baseball Card Challenge
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!
I have never been a soccer fan. Sure, I've gone to my nephew's soccer game. I have even been to a San Jose Earthquakes game, but I mostly focused on my pretzel and nachos rather than the game. My guess is that I never got into the sport, because I never really played it. As a kid, most of my buddies played baseball, basketball, or football... not soccer.
Three weeks ago, things began to change. It was the last week of school and the students were excited about graduating and looking forward to summer. They were also looking forward to the June 11th game between South Africa and Mexico. It seemed like every period wanted to talk about the World Cup, so that's what spurred my interest. I even had a list of teams I was going to root for.
Obviously the main team I was going to support was Team USA, since as "The Boss" sings... "I was born in the U.S.A.". Next in line are my ancestor's team, The Blue Samurai of Team Japan. I knew they had the least chance of success, but they're my peeps from across the ocean. Finally, I'd support Mexico, because that's who most of my students were cheering for.
Fast forward to last Thursday... when Japan beat Denmark and secured their spot in the second round. It was the only World Cup game I've ever watched in it's entirety and it was awesome. Keisuke Honda put on a amazing show and officially turned me into a fan. I even went out and bought a Honda jersey. I couldn't believe it, all three of my teams made it into the second round. I was stoked!
Then on Saturday, I was dealt my first major "World Cup" blow. Ghana beat Team USA 2 to 1. My favorite team is out, but at least I had two teams left. Unfortunately, the next day Team Mexico lost to Argentina 3 to 1... and then there was one.
In less than 30 minutes, Team Japan will take the field against Paraguay. Everyone I've talked to says that they doesn't stand a chance against them, but most people didn't expect them to make it into the second round either.Let's go Samurai Blue... I'm down to one team and that's you! Or as sexy princess dressed in white with two buns attached to her head would say... Help me Team Japan, you're my only hope!
Today I received a package from Joe over at The Sandlot. In May, Joe generously held a free six box group break. Here are the 6 boxes he broke and a breakdown of what he sent:1992 Score series 1 (21 cards, including Henderson, McGwire, Weiss, Eck, & Baines)1996 Emotion-XL (4 cards - one of my favorite sets from the 90's - love the matted look)1997 Metal Universe (5 cards - these cards are so unique)1998 SPx (1 card - my Ryan Christensen was numbered to 2,500)2002 Upper Deck Vintage (10 cards - I love the 1971 Topps Set & I love this one too)2003 Topps Chrome (3 cards - What are the odds that I received a Byrnes? One of my favorite A's of all time)As you can see, I was lucky enough to secure my favorite team, the Oakland A's. I was impressed by both the generosity and box selection of the break. Thanks Joe for helping me add to my growing A's collection. My doubles will be going straight into the hands of my summer school students, who will hopefully become collectors themselves one day.
Today's hobby hype is all about Stephen Strasburg. Ten years ago, people were drooling over Mark Prior. Twenty years ago, the New York Yankees drafted Brien Taylor with the first overall pick in the MLB amateur draft.
I'm headed out to dinner, so I'll keep this short and simple. Brien Taylor is one of the greatest draft busts of all time. Scouts were all over his fastball back in 1991 and so were the Yankees. They were so anxious to have him, they gave him a 1.55 million dollar signing bonus. He turned around and built his parents a brick house and bought himself a black Ford Mustang.
What did the Yankees get for that money? Well due to an injury, he never pitched an inning in the big leagues. In fact, he never made it past AA ball. He pitched for seven seasons in the minors and earned a career pitching record of 22-30 with a 5.12 ERA.
As of 2006, Mr. Taylor lived with his parents in the brick house he had built and was driving the same black Mustang.
I don't recall what collector's were dropping for his 1992 rookie cards, but Strasburg collectors might want to reconsider spending hundreds of dollars on a pitcher who only has 3 career starts. Even if he has a stellar rookie season, he could always turn out to be the next Dr. K.
It's official: Evgeni Nabokov is no longer a San Jose Shark. I've been a huge Nabokov fan since his rookie season. I remember Nabby spending quality time with the fans outside of the arena signing autographs for every person who wanted one. He sat in the driver seat of his truck talking to another guy in Russian, while he signed pictures, pucks, and sticks for at least 10 minutes.He is by far the best goalie in the history of the franchise. Here's a breakdown of his achievements as a Shark:A. He lead the Sharks to 9 playoff appearances in 10 seasons.B. He has 293 wins. Second best? Vesa Toskala has 65 wins as a Shark.C. He has 50 shutouts, which is more than all other Shark's goalies combined.D. His .912 save percentage is the second highest in team history. Shields & Toskala are tied for first with a .914 save percentage.E. He has the second lowest goal against average (2.39) in team history. Toskala has a career 2.34 gaa as a Shark.
So Nabby, if you're reading this... I'll miss seeing you fly out of the Shark's head on game night. Thanks for the memories and best of luck wherever you land next year.Go Sharks!
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.
