I'm late and gotta catch up....

The postal strike is over!! Which means it's finally here! My good friend John, or Jack Plumstead if you prefer, sent me the 2011 Topps Premier League sticker book!!! Now if you've been paying attention, yeah, I'm a wee late on starting this. The season has ended with Manchester United rightfully atop the standings.

No matter! Isnt it pretty?

 John also sent along what must be considered a rack pack over there...... 11 packets for the price of 10!!!
Isn't it nice how they don't try and snow you by saying "One FREE bonus pack!" But I digress.

 Those astute ones in the bunch have by now noticed the new feature for this year........

 Yeah baby!!! 3D!!! Not all the stickers.... but quite a few, plus a lot of pages in the book.

 The set also has large team stickers, here showing the best team in English football.

 and smaller, regular size stickers. The section that shows off all the new kits, (uniforms) are in foil this year.

 As are all of the team logos. I show Everton here in respect to my friend G_Moses.

 Something new this season is a section for "Stars of the Future". Basically young and upcoming players. Yeah, they're rookie cards. But they don't need a one inch square rookie card logo.... Old school.

 and of course the regular base stickers. 449 in all.

Thanks John!!!! If on the off chance that any of you are collecting this... I'm always available for swaps.

It's over! It's finally over!!!

thanks to dayf, Morgan "Mr Happy' Gould has found a home in my 2010 Panini World Cup Sticker Book. And then it was done! Complete!

The joy of a completed sticker book!!!

Thanks to all the bloggers in Canada and the U.S who traded with me, as well as those in Serbia, Finland, Australia, and France. Of course, a big shout out to John in England who always helps with these types of things.

Now, who wants to see scans of their favourite team??? Speak now. If no one speaks, I may just show you the whole damn book. Threat or a promise, your choice.

Trade Night Success! and an update....

My 'local' card shop has a trade night every month. Nothing too special, just a bunch of guys getting together to generally belittle each other's choice in sports teams, with pizza and pack wars thrown in. Surprisingly, very little trading occurs. But a lot of wax gets busted.

This time, there was a lot of trading. Usually when someone comes up to me around here and says; 'You're that Braves fan, right?' It isn't a good thing. This time it turned out to be.

I was able to trade a couple of Martin Brodeur inserts for this baby....

 On card /99. Doesn't get much better than that. Thanks for the swap Mike.
I also traded for a bunch of hockey stuff, but you can see that on Just A Bit Offside when I get around to it. Maybe tonite. Maybe.

Also a small envelope from Darkship arrived. Todd had one of the last two stickers I needed for the 2010 Panini World Cup Sticker Book.

 Shiny!

Chris Harris had sent me two of the last four I needed....

So now I'm just down to #36. From what I hear, dayf has it on the way. I can't wait. I just might finish this sucker in 2010. Awesome.

closer.... closer.... ever so close now....

You all remember the World Cup. I still miss it. Most of you probably don't. But it's still not quite over. Not until I finish that damn Panini 2010 FIFA World Cup Sticker Book. I will finish it. I promise. I'm a little bit closer now due to a trade arriving in the mail a few days back. From Serbia.

 Yes. Serbia. I'm going to the ends of the Earth to finish this damn book before the end of 2010. Nice of them to stop the war long enough to swap stickers.
Some of the stickers that came trans-Atlantic were Brasil,

 one of the greats to ever play the game, now sadly past his prime, Ronaldinho..

 Mr Higuain, looking more Greek than Argentinian...

 and German keeper Rene Adler. I post Mr Adler for the oddity that in the 2010 World Cup, Germany played two keepers. Panini oddly put two keepers in the German team set, when most countries only got one.

But the two keepers Panini included did not play at all. So we ended up with stickers of two keepers who didn't play, and no stickers of the two that did.
What are the odds?

Now with the help of my LCS (four stickers) and after a trade arrives from a fellow blogger, giving me two more stickers towards my goal, I will be down to needing TWO stickers to complete this set.

#36 and #259.

Somebody, anybody, please help.

Sticker Swap

Yes, I'm still working on my World Cup sticker book as well as the last two season's worth of the Premier League. John from Pursuit of Red Sox sent over a package about a month ago (I'm sooo behind in my posting) that contained stickers from all three sets.

Thanks again John.

And if anyone else is collecting these, my wantlists are up to date... please take a look at them, link on the side bar.
Thanks.

I've got Kaka!!!

it's odd how some phrases can mean totally different things depending on their context. This is one of those.
When I jumped up at my dining room table and yelled, "I've got Kaka!!!", at least a dozen of you would know instantly what I was talking about and been happy for me.
My wife, on the otherhand, took my jubulant phrase in a different direction, and gave me an according look.
Those of you who tried to build Panini's Virtual Sticker Book online during the World Cup know of what I speak. I can think of at least 9 guys who needed the Brazillian star as the LAST player to complete their make believe sticker book, myself included.
Fast forward to the real world, and Voila!
In fact, not only did I receive Kaka, I ended up with double Kaka. So if any of you still collecting need Kaka, I'm your guy.
I wonder if I just set the record for most mention of the name Kaka in one post.....


Kaka.

The Joy of a Completed Page and a trade plea

Just because the World Cup is over for another four years... doesn't mean the collecting and trading should stop.
Check out my wantlists, I'm down to just over 200 needed for this set, and I'm not giving up.
I've got doubles... let's swap.

Nippon!

There's a World Cup contest going on over at JD's Cards. And I ended up with Japan. *sigh* I'm going to do about as well as I did in his Olympic contest.

But nevermind that. Time to introduce you to these young fellas. At least most of them. I haven't bought any stickers in almost two weeks, so this is all I have.
Keeper Eiji

this guy is all business...

Monsieu Honda. No relation. I checked.

and my favourite of all... love the tuft of hair up top....

Go Japan! Beat Cameroon! Now excuse me as kickoff is in 3 minutes.

Yeah, I know I phoned this one in, but kickoff is in 3 minutes!

Sweetness!

No. Not Walter Payton, although he is coming up in a future post.... this sweetness...
stickers! John sent me more stickers! I'm so busy with them that I didn't even bother to stop and take a picture. Why? Because I took one the last time he sent some. So you get the same pic as last time.
Meh.
If I hadn't of told you, you never would have known.
Now if you'll exscuse me, I've got some stickers to stick in my sticker book.

Yummy Sticker Sweetness...

My good friend John from The Pursuit of 80's, among other blogs, has sent me the mail day to end all mail days. The last thing I sent him turned into some sort of shrine, and he wanted to return the favour I guess. He succeeded.
What you are looking at is a 12"x16" glossy 96 page sticker book. This thing is huge! And Shiny!

There is a section for every Premier League team as well as All Star pages and tonnes more... It took me over an hour to read everything.... and I haven't got any stickers yet..... or do I????

John sent a few packets of stickers to get me started....

I'm gonna be busy for awhile... not to mention trying to hide it from everyone else in the house. Everyone loves stickers!!!

Now I must go troll the 'bay for a box of these things....

I. Must. Complete. This. Set.

Damn I love stickers....

So if you've been paying attention, I've mentioned that I love stickers. My daughters love stickers. My wife loves 'em too. Especially shiny ones. But for me, I love ones of semi obscure sports stars from my youth. Which brings me to my next post. On the bay, I got an entire box of 1989/90 O Pee Chee Hockey stickers dirt cheap. 48 packs of sticky goodness. But wait... upon opening the box, I find 49 packs.
This is the story of that 49th bonus pack.

If you're familiar with OPC stickers, or the Panini versions, you know that you could pick up an album, and then buy packs of stickers, each of which would have their own special place in that album. Well, I didn't get an album. And I haven't been able to find one yet. But I can't wait anymore.... The trick is though that if you're not familiar with identifying the players by facial recognition, there was no way to tell you who the heck it was.
There begins the game. See if you can remember who these guys are....

For the Quebec Nordiques, #22

Philadelphia Flyers #27 ( a hint, he was a goalie;>)

Chicago Blackhawks #40

Los Angeles Kings #28

Winnipeg Jets #8?

Buffalo Sabres #8

Chicago Blachawks #3 (don't call him Charles)

Los Angeles Kings #26

Okay, this is an easy one. The best goaltender tandem in the league. These two were awesome. I can't believe Montreal stole Hayward from Winnipeg for a bag of pucks....

There you have it. Pack 1 of 49. I'm itching to put these in an album. I better find one quick or my wife is gonna find these stuck to the lamp or something.... (I'll blame the kids...)

Stickers of the day...

Have I mentioned I love stickers? I do. I'd like to say I get it from my daughters who worship everything that is the sticker. But I loved stickers before they came along. Anyways... today's sticker is from 1989. Or should I say stickers...
Silver foil stickers! Logos! and an aerial shot of Fulton County Stadium! (they don't scan well, but you get the idea, don't you?)
So many players to choose in that set, like a dimunitive Ronny Gant. And the always popular Jeff Blauser.

But you want the money shot, right? Here they are...

Dale Murphy and Tom Glavine. Awesome.

There should be more sets like these... regional ones... stuff out of a twinkies box.. 12 packs of Coke, that kind of thing.

I wish merchandising rights weren't so expensive nowadays...

BRING BACK THE ODDBALLS!

A Pack A Day

Head on over to A Pack A Day and checkout my bust of a 1989 Fleer Baseball waxpack.

Pinstripes! Wax! Stickers!