Thursday, December 15, 2011

Just a minor "Whoops" Upper Deck...

The other night I was sitting on the couch reading the backs of some of my cards... (what? Don't you read the backs? Or are you in it just for the pictures?) Anyways... I came across this card of Pascal Dupuis from this season's Upper Deck Series 1 release.
 A good action shot of Pascal... let's see what UD has to say about him.
Pascal had 85 points as a rookie???? 47 goals in one year??? 78 assists????? Pascal Dupuis??? Holy crap! How have I been missing him in my hockey pools?

Hmmmm...... Something ain't right.  To Hockey-reference.com we go!

 Well that looks a lot more like what I expected.... but it sure isn't what's on the card back.
So if Pascal's best is a 20 goal year way back in '03, then who's stats are on the back of his card?

Again, Hockey-reference.com to the rescue!

Now those numbers look familiar. Evgeni Malkin. Wow. I wonder what family member works at Upper Deck to make that mistake. Malkin does not have a card in Series 1, so we'll have to wait until Series 2 to see if they switched the backs, or just effed up Mr Dupuis.

Oh Upper Deck, I love your products, but as you can see, there's still work to do...I'm available as a proof reader, editor, card front or back designer, or just as a general sounding board for your ideas. (We MUST talk about OPC)

Let me know, I'll be here all week. Thank you.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

A pain free and focused card show...

Today was the first card show of the month. There's another one next Saturday, and then nothing until mid-January. Something about a holiday or something coming up.
Anyways... off I went, hoping to find cards off of my lists (always bring your lists kids!) and trying to avoid starting anything new.
And for a change, I was successful. I only brought home cards that were on my need lists, and I only spent $6. I didn't bring home much, obviously, but that's okay. We need to focus. Well, I do anyways.

On to the cards.

I'm really close on finishing this set.... I managed to pick up a Guy Lafleur mini Green back SP. He had about 100 minis in his box.... and had one that I needed.
 Total cost - $Free. Yep, he just handed it to me and said Merry Christmas. That must be the holiday everyone is talking about.
 One card down, total $ 0.00

Next seller... another one card pick up. This one from the 2011/12 UD Heroes set.
 Sir Alex cost me $1.00  That's .50 more than I spent on any other of the Heroes cards... but it was the last one I needed so I splurged.
It was the last one because I had just got this one at another table.
 I packaged Terrible Ted and this shiny Carey Price out of a guy's .50 cent pile.
 Four cards off my lists, total of $2 spent.

Finally I found five cards I needed with one seller. One card is for a fellow blogger, so I won't post it here, the other four cards were for me. Cost for the five cards $4

These are from the 2011/12 UD Victory MVP insert set.
El Sid.
 El Sid's netminder
 The Wasted One
 and some dude that keeps making the Bruins better.
Total for all 9 cards $6. Painless.
And I get to update my lists for next week's show. (Always keep your lists updated kids!)

Even better, now that I posted them on the day I got them, I can put them in their binders so they don't sit on my desk for weeks on end waiting to be scanned and posted.
Like I said people..... Focus!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

TTM Success! Andy Moog.....Say it ain't so!

In life, we use the word 'hate' a lot. Probably too much. And rarely do we mean it. Or at least, do I mean it. I've tried to cut down, as there really are very few things I hate. Fish, wet socks, the Bruins.... maybe a couple of other things.
But when I was younger, I threw the word 'hate' around with fervor. Athletes from the wrong team were a frequent brunt of my wrath. One such receipient was today's post subject. Andy Moog. In the 1981 playoffs, a rookie netminder whom no one had ever heard of before, knocked out the four time defending Stanley Cup Champions Montreal Canadiens in three straight games.
My 10 year old self was not amused.
What's worse was that the games weren't on tv to us folks in northern British Columbia... so I didn't even get to see it to know it was real or to understand just how this could have happened.
Mr Andy Moog was the subject of a lot of 10 year old cursing on the playground for weeks to follow.

Of course, the team he was playing for was the Edmonton Oilers. Fast forward in his career and he now plays for.... wait for it.... the Bruins. Great Horny Toads. From the Oilers to the Bruins! Why don't you just kick my dog while you're at it.

Anyways... you get where I'm at with regards to Mr Moog. Years pass, stuff happens, and I lose my game for a few season's. When I come back I start to hear rumours. Ugly rumours. My team entered a dark era. An era that shall not be named. It seemed that anyone was allowed to wear the beloved bleu blanc et rouge. Names like Linden, and Gilmour, and.... and.... Moog.
WHAT??!?! Say it's not true.... Pics or it didn't happen!

damn.
 Turns out, Andy played his final season in the NHL with Montreal. This is where you hear the Price is Right fail music.
Anyways... over the last few years I've come to terms with it. Almost. So of course in my letter to Andy, I was completely honest with him. But I also told him that once you wore the sweater, you were a Hab for life. All other affiliations were null and void. I welcomed him to the family.
He responded by sending me all this stuff signed.
 These are from the 'dark period' of his career.....
 Finally one of the ugliest third jersey's ever.... if it wasn't for the Islanders continued fails throughout the years, the Bruins 3rd jerseys would be the laughingstock... but it is a good shot of his Bear mask.
Interesting card there... I love food insert cards. I wish they still did that.

Well, that's it... Welcome to the family Andy. Don't worry about your past. It's how you finish life that counts, not all of your earlier mistakes.
And thanks for the sigs. No hard feelings.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Another trade night... which means I'm almost caught up! ........ almost...

This post will have me officially caught up with 'trade night' posts. Yay for me. Card show and TTM posts are another story. Don't even get me started on those '74/75 Topps set posts I was doing.....

Before I get depressed, let's dive on in with the trades, MMMMmmmkay?

I got this shiny rookie auto of Habs D-man Brendon Nash in exchange for a few 1976 Topps feetsball players.
 Equally as shiny, this Patrick Roy /199 came to me in exchange for an OPC Derek Jeter card.
 Now for the big trade of the night. I had a Jordan Eberle Donruss Rated Rookie sticker auto card that I won in a contest a few months ago. I swapped it in exchange for the following three cards.

Charlie Hodge game used stick/auto /50.
 2011/12 UD Clear Cut Jean Beliveau
 I even scanned the back for some unknown reason.... but I did, so you may as well see it.
 A Manon Rheaume on card auto. Sweet looking sig. The ladies always have the penmanship.
 My last "trade" of the night started out as a cash buy for $2, but he ended up taking two basecards from last year's OPC instead.
How awesome is that picture? One of the best defenceman to play in the NHL during the '70's rocking it old school! How do you say 'mutton chops' in french???

Friday, December 2, 2011

Card show show and not much tell.

A wee while ago I picked up some goodies at one of the weekend card shows. If you'll allow me, I'll show them off here.

These first five cards cost me $4. That's .80 cents each if you're scrambling for a calculator.
Canvas insert Tomas Plekanec
Parkhurst Champion insert Bobby Clarke. And yes, that's he really looked back then...
Parkhurst Champions insert Brett Hull
2011/12 UD Heroes insert Red Kelly (I love the new idea of Heroes this year)
and finally, UD Heroes Jean Beliveau.
I liked these so much, at the next table I grabbed as many different ones as I could. Eight of them for .50 cents apiece.
Mr Howe.
Terry Sawchuk
Milt Schmidt (an odd choice for the set)
Johnny Bucyk
A great shot of Bobby Hull
Andy Bathgate of the Rangers
and finally, two great goalies. Gump Worsley...
...and Johnny Bower
I grabbed these next 14 cards for $10.

Carey Price All World insert
Carey Price buttshot. Seriously. This has been done to death. Let's move on.
Another dumb excuse for an insert set.... Making an Entrance.
HOT rookies of Brendon Nash,
Aaron Palushaj
Wait... how the hell did this get in here??? Ah well... Leafs rookie Joe Colborne.
The Subban!!!
The Subban again!
Five Young Gun rookie cards from last year's set.
Eric Tangardi of the Pens..... DFG's fave
Tommy Wingels and the Shondells.
another Leaf rookie! What the hell?
a young Devil, Brad Mills
and a retro of my fave, Larry Robinson.
I found a few cards in a dollar box that I liked.
One of the few rainbow retros from last year's OPC that I still need...
speaking of last year's OPC, I added a few SP's out of the dollar box.
rookie Justin Falk
Maxim Noreau
and Mark Oliver. I'm afraid I've never heard of young Mark
now here's a guy I've heard of.... Gilbert Perrault
and one of the most hated men in Calgary... Brent Sutter.
a Guy Lafleur /999... shame it's not in colour.
I had to grab this card of Chris Osgood. It's die cut in the shape of a trapper, and the mesh you see is actual mesh. Kinda cool.
On the way out I saw a small box of cards marked .50 cents!

I grabbed $3 worth.
A Donruss PROOF card of one of my all time favourites, Claude Lemieux.
an embossed base card of Carey Price that I realized I already had when I got home. I really must make a list for him soon.
a super shiny Vinny Lecavalier that my scanner refuses to share with you.
There were a bunch of these "Captains" cards.... I picked up one of Wilf Paiement. I want one of these jerseys for Xmas.
and finally, two autographs out of the .50 cent bin.
Blackhawks former goalie Cristobal Huet...
and former Minnesota Wild goalie Anton Khudobin. Anton went 4-1 with a 1.40 GAA for Minnesota. Apparently that wasn't good enough, so they traded him to Boston. Go figure.
That's it.... image heavy and not much chatter, especially since I'm doing this at 2:30 in the morning. Hopefully when I get up in the morning and re-read this, I won't be cringing too badly.
G'nite. Will the last one reading please turn out the light? Thanks.