NEVER AGAIN

...will I go to Wal Mart hungry. I don't care if I needed bread and milk anyway, I bought a whole lotta stuff I didn't need. I got all this just for dinner: steak, ravioli, hot wings (I got about a half pound for free because the deli was shutting down for the night) a package of veggies, corn, and some microwave Jamaican meat pies that almost forced me to drive an hour to a great Caribbean restaurant in Alpharetta. I ended up settling on just the ravioli, but now I really have a craving for beef curry and maybe some plantains on the side from that joint on Old Milton Parkway.

Another thing that bummed me out while browsing around at the store is this week's issue of Sports illustrated has a big article on Chipper Jones, but he doesn't have the cover. Even worse, they put a little tiny picture of him on the top corner where he's blowing a bubble that has .420 on it. So now he's got the cover curse, but doesn't even have the whole cover so I can frame the sucker. Thanks, SI. If Chipper ends up with a .230 batting average at the end of this year, I know who to blame.

I also saw that the Topps series two blasters are in. Remember how Topps made a big deal about how every hobby box had a guaranteed hit? Guess what - SO DO THE BLASTERS. Each $20 blaster has a relic card in it now. I'm guessing this is to counter UD's jersey per blaster policy they started this year. I looked over the list and it's a lot weaker than the hobby relics. The two stars that caught my eye were Lance Berkman and Jimmy Rollins and the lone Brave was Mike Hampton. They must have done an archaeological dig to find a game used jersey from Hampy. Different design too. Vertical instead of horizontal and no foil that I saw from the picture on the box. Even with the inferior player selection it's still a bit ridiculous for Topps to make a fuss about having a hit per hobby box and then do the same for blasters that cost thirty dollars less. The Series Two set has taught me one thing for sure though - No more buying boxes of base product the day it comes out again ever. From now on I'll buy a couple of packs to tide me over on release day, but I'm waiting at least two or three weeks before I jump whole hog into a product. I'll let all the gimmicks and retail products come out into the light first. It'll be much easier on my fragile mental health.