Monday, January 11, 2021

Why do we care so much?

I haven't posted to this blog in 1,595 days.  That seems like enough of a break.  Maybe I'll pick it up again, maybe I won't, but I am on Twitter all the time and I have something to say that just won't fit in a Twitter rant.  

In my humble opinion, there are far too many Hobby Police on Twitter.  Too many people who tell people how to collect, how not to collect, how to buy, where to buy, etc. etc.  Who cares?  Who has the energy for all that Hobby Policing?  How about this....let's all just collect the way we want to collect.  

As the great Ricky Gervais once said, repeatedly, I don't care.  

I don't care if you sell on Twitter or Ebay or Mercari or out of a van....down by the river.

I don't care if you use Ebay for comps or make up your own prices...they are your cards!  Sell them, don't sell them, whatever.  

I don't care if you stalk vendors, camping out to buy all the retail and leave none for the kids.  News flash, this hobby hasn't been about the "kids" for a long, long time.  That doesn't mean I didn't try to get my kids involved, but nothing grabbed their attention.  C'est la vie.  Having said that, you won't catch me chasing retail like that, but then again, I don't have the time.  

I don't care if you post all of your retail finds and flex or don't flex or whatever it is that bothers people today.  If it really bothers me, I can scroll right by or, if it really, really bothers me, I can mute or block you.  Problem solved.  I don't typically do that though.  I generally reserve those features for the blessed souls who really rub me the wrong way.  You know, like most fans of a baseball team in the southeast portion of my state.  

I don't care if get your cards from  Ebay, COMC, thrift stores, the LCS, Blowout, trades with your cousin Vinny, or the big box store.  I do like to see them so show them off.  

I don't care if you like graded cards, hate graded cards, only collect vintage, mistakenly think vintage starts in the year 2000 (like my kids).  I don't care if you hate PSA, hate Beckett, love either of them, swear a PSA 10 is only a BGS 9.5 or any of a million other things that Twitter Hobby Police seem to care about.  

I could write a rather lengthy post about my pet hobby peeves, but I suspect most of you would think to yourself, "I don't care."

All I really care about is that you do the hobby however you want to do the hobby.  Just let others do the same.  


Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Time for the Medal Ceremony

With the 2016 Paralympics set to begin September 7th and run through September 18th, but the winner of the contest decided, I thought you might like to see who won.

Blaster 1 athletes earned 73 medals and have 7 paralympian cards to earn more.

Blaster 2 athletes earned 57 medals with 6 paralympican cards remaining.

Blaster 3 athletes earned 61 medals with only 3 paralympian cards to go.

That means that Blaster 1 is our winner and since no one got close to the total, I’ll award the Gold, Silver and…Silver prizes right now.  That’s right, we had a tie for 2nd.

Tim B is your gold medal winner with a guess of 30 medals, with Night Owl and Fuji coming tying for the silver medal with guesses of 28 medals.  I’ll be working on prize packs for you guys.


Thanks for playing along!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Olympic Contest - Final Packs

There are 75 base cards in the Olympic set.  I’m going to list the athletes that did not make the Olympic team so everyone will know.  There are 16 out of 75 that didn’t make the team, were injured, retired, or are former Olympians.

5 Candace Parker – Basketball
17 Holley Mangold – Weightlifting
21 Matt Grevers – Swimming
27 John Orozco – Gymnastics
30 Tyler Clary – Swimming
39 Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
40 Abby Wambach – Soccer
52 Cullen Jones – Swimming
58 Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
59 Emily Day – Volleyball
61 Bob Beamon – T&F
62 Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
63 Jenny Thompson – Swimming
65 Carly Patterson – Gymnastics
66 Gary Hall Jr. – Swimming
72 Leo Manzano – T&F


Final packs coming up…standings will be posted once I reconcile the numbers. Then we wait for the Paralympics to start. 


Blaster 1 Pack 8



Carly Patterson - Gymnastics
Alana Nichols – Para-canoe
Jenny Thompson - Swimming
Lex Gillette – T&F
Cullen Jones - Swimming
Brad Snyder - Swimming
Conor Dwyer- Swimming
Nathan Schrimsher – Modern Pentathlon
Michael Phelps bronze - Swimming
Nathan Schrimsher silver – Modern Pentathlon

Blaster 2 Pack 8



Matt Stutzman bronze - Archery
Sue Bird silver - Basketball
Ryan Lochte RELIC - Swimming

I wish this was an orange swatch so I could pretend it's from the Brazilian prison uniform he'll get if he gets extradited down there.  Dumbass.  

Blaster 3 Pack 8



Emily Day – Beach Volleyball
Gary Hall Jr. - Swimming
Megan Rapinoe silver - Soccer
Brad Snyder bronze – Swimming
Adeline Gray  TEAM USA PATCH #48/99 - Wrestling

Like this one a lot.  Team USA Patch, numbered /99 and it's Adeline Gray.  What's not to like?



Good luck everyone and GO TEAM USA!

Friday, August 19, 2016

Olympic Contest - Rollin' 7s

There are 75 base cards in the Olympic set.  I’m going to list the athletes that did not make the Olympic team so everyone will know.  There are 16 out of 75 that didn’t make the team, were injured, retired, or are former Olympians.

5 Candace Parker – Basketball
17 Holley Mangold – Weightlifting
21 Matt Grevers – Swimming
27 John Orozco – Gymnastics
30 Tyler Clary – Swimming
39 Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
40 Abby Wambach – Soccer
52 Cullen Jones – Swimming
58 Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
59 Emily Day – Volleyball
61 Bob Beamon – T&F
62 Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
63 Jenny Thompson – Swimming
65 Carly Patterson – Gymnastics
66 Gary Hall Jr. – Swimming
72 Leo Manzano – T&F


Time for Pack 7s.


Blaster 1 Pack 7



Courtney Mathewson – Water Polo
Galen Rupp – T&F
David Boudia - Diving
Merrill Moses – Water Polo
Brady Ellison - Archery
McLain Ward - Equestrian
Haley Anderson - Swimming
Margaux Isaksen – Modern Pentathlon
Aly Raisman silver - Gymnastics
Gabby Douglas Gold - Gymnastics

Blaster 2 Pack 7



Brittney Griner - Basketball
Perry Baker - Rugby
Kami Kraig – Water Polo
Gary Hall Jr. Swimming
Emily Day – Beach Volleyall
Casey Patterson  - Volleyball
Melissa Stockwell - Paratriathlon
Justin Gatlin – T&F
Kim Rhode bronze- Shooting
Kim Rhode insert – Shooting

Blaster 3 Pack 7



Michael Phelps silver - Swimming
Claressa Shields RELIC – Boxing
Nathan Schrimsher bronze – Modern Pentathlon

Not a bad relic.  She has a real shot at the Gold Medal.


Good luck everyone and GO TEAM USA!

Thursday, August 18, 2016

OIympic Contest - The 6 packs

There are 75 base cards in the Olympic set.  I’m going to list the athletes that did not make the Olympic team so everyone will know.  There are 16 out of 75 that didn’t make the team, were injured, retired, or are former Olympians.

5 Candace Parker – Basketball
17 Holley Mangold – Weightlifting
21 Matt Grevers – Swimming
27 John Orozco – Gymnastics
30 Tyler Clary – Swimming
39 Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
40 Abby Wambach – Soccer
52 Cullen Jones – Swimming
58 Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
59 Emily Day – Volleyball
61 Bob Beamon – T&F
62 Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
63 Jenny Thompson – Swimming
65 Carly Patterson – Gymnastics
66 Gary Hall Jr. – Swimming
72 Leo Manzano – T&F


Here we are at pack 6…just like the Olympics, we near the end.


Blaster 1 Pack 6



Kim Rhode - Shooting
Danell Leyva - Gymnastics
Tatanya McFadden – T&F
Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
Joe Kovacs – T&F
Ryan Lochte - Swimming
Jake Dalton - Gymnastics
Matt Stutzman - Archery
Megan Rapinoe bronze – Soccer
Conor Dwyer silver - Swimming

Blaster 2 Pack 6



Michael Phelps  - Swimming
Megan Rapinoe – Soccer
Maya Moore - Basketball
Leo Manzano – T&F
Jake Gibb – Beach Volleyall
LaShawn Merritt – T&F
Matt Stutzman - Archery
Aly Raisman - Gymnastics
Ryan Lochte bronze- Swimming
Mariel  Zagunis gold – Fencing

Blaster 3 Pack 6



Allison Schmitt - Swimming
Tyler Clary - Swimming
Jenny Arthur - Weightlifting
Tom Shields - Swimming
Phil Dalhausser – Beach Volleyball
Matt Grevers - Swimming
John Orozco - Gymnastics
Holly Mangold - Weightlifting
Cullen Jones bronze - Swimming
Natalie Coughlin insert - Swimming



Good luck everyone and GO TEAM USA!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Olympic Contest - How about a round of 5's

There are 75 base cards in the Olympic set.  I’m going to list the athletes that did not make the Olympic team so everyone will know.  There are 16 out of 75 that didn’t make the team, were injured, retired, or are former Olympians.

5 Candace Parker – Basketball
17 Holley Mangold – Weightlifting
21 Matt Grevers – Swimming
27 John Orozco – Gymnastics
30 Tyler Clary – Swimming
39 Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
40 Abby Wambach – Soccer
52 Cullen Jones – Swimming
58 Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
59 Emily Day – Volleyball
61 Bob Beamon – T&F
62 Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
63 Jenny Thompson – Swimming
65 Carly Patterson – Gymnastics
66 Gary Hall Jr. – Swimming
72 Leo Manzano – T&F


Let’s move on to the second half of these blasters. 


Blaster 1 Pack 5



Aly Raisman - Gymnastics
Maya Moore - Basketball
Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
Kayla Harrison – Judo
Diana Taurasi - Basketball
Simone Biles – Gymnastic
Missy Frankin - Swimming
Claressa Shields - Boxing
Missy Fanklin bronze – Swimming
Michael Phelps insert - Swimming

Blaster 2 Pack 5



Sue Bird - Basketball
Mariel Zagunis - Fencing
Jake Dalton - Gymnastics
Elena Delle Donne - Basketball
Ryan Lochte - Swimming
Carlin Isles – Rugby
Abby Wambach - Soccer
Missy Frankin - Swimming
Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
Jake Dalton gold – Gymnastics
Jake Dalton silver – Gymnastics  It’s a Jake Dalton hot pack…why not Aly Raisman?

Blaster 3 Pack 5



Justin Gatlin – T&F
Casey Patterson – Beach Volleyball
Melissa Stockwell - Paratriathlon
Elizabeth Beisel - Swimming
Sarah True - Triathlon
Katie Meili - Swimming
Tori Bowe – T&F
Connor Fields – Cycling BMX
Conor Dwyer bronze - Swimming
Rulon Gardner gold - Wrestling



Good luck everyone and GO TEAM USA!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

OIympic contest: Halfway through with the 4th packs

There are 75 base cards in the Olympic set.  I’m going to list the athletes that did not make the Olympic team so everyone will know.  There are 16 out of 75 that didn’t make the team, were injured, retired, or are former Olympians.

5 Candace Parker – Basketball
17 Holley Mangold – Weightlifting
21 Matt Grevers – Swimming
27 John Orozco – Gymnastics
30 Tyler Clary – Swimming
39 Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
40 Abby Wambach – Soccer
52 Cullen Jones – Swimming
58 Summer Ross – Beach Volleyball
59 Emily Day – Volleyball
61 Bob Beamon – T&F
62 Rulon Gardner – Wrestling
63 Jenny Thompson – Swimming
65 Carly Patterson – Gymnastics
66 Gary Hall Jr. – Swimming
72 Leo Manzano – T&F


Sorry for the delay in posting.  Two huge projects due at work this week.  And I’m done with one of them.  So here we go.


Blaster 1 Pack 4



Sam Mikulak - Gymnastics
Sue Bird - Basketball
April Ross – Beach Volleyball
Michael Phelps - Swimming
Steve Lopez - Taekwondo
Nathan Adrian - Swimming
Mariel Zagunis - Fencing
Carlin Isle - Rugby
Abby Wambach bronze – Soccer
Brad Snyder silver - Swimming

Blaster 2 Pack 4



Nathan Adrian – Swimming
Steve Lopez - Taekwondo
Claressa Shields - Boxing
Paige Salenski – Field Hockey
Kayla Harrison - Judo
Simone Biles - Gymnastic
Rulon Gardner – Wrestiling
Natalie Coughlin – Swimming
Claressa Shields bronze - Boxing
Sam Mikulak insert - Gymnastics

Blaster 3 Pack 4



Leo Manzano – T&F
Matt Stutzman - Archery
Maya Moore - Basketball
JakeGibb – Beach Volleyball
Perry Baker - Rugby
Kami Craig – Water Polo
Brittney Griner - Basketball
LaShawn Merritt – T&F
Margaux Isaksen bronze – Modern Pentathlon
Claressa Shields insert - Boxing


Good luck everyone and GO TEAM USA!