They ain't #1 for nothing folks...

Yes, the Atlanta Braves, the number one team in the National League, faced the latest in a long line of phenoms tonight. Finally, Stephen Strasburg, has come back, to Atlanta. And left with his tail between his legs.

The Braves had no problem hitting him from the 1st inning on. Only superb diving defensive plays and Melky Cabrerra being thrown out at home plate stopped the Braves from scoring in the first four innings. And while I'm at it.... why is overated idiot... I mean Melky wearing his older brother's pajamas on the field? The pants are baggy and so long they fit over his shoes, and the jersey would fit me, and I'm a lot bigger than Cabrerra. Grow up, and learn how to dress yourself son. The wind almost lifted you off the ground between third and home.

The only success Strasburg had was in the fifth and sixth when he struck out 6 Batters out of 7. Although he had help. For two innings, if Rodriguez could reach the pitch, it was called a strike. This led to a rather heated discussion about the strike zone between the home plate umpire and Bobby Cox between innings. In the 7th, after the "discussion" the umpire started to pay attention again, and the Braves loaded the bases with no one out. Four runs and six hits later, Strasburg was on the bench, and the Braves rolled.

I can certainly see the talent (this was my first Strasburg game)... this kid looks like the real deal. Kids like him and Jason Heyward are great for baseball. Just not tonight. Not against Tim Hudson and the Atlanta Braves.

Final Score - Braves 5 Washington 0

Draft Day Edition of TTM Success - Dan Bouchard!

On the day of the 2010 NHL Amateur Draft in which all fans feel hope for the future of their favourite team, only to have their hopes dashed when their team drafts someone who shouldn't be drafted in the first 3 rounds with the 18th overall pick just because they speak french and not because they have any real tangible hockey skills only to go and outright refuse to play in the QMJHL instead choosing to toil away for 18 games a year at the hockey hotbed of Harvard university while collecting paycheques and laughing all the way to the bank while his team mates bust their asses in a tremendous playoff performance and be rewarded by having their playoff hero uncerimoniously traded a few days later to St Louis for a bag of pucks.

Where was I? Ah yes... my TTM success. Dan Bouchard!!! Dan was drafted 27th overall (see? it all ties together) by Boston in the 1970 Amateur Draft. He never played for Boston, instead being left unprotected and drafted 3rd overall by the Atlanta Flames in the 1972 Atlanta/NY Islanders expansion draft.

Dan signed and personalized the 8x10 photo I sent him...
along with 3 cards.

Next time I have to find some cards of Dan in his Quebec Nordiques uni.... Dan played for Atlanta, Calgary, Quebec, and Winnipeg. But I don't think there are cards of him in a Calgary or Winnipeg uniform....

If you'll notice, Dan also included smiley faces and an inscription PS139. Either he's a former UBoat Captain, or it's a bible verse. One or the other.....

5pm is draft time... The sobbing you'll hear will be me laying in the corner cursing the 5'9" French Canadien winger that Montreal just drafted.....

Woot!

Japan is through to the round of 16!!! Thanks in large part to this dude with the funny hair...
Suck it fellow JD's Cards World Cup Contest contestants! The Blue Samurai are unstoppable!

btw, I have my stickers sorted, so if anyone is up for trading, lmk...

Offside Part 2

So the U.S. is through to the round of 16. On a goal where they were three feet offside.

I guess if you whine and moan enough, people will take pity on you. Either that or they'll be afraid of making the call the next time.

Do you think the North American media will carry any of the Algerian complaints on air? HA!

England also advanced, beating Slovenia 1-0.

Somewhere Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Somewhere the leprechauns are smiling as France was eliminated from 2010 World Cup action. The defending champions ended up finishing at the bottom of Pool A with a single point.
For those of you not familiar with the situation, during qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, it came down to a tie-breaking game between Ireland and France to see who advanced to the Big Show.
In extra time, French striker Thierry Henry emulated the biggest cheater of all, Diego Maradonna, and used a handball in the penalty area to put the ball in the back of the net. And on top of that, two French players were offside. Let's just say that it came close to war. Seriously. LINK to a news story.

I went to the World Cup and a box break broke out...

At the last trade night at my lcs, one of the main reasons I went was to grab some more sticker packs of Panini's 2010 World Cup set. Aside from the 10 packs of those, I also grabbed a box of this...
Not stickers, actual cards. I wasn't going to do it... I had resisted it the last time I was there... but someone else bought a box and broke it right then and there. After seeing all those cards, I was hooked.

The details - 36 packs per box. 6 cards per pack. 4 base cards and 2 sp's. Now the sp's come in four different forms. The first is a shiny foilboard team logo found one per pack. The sixth card of the pack could be one of three varieties, all featuring star players. A shiny foilboard version, a glitzy, 3D relief style card, or a clear acetate card.

Unfortunately, my scanner does not do any of these cards justice. they are amazing looking cards.
Card #1 - The Header card
What it's all about....

one of the foilboard logo cards. There are 32 different ones of these....

The regular base cards, 100 of these...

Stadium cards... 10 different to choose from.

here is one of the shiny foilboard player cards....

and a clear acetate card, that really did not scan well.... it also happens to be that round headed boy.

and finally, the bumpy, foily, glitzy player cards. These are awesome in person, each card matching the player's team colours.

I'm really happy with the design and quality of the cards. What I am not happy with is collation. Absolutely horrible. How did I do out of one box?

Base Cards - 4 per pack - 71/100 with 70 duplicates. Yes. 70.

Foilboard team logos - one per pack - 21/32 with 5 duplicates.

Foilboard Player cards - one per 3 1/2 packs - 7/25 with 3 duplicates. How hard would it be to make all 10 different????

Acetate Player cards - one per 2 packs - 18/48 - NO duplicates. thank you

Glitzy metallically shiny bumpy player cards - 15/25 with NO duplicates.

I have to find someone to trade with.... it'll be impossible to put together by busting packs.

Final score - 4/5

Amazing cards, but Panini screwed the pooch by not having someone with at least a Grade 12 education write them a basic algorithm to give them proper collation.

OR

They did it on purpose. In which case they're douchebags.

Questionable American Fashion Choice

Can someone, anyone, please explain to me why the Yanks have chosen to add a Miss America sash to their futbol ensemble??
did the boys need to feel a little extra fabulous this morning?

You may call him Sir...

Tommy Hanson wouldn't be afraid to show his feminine side.... if he had one.

Tommy Hanson's mom has a tattoo that says "Son"

Tommy Hanson once had a staring contest with his own reflection. After the fourth day, he won.



he's Tommy Hanson....... and you're not.

Waxaholic Playoff Contest winners announced.

So before I totally disappear into the World Cup abyss (it's too late, save yourselves) I had to find time to announce the winner of the 2nd annual Waxaholic Playoff Contest.

To no one's surprise, in a year won by the Blackhawks, a Blackhawk fan won.

Congrats Sal.

LMK which of the prizes you wanted, and shoot me your address again.

Final standings...


Sal - 114 pts
Roy - 112 pts
dayf - 105 pts
Play at the Plate - 97 pts
Justin G - 86 pts
DFG - 85 pts
Dan - 75 pts
Jeremy - 72 pts
cynicalbudha - 72 pts
shane diaz - 71 pts
1st and Goal - 69 pts
gcrl - 65 pts
Night Owl - 65 pts
madding 65 pts
BA Benny - 58 pts
roofgod - 55 pts
dr Steven Ibottson - 55 pts
dwfbuck2 - 53 pts
Wax Wombat - 50 pts

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!

Just like everyone else...

there be changes here.

Probably a lot... so if you are here, lmk what you like, and what you don't.

any help is appreciated.

my humble apologies, but it's time...

with hockey season having come to an end, so must the Ice Girls of the Week feature.

Sorry folks... but we'll figure out something.....

Super Freakin' Cool...

If you have any interest in the World Cup that starts on Friday... you'll need this on your desktop.

LINK

Flipside Facts

Guess who got a bunch of Chippers in the mail? Me! Mark from Stats on the Back sent over around 30 Chipper cards.
Quite a few of which I didn't already have. Hard to believe, but I guess with Chipper having 1,093,848,329,041,993,256 cards of him made just in 1999, I suppose anything is possible.

Mark also was kind enough to take a slow, romantic walk through my Wantlists, and send over five cards that have eluded me until now.

Mr Morris sans 'stache...

Mr Guidry with 'stache

Bad Ass George

even Badder Ass Goose with Baby 'stache

and finally the Cobra, baseball style.

And all Mark wants in return is one interesting Met card. No stuffing a box or envelope full. Just one. But it has to be interesting. Now, to a Braves fan, I don't think any Mets card is interesting... but I'll find something for him.

Thanks Mark!

Overdue Pack Break

I went on a little excursion to my fave card shop this past Friday. My wife laughed at me on Thursday night because I was in the kitchen making a sandwich and getting a litre of iced tea chilled and ready in my lunchbox. "Going to the card store tomorrow?" she asked with a smirk...
Hey. It's a looong drive. Almost 45 minutes each way. I need a snack and a beverage. Sue me.

Anyways. I just wanted to say that this is the very first time I have ever left this card store without purchasing at least one box of cards. I know.
Don't worry... he'll still make the rent.

While I was there chatting, I picked up 10 more packs of Panini World Cup 2010 stickers, a couple of cheapo singles, and this pack. 2009 Upper Deck Draft Football.
Darren had them on special, sitting right there on the counter. I usually skip the rookie/draft stuff because my wife collects and busts boxes of football with me. And she doesn't like the rookie/draft stuff. Makes sense, right?
But it wouldn't hurt to buy one pack, would it? I never get to go to Walmart or Target or Dollar Tree and pick up retail packs like all of you do... Let's see what $5 gets me.

oooohhhh shiny gold wrapper. 10 cards per pack.
Louis Delmas- 1st round pick of the Lions. Had a really good rookie year. This kid is a keeper. Good start.

Chase Daniel - Chase went undrafted. Signed as a FA with Washington and was released.

How bad are you if Washington takes a pass? He then was signed and released, and signed again, a total of NINE times with New Orleans. Yikes.

James Casey - James was drafted by the White Sox in 2003. After three years, told 'em to pack sand and went to college. Drafted by the Texans in the fifth round as a TE.

John Parker Wilson is either a QB for Alabama or a presidential assassin.

John Parker signed as a FA with the Falcons as a third string QB.

This pack started good, but has gone down hill fast.


Chase Daniel ... wait, WTF?

This is where Darren the shopkeep pipes in on how lucky I am to get a Chase Daniel hotpack.

Please remember to tip your waitress.....

Herman Johnson All American subset.

Herman was drafted in the fifth round of the '09 draft by Arizona. 6'7" 360lbs. At birth, Herman weighed 15 lbs 14 ozs, making him the largest baby ever born in the state of Louisiana. No word on how mom is doing....

Dwayne Bowe - an absolute car wreck of a player. Might be a decent receiver, if he could get his "off field" problems under control.

Philip Rivers - not the most popular guy in school, but a damned good QB.

and we end with, (yes, that's only 9 cards. 8 if you don't count Chase the repetititve) the always popular scratch and win Upper Deck Lottery.

Brian Orakpo. Cool. High first round pick, and an All Rookie winner. Let's redeem it.

ERROR!!!!

What? UD is telling me that this redemption card is a misprint. It should say "Dual Signature" and the second signer is QB Graham Harrell. Graham won the Sammy Baugh trophy, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, was the 2008 Sporting News National co-player of the year, and was the AT&T All American Player of the Year as voted by the fans. Graham finished 4th in the Heisman while winning the Gator Bowl MVP.

Graham spent last year as the backup QB for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the CFL.

But has just signed as the backup to Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

Let's see how long this redemption takes.....

Go ahead, bring the Hate.

The sports world is agog about the retirement news of Ken Griffey Jr.
One might say he's been retired for 11 seasons already.

Why are most people enamoured about this guy? A 22 year "career" with only one decent year in the last 11. Can we say O.J. with San Francisco? Jerry Rice with the Raiders/Broncos/Seahawks/deargodwhywon'tyougoawayanddie? Maybe Dale Murphy with the Rockies?

Certain Hall of Famer? Where? At the Mayo clinic? Dale Murphy had more MVP's, more home run titles, and was the dominant player of his era. Griffey was never the man. Never.

Tom Singer of MLB.com says that "Griffey built Safeco Field" - yeah, he heard the Union had Blue Cross.

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com says "Griffey will always remembered for being clean." - of course, if those wounds get dirty, they'll get infected. Nasty business.

Tim Lincecum told the San Francisco Chronicle that Junior "was the epitome of Seattle baseball." - What? Fragile? Overrated? Never a winner?

Yahoo's Tim Brown said "Griffey has no peers on the baseball diamond." - True. Mostly because he was never there. Now if we're talking the training room........


I realize he was on "the card." And he smiled. People like that. Great. But he was just another ball player who had a few good years and then played another 11 YEARS in obscurity, hanging on to a career that had long left him.


This just in.... the press conference for the retirement announcement has been postponed due to Ken tripping and breaking his foot on the way to the podium.

All Hail The Cobra! Gary Simmons!

My latest TTM success is from former NHL goaltender, Gary "The Cobra" Simmons.
Gary was nice enough to personalize the photo I sent, along with signing two cards.
A 75/76 Topps...

and a 78/79 OPC.

Gary registered a shutout in his very first NHL game against Atlanta 10/11/74.

Gary was also nice enough to send a hand written letter to me thanking me for my interest in his career and answering a couple of questions I had asked him in my fan letter.

I asked Gary about what it was like being a goalie for an expansion team in the early '70's NHL.

He responded that, while it was very challenging at times, it was still playing the greatest game in the greatest league in the world.

About his nickname of 'The Cobra", Gary told me that a teammate of his while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes of the WHL in 1972 told a reporter that his new goalie was "lightning quick, like a cobra."

The reporter put that in his newspaper column, and the name stuck.

Thank you Mr Simmons!!!!

Believe

1st Place baby!

Jason Heyward is leading the world in OPS and Slugging %.... Martin Prado is on his way to a batting title, the pitching is awesome, Hinske and Glaus are playing like they want a long term contract, Chipper is healthy, kinda, McCann is back to wearing glasses (a good thing)...

It's all coming together...

*this does NOT count as a post jinx