Bit of a shameless plug

Yeah, I'm gonna shill for the man here. But it's too late - you already clicked the link and are reading, so you might as well finish and watch the video. Set your Tivo or make sure your butt is in front of the television tomorrow, tuned to ESPN, at 7 Eastern. That's 6 for you in the middle of the country. The rest of you - do the math. My guy I like to call bud Ben Petrick will be on E:60 with a followup on his PD. Should be a great watch. Here's the promo:

Check it out. As always, find Ben on Facebook or check out his blog. Shill over. Mostly....

Sunday SIL: Pinup!

This week's SIL brings me back to the wall of my office. The office (ok - technically bedroom #4) is where the computer sits, and it's the one room that is all mine, in a decorating sense. I chose the paint color and what's on the walls is what I want. And what I want is sports stuff. I have talked about the pictures on the walls, and the baseball cards. Let's talk now about a framed set of pins. But first, some honesty - this frame is not actually on the wall. See, the office is a work in progress, which means I never, EVER do anything in it besides work, sort cards and fart around on the innerweb tubes. There is far too much bare wall space, and also far too much crap on the floors. But it's a work in progress. That's what I say so I don't admit I have truly given up all hope on doing anything in here. I tried a week ago to get some shelves up. Damned if I cannot find one of the wall studs.

But all that is neither here nor there. Stuff I Like is why you are reading, so let's get to it.

I talked before how I was a professional mascot (alright - paid idiot). Back in 1987 (if you look close enough at the pin on the right), a team from the USSR did a tour of the states against a few MISL teams. At the time of this tour, Dynamo Moscow was the football equivalent of the Red Army hockey team. That is - the BEST. So they came over to the US for a few indoor games against the MISL teams, and lost all 6. Granted, the Soviets were not used to the indoor game at this time, and actually took one of the games to overtime. Against the Sting, though, they lost 10-4.

So the story of the pin on the left? When I saw this game on the schedule, I put in to "work it" as Stanley, and did in fact get to be mascot. After the game, I grabbed a pennant, went into the Dynamo Moscow locker room (when the press was allowed in) and scored autographs of every player but one if I recall. I was in my shorts and a sweat soaked t-shirt, with very unkempt hair. The players were very nice and all I approached signed without any issues. But the keeper figured something out when he saw me. After looking me up and down, in broken English he asked if I was the big bee he saw. I fessed up. He then asked if I could get him a pennant like he was signing for himself. I dashed back to the room I changed in and grabbed an extra pennant that was in the room. When I returned, I handed over the pennant and he traded me with the above pin, and this really cool carved wooden pen that looked like a thin Russian nesting doll. The girl I was dating at the time took the pen, so it's long gone. But I have the pin, and it's a pretty cool reminder of that game, and a great memory for when I was 21 and got to interact with a world class goalkeeper. I was very much in awe in that locker room.

Working in the garden

Gonna start this by stealing an image from Matt's Heartbreaking Cards blog (or whatever the hell he's calling it these days), cuz he's halfway across the world and can't stop me!

Ukraine mobsters don't frighten me, Flaten!

 So what did I finally complete? Behold the wonder of Flora of the World:

While only 5 cards large, this was a limited insert at one per hobby box. Which is weird since I got turned on to this set from a blaster box pull. So I guess Topps made a slight error. It happens once in a great, great while, so they are forgiven. Or sorry - I had my sarcasm hat on. My bad.

Flora of the World? DONE! On to 2012's People of the Bible, Giants of the Deep and Man's Best Friend. You really should check my want list. Go on...I'll wait.

What to do? What to do?

I was reading the Sports Card Blogroll last night. I happened to read foul bunt's post about being on the far better end (in my opinion and his) of a trade on the Topps Golden site. Read the post if you like, but I'll give you the quick summary: Will got a successful trade, giving up a die cut David Ortiz and getting a die cut Brooks Robinson in return. Oh yeah - he is the Showcase Showdown winner in that deal.

So that got me thinking about my Topps Golden redemptions. Yeah, I mostly have coins, but I have received 3 cards. I flipped a Steve Carlton into a Duke Snider. I am just not a Carlton fan. And I am not a fan of Yount either, so I flipped that into a Carlton Fisk. I guess I am a Carlton fan after all. When I redeemed a code and got this last card, I knew it would be nothing but offer after offer. The site has not disappointed me in this prediction. See - I pulled a die cut of the Say Hey kid himself. See?

Whatcha say heying about, Willis?

The offers are just piling in, and I usually ignore them. About once a week I'll log in just to run through them and laugh at some of the requests.

And I'll throw in a Yoko Ono Greatest Hits album.

So I ask you, the reader: what WOULD be a good trade for the Mays? Sure, It's Willie. But maybe there is something better. I currently have 85 trade requests for Willie:

Adam Jones (Orioles) 1 request
Buster Posey (Giants) 1 requests

Chase Utley (Phils) 1 request
Jackie Robinson (Dodgers) 1 request
Tony Gwynn (Padres) 1 request
Ryan Howard (Phils) 4 requests
Rickey Henderson (A's) 2 requests
Josh Johnson (Marlins) 1 request
Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) 1 request
Ryne Sandberg (Cubs) 4 requests
Jason Heyward (Braves) 1 request
Stan Musial (Cards) 9 requests
Joey Votto (Reds) 3 requests
Yogi Berra (Yankees) 3 requests
Ozzie Smith (Cards) 2 requests
Starlin Castro (Cubs) 1 request
Mark Teixeira (Yankees) 2 requests
Bob Gibson (Cards) 1 request
Mario Rivera (Yankees) 2 requests
Johnny Bench (Reds) 2 requests
Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) 5 requests
Eddie Murray (Orioles) 1 request
Harmon Killebrew (Twins) 3 requests
Ryan Braun (Brewers) 4 requests
Joe Mauer (Twins) 1 request
Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) 6 requests
Robinson Cano (Yankees) 2 request
Josh Hamilton (Rangers) 1 request
Rod Carew (Angels) 1 request
Ty Cobb (Tigers) 2 requests
Warren Spahn (Braves) 1 request

Don Mattingly (Yankees) 2 requests

Eric Hosmer (Royals) 1 request
Justin Verlander (Tigers) 1 request
Willie McCovey (Giants) 1 request
Ken Griffey Jr (Mariners) 1 request

And I also have a 2 card request for Willie. Accepting would give me an Expos Vlad Guerrero and a David Price from the Rays (and I think a 8 CD box set of Debby Boone).

What would you do?

Sunday SIL: Fashion week...er....day.

Let's dive into the binder for this week's SIL. I've got quite a few quality choices. It probably helps that, in a technical sense, the entire binder is stuff I like. However, what to choose and share with you, the reader?

I was torn between a couple cards. See, football season started today (for you living under a rock or dead). Now, I have just one single football card in the binder, mainly because I just don't collect football. I think the last pack of football I opened was last century. There is not a single basketball card in the binder. I would guess the last basketball pack I ripped was the same time as football. The binder is probably 90% baseball and 10% hockey (and 2% butter scotch ripple). The start of football, with the replacement refs, reminded me that hockey starts soon. At least, IT FRIGGING SHOULD! Both sides need to stop being jerks and make the deal happen. That being said, the other card I was thinking of featuring is one of the hockey cards in the binder. But I think I'll hold that card off for a week or so and instead, showcase a card with a player that knows what a ball player should look like.

I do my little turn on the catwalk.  One the catwalk, yeah

Josh Outman, who I believe is currently a Rockie, knows how to work the stirrup. I have talked before about the look of a MLB player. Pajamas look like crap. High cuffs rule.

Crappy.

Rocks.

Facepalm.

Can date my sister.

We clear? Good. 

eBay pick up

Thought I would go a little nuts on eBay and snag a hot pack of 2006 UD SP Legendary Cuts. Sure it's a crap shoot. Here's what I got for $22 - don't think I did too bad. What's your opinion?

If it had to be a Cub, at lease it's a Cub I can respect. Still a Cub, though. #48/125. I will say this - decent offers will be considered. You like? Let's talk.

Fukadome sighting!

Remember Kosuke? I know Once a Cub, Wrigley Wax on some of the other Cubs bloggers do, as would White Sox Cards, My Sports Obsession and White Sox bloggers. And I'm not forgetting about you Cleveland fans that enjoyed him for about 60 games. And hey - did you Yankee people know he was in your organization too? I say "was" since they released him 4 days ago.

Fukadome was the next great thing out of Japan. I remember a bidding war about signing him, that the Cubs won (thankfully). I knew it was overpayment for a very unproven player, and his career numbers back me up. That being said, before getting the heave-ho from the Bronx Bombers, he was part of a very remarkable minor league play. No official at bat, though he was credited with an RBI:

Kosuke, we hardly knew ye...