Alex

Hey. Hi. Hello.

My interest in a lot of things I do dwindles. I barely do anything for more than 10 minutes. Chalk it up to ADD....just like everyone else in the USA. On the bright side, this means everything is still relatively new when I do go back to whatever I feel like doing. Case in point, this blog. Also, Football Champions cards. I really don't think I've paid them much attention on here or in general in nearly 2 years.

What hooked me back in was a conversation with a friend about who the best player of the last 20 years in soccer/football was. I said Zidane. It has to be him. I also mentioned Roberto Baggio, if not for his skill, surely his mullet wins him something. So thanks Roberto, I'm back into Football Champions again.

Above is pretty much all extra cards scattered about. Italian, French, and English.

Je Volim

Here, Sunday:

Watched NFL here ^



Almost bought this ^^



And drank a lot of these ^^^

Heaven

...on Earth.

Andre

SWAG

Card Show Pickups

Damn, two shows in a week? this must mean i will not find another show to attend in the area for at least a month. As mentioned before the mall show was just that, a mall show. Nothing spectacular but then again, I wasn't expecting much.

the show I attended yesterday was a hotel show. I grew up going to these so they hold a special place. Sucked I could only attend for an hour due to the Browns game. Regardless, there wasn't many tables (I'd say 10-12) so I only needed 30 minutes or so. Would love to have looked through the vintage stuff a lot longer though. Next time.

In my 30 minutes, I spend $50. So for my wallet's sake, a half hour would suffice.

My pickups are below:




Freddy Lynn. Now up to 11 autographs...only 82 more to go!



One dealer had this card for $3. I have no idea what it came from, but I'd like to find out (hint: help me out here!). All of these current "vintage" sets like Ginter all have flags in their sets, but this one is really cool. Completely defunct country and still the cause of many problems in that region of the world. Not to mention my ancestry is Yugo.



I love the back because it isn't entirely true. Many languages were spoken in Yugoslavia, I guess Croatian was the decision though. Serbo-Cro or Cro-Serbo would have been better, but whatever. I should try and flip it on Ebay talking about Beograd and Djokovic.

I hope I make it out alive

First game of the season for Browns Football. Below is a summary of my day. If there are no more posts after this one, just want everyone to know I died doing what I loved....drinking PBR.

Card above sums up my day perfectly.

(And there's a card show I'm stopping at before the game....SWAGGGGG)

Mall Card Show

Northeast Ohio usually has a Mall Card Show somewhere, at least a few times a month. Generally, it's run by one of three people, and everyone who is a "dealer" there also works the other shows. Basically, it's an exhausting circuit for both buyer and seller due to lack of change in product. And I bet for the sellers, it must get real annoying when nobody wants to buy stuff. Either way, I go to all of these expecting to see different things....(I should learn by now that I won't). 


By far my favorite thing about Southpark Mall's shows is the dude who trots out over 100 McFarlane figures. Whenever I see his stand I say to myself, "shit, i really need to buy all of these and put them on my walls. Immediate thought after is when I have to explain to someone why I have plastic figures of dudes all over my wall....I'd like to try and steer clear of that situation, as much as possible. Unless a Drazen figure is ever made, then it's game over. Best figures ever made are the NHL Goalie figures, so good. 


Most of the tables have a mixture of current and vintage product, along with the game used and autographed cards for sale at Beckett prices. No thanks. Give me the single cards for $0.10 all day....which is exactly what I had spent my money on today....for a total of $1.00. 


My purchase was 12 of the greatest (if not greatest, top 5) basketball sets ever made. 1990 Hoops. I've been trying to complete this set for about three weeks now, ever since I bought 3/4 of the set a few weeks back for $1. I had no sympathy to the card shop owner at the bazaar who tossed away a National treasure for $1. I came out of there feeling like Pat Riley when he signed Lebron and D. Wade (Bosh is worthless). 


Picture time:

I

siah! Great player, completely inept front office worker. How he can still get a job with the Knicks is beyond me. More power to ya dogg.

 

Did not know his middle name is Lord. Pretty legit if you ask me.

 

Dude was a baller in my video game world in the early 90's. Enough said.

 

KJ was really fast in NBA Jam for Super Nintendo. Other than that, I got nothing.

 

Larry the Legend. Never forget when the Celts played the Yugoslav team in the 80's and Drazen and Vlade tore them up. I pulled a solid base card of him a few years back where he looks like a total hick. Made me like Bird even more.

Patrick Chewing. Greatest Snickers commercial ever. Would love to have a Knicks 33 jersey someday.

Hot Rookie card comin' thru!

Basketball God. Greatest player to ever play (in Europe, sorry Sabonis). Any time I find a Drazen card, it's going to be purchased, end of story. I will visit Zagreb within the next 2 years to see his Museum.

Problems arise when you think you need cards for the set but don't have your checklist. Said problem is usually called "doubles". In this case, these are doubles. Whoops!

Karl and Clyde also happen to fall under the "doubles" category. Still great cards though!

Four More

I purchased these awhile back but never got around to showing them off. Adding these to the collection puts me at a total of 10 autographs from the 93 card set. For those keeping track (lol nobody) that's 10.75% of the autograph checklist done.


Cool Photo. Shitty signature. In total fairness, I couldn't careless, he's just another dude I need for my set. Also, a short print (/600).


El Presidente. When I first saw this card I had to have it. I love and miss Montreal, and Dennis was a former Indian.


I grew up loving this dude. Cubs games in the early years of my life were a staple and this guy played a prominent part. I also had never heard of a guy named Andre before and thought it was the coolest name.


Cleveland Legend/God. Sad he passed away last December. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times. He could talk for hours and all I could do was listen. A lot of people said he was a grumpy old man, and I'm sure they were right. But for all the shit he had seen in his life (not to mention fighting in WWII), he had every right to be short with some people. I'm really sad I never got to ask him about his barnstorming days, eventually I'll get my chance.

Pretty Paper

I don't know when this card was made. I'm assuming the 60's. Doesn't really matter much. How was Robin able to get away with fighting crime in the most homo-erotic outfit ever? I'm certain this is why kids grew up liking Batman and forgetting who the Boyhood Wonder was. Card would be good for some shaved leg commercial though.


One of my favorite movies. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any JP cards with Jeff Goldblum on it. I really hope such a card exists.

Can't tell if who the caption of the card is talking about, dinosaur or Ellie.

Help the Aged

Help the aged,
One time they were just like you,
Drinking, smoking cigs and sniffing glue. Help the aged,



Don't just put them in a home,
Can't have much fun in there all on their own.



Give a hand, if you can,
try and help them to unwind.
Give them hope & give them comfort 'cos they're running out of time.



In the meantime we try.
Try to forget that nothing lasts forever. No big deal so give us all a feel.
Funny how it all falls away.
When did you first realise?
It's time you took an older lover baby. Teach you stuff
although he's looking rough.
Funny how it all falls away.



Help the aged
'cos one day you'll be older too
- you might need someone who can
pull you through
& if you look very hard
behind the lines upon their face you may see where you are headed
and it's such a lonely place.

Diiiinnnnaaamoooo

Lately, going thrifting has been a horrible decision. Nothing really worthwhile to purchase (lol surprise surprise!). Absolutely zero retro basketball jerseys, unless you want a Shareef Abdur-Raheem Hawks shirt, which was found twice in two days. I suppose the lack of jerseys is due to hipsters/hoopsters who are finding them and getting paid off ebay. Granted, it's not like I'm [i]not[/i] trying to do that either.

What I did find was a real sick jersey of Croatian soccer club Dinamo Zagreb. Now known as GNK Dinamo Zagreb (nod to their rich history within the Balkans), this club is currently in Champions League qualifying rounds and are up against Swedish club Malmo FF.

BBB forever, Mamic out.



In other Cro soccer news, Hadjuk is out out of the Europa League. Stoke and their anti-footy bullshit sucks.

Oh andddd uhhh Happy Croatian Victory Day today to all Hrvats everywhere. :) :) :)

Happy Birthday Hajduk

100 years old this year. Earlier this year torcida around Split celebrated by showering the coastal city with red flares. Watch the video below.




da života iman dva ja bi oba tebi da :)

10 years ago....

It was 2001. Holy shit, it really was 2001. I'm 14, most likely watching Baseball tonight in my room with no air conditioning. Aside from the tv, the only light comes from a desk lamp situated on my massive desk. this light also doubles as flood lights for a baseball game. My room is dark and very humid, which to me always added to the darkness of the room.

I honestly didn't care to ever turn on a light. I was too busy playing MLB Showdown with the 2001 Base Set. A 462 card set broken down into 400 commons and 62 foils. And yeah, I completed sets. And this month 10 years ago marks the release of 2001 Pennant Run.

Pennant Run was a set composed of 175 player cards and 25 Strategy cards. I'm gonna turn back the clock with the rest of this month and breakdown this set.

Even if you didn't play Showdown, there's some really fantastic names that make you go "did this guy really play pro baseball?"

Hope you enjoi

And then there were 2

Shawn Green. Ichiro.

two of the final pieces to the puzzle that is the 2002 MLB Showdown DCI Promotional Card set. I've never seen either in person.

Kerry Wood was the third puzzle piece, however he was acquired in the last week from a former boarder at the best website ever, Showdowncards.com. Brycie, if you read this, reopen the forums.

I traded 2001 Promotional Cards of Richie Sexson and trot Nixon. Both of the Future Stars set. Never traded away cards I only had one copy of before. Always thought it'd bother me to lose them and get further away from the goal of having every card. Guess it takes a little loss for a gain, right?

I'll find them all eventually. Just adds more a bit more chase.

Still Impossible, Very Expensive

Still have the itch to open a pack/box of cards. Lack of funds are making this hard to do. However, if I did have money, I'd buy these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2001-GREATS-GAME-AUTO-LOT-38-CEPEDA-MOLITOR-FISK-/280678195821?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item4159b9626d#ht_500wt_1156

Would help my goal by about 38 cards.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370509364984&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Just hope I can go to a LCS and pick some of them up for cheaper. Although opening packs would be A+.

Blown Chance

Work until 6. See my Mom after for an hour or so. Go home, make a quick bid on Ebay and then go help a friend move. It's Sunday, I want to do none of those things, except see Mom of course.

So I end up placing the bid via phone and that is super confusing. Some real slow browser that I assume I'm hitting the buttons but the screen doesn't change. So I hit again, this time shoots me ahead 2 pages and I'm about to confirm a bid for $6,500 instead of $65.00. Shit, costly mistake.

Luckily I was able to sort the phone out and placed a bid. I changed it at the last second. $66, Mario Lemieux. Get home later, check Ebay.

$68 final. Fuck. Crushed..I had been watching this auction for a week debating should I BIN for $75 (I didn't). At least I saved about $75. No idea what I want to put that towards. And what was I bidding on....

1,500 new Showdown cards.

SWAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

How Long is too Long?

NOTE: This post is going to be about MLB Showdown, sort of.

With the start of MLB under full swing and me being bored, I've started searching for MLB Showdown again. I never understand why I still do it. Outside of maybe 10 games played against ghost co-blogger James, I barely touched my cards. I have easily over 10,000. Add to the fact I moved in November and all my cards are still at my parents house.

Anyways, my goal is to find and personally own every printed MLB Showdown card. Promotionals included. Some of the 2000 promos are hard to find. 2001 somewhat harder. 2002-2005, simple. Except for the 2002 DCI promos. Occasionally Sammy Sosa or Kerry Wood pops up on Ebay. A few are for sale on Beckett Marketplace. The most ultra rare is the Ichiro. Beckett Marketplace had one for sale for $30.00 a few years back. I balked. Something about spending $30 for a single card (especially Showdown) didn't seem right.

Not only that but if I were to buy that card I felt my whole search (which at the time had spanned 4 years) would be cheapened by such a simple click of a mouse. I guess I really enjoy the chase. Once you find and get your item of desire, what happens next? Ichiro would just become an afterthought collecting dust in a binder at my parents?

I didn't buy the card. My search, now nearly 7 years in the making is still going on. I'm searching for the shark that ate my best friend. Steve Zissou style. He found his shark eventually, I should too.

I guess my question for anyone who comes across the blog or still reads this is, what do you do when you find your white whale (Jaguar Shark)? Do you move onto something else?

I'm honestly not sure what the next step would be.



This is the card in question, except it isn't a foil. There's a silver DCI stamp on it.

....I also lied, this is totally about MLB Showdown. And I guess my weird collecting/search habits. OCD I suppose.

Sports Cards, Boring.

You know when card collecting becomes truly fun? It's not really about pulling that huge hit, 1/1 super refractor, Hottest Prospect X, none of that stuff is more than a pissing contest. Who gets that first scoop on the newest product...Beckett or Blogs? Who fucking cares. Cards now are filled with such bullshit it's insane. Hype, flash, re-sell value, new reprocessed vintage set...big deal. Why did you or I get into cards?

I got into it thanks to my dad. I have fond memories of him taking me to card shops/shows/fests when I was real young...shit was surreal. Trading, buying, selling...of baseball players? I wanted some of my own.

Which is why when I played MLB Showdown I got that same feeling. A card game featuring baseball players...bye Pokemon. Tons of trading, all the time, and everywhere too. Online, in person, tournaments, friends. Thoughts of should I trade my Pedro for Ivan Rodriguez and Randy Velarde? These were my worries back in 2000. ...Wait, time out...I'm not sure who'd get the better part of that deal...like honestly that's a pretty solid deal.

I really miss this that the most. People just trading and enjoying it. Cards weren't worth much and we all knew it. And what reminds of that is an email I received recently. I wish more people were out there trading, I'd really love to get that 2003 Mark Grace Super Season.

Bring Back MLB Showdown.

Playoff Hockey

I always forget how much the onset of warm weather and playoff hockey goes hand in hand. I barely watch a regular season game yet I will watch every single playoff game. Hands down, the best playoffs in north american sports.

Lebron James for MVP

Yeah, why not? Should I hate the dude for what he did to my Cavs? Sure. A player of his caliber doesn't come around that often and when they do, you must watch. Lebron even said with joining the Heat his MVP votes would take a hit due to playing with Wade and Bosh. Honestly though, who else should win it? Dirk? Dwight Howard? Kobe? Rose? If you need any confirmation on why Lebron should be MVP watch these clips:

Fackin Wolves

3-3. Defoe finally scores (twice!) for the first time this season. I was honestly hoping JD wouldn't get a tally to his name all season. Probably not the most "fan friendly" wish, oh well. Learn how to beat the offside trap and maybe you'd have more than 2 goals all year.

Hutton as RB. Makes me want to rip my hair out. Gave up a penalty for a tug in the box (hah!). I already miss Corluka. To be fair, Hutton does link up well with Lennon, so at least there's that....I suppose.

Frustrating to only get a point. Fuck it, we're saving the magic for Wednesday at the Lane.

48(ish) hours till another Glory Glory night of European Football.

COYS

El Pocho

Finally after a month I got my new shirt in from Indonesia/Malaysia/Oceania. I've been about this dude for quite some time now. Ezequiel Lavezzi. The patch on the sleeve is 100% legit as are the badge, name plate, and numbering. Surprised to say the least.

It's not this year's shirt, from the 2008/09 season when he was number 7. Rather have 7 than 22 anyways.

It's been awhile...

Haven't purchased a single card or pack since August. Hit that "I really don't understand why I spent so much on this stuff" periods. Eventually I'll go back into the "Cannot have enough sports cards" phases, but for now, could not careless about them. Shame really.

Still big into buying Old Champion NBA jerseys though. Gotten quite a few nice ones. Plus started buying old soccer jerseys, certain players/teams only though.

Still looking for a Petrovic Nets jersey. If you come across this blog and have one, email me. Will pay nicely.