Je Volim

30 for 30

Once Brothers was on tonight. Been looking forward to watching this documentary since I found about it in August. Simply put, it did not disappoint.

There's really no words that I can describe this 30 for 30. Granted Once Brothers meant a bit more to me than others. Everything was done perfect. Vlade's story arc, the War, Petrovic's time in the NBA, all done to a T.

If you haven't watched this or didn't get a chance to watch it, do yourself a favor and DVR it or watch it tomorrow night (10/13) on ESPN2 at 8PM EST.

Mini "Card Show"

A guy on Craigslist last night had a post where he was going to be selling a lot of sports cards at a local Community Garage Sale. Mostly 70's, 80's, and 90's. Junk wax, my favorite kind.

I arrived to find just a mess of stuff for sale. You know, your average garage sale crap....only this time strewn everywhere in a gym. Walked around to scope out any other sports items (NBA Champion Jerseys) but nothing else seemed worthwhile.

The sports card guy had about five 5,000 count boxes full of 70's-80's cards. One box was dedicated to the 1992 Fleer Baseball set alone...which was fantastic. A few binders were of the local Cleveland teams, some sets from the 70's and 60's football reprints. He did have a 1961 Jim Brown card which I had interest in. My father already owns this card and the condition isn't the greatest so depending on how much the guy wanted, I'd be willing to upgrade. I shouldn't have asked. Guy said "high value is $200, low is $75.....I'll uhh go with $60! Everything I got is under BV." I understand everyone would love to make money off this hobby, and I'm not knocking him at all, but paying $60 for the Jimmy wasn't going to happen, especially since it had pen marks on it, off center, and corners were a bit ragged.

All the boxes did have various sports. I was only through his boxes for early 90's basketball for any new Petrovic cards. I got lucky and found 2 to add to my ever expanding collection (NOW UP TO 4!!!).



Before today, I had never seen this exact card, and probably for good reason, the design is real boring. For all the really awesome card designs from the 90's, there were soooo many awfully designed cards. This is one of them. Great job Score.



Let me tell you about this photo. Lafayette "Fat" Lever isn't going to get around the offensive pick which is going to allow Drazen to cut to the top of the key and hit a wide open 3. Don't believe me, look at the box score.

I'm glad to have picked up two more Drazen cards, but I'm pretty upset I didn't get there about 10 minutes sooner. The vendor also had a few pennants for sale and one was a 1948 Indians World Series Pennant. It was probably made in 1998, but it would have been really awesome to have.

Another guy had a few small boxes of cards for sale, which I had overlooked earlier. The prices weren't listed on any and totally arbitrary. I hate this method. He had a few auto's I would have liked to pick up but didn't want to pay his off the head prices. Longoria A&G for $30, a few Bowman rookie auto's for $15. I did eventually bite the bullet with this guy and picked up two cards.

First, 1959 Tito Francona. I'm almost positive my dad has one of these lying around, but the condition of this one was really good, it could not be passed up. Guy wanted $5. Second was a 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects of Lonnie Chisenhall. Chis will be the rookie of the year in 2011. If not 2011, 2012 then. He wanted $18 for Lonnie. The hometown team inflation is my mortal enemy. I offered $20 for the pair. I could tell that he was probably going to take it, but then he replies "how about $21". A dollar more, are you kidding? That's so inconvenient. If I give you $20, that is one bill. I do not want to give you two bills. Safe to say, he took the $20.





All in all, a bunch of solid pick ups. This weekend there is a Browns Backers autograph event in Akron. It's at a Flea Market which has three card dealers. I've been looking forward to this event for about a month now.

Petrovic

The majority of my posts are about cards from either the late 80's or early 90's. This is when my foundation of card collecting started. I didn't care what sport it was, packs were being opened.

After learning about Drazen Petrovic years ago I took big interest in Petro. I really wasn't into cards much during that time. After coming back to the card world 3 or so years ago I just assumed that since I collected like crazy back when Drazen played, I would surely have some of his cards. In all the time I've searched, I've come across zero. How could I see his arguably best performance ever (dropping 40 on the Cavs in a playoff game) and never have a basketball card of his?

This wasn't right and I was about to make sure I had some Petrovic cards. I made the situation right last weekend.

Drazen Petrovic collection is up to 2.



Upper Deck 93. Pretty wild to think this would have been his last card. Cutting in the lane against Dallas.



Score 91. His first year with New Jersey. So far, this is my favorite card I own, depicting his great jump shot.

One day, I intend on visiting Croatia to see Sibenik (where he grew up) and Zagreb where his memorial center is located.

Bazaar Find

Having prior knowledge that a sports card/memorabilia dealer set up shop enticed me to go visit a Bazaar. And let me just say they are aptly named. Tons and tons of crap people try and sell. Things you'd never expect. This one is essentially a glorified garage sale, all day every day.

Unfortunately the card dealer guy was not there, and I'm not even sure he runs his stand anymore. But in it's place were two more dealers.

The first dealer was odd. I don't know what sort of impression I give off, but he did not acknowledge that I had walked into his stall. I'm not a heavy set or tall guy at all. So when two people are in a 10x10 space, you think some sort of "hey what's up" would happen. None. Basically, if he didn't want to notice me, I wasn't going to say anything to him. This made me not want to spend any money in his store. Simple customer service goes along way.

Side note: I do realize that a lot of people probably come in and browse without buying, but how are you going to try and make sales without simple greeting?

This guy had about six 5,000 count boxes of commons. Just garbage. Foiled 2000 cards, gross. No MLB Showdown. Another one of his 5,000 boxes was full of 60's gold. I might bite the bullet and purchase a few if I need to fill sets. Lots of McFarlane and Starting Line Up figures also.

The best part of his little stall, two T-206's. Bill Clymer (VG 3, $55) and a Tris Speaker (VG 3, $500). I asked to see them and he sort of gave me an odd eye. Look man, I know it's odd that someone is asking about your product, 10 minutes after stepping into your store. He pulled them out from the case and mentioned how they were his friends. I always feel that the majority of vintage cards aren't 100% authentic. So I had my reservations. I thought about purchasing Clymer since it was around my budget. Looking at the letters and font color, I deemed them real. Asking over at FreedomCardBoard, one of the boarders felt they were authentic also. Pretty badass to be holding cards that are 100 years old.




You be the judge about their authenticity, I'd love to hear more input.

After thanking him for taking the time out of his busy schedule of deciding where to put his Joe Montana McFarlane (lol), I left and walked across the tiny hall to another "card dealer". I hesitate to call this guy a "card dealer", I'd rather say a hustler. Guy was my age but had the ghetto accent. When I walked in he was trying to hustle an older gentleman into purchasing one of those old NBA 3 rookie players per card. This one had Bird and two others. I wasn't really listening too much, instead I was trying to find the rhyme or reason about his layout. Why was a Pat Listach insert one of the main cards this guy had to show. Why does this guy have probably 500 Donruss 1988 Stickers? Wait a minute, are those early 90's NBA team sets? HOLY SHIT DO THEY HAVE NEW JERSEY? YESSSSSSSS THEY DO. I picked it up and looked at the last card hoping it was a checklist. Instead, I was staring at my soon to be first Drazen card. MONNNEYYYYYYYY!! The older guy left and the kid explained to me how he buys massive collections from card shops in hopes to sell them off later to make money. The guy he was just dealing with was a "big time collector". From the bits and pieces of their conversation, I really think neither of them had any idea what they were talking about...most of the words were "book value". Long story short, Drazen and his buddies cost me $0.50. The kid asked why I wanted that set and I explained to him who Petro was and how he was one (if not the) best all time 3 point shooters and a HOF'er. Not to mention, my ethnicity.

I was about to leave when I decided to check out the rest of the place. Odd shit everywhere, why not? Last but not least, heaven. One older guy with just tons and tons of random sports stuff and cards strewn everywhere. And also probably one of the nicest card dealers I had ever met. We talked for literally 20 to 30 minutes about anything. My favorite part was two randomly placed MLB Showdown 2000 starters. They were not purchased.



Seriously, completely odd place.



After browsing some more, I found these gems. If there was a Petrovic pin, it was being purchased. Instead these were all from 1995-1996. Drazen's former Yugo teammate Vlade shows up 5 times. Speaking of Drazen and Vlade, ESPN's 30 for 30 is doing a special on them October 12. Watch it. It will be the best 30 for 30.

Hiding in a corner of a display case were some very old cards. I thought at first they were late 1950's. Come to find out they are 1935 Goudey 4 in 1's. Unfortunately they had been cut up. No problems with them being cut up, they were awesome regardless.




These are Card C and Card D.

The dealer also mentioned how he had tons of other vintage at his house and that he is running multiple card shows within the next few months. SCORE!

And on top of all of this, he had a stack of early 90's NBA Cards. Flipped through, last card, Petrovic. 2 BRAND NEW DRAZEN CARDS!!

Total cost at his stand: $5.

Overall, great place and I'll probably stop by his stand again once he brings in all his vintage items.

RAZZLE DAZZLE

Yesterday was awesome in terms of purchasing shirts. Again, fellow non blogger James and myself went to some thrift stores to see what we could find. First store, had two Brett Favre jerseys, both of which were with the Packers. I don't collect NFL jerseys, money saved. A few shirts down was an unreal find.



89 cents, 94 cents paid (Tax included). I've never seen an authentic Champion jersey in my life. In all honesty, I didn't know they existed prior to a few weeks ago due to an Ebay search. Not only was the shirt dirt cheap, it is in great condition, and to make it worth more, the NBA logo is gold, signifying the NBA @ 50 Anniversary. Dayyyyuummmmmmmm!!!!

Next up was to meet a guy off Craigslist who was selling Champion jerseys for $10 a piece. Seeing as how the majority of the jerseys sell for around $20 on Ebay, I was going to purchase at least 1.

Instead, I purchased three.



I can now finally fit in with all my friends back in 1992-1994. 7-9 year old me is very excited. Good condition, great color, dead team. I'd rather have 'Zo than LJ. Now only need to get a Vancouver jersey to complete the dead team tri-fecta.



Next up had to be Mighty Mouse. I've had this exact jersey for about 3 years now, just in the larger size. Ever since that purchase, I've told myself that I needed to find the same shirt in my size. Excited to have this in my collection, but the jersey itself isn't in the best condition, no big deal. Sorry for the dark photo quality, don't really know what happened.

Finally, I purchased this jersey:



Yep, Champion made Jim Jackson jerseys. I always liked the Dallas uni's in this color scheme. Usually non star players shirts sell for a decent amount on Ebay, so I picked this one up hoping to flip it. The jersey itself is a size 48, and doesn't fit me, so hopefully I can flip it, or trade it for a jersey in my size.

I'm still patiently waiting to find that Drazen Petrovic Nets jersey in a 44 size. If anyone reads these posts and has jerseys to trade, shoot me a message or post a comment.

Eventually I'll have all the 1990's NBA in my closet.

NBA Jerseys

I always have been around sports items. My dad got me hooked when I was younger. Throughout my life I've collected sports memorabilia. And not just cards or autographed items....I'm talking goofy stuff. For instance, at the 2001 National, I bought 6 boxes of MLB Showdown and 2 Beanie Baby Bears of....Preston Wilson and Carlos Beltran. I wasted money on that. I don't even have a rationale for the purchase of those two bears. In all honesty, I don't think there is a logical explanation.

However, one of my favorite things growing up were NBA Champion Jerseys. All the kids in elementary had to have a jersey to be cool. My first one was Michael Jordan. The second Champion jersey I bought was Jason Kidd (Mavs). Third and final for a long time was reversible Penny Hardaway (Magic). Those would be the three jerseys I had throughout my childhood.

During high school I'd go to thrift stores to buy clothes and come across the Jerseys. I loved going through them and laughing at some of the names. Usually it was a Lakers Nick Van Exel. I'll always kick myself for not buying the USA Dream Team Mark Price though. I ended up adding Jalen Rose (Nuggets), Damon Stoudamire (Raptors), and most recently a Sand Knit T-Wolves of Tyrone Corbin.

My ultimate goal would be to have the largest NBA Champion Jersey collection. However, three of my most prized possessions would be to own Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Dino Radja. Ebay lists Kukoc quite a bit. I've never seen a Radja listed. Petrovic has tons of knockoffs....until this hit today:



BIN: $99.99.

That's a lot of money. My favorite player and the jersey is my size. And to top all that off, the guy who listed it lives 20 minutes away from me. At the bottom of the auction he lists his photobucket account. This guy has done what I want to ultimately do. And holy shit, it's awesome. Check it out for sure.

I contacted him about how he got all the jerseys and where he found them at. I always ask at thrift stores if they have jerseys and one man told me "I get these requests in daily from people". I was pretty shocked to hear that I have competition around the Cleveland area...and I think I just found my main competitor.

I tip my hat to this guy.

What's Better Than the NBA Draft?

This video.



If you don't want to watch the whole video, just load it until 3:35 and watch the next 10 seconds. Drazen>God.

Dunk Contest Equals Lame

Rudy Fernandez was screwed. His first dunk was incredible. Behind the back pass off the backboard and slammed into the net. That received a 42. Dwight Howard bounces a basketball on the court and receives a 100 score. Sure Sprite and the NBA are going to cater towards the bigger NBA star in Howard, but the voters seriously cannot sit there and say Fernandez's dunk was worse than Howard's. Oh, wait, that won't happen because Dwight still has their heads around his waist.

Everyone's prop dunk used a teammate or another player of some sort. Smith tried an awesome from the stands pass that didn't work out. Rudy got Gasol to pass off the back of the backboard for Rudy to slam it in, which took 9 tries. During the first 8 the voters talked all kinds of shit on Rudy about how they could make that dunk. Yeah, go for it you fat asses. I'll give a pass to Larry Nance because he isn't that kind of person to gloat or talk down on a player, at least not on National TV. The 9th time he nailed the dunk, which should have scored at least a 46, regardless of attempts.

I completely understand the dunk contest was rigged and geared towards Dwight Howard. C'mon, a phone booth and 12 foot hoop? The retarded analyst who would sound like Carlos Mencia (who is the worst human on the planet)? Was all of this necessary David Stern?

And that brings me to another point. David Stern looked completely bored during Rudy's dunks. You should be excited that Rudy was voted in this contest, not by the American/Canadian Contingent, rather everyone that voted from Spain.

Earth to the NBA and Sprite, if you want to become huge in the global market, it'd probably help to push Rudy during this contest. Not to say they aren't already huge globally, but it still wouldn't hurt to try.

It was a really nice touch by Rudy to wear the Fernando Martin jersey during his dunk last night. Fernando was the first Spanish player to play in the NBA, with Portland. Martin was also killed in a car accident at age 28, eerily similar to one of my favorite NBA players, Drazen Petrovic. Drazen was also brought into the league by Portland and is credited as starting the influx of European players into the league. Sadly enough, Drazen was killed in a car accident at age 28.

Hopefully I'll be able to see Rudy play in March when the come to Cleveland.

Trade?

Does anyone have any Grady Sizemore cards to trade? Ebay really doesn't have much to offer, at least in terms of cards I don't have. I'm mostly looking for all 2008 cards of his, along with the late 2007 releases.

My other wants at the moment are the list of players to the right.

As for sets, I'd be interested in trading for any 2008 Topps Finest Baseball(especially the Refractors), 2008/2009 UD Black Diamond Hockey, or Evgeni Malkin. Unfortunately, I do not have an exact needs list for the set online anywhere. I'd also be interested in any and all Tribe cards, especially those from pre 1980's

If you have any of the above, post a comment and let me know what you are looking for, I have tons of cards from all sports, with a much higher quantity in baseball.