UD Black Diamond Hockey

I bought five packs of the newest Black Diamond Hockey last Tuesday from a card store in Streetsboro. Nice card store and have been going to them occasionally for the last 3 years. The store itself has gotten a face lift on the inside and looks really nice now. It's on Route 14, and coming from the West, is just past Route 43, on the right side in a small strip of stores.

Anyways, my big pull was a quad jersey of Thomas Vanek (Buffalo). I've never pulled a Quad Jersey out of a pack, although I do own a few quad jerseys. The pull happened in my second pack, which was unusual, as I never really hit for anything in my first two packs.



After the first 4 packs, I decided to try one more pack, out of hope I get another decent pull. Sure enough, this pull was better than the Vanek Quad Jersey. A level 4 Black Diamond Rookie Card of Derick Brassard, who was a strong candidate for the Calder Cup. Unfortunately, he is out of the year now due to hurting his shoulder in a fight about a week and a half ago. That is the worst thing to happen for him and for Columbus, since the team is showing signs of promise between him and Ryan Mason between the pipes



I don't have enough time to blog about the current Browns season and recent firings of Savage and Crennel, but there will definitely be a solid blog in the near future. Between them and Tottenham, I don't really know what to say about my sports teams. And I refuse to blog about the Cavs, because the moment I dedicate a blog to them, they'll start doing bad. I have been watching every game and am completely lost for words the way the team is performing.

Also hope to put up a series of blogs about the Indians whole system and what I hope to be done for our 2009 campaign.

Merry Christmas!

First off, Merry Christmas to everyone, hope your Christmas goes well.

The other day I purchased some of the Donruss Sports Legends packs. And by some, I mean one pack. And I'm so glad I did. The moment I opened the cards, I hated them. Gold foiled, why? The pictures themselves are nice and the layout of the card is nice, but the gold is a bit too much. I pulled a Cliff Hagan (who?), Jennie Finch, Whitey Ford, Dennis Rodman parallel /250, and Amanda Beard. The Whitey Ford is my favorite card of the pack.

I'm about to leave to go see family, so I'll have an update with photos on my pulls from 2008/2009 UD Black Diamond Hockey.

A Card a Day

2003 Leaf: #232 Ryan Klesko


I am unsure if I like this card.

This card has solid imagery. Although it looks like Klesko just missed a curve ball, the picture is an excellent full body photo. From the top to the bottom, left to right, Klesko covers the entire center area of the card. It's always important when making a card to focus on the player because, regardless what card companies want you to believe (jersey patches, bat cards, George Washington hair pieces), it is all about the players. I mean, if I pulled a Ryan Klesko jersey I wouldn't be nearly as happy as pulling a Grady Sizemore because of the player. Anyways, Klesko's picture is in the center of the card, and the background is his home field, with no fans to create any color disturbance. Photo rating is a 7 out of 10.

The creative staff of Leaf has never exactly known what they are doing. The overall style of the card is fairly typicial. There is a white outline with the company logo in the top left corner. The name and position are faded-in on the bottom. Nothing over the top or out of the ordinary (in a good or bad way) with this. But then one takes a look at the sides of the card and wonders what is going on. No, it's not bad photagraphy that makes the right side of the card blurry, that is the actual style of the card. I guess pixel stretching was a fad I never knew about. For some reason, Leaf thought that it made the card look better. I also have a problem with the location of the Padres logo. The fact that is says Padres on both sides of the card at the exact same height is less than desirable. Leaf, your buyers are (generally) not retarded, you don't need to beat it into their heads that Klesko is on the Padres. One reference and the jersey should be sufficient. The style has some good ideas, but overall lacks direction and has some serious flaws, 5 out of 10.

With the ability to do basic math, it is pretty obvious this card is slightly above average, an overall rating of 6 out of 10.

The New Wave of Football Cards

Late last night, I was searching everywhere to find Futera cards to purchase. After witnessing the box breaks of Unique (a post below), I wanted to bust some of the packs pretty bad.

The first step in achieving this would be to find out where to buy the cards State-side. Futera's web-site doesn't really offer much help in that regard, mostly due to them updating the site.

The next logical step was to contact them about information regarding purchasing in the United States. What I received back this morning was a complete shock. Not only did I get a reply, but I received it from the CEO of the Company.

Here is the email:

Hi, Andy

Great to hear from you, and thank you for taking the time to write to us, really appreciate it.

Yes, we ship internationally, and we’d be very pleased to send you some details about the collections.

Right now we’re into the production of our new World Football Online Game Card Collection which is an interactive online football game using the trading cards which carry codes enabling different player card ratings and ‘power play’. The Collection also features Limited Edition Memorabilia Cards of top international soccer players. We’re scheduled to run a Trial Tournament of the Game in a few weeks’ time (January) where people can get a chance to ‘play for free’ and get a general feel of the game. The actual Card Collection and the full Game is due to release mid February. We’re actually going to give EVERYONE 15 free cards to start with anyway, so everyone CAN still play for free when we launch. Obviously the more rare cards are randomly inserted in packs to hunt for and collect which will help improve your team’s winning chances, but we hope many people will be able to enjoy this new trading card game which we believe brings a new, unique dimension to the hobby.

We’re currently updating our website with information, checklists and facts about the historic Futera collections together with sample pictures of some of the cards from each collection since the brand started around 20 years ago... so that might be of interest to you. And we’ve also got a Collectors’ Forum where people can discuss things, ask questions, find answers, trade/swap/buy cards....

If you can bear with me for a few weeks whilst we get through the launch of the new collection, I’d be pleased to try to put together some information about the collections/card/history of Futera and its cards – if there is specific information/detail you would like please email me so that we know how best to be of help to you.

I hope the above is of some help/interest to you; please let me know if I can be of further assistance, Andy.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, and have a great Christmas!


Kind regards,

Gwyneth Glascodine

CEO
Futera FZ LLC

The new game that is talked about reminds me of the Japanese game WCCF. Some of those cards fetch top dollar on Ebay. Plus the addition of memorabilia cards in the set is something I always thought would be a good inclusion.

Also part of the emails were attachments for the new game, which are shown below:



This set features 350 base cards and 50 Future Stars for a total of 400 cards. That's quite a big set, but seeing as how it's players from around the world, with such a huge array of footballers it's probably pretty tough to narrow it down to 400.

There are two main insert sets, Heroes (1:12 packs) and Legends (1:50 packs). The memorabilia set is just six cards, not serial numbered. One of which is French stricker (and Barcelona foward) Theirry Henry. These cards are (1:100 packs). It'll be very interesting to see how much money these memorabilia cards sell for since they aren't numbered, but seeded (on average) 1:100 packs.

I plan on testing the online game out sometime this week, with even a possibility of tonight.

Once again, I'd like to thank Gwyneth Glascodine to take the time out and answer my questions.

Futera Unique World Football 2008 Breaks

The European Exquisite is what I'm calling this set now. Luckily one Youtube member has opened quite a few packs of this already and more than graciously allowed me to put his breaks onto Attic Insulation. Thank you very much johnsmithysmithy.

Just like Exquisite, these boxes are not cheap. They are about 400 British Pounds, and for johnsmithysmithy, that runs him about 800 Australian dollars. For us Americans, we'd be looking at spending roughly $600 on this. Now onto the breaks.

Break One:


Thierry Henry auto. Amazing card of a phenomenal player, and that pains me to say it since he is an Ex-Gunner. Also that legends of Football Zidane card is a card I would love to own.

Pack Two opens up with Jermaine Defoe, former Tottenham player. Currently plays for Portsmouth, but rumor has it he's coming back to Spurs. Pull of this card is a jersey card /285 of Brazilian and AC Milan player Ronaldinho. Completely gold plated too!

Break Two:


Pack One is highlighted by Tottenham Winger Aaron Lennon, a Legends card of Pele, and coach Tassoti. Also got a Paul Robinson, which is a bit unfortunate, but still a nice card regardless.

Pack Two has Aussie Harry Kewell and a David Beckham and Wayne Rooney patch card /350. Another legends card which got my attention is Paolo Maldini, who has spent his whole career (15+ seasons) with AC Milan. Just like his last big gold card pull, this time it's fellow countrymen Ronaldo, a legend footballer. Unfortunate his career was cut short by recurring knee injuries, but that still didn't stop "Fat" Ronaldo from having scored the most goals in World Cup History.

Break Three:


Hit one features a jersey of Wayne Rooney, the second Rooney jersey card pulled.

Pack Two features Frenchman and Inter Milan player Patrick Viera. The jersey card pulled is of AC Milan and Ballon D'Or winner Kaka. Great pull.

Break Four:


Legends of Football Diego Maradona. Arguably the best player to ever grace a pitch. American Carlos Bocanegra is featured in this pack as well. Shortly after Carlos was pulled, a two-colored jersey was pulled of Dutchmen Ruud Van Nistolroy and Roben Van Persie. Unfortunately it is an Arsenal shirt, /350. The pack also gives another Aussie, Timmy Cahill, currently at Everton.

This pack gives us two doubles, Patrick Viera and Carlos Bocanegra. The jersey this time is the same that was pulled earlier, a Ronaldinho. Not a bad double to have if you ask me.

Break Five:


I'm not sure, but I think the first two cards pulled (Michael Owen and the other player) are autographed. It'd be something to have an auto'd card of Owen, the former Ballon D'Or winner (in his days at Liverpool). Another big pull, another double. This time it's Van Persie and Van Nistoolroy again. It's kind of unfortunate to pull the big hits and already have one in the box, but it's trading material and the guys pulled are some of the biggest in the game right now.

This box is just loaded with Arsenal scum. A nice jersey but of an unfortunate player, Robin Van Persie. This pack ends off with Manchester City's super star, Robinho.

The final pack gives a rookie card of Samir Nasri, who I used to love when he was with Olympic Marseille, but he has since moved to Arsenal. Gennaro Gattuso jersey card from the 05/06 Champions League. Wow! That's quite a pull. The box comes to an end with Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Overall a very nice product. Except the only problem is the overwhelming influence of Arsenal scattered throughout this product.

Futera, The Way Sports Cards Should Be.

In my time of being a soccer (football) fan, I've never really been able to purchase cards of my favorite players that are currently playing. All I've ever found were Football Champions, which I've covered on this blog. However, last night while scouring Ebay for Alessandro Del Piero (best Central Foward ever) and Zinedine Zidane (best midfielder ever) items, I came across some game used cards of other players. I had never seen such cards, and did a bit more research. Turns out, the cards are made by a company called Futera, who in the early 90's dabbled in MLB and NBA cards as well as Football.

The first thing I did was search Ebay to see if I could buy a box of this stuff. Unfortunately, I was not able to find what I was looking for. Right after this miss, I scoured Youtube for a bit, when I came across a Futera set called World Football. To me this set would most likely be a mid to high level set.

What's neat about World Football, is that the 2007 set is 200 cards deep, and every player featured is in their National (Country) Team Jersey. Of course, there are the jersey and autographed chase cards in there as well. The 2007 set had a print run of 6900 boxes, and all are hand numbered.

Here is one of the cards you can find in this set, a game used swatch of French Midfielder, Claude Makelele. The card is numbered to /275.



The second set I came across I believe would be the end all of sports card sets if it were produced in America. It is called Futera Unique World Football. So you could get an idea of what this is comparable to in America, I'd go with Exquisite, on crack. There are quite a few of these cards on Ebay currently, and are priced very high, but then again so are the boxes. I went right to Youtube to see if I could find any breaks of this set, and was lucky enough to find a couple of videos all done by the same person, whom I have contacted and will be putting his box breaks on this site in the next post.

Example of a Futera Unique Card below, former Tottenham Manager, and favorite of mine, Martin Jol. Jol is now the coach for German team Hamburg, who have been simply dominating in the Bundesliga. I'm glad for Martin as he didn't deserve to get fired by Spurs and the evil empire that was Levy/Comolli.




This card is surrounded by a Gold Plate and a 1/1 stamp on the bottom right. The back of the card is Jol's autograph, written on the WHOLE CARD. Unbelievable card.

Having the urge to break any Futera Product, I emailed Futera directly about if they shipped to card stores in the United States. I didn't expect a reply due to it being nearly Christmas time coupled with the fact that they probably receive these emails all of the time. What I did get though, was a direct response from their CEO, Gwyneth Glascodine, which I will also post a little later. Not only am I shocked that the CEO of the company would directly respond to my inquiries, but I'm very appreciative of this, and wish the heads of American Card Companies would do the same to the many bloggers and customers out there. Thank you very much Gwyneth.

Tri-Star Productions

The most I have ever purchased of any Tri-Star Products was back in 2006 when I purchased 5 packs of those secondary re-sale packs. The only reason I purchased them was to get a free Jeremy Sowers autograph later that afternoon. While the packs will never contain any of those super rare chase cards, I had fun opening the packs. Where else could you open a BRAND NEW pack and pull a 1993 Topps Otis Nixon followed by a 1970 Joe Charboneau Rated Rookie? Nowhere.

However, at my work, we sell the Tri-Star one per pack Graded Cards. I don't like Graded Cards at all. I think they are a waste of time, especially on any current cards. I can understand getting a pre 1960's card graded just to keep it sealed forever so it won't be damaged by time any longer. However, if I pay about 20 bucks for one of these packs and pull a 1999 Upper Deck base card of Will Clark and it's only an 8, I want my money back. However, nobody should spend money on this product anyways.

Then they also have the 1 Autographed ball per pouch. There's plenty of variations of this, but usually I see the Hot Prospects version, the Hall Of Famer/Random Award Winner/Team Favorite/Milestone pouches. Both of these products, to me, suck. I'd never spend 65+ on one of these. And the people that do buy them have the look of shame when they open it and pull a Scott Williamson ROY. The usual end result I hear from the customer is "Do you know who this person is?" I usually reply with, "yeah, sorry about your luck!" with plenty of apathy in my voice.

A new product that we got in a few weeks back, are Autographed Bats from Tri-Star. This product hasn't been opened in front of me, and I highly doubt I'll ever see one being opened. I can't seem to find any breaks of it on Youtube, so I'll just take a guess and say that it's probably not worth a purchase, ever.

What does interest me that we just got in from Tri-Star is the Autothentics where it's a small blaster with an autographed baseball of a rising star, along with 3 packs all which contain autographs. The back of the blaster shows the big names that can be found, guys like Joba, Lester and co. However, I don't think I'd ever pull any of those, and I'd be left with 4 auto's of guys that will end up like Andy Abad or Jose Hernandez. I have been tempted to purchase one of these for about a month now, but I just can't bring myself to do it, even with a massive discount I currently have.

Going to Ebay and watching a few breaks I've come to think the cards themselves are very nice looking. One video I've watched has a guy pull a worthless ball auto and in the first pack pull a very nicely auto'd Jose Tabata card along with a parallel of Max Ramirez who is now with Texas. Pretty sure all the cards are on-card too, which is something I love.

I think I won't buy one of these, instead I'll scour Ebay to pick up a few of the autographed cards just because of how sharp these cards are.



One of the big hits of this set, above is Evan Longoria. His card is on Ebay right now, currently sitting at $6.50 (w/o S and H) and about 20 hours left. Glad I made the right choice not to buy one of these things.

A Card a Day

a 1995 Score: #331 Pedro Munoz





I like this card.

When I first look at this card, the first thing I noticed was Munoz's pose. Instead of going with the tradition bat on the shoulder, eyes into the camera approach or the more recent in-game action shot, this photographer thought he would capture the native Pedro Munoz in his natural habitat, the on-deck circle. To me, it's fairly obvious Munoz is asking the Sun God Sol for extra strength so he can ground out to third with more velocity then his prior at-bat, but to most he just looks like he is day-dreaming since he played for the 1995 Twins. The angle the photo is taken at is really good, it gives a full frontal of Munoz yet he isn't looking at the camera straight on. The background crowd blends nicely with the away jersey and really makes Munoz himself stand out. On the reverse side, Score adds a small photo of Munoz's head. This photo is hilarious because it confirms a well known baseball rumor that Pedro Munoz never owned a toothbrush as well as highlighting his awesome moustache. Seriously thought, the reverse side photo is a nice touch that many cards don't have, either because it is too costly or just to plain difficult to do. It gives an alternate photo to look at and makes both sides of the card worth looking at, thus making the card more marketable to kids who like to look at cool ballplayers, like me. Basically this photo is awesome because it not only shows Pedro Munoz the baseball player, but Pedro Munoz the Sun God worshiper as well. Overall photo rating is a 9 out of 10.

The style of the card is one I have a soft spot for. I love the cream and green outline, even thought it has not direct style relation with baseball, but I feel it makes the photo on the card even more prominent. The company throws its brand name in a small logo in the top left corner, but since there is nothing but crowd background in the corner it is still noticeable. The only gripe I have in the style is the choice for a blue tag-line. I mean, with a green and cream colored outline, blue doesn't exactly fit in as the third color of choice. Personally, I would have gone to a light black or another off cream or green to fit in with the rest of the card. Regardless, it is still a lovely card. Unlike the Nelson from yesterday, I was able to get the back of this beauty, and it fits in perfectly with the rest of the card. Sticking to the plan on the front, there is a boarder of cream and green, and the traditional listing of career stats, birthday, and a fun fact. The front and the back blend together perfectly, helping give the style of the card a great rating of 9 out of 10.

Since I started with an ugly card, I felt I needed to come back with one of my favorites. Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Goodbye Paul

Yesterday I did not get to see any of the Tottenham game. Away at Newcastle is always trouble for us for whatever reason. However, as I'm getting ready to sit through 3 hours of terrible football between the Brownies and Bungels, my buddy texted me saying "Lukkkaaa". All I knew is that Spurs little Croatian midfielder, Luka Modric put up his first premier league goal, and second goal of his Tottenham career. Second goal in as many games, Luka has broken his duck. Unfortunately for Spurs, worthless Damien Duff scored for Newcastle in stoppage time to beat us 2-1. This week is Fulham, or America FC.

However, this post is dedicated to a Canadian. I started to follow Tottenham in late 2005. I barely knew any of the players on the squad but followed because my friend had told me about them. I quickly became attached to our two fowards, Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov, neither of which play for us anymore (Keane is a Red, and Berbatov is with United). There was however, one other player I became attached to, and that was Canadian defender Paul Stalteri. Staltsy had just signed from Werder Bremen during that summer, where he had won some silverware with the team in the later years of the 90's.

Stalteri's stint with Tottenham lasted up until around this time last year, where he was loaned to Fulham last January. Hopefully someone will pick him up soon. It'd be a dream to me if somehow Cleveland City Stars picked Stalteri up, but I highly doubt that'd happen.

For myself, probably my favorite Tottenham moment ever, is the Spurs vs West Ham game in 2007 which finished at 4-3 Spurs. West Ham were in a battle to stay up in the Premier League at this point in the season and needed all the points they could get. They had signed world class foward Carlos Tevez, which in itself was a shady deal. West Ham were up 2-0 on us when Jermaine Defoe knocked in a penalty to make it 2-1. Our next goal came off the nastiest back heel by Aaron Lennon, which Teemu Tainio put into the net to make it 2-2. West Ham came back and put a third in the net, which Berbatov leveled back with a gorgeous free kick.

Our 4th and final goal came off the counter attack. Super Sub (at least in this game) Paul Stalteri followed Jermaine Defoe down the whole field and when Defoe's shot was blocked, Stalteri was there to slot the ball into the net. Stalteri became a legend for that goal. It was a beautiful ending to a very thrilling game, and great to see us beat West Ham at home. West Ham should have been relegated, but the Tevez scandal saved them and sent Sheffield United down that year, shame really I'd have loved to see West Ham play Championship Football.

So thank you Paul for your contribution to Spurs, and hope you find a place to play soon.





EDIT:

Paul Stalteri has been signed by German side, Borussia Mönchengladbach. Borussia plays in the 1. Bundesliga, Germany's main league. Hopefully Staltsy performs well for them and get back to his old ways when he first joined the Bundesliga, way back with Werder Bremen.

A Card a Day

NelA few days ago, I thought I had come up with a great idea for the blog (which I haven't posted on in roughly 6 months). I mean, I love cards from 1985-2005 as much as anyone, so why not open a pack a day and talk about them? Well, uh, then I figured out that a pack a day would cost me at least $1000 a year, and there is another blog that already does this. So, I decided to go with cheaper/more easily done from college/less effort idea and talk about a random card every day.

1994 Donruss: #492 Jeff Nelson



I do not like this card.

The imagery on the card is horrific. Nelson's pitching arm looks like it was made out of bone spurs. Not only does the most vital part on Nelson's body look like it is exploding, the center piece of the card seems like it is Nelson's back. Why would you make the least interesting part of an athlete's body the focal point of a baseball card? The angle of the photo doesn't help either. It looks as though Nelson's uniform and the crowd in the background have merged together to form one enormus blue-grey blob. Just looking at the card now I am getting a head ache, next time try and add at least one vibrant color somewhere on the card. However, there is one redeeming image on the card: Jeff Nelson's hair. For eons, the mullet has been an exceedingly risque hairstyle, but a man like Jeff Nelson can pull off the business in the front, party in the back style with ease. If you thought the party in the back was looking even more awesome than normal, you were right because it has an extra element of awesomeness, manly blonde curls. This added awesomeness, mixed with undeniable knowledge that Nelson and Randy Johnson had the same barber in 1994 saves the image and makes a solid 5 out of 10.

The style, however, cannot save the overall value of the card. In 1994 baseball card companies were just realizing that if they make their cards really shinny, stupid kids will spend countless amounts of quarters buying them. Donruss only got half the memo. While they did make their logo really cool and hip by making a baseball go through the D, it is twice the size of Nelson's name and the only thing that is shinny. Speaking of Nelson's name, if I didn't have an excellent second grade cursive teacher I would think his name is Feff. Feff. If you thought things couldn't get worse, you thought wrong. Someone on the Donruss creative staff thought it would be a good idea to split the 19 and the 94 in half inbetween the Mariners logo. Surely someone besides me thought the 19 and 94 looked more like a serial number than the actual year, possibly increasing the cards value into the 10 cent range. I guess not. The style of the card is flat out awful, a 0 out of 10.

Frankly, I have no idea why I started with such a horrible card, but that's irrelevant since I already wrote this entire blog. Overall rating: 2 out of 10

Yesterday's Highlights, Christmas, and the Cavs

Here are yesterday's highlights from the UEFA Cup match against Spartak. Other notes about the game:

-Pretty sure that is the last we'll ever see of Gilberto in a Spurs shirt. After the match Harry Redknapp basically killed him off. Sad that the only thing Spurs fans will remember of the Brazilian is his botched game yesterday. He was a wasted purchase anyways. Thanks for that Damien, don't ruin St. Etienne now.

-Our draw in the UEFA Cup Knock-Out Stage is Shaktar Donesck. They are a solid team and a good test for Spurs. Luckily for us, Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko won't be cup-tied any longer. Should be interesting to see if 'arry goes with Ledley for one of the games, if at all.

Here's the goals from yesterday:

Luka Modric's first Spurs goal to make it 2-1.


Tom Huddlestone's goal to tie the game at 2-2.


I don't know how to post video's on this blog, so bear with me, sorry.

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Christmas Idea:

If you read this blog; which I don't think anyone does, I'd like to send you some cards for free. Just post a comment about how you found this place and what you think about the blog itself. Pick a team you follow (sorry can't do players yet) and I'll get back to you within the week. Yes, I realize the cards won't make it to you in time for Christmas, but it's the thought that counts, no?

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Cavaliers play tonight, in Denver and the tip is in a little bit. Cavs are 3-7 since Lebron and Carmello first started their "rivalry". Hopefully Denver continues to not play defense and the Cavs get a solid victory on the road.

Exquisite Love

I did a post about this months ago, but I love Exquisite. I have never opened a pack, nor will I probably ever. And that's alright because I could never imagine the shame I'd feel for spending a ton of money on a pack of the stuff only to pull a not so great hit.

Instead, I scour Ebay for one of my favorite player's cards, Jeremy Sowers. Sowers I don't think will ever amount to anything special, even though at one point he was compared to Tom Glavine (whoops!). But looking at what few cards are available of his on Ebay, I came across this gem.



Sowers will pull the value of this card down, but to be a dual auto /55 with the World Series MVP in Cole Hamels makes it pretty cool. The card currently sits at $1.25 with $2.99 shipping. If I do bid on this card, I'm sure it'll be against a bunch of Phillies/Hamels fans.

Spurs v Spartak Moscow UEFA Cup Live Blog

Pre-match:

Well, having trouble here with the stream. Game kicks off in about 5 minutes, so this kinda sucks. Well shit, changed the stream to the 275kbs version, and it works. Love that the first song I hear is "Glory Glory".

1': Missed the pre-game formation listing. Feed is pretty crappy, but at least it's in English.

4': Modric has looked brilliant in his first two touches and runs in the game. I am pretty sure Bale is on the left mid and Gilberto is our LB for the game. Exciting. O'Hara is in mid too. Spurs possession of the ball is good as well. Fans are loud, love the Lane.

9': And Spartak's first push with the ball almost results in a goal for them. Solid 1-2 link up play by the fowards for Spartak.

Pretty sure our lineup is Gomes (GK), Gunter (RB), Zokora (CB), Dawson (CB), Gilberto (LB), Bentley (RM), Huddlestone (CM), Modric (CM/AM), O'Hara (CM), Bale (LM), Campbell (F)

Spartak has never drew on English soil, 4 wins and 3 losses. That's a fun stat.

15': We are giving the two up top for Spartak too much space to work with. Zokora and Dawson need to communicate better.

21': Forgot Croatian Goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa plays on Spartak. Bale takes a free-kick about 30 yards out, and hits it right into traffic.

22': Ball is played back to Gilberto by our box. Gilberto sees Gomes coming out to try and take the ball, meanwhile both fowards are coming down hard on Gilberto. Gomes stops coming to the ball, Gilberto stops, Russian foward Dzuba gets the first goal of the game. 1-0 Spartak.

23': Ryzhkov almost puts in a second from 20 yards out, just a bit left of the goal though. Past a full-stretched Gomes too.

28': Bentley takes our second corner of the game. Lays off to Luka who passes back to Bentley who still cannot beat the first man. Lame.

30': Bentley takes our 3rd corner. This time beats first man, but beats Dawson too. A lot of possession after the corner, Huddlestone lets off a rocket that is right at Pletikosa.

32': Dzyuba gets another. A long pass is what beats Dawson and Zokora this time. Gomes comes to the top of the box to try and get the ball but to no avail. Dyzuba beats Gomes for a wide open goal. 2-0 Spartak.

35': Get Bentley off the pitch. He's done absolutely nothing this game. He has completely forgotten how to play this year and you can tell it's messing with him. Bring on Lennon, we need a real threat on the wings.

39': Bentley is awarded a corner kick for his free kick attempt. This time he beats the first defender and finds Dawson who heads it over the net. I can already sense the urgency from Spurs to get a goal. Hopefully 'arry has some magic up his sleeve.

43': Free kick, again for Bentley. Another decent effort, again in for Dawson. Spurs want one bad here.

Half-Time: I didn't expect us to be down 2-0 at half. I didn't think we'd get through this game with a clean sheet, but to be down 2-0, shit. Dawson and Zokora are showing their inexperience together, and it isn't helped that Gomes has been caught out of position twice now. Bentley needs to do something soon to help this team. His last two set pieces haven't been bad, but we need a bit more from him to get back in this. Lennon will come on eventually (although he might not even be on the bench, I still don't know). Frazier Campbell hasn't done anything of note in this game. Here's to a better second half, C'mon you Spurs.

45': Lennon comes on for Gilberto. This means Bale is back to LB, while Bentley moves to the LM position and Lennon to RM. I expected Lennon to come on, but to play on the left, not the right. Hopefully 'arry saw something in Spartak's team.

52': Great ball up to Campbell by O'Hara. Solid chance to had Frazier not fallen down. I love how one of the pop up ad's on this stream is giving me the chance to "Win a Free Justin Morneau". I sure know the Indians could use one of those.

60': Over the last 8 minutes we've had two blasts by Huddlestone well over the net halfway into the crowd. Luka Modric had a decent chance, but he really hasn't done much past his first few touches on the ball. Bentley still cannot beat the first man, and when he does, it beats Dawson. I'm debating if I should make tacos or go grab fast food for dinner later. What do you think?

68': GOALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! Luka Modric with his first ever goal in a Spurs shirt. Great play by Lennon on the cut to beat two guys and deliver a low cross to Modric who boots it past his national teammate Stipe Pletikosa. Great play, great goal! And to think this all came right after horrible play by Zokora.

72': GOALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!! This time it's T. Hudds! Great cross by Bale to find Huddlestone's head whom pushed it on the right side past Stipe. And just like this, Spurs are looking to push past these group stages with Udinese.

80': We have plenty of chances. Momentum is surely in our favor to get a 3rd this game, right? Campbell is nursing his leg, as the announcers are thinking he pulled something. He got a solid run but legs gave out just meters before the goal, rough. Then a corner just now was sent into Frazier and he was stopped by Pletikosa. I'm really liking this link up play on the left by Bale and Bentley. Maybe David can learn a thing or two about corners from Bale.

90': +3 minutes. I'm alright with the draw, seeing as how we'll get through. Udinese is getting dumped 2-0 by NEC, ha!

Full-Time: Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur! Not the prettiest result, but a 2-2 draw will get us through to knock-outs. Great to see Luka get his first goal for us. Highlights will be up later tonight. Sunday has us at St. James Park to take on Newcastle United in league play.

UEFA Cup

Today/Tonight Tottenham face Spartak Moscow at White Hart Lane. Kickoff is 7:45 PM (London) and 2:45 PM (EST).

I know absolutely nothing about Spartak, aside from the fact they play in Russia.

Spurs however are going to be very short-staffed, as our two main signings in August (Vedran Corluka, Roman Pavlyuchenko) are cup-tied. Injuries limit the action for Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, and Gio Dos Santos. Not included are Darren Bent, Jermaine Jenas, and Alan Hutton (who needs to get fit soon).

This leaves our bleak squad looking something similar to this:
GK: Gomes, DEF: Gunter, Dawson, Zokora, Ekotto, Bale, MID: Huddlestone, Lennon, Modric, Bentley, O'Hara, Bostock? F: Campbell, Dervite.

Yikes. While I'm sure we can pick up a win from this game, it still scares me to see such a short-staffed lineup, even if we are at home.

If you'd like to tune into the game, click the link below:
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=26541&part=sports

After clicking the link, scroll down to Live24xtra [EN] (it's 2 down from FOX Sports Espanol). Click either the first or second link to stream the game.

C'mon You Spurs!!!!!

Football Champions

Damn. Paying bills has to be the worst part of growing up.

Yesterday I was browsing the Italian and United Kingdom's Ebay websites hoping to find some new Football Champion cards. Usually on the Italian site I find the rare Lega Promos from the 2003-2004 seasons. These cards are priced anywhere from 8-25 Euros.


The above card is Francesco Totti's 2004-2005 Signed Card which is priced at 25 Euros. I'd never pay this much for any Football Champions Card, especially Totti. Actually, I'd probably pay something close to that for any of the rare Del Piero Cards, or a Zidane.

Ebay Italy doesn't really offer much aside from 2-3 large lots of cards. Last time I bought one of those, the cards were in horrible condition and the few foils I got (Mutu, Adriano) were in horrendous shape. I guess that's what I get for trying to get a foil card of a guy who loves to blow coke (Mutu).

Ebay United Kingdom has a complete set of the 2001-2002 Football Champions for 24.99 Pounds. Shipping included, you are paying about 60 dollars for all 330 cards. That's not a bad deal at all, and Football Champions is a great game to play and it's not hard to learn at all.

However, one auction that I'm most likely going to spend some money on is a lot of 14 Juventus cards from 2003-2004. Everyone is included from that year in the set, so I'd be getting Buffon, Nedved, Davids, and of course Del Piero. For about 12 bucks, it's a steal.


I know soccer isn't a very popular sport in America, but if you are curious about these cards, I have plenty to trade out, or even send for free if you'd like to learn the game. Just drop a comment.

Update

So this is my first post in nearly 4 months. So much for trying to update daily.

There are many reasons for not blogging over the last few months, mostly the lack of interest I had in card collecting once I started to see the way the hobby is going. I still read Wax Heaven and Sportscards Uncensored daily to see what is up with the blog world. Tribecards and Stale Gum are in there also.

School has taken quite a toll on me this semester, and with the lack of funds, I haven't purchased any new cards in quite some time. The last pack I bought was my Allen and Ginter in July.

This blog will see quite a few changes. First, I'm going to start covering sports, mostly Cleveland sports, and soccer. So if you are a fan of Cleveland, Tottenham Hotspur (England), or Juventus (Italy), well then you are in luck.

I will still talk about cards, and if you want to inquire about a trade for a specific team or player, let me know, I'm trying to slim down my collection to only a few cards that I want to keep.

Also, the MLB Showdown Collection Project is never going to end, so if you are into that, I'll talk.