Random Wolverine Card Sunday - Edition Three

Watching:  Kung Fu Panda 3 on FXM

Random.org really lived up to its name for the third installment of Random Wolverine Card Sunday...

 

a 2009 Topps Magic Adrian Arrington.  This is the only Arrington in my collection.  I really like this set.  The backs could use a little more pop, but the pseudo-retro fronts appeal to me.  This set also has 15 Wolverines; a big plus.  And the cherry on top - they appear in the winged helmet, and maize & blue!  Arrington played for UM during the final years of the Lloyd Carr era.  He teamed with Mario Manningham to form a pretty good WR tandem for Chad Henne.

Status

Watching:  Texas Tech vs Gonzaga on TBS

Heading into the Elite Eight my ESPN bracket is in the 95th percentile.  Big problem though - I had UNC losing in the title game so my maximum potential points took a big hit.  A Texas Tech win here would be nice as have the Red Raiders in the Final Four.

Ran to Target this afternoon to pick up a new car seat.  On the way to the register I happened to pass by the cards and they had Status in stock.  I picked up one fat pack and one hanger box.  Let's rip open the fat pack first:



9 base cards:



3 rookies:



And two parallels and one insert:



Now on to the hanger box:



20 base cards:



4 rookies:



2 rookie parallels (I think) and 3 inserts:



And last but not least, a Mo Wagner parallel for the Michigan collection that carries a SN85:



I like this Status release and will make a point to pick up a few more packs here are there.

I also picked up two more packs for "Junior's" future collection.  The first is a pack of 2019 Gypsy Queen.  The other is his first hockey pack; 2018-19 Upper Deck Series 2:

C-Webb Additions!

Watching:  Virginia Tech vs Duke on CBS

Well, the old Maize & Blue took it on the chin last night.  Throughout the season I grumbled about how they had a 7-8 minute stretch each game where the offense went into hibernation.  Last night that dry spell extended well beyond 8 minutes.  They lack a real NBA type talent; someone who can create his own shot.  If you had told me before the season that this roster would make it to the Sweet 16, I would have gladly taken it.  In the end, not a bad run.

The Bucks played last night as well and Giannis twisted his ankle again.  Will they shut him down for the remainder of the regular season?

As of this morning my bracket ranked in the 92nd percentile on ESPN.  Not too shabby.  I actually had Michigan losing to Texas Tech in my bracket.  UNC's loss earlier this evening though will really hurt as I had them in the Final Four.

Two packages in the mail today; both purchases.  First up, my first purchase through TCDB.  I make a point of checking my Match Alerts each day because you just never know when someone may post an elusive card for trade or sale.  I have never purchased cards on TCDB but when this popped up I just had to have it.  It's only fitting that my first TCDB purchase be a Webber.  This 1993 Classic Four Sport LP Jumbo comes courtesy of ebernerd:



Today's other package is an eBay purchase consisting of two Webber MEM cards.  The first is a 2006-07 Luxury Box with SN49, while the second is a 2018-19 Select:

Parsley, SAGE HIT, Rosemary and Thyme

Listening:  Foxygen We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

I have a fair amount to share today.  Over the weekend we went to Target and I saw 2019 Sage Hit blasters.  I have never purchased a Sage product before so I picked up the box, looked it over, and put it back down.  This morning I found myself back at Target and thought, "What the Hell?" and bought a box:



These are my first Sage cards so I'm new to this, but are they supposed to look like crappy 90s cards?  Ugh.  Unimpressed with the base cards:



Some Portrait inserts.  These are a bit better than the base:



The remaining inserts and parallels from the box.  The three autos are disappointing:



The box did include two additions for the Michigan collection:



As well as two for the Bama collection:



This will likely be my only Sage Hit purchase this year.  While at Target I also grabbed a fat pack of 2019 Topps Garbage Pail Kids We Hate the ’90s:



I have a fair number of 1986 GPK and even picked up a pack of Oh The Horror-bile! last year.  I still get a kick out these childish cards.  24 cards in the fat pack including 18 base cards:



The six remaining cards include two inserts and four parallels.  The "Fishy Fred" is a Fool's Gold parallel carrying a SN50:



I also received two packages in the mail today; both trades with TCDB members.  First, a few additions to the Michigan collection from jmkidd.  The Shoelace cards are pretty slick:



The other trade, my second with Lugnut80, netted a nice stack of 1990 Upper Deck baseball:



I finally started a project today that I've been kicking around for a few months.  Our second child, a son, is due in about four weeks.  I thought it might be neat to purchase packs of baseball, basketball, football, and hockey cards covering each season of his life and then give them to him as a gift on say his 12th or 13th birthday.  Today is Opening Day of the 2019 baseball season so while at Target this morning I did something I haven't done in 25 years - I bought packs of baseball cards:



Sitting down and opening these in 12 or 13 years will be a lot fun; reflecting on the stars and the hot rookies who never panned out.  The plan then is to pick up a pack or two during each Target run and slowly build a collection of packs for "Junior" that cover the four major sports and various sets Target offers.  By 2031, 2032 he could be sitting on the beginnings of a decent collection.

1989 Baseball Cards - 30th Anniversary Celebration

Listening:  1989 - Billboard Top 100 playlist on Spotify

Last night I watched a YouTube video of a guying ripping two packs of 1986-87 Fleer.  Fairly entertaining, and kind of stressful.  You find yourself rooting for the guy after he invested that much in those two packs.

Just one small PWE trade with new TCDB member bizauer to share today.  One card for the 1992 Stadium Club set:



And two football additions for the Michigan collection:



Opening Day is tomorrow.  While I no longer follow baseball, and haven't purchased a pack of baseball cards since 1992, it is a significant day as it is a harbinger of nicer weather.  In honor of Opening Day 2019 I look back 30 years to 1989.  1989 was a huge year for so many reasons.  I was a baseball fan at this time and had adopted the A's as my team.  Who couldn't like Canseco, McGwire, Henderson, Stewart, etc?  I even collected Canseco cards and wore my hat like Dave Stewart - good bow to the brim and low over the eyes.  I also collected Bo Jackson and had a nice little collection going.  I even wore Bo's Nike cross-trainers one year.  Tim Burton's Batman movie was released as was Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, and lest we forget, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.  Two TV behemoths premiered in 1989; Seinfeld and The Simpsons.  And the music was amazing... in a cheesy pop way. 

During the summer of 1989 I was between the 7th and 8th grades - a prime age to collect cards.  I spent quite a bit of time at my best friend Scott's house.  The usual Friday night routine included shooting some hoops, looking over cards at the kitchen table while listening to the radio, playing NES, and then watching Letterman at 11:30.  Saturday nights were the same except we watched SNL at 10:30 (Carvey, Hartman, Lovitz, Miller, Nealon, etc).  Ah, the care-free days of youth.

1989 baseball cards were all about Ken Griffey Jr, Gregg Jefferies, and Gary Sheffield.  In looking over the baseball cards on my For Trade list on TCDB 1989 ranks as my #1 year and 1989 Donruss ranks as my #1 set.  In fact 1989 Donruss, 1989 Topps, and 1989 Score all rank in my top seven sets.  Let's dive into the baseball cards of 1989...

1989 Bowman.   At the time I really liked Bowman.  It was new.  It was different with it's slightly larger size, simplified front, and faux auto.  I bought quite a few of these and nearly have a complete set.  I loathe these cards now due to the storage issues and am often tempted to put all of them on my For Trade list.

1989 Donruss. I bought a TON of these.  They're not bad, they're not great.  Ugh, I wish someone had stopped me from buying so damn many of these.

1989 Fleer.  I bought a few packs but ultimately just ended up buying the the factory set.  I actually kind of like the use of the pinstripes.  Not bad.  This set caught fire because of Billy Ripken of couse.  I bought a copy of the "F@#k Face" card at the monthly card show at the Lake Geneva YMCA.  Sadly, that card is long gone.  Wish I had it.

1989 Score.  The second year of Score was quite a departure from the first.  1988 featured full color borders and then in 1989 they go with white borders.  I really liked Score as the backs set them apart.

1989 Topps.  I hated the 1988 Topps design.  HATED it.  I still do.  So bloody dull.  1989 was a huge improvement in comparison.  I bought few Topps packs in '88; I bought far more in '89. 

1989 Topps Big.  For some reason I bought quite a few of these.  I have about 2/3 of the set.  Must of have been the novelty factor.  Like the Bowman set I'm not even sure I want any of these due to storing them.  The more I look at these though the more I like them.  The full color back is nice and I am a sucker for cartoons on cards.

1989 Topps Mini.  I liked the base set so of course I chased the minis as well.  I managed to the collect the majority of the set and managed to complete the set via trades through TCDB.  I really like that they did not repeat the photos from the flagship set.  I also like the full color backs; another change from the flagship set.

1989 Upper Deck.  As my daughter would say, "Fancy".  Better cardstock, better photos, higher quality...  more expensive.  Collector's choice is right as how was a 13 year old supposed to rip enough packs to build an 800 card set?  I picked up a couple of packs and then broke down and bought the factory set.  Of course, I sold the Griffey years ago so my set is now incomplete. 

My big takeaways from the 1989 baseball season, the ones I remember 30 years later, are:

• Bo Jackson's All-Star Game performance
• the A's sweep the Giants in the Earthquake World Series
• the Cubs won the division
• Pete Rose banned for life
• Giamatti dies shortly after the Rose announcement

Don't Try to Extort Nike

Listening:  The Brian Jonestown Massacre Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request

This album offers up what is perhaps my all-time favorite song; "Anemone".  I would definitely include it on a mix-tape of my all-time faves.  I can listen to it on repeat for an hour.

The first two rounds of the NCAAs were rather dull.  All 16 Vegas favorites won in Round 2.  UCF almost, almost provided us with some true madness yesterday.  While it would have destroyed my bracket, I was still pulling for them.

Michael Avenatti is accused of trying to extort Nike.  Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing Nike has a fairly decent legal team.  Trying to pull one over on the Swoosh seems ill-advised.

Two packages in the mail today; both trades with TCDB members.  My second trade with Sportzcommish kicks the night off.  This PWE trade pales in comparison to our previous trade as that garnered the TCDB honor for "largest trade".  A nice assortment of basketball cards to go toward building sets:



Tonight's other trade is my seventh with karsal.  Basically, I'm to the point now where I send Kari an offer every four to six weeks.  These trades are always fun because we tend to involve multiple sports.  Tonight we have them all.  Two baseball set builders to start:



Followed by basketball set builders:






A handful of hockey set builders:



A Crow for the Hawks collection:



And several additions to the Michigan collection:

Random Wolverine Card Sunday - Edition Two

Watching:  Floogals on Universal Kids

Today's second installment of Random Wolverine Card Sunday, as selected by random.org, is...

 

a 1994-95 Collector's Choice Juwan Howard Silver Signature parallel.  Fitting to have a member of the Fab Five pop up as the current squad preps for the Sweet 16.  Looking back at the Fab Five I think of Juwan as the steady one and the most fundamentally sound.  He also played a key role in recruiting Chris to join him in A2.  When Juwan and Chris joined forces again on the Bullets/Wizards I was thrilled.  I attended several Bucks-Bullets games at the Bradley Center in my Webber #2 jersey.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out and Chris was sent to Sacramento.  It actually worked out pretty well for Chris.  Juwan bounced around from team to team to team... and eventually won a title.  He has moved on to coaching now and it's cool to see him every now and then on the bench while watching a game. 

How Sweet It Is

Watching:  Auburn vs Kansas

UM advances to the Sweet 16 again.  They looked pretty good against the Gators.  The games today, with the exception of LSU-Maryland, have not been overly competitive.  Looks like Sparty and the Boilers will cruise into the Sweet 16 as well.  Hopefully this Auburn-Kansas game will be a little more entertaining.

My bracket wasn't great after the first round, however, 15 of my Sweet 16 picks were still alive.

I have a fantasy baseball draft tomorrow night.  This will be third year participating in a league run by one of my brother-in-laws.  They needed a ninth guy at the last minute so I obliged.  Aside from seeing the occasional highlights on SportsCenter, I do not follow baseball.  It's a nine man league and I finished seventh the first year and then second last year.  I lead the league into late August and then my pitching staff started giving up runs left and right.

Two packages in the mail today; both trades with TCDB members.  My second trade with TheMacman513 leads things off with four 2016-17 Threads base and four 2017-18 Prestige inserts:



The trade concludes with a pair of Michigan additions:



Today's other trade is my fifth with capper14.  Pretty straight forward trade here; nothing but 1993-94 Topps basketball.  A stack of cards to go toward the set:



And a Gold parallel for the Michigan collection:

Minor Madness

Watching: North Dakota State vs Duke on CBS

UM got past Montana last night.  The Grizz got it down to 8 early the second half and I grew a little concerned, but UM put together a quick spurt and put it away.  The Gators are up next.  Hopefully it goes better than the recent Peach Bowl match-up.

Some minor madness today.  UC-Irvine over Kansas State and Oregon over the Badgers.  The Ducks were a trendy pick so that's not too shocking, but K State going down was a mild surprise  Iowa really turned it around earlier today.  They looked awful early but got hot from 3 in the second half.  And how about Bobby Hurley's old team taking his current team behind the wood shed.

I am LOVING the new TCDB feature that allows you to move a single card from one collection to another.  I often receive a trade where all of the cards are from different sets and they all need to go to my Michigan collection.  This used to take some considerable time, but now, with the new feature, it is a breeze.

One package today - my first trade with TCDB member sumboy11.  This is strictly a basketball trade consisting of one 2017-18 Essentials Retail parallel with the remainder being 2018-19 Hoops base and inserts:

Hello, Ja Morant

Watching:  Montana vs Michigan on TNT

Murray State "raced" past Marquette earlier today and Ja Morant demonstrated why many project him to be a top five pick with a triple double.

Two packages today; both trades with TCDB members.  My first trade with rtrimbath leads things off.  I offered a 1988 Score Gerald Perry in trade last week.  One problem - I actually didn't have a double.  I pulled the copy from my set for the trade and sought out another copy.  So the Perry re-completes my 1988 Score set (100%).  Then we have three for the 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey set:



The remainder of the trade consists of football additions for the Michigan collection.  The first Woodson's I've picked up in some time, so that's nice:



Today's other trade is my fourth with wax_house.  The trade begins with basketball set builders; ten 1993-94 UD Pro View (26%) and eleven 1996-97 Metal (13%):



This trade also included some 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey additions (99%):



Three basketball additions for the Michigan, including a Webber!  I cannot recall the last time I picked up a Webber in a trade so this is a really nice get.



And the trade's final card is a Belfour:

Brackets, Brackets, Brackets

Watching:  Bucks vs Cavs on Fox Sports Wisconsin and Celtics vs Sixers on ESPN

I submitted my bracket for the TCDB challenge.  I didn't get too creative with it so Lord knows I'm doomed.  I also sat down with our daughter and helped her fill out her first bracket.  I did not pick Michigan to reach the Final Four; she picked UM (Daddy's team) to win it all.  Funny thing is she also picked the green team Daddy doesn't like (Sparty) and the red team Daddy doesn't like (OSU) to go pretty far.  Her key overall strategy was picking dog and cat teams to advance.

I read that Status will be a retail only release this year.  I'm kind of excited about that.  The AU and MEM offerings look pretty strong and the parallels are manageable.  I'll have to keep an eye out for these on upcoming Target visits.

I see Cornerstones was released today.  Six cards per box.  I just can't fathom paying $100+ for six random cards.  Better to just go on eBay and buy the cards you want.  Did they really need to split this off from Grand Reserve as a separate set?  I picked up a 2016-17 Glen Rice.  I do love the Downtown inserts though.  These are slick.  Glad they brought these back.  Ranks up there with Kaboom as one of my favorite current insert offerings.  Already a Giannis on eBay that is waaaaaay outside my price range.

Today's lone trade is my second with TCDB member hafengr; three football cards to add to the Michigan collection:

$430 Million?!?!

Watching:  Our daughter play with dolls

The Angels are going to give Trout $430 million over 12 years?!?!  I don't understand these baseball teams giving players these long contracts that go well beyond their prime years.  Trout is 27 so you'll be paying him superstar dollars when he is 39.  Well, the Angels are the franchise that gave Pujols a truckload of money and worked out beautifully.  The Bryce Harper contract is the same.  These teams focus so much on the short term that they sacrifice the long term.  When's the last time the Angels were competitive?  And that's with Trout.  With so much invested in Trout how much can they spend on the other 24 positions?  It could be worse; at least it's not the Bobby Bonilla contract.

A single package today; my first trade with TCDB member Shaggy69.  Football set builders include two 1990 Fleer, one 1991 Ultra, and one 2018 Donruss:



The remainder of the trade consists of football additions to the Michigan collection: