Meeting The Champ

Last month, I had the opportunity to meet Cain Velasquez.  If you're not familiar with the guy, he's the current UFC Heavyweight Champion and tonight he'll be defending his title against Antonio Silva at UFC 160.

He trains less than 2 miles away from my doorstep over at the American Kickboxing Academy with several other UFC fighters.

My buddy was in town and wanted to have him sign a pair of UFC gloves, so I went out there with him.  We waited around a couple of hours, but it paid off.  Velasquez was a really nice guy and even personalized my photo.

Best of luck Mr. Velasquez!  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

My (Updated) Wall of Fame

I hate clutter.  Sometime during my childhood, I evolved into a neat freak and it's been a blessing and a curse ever since.  I'm pretty sure it has to do with my OCD and the fact that I love to sort and organize things... which is why collecting sports cards is the perfect hobby for me.

The problem is... I'm a "pack rat" too.  I knew I had to figure out something fast or I'd end up going insane.

My solution is to keep my house completely clutter-free, except for my office.  This is the one place I can relax and let myself go.  And over the past two years, that's just what I've done.  Here's a look at my main wall of memorabilia:

The Oakland A's Shelf

This is probably my favorite shelf.  My allegiance to the Athletics spans nearly four decades... longer than any of my other favorite professional sports teams.

The Los Angeles Lakers Shelf

I don't really watch basketball anymore and when I do, I cheer for the Golden State Warriors.  But I keep this shelf intact as a reminder of my childhood.  Plus, Kobe is still my favorite player to watch.

The Green Bay Packers Shelf

Useless fact:  this is the only shelf in my office that has more McFarlanes than SLU's.

The San Diego Padres Shelf

I know... it's a little empty.  One of these days, I'd like to add at least one more Tony Gwynn SLU or maybe a nice Padres bobble head.

The San Jose Spartans, Sabrecats, and Giants Shelf

As my students would say... I've got to represent the 408.

The Seattle Seahawks Shelf

Mr. McFarlane, if you're reading this...  When are you going to make a Steve Largent figure?

The San Jose Sharks Shelves

Out of all of my PC's... my Sharks' collection is easily the largest and most cluttered.  The problem is, I'm always finding cool things to add to the shelves without getting rid of anything.  But that's the life of being a "pack rat".

 Alright... time to spend the next two hours dusting all of the shelves.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

C'mon... Join Team Jack!

I just received my Jack Hoffman trading card in the mail... and it's awesome!

Hoffman became a YouTube sensation after his amazing 69 yard touchdown run during the last month's Nebraska University spring game.

But he isn't your ordinary Cornhusker.  He's a seven year old boy who's battling pediatric brain cancer.  And after watching the video, I couldn't help but become a fan.  A couple of weeks later, Upper Deck announced on their blog that they were going to produce a special 5x7 card of Jack.  Proceeds will go to the Team Jack Foundation and their effort to raise money to help fight pediatric brain cancer.

If you're interested, you can purchase them on their website:  www.teamjackfoundation.org

Each card is $10 + shipping and handling.  The money goes to a good cause and in return you get an oversized "Star Rookie" card with an amazing background story.

Go Team Jack!

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #38: Phil's Brother & The Ross-less Supremes

Sometimes you have to strike out a few times before you finally make solid contact.  That's how you can summarize my last few trips to the flea market.

Two weekends ago, I walked around the Capitol Flea Market but walked away completely empty handed.  They didn't even have my strawberry aqua fresca.  There were less vendors set up than your average Sunday, most likely due to it being Mother's Day and all.

So to make up for it, I headed out to Capitol this past Saturday and struck out again.  But it's my fault.  I should have remembered that Saturdays are pretty bad at this particular flea market.  In fact, it was so bad I almost didn't go on Sunday.

But I'm glad I did.

When:  Sunday, May 19th
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  Autographs and Ticket Stubs
How Much?:  $11

Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression.  I didn't find an autographed Babe Ruth baseball, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, or anything epic like that.  I just found some cool additions to my collection without breaking the bank.

Purchase #1:  Joe Niekro Autographed Baseball $3

Joe Niekro had a solid twenty-two year career in the MLB, where he won 221 games and struck out 1,747 batters.  But to some fans, he'll always be remembered for the emery board incident that took place on August 3rd, 1987:

He argued that as a knuckleballer, he only used the emery board to keep his nails short.  Epic excuse, right?

That's why I was pretty excited about adding this ball to my collection.  The price was definitely right.  I was prepared to pay up to $15 for the Tri-Star authenticated ball, but was pleasantly surprised to hear the lady's asking price of $3.

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since Niekro suffered from a brain aneurysm and passed away at the age of sixty-one.  Thankfully, his knuckleball lives on through Chelsea Baker, but I'll let the video do the explaining:

Pretty cool, right?  It'll be interesting to see if she can continue her success on the diamond into high school.

Purchase #2:  The Supremes Autographed 8x10 $3

During the 60's, The Supremes were one of America's hottest groups.  They had twelve #1 singles from 1964 to 1969 when they were led by the legendary Diana Ross, who was one of their founding members.

Unfortunately, Ross didn't sign my photo.  However it does contain Mary Wilson's autograph, along with the signatures of Cindy Birdsong and Scherrie Payne.  From what I can gather, this trio represented the group from 1975 to 1976.

Purchase #3:  1989 World Series Tickets $5

I've been wanting to add some of the Battle of the Bay World Series tickets to my collection for awhile now.  Unfortunately, these go for a decent dime on eBay.

I'm glad I was patient, because I practically stole these from a vendor when he sold me the five ticket lot for five bucks.  Ironically, I saw these the previous weekend and passed on them, because he was asking $10 per ticket.

When I saw that he still had the tickets, I asked him about them again.  This time he told me he wanted $15 for the whole stack (he had a stack of 15 to 20 mixed tickets from Bay Area franchises).  Most of the other tickets were old 49ers ticket stubs that I don't really have a use for, so I told him I was only interested in these five.  I was totally shocked when he gave me his price.

I wanted to ask him why he went from $10 per ticket to $1 per ticket in the span of seven days, but I didn't want to risk ruining the deal.  Whatever the reason, I appreciate his price reduction.

I hope all of you had a great weekend.  Happy Monday and sayonara!

Domo Arigato: GCRL

Last week, I received a PWE with a quartet of Kurt Suzuki's from Jim over at GCRL:  

2010 Upper Deck #590 Team Checklist

2013 Topps "Target Red" #208

2013 Topps "Toys R' Us Purple" #208

2011 Topps #79

I already had the 2011 base card of Suzuki, but I was stoked to add the other three to my newly constructed Kurt Suzuki binder.  In fact, both of the 2013 parallels are my first cards of him in a Nationals uniform.

As of right now, I only have eighteen cards inside of it.  Unfortunately, I won't have access to the bulk of my Suzuki PC until I visit my parent's this summer.  Until then, it gives me time to start picking up some of his cheap cards off of COMC to help fill up the pages.

Thanks Jim for the nice care package.  I'll definitely keep you in mind when I'm hunting down cardboard at the flea market.

Happy Monday and sayonara!