Non-Sports Post on a Non-Sports Day

This post contains no sports or sports card content. It's just a somewhat random post about somewhat random actresses and TV shows. Feel free to skip it if you're so inclined.

Back in the late 1990s I used to watch a fair amount of teen "soap opera" shows, as my mom called them. I got into Dawson's Creek because I heard the girls at school mention that Dawson was an aspiring filmmaker; I got into Roswell for the sci-fi angle - and because my girlfriend at the time was a huge fan. (My wife was a fan of the show, too.)

The original Roswell starred Jason Behr (my wife's crush), Brendan Fehr (my ex-gf's crush), Shiri Appleby* (my crush), and Katherine Heigl. I don't remember a whole lot about the show or any specific episodes, and you guys probably don't care anyway. 

*I'll get to the point in a sec, but first I wanted to share something random. There's a quote on Britt Robertson's IMDB page that mentions Shiri: 

I eat like no other, it drives everyone crazy. I eat donuts three times a day and I probably go through four Mountain Dews a day. I'm on like a sugar high at all times, pretty much. Shiri Appleby, who plays my mother, is a vegan and works out every day for two hours before she goes to work. When she sees me with my Mountain Dew, eating chips and a donut at 4 in the morning, she's like, "Wow. Wait until you're 30".



Britt Robertson looks like that and eats like me? Now that's a woman after my own heart!

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right.. Roswell. 

The CW rebooted the show last year and gave it a new name:

The Mrs. and I started watching Roswell, New Mexico a couple months ago - after Superstore and This Is Us ended but before Stranger Things returned. Now that we've finished watching ST3 we've started watching Roswell, New Mexico again.

The basics of the original show are still in place: Max, Michael, and Isabel are aliens who crash-landed in Roswell. Max and Liz have romantic chemistry in both shows.

  
The names are the same - almost (in the reboot, Liz has a more ethnic-sounding surname) but the plot lines and details are different. For example, the current show is a lot more "woke", getting a lot of mileage out of aliens in a border state struggling to blend in.

My wife hates politics, and the frequent reminders of it annoy her. I get that. But things were different 20 years ago, and the show is understandably geared to a younger, more diverse audience than its predecessor. We're not exactly the target demographic.

Anyway, the point of this post isn't to discuss the actual show - or its forebearer.

A few episodes into season one I noticed that one of the new characters, officer Cameron, looked familiar to me.
 

Once she had a decent amount of screen time I figured out why (or thought I did, anyway) This girl looks like Taryn Southern, I thought, and immediately did two things:

1. I hadn't seen Taryn in quite some time, so I checked her Instagram to refresh my memory... and that is when I learned that she's battling cancer (#fuckbob)


2. After that news knocked me for a loop, I hopped onto IMDB. And maybe from certain angles Riley Voelkel kinda resembles Taryn...but not really.
    

But! While I was on her IMDB page I learned that I had seen her before - in one of my favorite shows. And she played a significant role in one of the most significant scenes of said show..

Yep, that's Riley - asking the question that serves as a flashpoint for the pilot episode of The Newsroom. Damn I miss that show. 

I just wanted to share that with you guys. There's no sports to speak of today anyhow.


Thanks for reading!


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Christmas in July (part III)

This is the thrilling conclusion of my Christmas In July break - and unlike Hollywood, I'm not going to split the final part of the trilogy in half. Here's my two-box break of 2018 Panini Classics:

A week or so prior to this purchase, I lamented that hobby boxes of Classics cost over $100. Jon Pennysleeves and I are both fans of the chrome-style parallels and, since he's the reason I'm even aware of this set, I was hoping to pull a few legends for him.

Unfortunately it's not possible to pull those Optichrome parallels out of retail packs. But at just $9.99 per blaster, there's still plenty of value to be found. Let's get crackin':

Box I, Pack I:

Boom! Right of of the gate we have two Brett Favre cards I needed, including an Eras insert. That brings my Favre count to 709 - not counting two more sitting in my COMC inventory.

Box I, Pack II:

This one starts off weak but ends with four HOFers including Roger Wehrli (misspelled on the front). I like the way Panini divided this set into thirds: cards #1-100 are current players, #101-200 are retired greats, and #201-300 are rookies. Short-printed, of course.

Box I, Pack III:

The wrapper lists non-base odds at 1:2 packs. I actually like the Ray Guy more than the Zeke insert. (Punters are players, too!) Have to admit I'd never heard of Mike Wagner before pulling this card. Those Seahawks uniforms look like they're relics of the WLAF. 

Box I, Pack IV:

This pack had a little bit of everything - a Packer, a trio of HOFers, a couple of future HOFers, a short-printed RC (which will probably go to Dennis if he needs it) and a blue back parallel RC #d/175. Very cool.

Box I, Pack V:

The Big Ben Composers insert is the highlight here, but I'm partial to the Tomlinson and Flutie. My younger self used to jokingly refer to Rayfield Wright as Ray Right Field.

Box I, Pack VI:

Oooh a relic! I was not expecting that (even though the box clearly states that I should.) The Cowboy QBs are the big names here, but the only base card of interest to me is the Gilbert Brown.

 Box I, Pack VII:

This pack was all passers and pass-catchers. I like the Warfield in particular. (War Paulfield doesn't work as well lol)

Box I, Pack VIII:

Another rookie card, a black & white Raymond Berry, and another Packers legend. Don Majkowski wouldn't be considered a "legend" to most fans but he had a monster 1989 season and he passed the torch to Brett Favre after a 1992 injury. I'm happy to see him resurface in recent sets.

Now let's see what's inside the second box...

Box II, Pack I:

Brady and Big Ben on a "Classic Clashes" insert is the key card here, but I'm no fan of either guy so I'll add it to the tradebait pile.

 Box II, Pack II:

Another Big Ben, a nice John Hannah, and...a Lamar Jackson RC! That might be the best card of the break.

Here's a closer look at that Lamar:

It's gonna be tough to beat that one in the next six packs.

 Box II, Pack III:

Hmm. I feel like I've seen those first three cards before. Also the High Praise insert is a bit disappointing. Not because it's Lawrence Taylor, but because the "praise" comes from LT himself. Lame.

Box II, Pack IV:

It's practically impossible to get a "bad" pack out of this product. Even though there's nothing I'm drawn to here, it still contains a RC and a pair of legendary quarterbacks.

 Box II, Pack V:

Another Composers insert of a Steelers signal-caller, and an Eric Dickerson for my PC. I think I had a Larry Little rookie card back in the day.

Box II, Pack VI:

The Manning and Moore are nice, and what are the odds that I'd pull another relic of a LSU alum?

 Box II, Pack VII:

A Brady dupe, a Barry Sanders, and another Packers legend. Here's an interesting fact (to me, at least) I pulled five out of the six Packers legends in the set; only Paul Hornung eluded me. Yet I didn't pull any of the four current Packers.

 Box II, Pack VIII:

The final pack was heavy on Rams legends, and also contained the sixth RC of the break. As much as I like this set I won't be attempting to complete it, for two reasons. One is the short-printed rookie cards. (I would need 94 more!)

The second reason is that the collation of current player cards was not in my favor. 

Far too many dupes here. The strange thing is, I didn't get a single dupe out of the legends subset. I can't complain, though. I got two new Brett Favre cards, a nice stack of base cards, a pair of relics, and some solid tradebait for only $20.  Can't beat that.

Thanks for reading!

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Christmas In July (part II)

If you missed part one of my Christmas In July break, that's probably because I posted it on Independence Day. Here's part two:

While everyone was ripping into packs of the brand-new 2019 Stadium Club, I was opening two blasters of last year's edition. This is a trend I started with Upper Deck hockey, where I buy retail wax of the previous year's products at a discounted price. At $14.95 a box these were the most expensive cards I purchased. Let's get to the goods, pack by pack:

Box I, Pack I:

Meh. Cozart shares my birthday and Doctor K was on my wantlist, so that's something.

Box I, Pack II:

That's better. I had the Han-Ram and Godley already, but the Bo is nice and Gallo is kinda cool.

Box I, Pack III:

A pair of Sox and a Salvador Perez red parallel. Not too shabby.

Box I, Pack IV:

 The Trout Special Forces is the best card by far, but Eck and X are nice additions as well.

 Box I, Pack V:

Kinda meh here, too. The Elvis and Mauer are nice. Springer should have been in the next pack...

Box I, Pack VI:

 ...because it's very Houston-heavy here. I dig that sharp-looking Altuve insert.

Box I, Pack VII:

Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Mr. October is the highlight here. The Pham is nice. Ender Inciarte always makes me think of Minecraft. Carrasco was recently diagnosed with leukemia. Hopefully he'll be able to make a full recovery and return to the mound soon.

Box I, Pack VIII:

For some reason Sandy Alcantara is card #1 in this set (I thought the set might be alphabetical by last name but nope.) The Big Unit and Big Hurt are nice pulls. I don't know if I like the Cleveland Indians throwback jersey or not. Your thoughts?


Before I start the second box I just want to point out the fact that Topps put enough effort into the packaging that there are action photos on three of the four sides:

I might even save one of these for my small Kris Bryant collection. Anyway.. back to the cards:

Box II, Pack I:

Laser Show! This Dustin Pedroia parallel isn't the most valuable card in the break, but the fact that I got one red parallel in each box and one of those two happened to be a funny card of my favorite player, well..that's some good mojo IMO.

Box II, Pack II:

This is the most valuable card in the break. I had no idea what to make of the Mark McGwire at first; my reaction upon pulling this was "Coool! What is it?" Apparently it's a sepia parallel, inserted at a rate of 1:8 packs. So maybe it's not as rare or valuable as I thought (why didn't I get one in the first box?)

Box II, Pack III:

No, wait..this is the most valuable card in the break - not that I really care about Beckett value anymore. The Gary Sanchez Power Zone parallel is the toughest pull at 1:192 (retail) packs. It's all downhill from here, folks.

Box II, Pack IV:

Solid pack here. The Larkin was on my wantlist. The Rizzo insert has a typo on the back.

Box II, Pack V:

Quick -- name the best card in this pack. Give up? It's a trick question. 

Box II, Pack VI:

Some nice photography here. I feel like TSC could have chosen a better slugger than Justin Upton for their Power Zone insert set though.

Box II, Pack VII:

I did not get enough legends in this break; I was hoping for Bob Gibson or Hank Aaron, but I'll take a Bench. McGwire doesn't really count as a legend, but it's sort of interesting that both Big Macs were the second card in their respective packs.

Box II, Pack VIII:

In the final pack we have Thor, a nice Harrison Bader RC, and a pair of Yankees. Interestingly (to me at least) the last card in the break - Matsui - is also the last card in the set.


I now have 127 of the 300 cards in the set, so I might as well take a shot at finishing this thing. if you have any extras to spare, or if you're interested in any of the inserts (aside from Altuve and Trout) drop me a comment or an email and let me know.


Thanks for reading!


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The most SPectacular SPorts card sets of 1993

I'm thrilled that my Favorite Things post has turned into a nice little Blog Bat Around, and as promised I'm going to expand on one of my choices here...


1993 was a golden year for baseball cards. It was the peak of the hobby, in my humble opinion. There was market competition but not over-saturation. The cards were getting shinier, smoother, sleeker.. but for the most part they were still affordable. It was also the last year before the baseball strike.

I bought hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cards in 1993. Donruss was an okay set. I enjoyed pulling Diamond Kings inserts almost as much as I enjoyed pulling Franchise inserts out of Score packs. I had a tough time finding (and affording) Bowman but even as a 12-13 year-old I appreciated their emphasis on prospects and recent draftees. Upper Deck's flagship brand was their best effort to date. The 1993 Leaf set remains popular to this day; I wrote about that one in December.

I also mentioned the first Flair set in one of my first posts. It was one of two boxes of higher-end baseball cards my mom bought me for Christmas that year. The other was 1993 SP. 

Upper Deck called this "The finest trading card ever produced." (A swipe at Topps, perhaps?) Even if the Finest brand had the same price point, I'd still choose SP. The vibrant colors and photography were a natural progression from brands I'd already loved - such as Leaf, Fleer Ultra, and flagship UD. Finest looked like an alien spacecraft. 

Looking at this Bret Saberhagen now it kind of feels like an homage to 1959 Topps. But the background isn't real and he's completely outside of it. I guess it creates a decent 3-D effect but I didn't like it at first (the next three Finest sets won me over - especially 1996.)

Now this is a baseball card. Ozzie is perfectly cropped within the border. That string emerging from the logo might be a little odd but it frames the card nicely without being obtrusive. The blocks at the top left add just enough color; the cards might have looked plain without these.

Here's another perfectly cropped photo. I love how Upper Deck used team colors for each card. It's a nice touch and something I've appreciated since Pro Set color-matched in 1990.

A lot of the photos Upper Deck chose were taken during spring training, though I remember being astounded that Gary Sheffield was already pictured as a Florida Marlin (he was traded June 24, 1993) I don't remember SP being a late-season release, and I couldn't find the official release date anywhere. It must have been early September because the first 18 cards were the 1993 All-Star starters.

The set composition is perfect for 9-pocket pages. There are nine cards per team, and the checklist is alphabetical by team and player. That means the Yankees are last! (we can dream, eh?)

The Brian McRae above is just one example of the fantastic on-field action found in SP. Here are some more plays at the plate:

Infield action:

Outfield action, including a triple-exposure Kirby Puckett:

Lots of missed signals in Spring Training. I hope these guys straightened it out once the season started.

Nearly all the cards have a second photo on the back, though a small handful repeat the front photo. Here are some of the more unique card backs:

The Luis Polonia sunset card (not to be confused with a sunset card) stood out to me. The only other sunset/night card I found was Gene Harris:

This set was loaded with interesting singles, including Jose Canseco pitching:

Bip on a boat?

Brian Harper on a brick:

And I haven't even mentioned the foils yet!

As you can see, some of these are scratched and chipped. This was the first time I was aware of a modern set that was "condition sensitive". A lot of my base card corners are starting to wear out as well. I probably shouldn't handle them anymore because finding pack-fresh replacements is next to impossible at these prices...thanks to this guy:

A mini-rant about sealed box prices: why would I pay over $2000 for the chance to pull a card I can buy individually for $500? I wish I could make a deal with the dealer: "I'll give you $100 for the box, and if I pull the Jeter it's yours". That's how much I love this set.

Here are my five favorite singles from 1993 SP, starting with #5:

 

When this card was released I was amazed that Jim Abbott could swing a bat. I hope I also recognized the rarity (at the time) that an American League pitcher would have to bat.

#4 might be a familiar one to all the Oakland Athletics fans out there:

Rickey stole a lot of bases. Rickey stole so many bases that Rickey got to rip 'em right out of the dirt. 

My #3 favorite is a majestic looking Hawk:

This is a perfect posed photo. Blue sky, Green Monster, and a Hall of Famer. Again, the cropping is on point here.

My top two favorites are also Hall of Famers. I selected these because they're action shots of baseball legends, and they're colorful:

Cal Ripken Jr. comes in at #2. And at #1 we have another Junior:

Okay, so this Ken Griffey card could have been cropped a bit better. I don't care. It's awesome. There was no more exciting card to pull for a 12-13 year old kid. Nobody knew who Derek Jeter was. If you had this card - or any similar Griffey issue at the time - you had struck gold. I wonder if that wasn't the last time kids could feel that way about pulling a base card.

I'm considering a similar post about 1993 SP Football and/or 1993-94 SP Hockey so if you enjoyed this post and you want to read more about my favorite set design, please let me know.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend!


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