Mustache Love from Reader Steve

Reader Steve once again sent me a HUGE stack of mustache cards for my Mustache Set.  He has done this periodically since I announced the set's inception early this year and each package has been more than spectacular.

Here are some of the cards that didn't make it into the set for various reasons.

As I was sorting through the cards, I decided it was time to lift the veil of secrecy a little and give a taste of what the Mustache Set is all about.

The short story is this:  I am building a Mustache Franken-Set.

That's right, my goal is to build a set of cards numbered 1-700ish of only mustache cards.  While I won't reveal my reasons for doing this just yet, I wanted to put up a want list of the few gaps I have left.

As of today, I still need the following cards:

16, 55, 216, 220, 265, 400, 433, 435, 448, 454, 479, 533, 537, 548, 558, 564, 569, 586, 593, 596, 616, 635, 641, 644, 648, 650, 655, 659, 662, 663, 665, 669, 670, 677, 678, 680, 681, 683, 684, 686, 688, and 699.

As you can see, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this set.  And should I complete it, this will actually be the first set of cards I've ever put together.

My goal is to have the set completed by the time I start posting scans of the set at the beginning of November.  If you have any of the above cards, please send them my way.  And any donations toward the set will be rewarded at a later date.

Also, as with any good Franken-Set, this one is constantly evolving, which means that even if there is a card already in the binder for a particular number, it's place isn't set in stone (which is a round-about way of saying that any and all mustache cards are always accepted and appreciated).

This set would not be close to being complete without the generosity of the card collecting community and readers like Steve.  So thanks for the help.  I am so excited for the Mustache Set reveal and I hope that this glimpse into my crazy collection is getting you excited as well.

Birthday Giftcard Autograph: Hochevar (Part 2)

The second Hochevar autograph I picked up with my birthday giftcard was this 2007 Bowman's Best Prospect auto.

I love the way the blue background makes the picture and autograph pop.  But, for the love of all that is holy, why do eBay sellers insist on sealing up toploaders with scotch tape?!!!?!?!??!

The card is numbered 82/99.

I have one more giftcard autograph on its way, which I'm very much looking forward to having in my grubby paws.

1910, Meet 2011. 2011, Meet 1910.

Is there anything sweeter than using modern technology to search, purchase, and display some glorious 100-year-old tobacco cards?  Me thinks not.

Above are 1910 Murad T51s of Cedarville, Vermont, Holy Cross, Washington & Lee, and the College of the City of New York.  Here are the backs.

Only one has the packer stamp, but all are in amazing shape considering their age and I was able to get them for a very reasonable price.  Thanks technology!

Birthday Giftcard Autograph: The Goose

This is Part 2 of a multi-post series about some of the autograph cards I picked up with the giftcards I received for my birthday.

I was uber-happy to be able to pick up this autograph for my Colorado Collection of MLB Hall of Famer and Colorado Springs resident Rich "Goose" Gossage.

I love everything about this card, except that Goose isn't sporting his famous handlebar mustache.  Other than that small detail, this card is flawless.  Vintage card style.  On-card autograph. Coloradoan hall of famer.  Check, check, and CHECK!!! 

Trade Report: A Wonderful Habit to Have

I recently received my half of my second trade with Robert of $30 a Week Habit  and it was a very fun package to open.

He sent along a handful of mustache cards for my Mustache Set (which will be unveiled in about a month) which are always appreciated.

He also included some excellent Royals, including some Hochevars, a Bo, a Sweeny-son, and two Alex Gordons that I didn't already have.

The final card threw me for a loop for a moment.  A hockey card?

Hmmmmm?!?!!!???  Let's check out the back.

A fellow Coloradoan.  And my first Coloradoan hockey player to boot.  Very nice.  I may have to try to get my first TTM autograph with this one and add it to my Colorado Collection.

While this trade didn't involve a huge pile of cards, it included plenty of thought and piles of fun.  Thanks again for the trade Robert and your cards will be arriving shortly.

Birthday Giftcard Autograph: Hochevar (Part 1)

This is the first of what will be (at least) a four part series.  I'm hedging my wager because I still have some change left on my last eBay gift card and I may be able to track down at least one more auto for my collection with it. 

The first of many purchases I recently made on eBay with gift cards from my birthday arrived today.  It's a 2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Aspirations autograph, numbered 20/25.

I dare you to find anything wrong with this die-cut, college-uniformed, low-numbered beauty.  (Ok, yes, the autograph is a sticker, but still.)

This one is the eighth Hochevar Donruss EEE card that I have in my collection, and is the first autographed version I've tracked down.  I really like the cut of these cards' jib.

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On a related note, I also used a Barnes&Noble gift card from my brother to buy a copy of the movie Bridesmaids and a copy of Drew Magary's new novel, The Postmortal, both of which arrived today.  I've heard only good things about Bridesmaids, so I figured why not add it to our comedy dvd collection.

Similarly, I've been enjoying Drew Magary's weekly writings on Deadspin for years and figured I'd see how he does as a post-apocalyptic novelist.  I'll probably give it a quick review after I've finished reading it (which, if past experience is any indicator, will hopefully be sometime before the apocalypse).

Fave Five: Birthday Hobby Box

After a long 12-hour day at work, it sure was nice to get home to find that my 2006 Bowman Chrome hobby box had arrived days earlier than I expected it to.  Since it arrived so quickly, I thought I'd send out a big thank you to California Sports Cards.  They had the cheapest boxes on Amazon (I bought from here because I had a gift card to here from my sister for my birthday) and they got the box to me almost three days before I was expecting it to arrive.  All around great service.

The reason I bought this box was because Luke Hochevar is the cover boy (even though his cards aren't in this release, which is a gripe for another time).

I had to have this box and wrapper for my Hochevar collection.  I'd also like to eventually add the HTA box to my collection since it's a bit of a different design.

While I couldn't look forward to pulling a Hochevar card, there were plenty of other cards to make this break very fun.

There were base cards:

There were gold cards:

And plenty of prospect cards:

But my Fave Five cards are the following:

FIVE -- Coloradoan Sean Thompson

Born and raised just 30-miles east of my hometown, Sean was a year younger than me in high school.  Pulling this card has renewed my interest in my Colorado Collection, where I collect an auto of players born and/or raised in Colorado.  It looks like Sean has a handful of autographs on the market, so I may have to start another player collection for him.

FOUR:  Colorado Refractor

Serial numbered 242/500.  If I'm going to pull a refractor, might as well be a Rockies player, no?

THREE:  Blue Bordered Beauty

Serial numbered 114/500.

TWO:  Orange You Glad You Bought This Box?

Serial numbered 076/250.

ONE:  Guaranteed Auto

A third parallel that should be easily traded away?  Can't beat that with a 10-foot pole or a bag of cats.  It's not serial numbered, but it is hard signed, which is always great. 

Also of note, this auto was pulled out of the first pack my wife opened, thereby continuing her streak of pulling all the guaranteed autos from my hobby boxes. 

Everything pictured above, except for the box and wrapper and Thompson card, are available for trade, as are the rest of the cards pulled.  I'll probably be using them as filler for any team collectors I trade with in the future.

All in all, it was a great box to open and thanks to my sister for the gift card that helped buy this box.  I should be getting the rest of my birthday gift card loot in the mail throughout the week and will be posting them as they trickle in.

2011 A&G Birthday Blaster

In addition to giving me a new laptop (and using it to hack into my blog to post a birthday announcement) for my birthday, my wife also gave me a 2011 A&G blaster.  I finally got my scanner/printer drive installed into the new laptop, so here are some pictures of the cards that the blaster yielded.

While I will only be adding a couple of the cards to my personal collection, it was really fun to open and it was great to once again rip some packs.

All of the above cards are available for trade except the Dexter Fowler, which will go into my Fowler pc, and the Kyle Petty, which will be added to my Mustache Set.

I also received the following base cards which are also available for trade.

4 -- Jhoulys Chacin
23 -- Edwin Jackson
48 -- Fancisco Liriano
57 -- Derek Jeter
60 -- Brandon Belt
74 -- Torii Hunter
77 -- Rafael Furcal
79 -- Aimee Mullins
109 -- Martin Prado
129 -- Kelly Johnson
167 -- Adam LaRoche
182 -- Clay Buchholz
186 -- Yunel Escobar
188 -- Daniel Descalso
193 -- Jorge De La Rosa
237 -- Carlos Quentin
240 -- Matt Holliday
243 -- Mike Nickeas
284 -- Eric Jackson
304 -- Madison Bumgarner
308 -- Jhonny Peralta
326 -- Jason Castro

I'm finally getting to a place with my job where I can spend a little more time in the card-blogosphere, which makes me very happy.  It will also be nice to have a little bit of disposable income to use to pick up a box or two of cards, which will hopefully kick start some more trades, because I have been jonesing to get some trades going again.

Also, the countdown has begun for the unveiling of my Mustache Set, which will happen in a little over a month from now.  I hope it will be as epic as I have built it up to be in my mind.

Happy 30th Birthday

Your favorite blogger and my favorite person is turning 30 today.

Please join me in wishing him a great day and year.

Happy Birthday, Pal!

This Message is Being Sent from my New Laptop

My wife let me open my birthday present a bit early because my other computer was on its last legs.  This new one is wicked awesome and has about 4x the memory of my old one, which was much needed.  As soon as I get the scanner hardware installed, I'll be scanning the other gift my wife got me last week, my first blaster of 2011 product. 

Anyway, just thought I'd send out a little note that I'm still alive and am getting caught up at work, which should free up a little more time in the evenings to do some blogging.

Failed Fantasy Team Names

So I finally participated in a fantasy football draft.  I'm thinking next year I'll check off "fill out March Madness bracket" from my bucket list.

Not that anyone will care, but I thought I'd list out my selections for posterity sake.  Feel free to openly mock me in the comment section. 

It was a snake draft, so I had to wait for 19 other selections before I got to pick again.  It was agony watching so many great players get picked while I waited.

1) Drew Brees -- QB -- It took me a while to finally pull the trigger here.  It was either Brees or a quality running back.  Ultimately, I decided that if I didn't take a high-production QB here, I'll get left in the dust by the time my second selection arrived.

My fantasy season rests upon his shoulders. 

20) Peyton Hillis -- RB -- (Note: I just remembered that Hillis was once a Denver Bronco.  How did they let him get away?)
21) Frank Gore -- RB  -- Decided to pick the highest quality RBs remaining.  Turns out they are both guys who've been plagued with injury over the years.  This is where some research may have paid off.

40) Dwayne Bowe -- WR -- Was the highest quality WR at this point and I had to pick him so I could change my team name to "Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe".  Even if he gets me no points, at least he gave me a great name.
41) Dez Bryant -- WR -- Had the highest potential of all WR remaining.

60) Knowshon Moreno -- RB/WR -- I had to have a Bronco on my team.  HAD TO!
61) Brandon Marshall -- Bench WR -- This former Bronco should help me off the bench.

80) Eli Manning -- Bench QB -- Needed a QB on the bench who could produce if needed.  Eli seemed like a logical selection since Peyton was already taken.
81) Cedric Benson -- Bench RB -- was the best RB available whose bye week didn't conflict with my starters' bye week.  I ended up making most of my bench selections based upon their bye week.

100) Zach Miller -- TE -- Was the best white guy available.  (Just kidding.  But needed to see if anyone was still reading).
101) Rob Bironas -- K -- Stupid rules made me pick a kicker and this guy had the most European-sounding name.

120) Pierre Garcon -- bench WR
121) Falcons -- Defense/Special Teams -- it appeared that once you got past the top-5 defenses, there wasn't much differentiation, so I finally relented and picked up the Falcons.

140) Chris Cooley -- bench TE -- another white guy.
141) Rams -- bench D/ST -- a nod to Cheap Card Collecting

160) Ryan Longwell -- bench K -- At this point I was going with the "I've heard of this guy before" selection process.


As the saying goes, nothing is more boring than hearing about another guy's fantasy team.  Therefore, I shall spice things up with my list of Failed Fantasy Team Names.

• Drew Brees' Birthmark
• 87 Murphy Squirrels
• Apishipa Skeeters
• Highline Canal Yacht Club
• Ron Effing Swanson
• Ron Swanson's Mustache
• Tom Haverford's Monogrammed Polo
• Andy Dwyer's Bandmate
• Just the Tip
• Punch Face Champions 
• Van Hagar
• DMB Booze Cruise
• Girch Center Swim Team
• Cottonwood Links Sausage Factory
• 2-iron Approach Shot
• Bar Association Dropout
• Flock of Eagles
• Dexter Morgan's Understanding Father

I'm pretty sure I made the prudent choice by selecting "Somewhere Over Dwayne Bowe" as my team name.

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UPDATE:  Just got the draft results in an email and thought I'd show how the first few rounds went. 

Round: 1

**(1) Drew Brees QB 
(2) Adrian Peterson RB 
(3) Michael Vick QB 
(4) Aaron Rodgers QB 
(5) Chris Johnson RB 
(6) Arian Foster RB 
(7) LeSean McCoy RB 
(8) Tom Brady QB 
(9) Ray Rice RB 
(10) Jamaal Charles RB 
 
Round: 2
(11)  Andre Johnson WR 
(12)  Philip Rivers QB 
(13)  Maurice Jones-Drew RB 
(14)  Josh Freeman QB 
(15)  Roddy White WR 
(16)  Michael Turner RB 
(17)  Calvin Johnson WR 
(18)  Rashard Mendenhall RB 
(19)  Steven Jackson RB 
** (20)  Peyton Hillis RB 
 
Round: 3
** (21)  Frank Gore RB 
(22)  Larry Fitzgerald WR 
(23) Greg Jennings WR 
(24)  Darren McFadden RB 
(25)  Vincent Jackson WR 
(26)  Matt Schaub QB 
(27)  Peyton Manning QB 
(28)  Matt Forte RB 
(29)  LeGarrette Blount RB 
(30)  Hakeem Nicks WR 
 
Round: 4
(31)  DeSean Jackson WR 
(32)  Ahmad Bradshaw RB 
(33)  DeAngelo Williams RB 
(34)  Reggie Wayne WR 
(35)  Mike Wallace WR 
(36) Tony Romo QB 
(37) Antonio Gates TE 
(38) Miles Austin WR 
(39)  Matt Ryan QB 
** (40)  Dwayne Bowe WR 
 
Round: 5
** (41)  Dez Bryant WR 
(42)  Tim Hightower RB 
(43) Jahvid Best RB 
(44)  Jeremy Maclin WR 
(45)  Dallas Clark TE 
(46)  Shonn Greene RB 
(47) Mike Williams WR 
(48)  Marques Colston WR 
(49)  Brandon Lloyd WR 
(50)  Ben Roethlisberger QB 
 
Round: 6
(51) Jason Witten TE 
(52) Percy Harvin WR 
(53)  Lee Evans WR 
(54) Wes Welker WR 
(55) Jonathan Stewart RB 
(56) BenJarvus Green-Ellis RB 
(57)  Ryan Mathews RB 
(58) l Finley TE 
(59) Austin Collie WR 
** (60)  Knowshon Moreno RB 
 
Round: 7
** (61) Brandon Marshall WR 
(62)  Joe Flacco QB 
(63)  Sam Bradford QB 
(64)  Santonio Holmes WR 
(65)  Anquan Boldin WR 
(66)  Steelers D/ST D/ST 
(67)  Packers D/ST D/ST 
(68) Ravens D/ST D/ST 
(69)  Jets D/ST D/ST 
(70)  Beanie Wells RB 
 
Round: 8
(71) Patriots D/ST D/ST 
(72) Vernon Davis TE 
(73) Neil Rackers K 
(74) Nate Kaeding K 
(75) Kellen Winslow TE 
(76) Matthew Stafford QB 
(77) Fred Jackson RB 
(78) Eagles D/ST D/ST 
(79) Mark Ingram RB 

**(80)  Eli Manning QB 

Quick Fantasy Football Question

In less than 24-hours I'll be participating in my first fantasy football draft and I've done zero-minutes of preparation.  Also worth noting, as luck would have it I ended up with the #1 overall draft pick.

So, with no research and no experience and the #1 pick, my question is, who do I draft?

Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

UPDATE:  Just found the scoring system for our league.  I'm not sure if this setup is QB friendly or RB friendly.  Thoughts?

Passing	Every 20 passing yards (PY20) 1 Each Pass Completed (PC) 1 Each Incomplete Pass (INC) -1 TD Pass (PTD) 4 40+ yard TD pass bonus (PTD40) 1 50+ yard TD pass bonus (PTD50) 2 Interceptions Thrown (INT) -2 2pt Passing Conversion (2PC) 2 300-399 yard passing game (P300) 2 400+ yard passing game (P400) 4 Each Pass Attempted (PA) 1
Rushing	Every 10 rushing yards (RY10) 1 Rushing Attempts (RA) 1 TD Rush (RTD) 6 40+ yard TD rush bonus (RTD40) 1 50+ yard TD rush bonus (RTD50) 2 2pt Rushing Conversion (2PR) 2 100-199 yard rushing game (RY100) 1 200+ yard rushing game (RY200) 2
Receiving	Every 10 receiving yards (REY10) 1 Each reception (REC) 1 TD Reception (RETD) 6 40+ yard TD rec bonus (RETD40) 1 50+ yard TD rec bonus (RETD50) 2 2pt Receiving Conversion (2PRE) 2 100-199 yard receiving game (REY100) 1 200+ yard receiving game (REY200) 2
Miscellaneous	Kickoff Return TD (KRTD) 6 Punt Return TD (PRTD) 6 Fumble Recovered for TD (FTD) 6 Total Fumbles Lost (FUML) -2
Kicking	Each PAT Made (PAT) 1 Total FG Missed (FGM) -1 FG Made (0-39 yards) (FG0) 3 FG Made (40-49 yards) (FG40) 4 FG Made (50+ yards) (FG50) 5
Team Defense / Special Teams	Each Sack (SK) 1 Interception Return TD (INTTD) 6 Fumble Return TD (FRTD) 6 Kickoff Return TD (KRTD) 6 Punt Return TD (PRTD) 6 Blocked Punt or FG return for TD (BLKKRTD) 6 Blocked Punt, PAT or FG (BLKK) 2 Each Interception (INT) 2 Each Fumble Recovered (FR) 2 Each Fumble Forced (FF) 1 Each Safety (SF) 2 0 points allowed (PA0) 5 1-6 points allowed (PA1) 4 7-13 points allowed (PA7) 3 14-17 points allowed (PA14) 1 28-34 points allowed (PA28) -1 35-45 points allowed (PA35) -3 46+ points allowed (PA46) -5 Less than 100 total yards allowed (YA100) 5 100-199 total yards allowed (YA199) 3 200-299 total yards allowed (YA299) 2 350-399 total yards allowed (YA399) -1 400-449 total yards allowed (YA449) -3 450-499 total yards allowed (YA499) -5 500-549 total yards allowed (YA549) -6 550+ total yards allowed (YA550) -7

Trade Report: Some Royal Goodness from TMG

Dennis, of Too Many Grandersons, sent me a huge box of cards last week.  I've finally dug my way out from under the avalanche of work I found myself under this past couple of weeks and made my way to the scanner with some of the cards he sent.

As usual, he sent a very generous package my way and here are some of my favorites.

Alex and Billy

Hoch and some team cards

Some killer 'staches

And the card that kick started the trade, a manupatch to add to my Alphabet Manupatch Set.

Thanks for another fantastic trade, Dennis.  (And sorry for the picture posting delay!)