Supa Bowel Repack Insanity! FINALLY FINISHED!

YAY! I'm done with football for several months!!! The game is pretty kick ass so far, what an interception return. One more TD by the Steelers and I can finally pass out. Let's kill this box.

Last Bonus card:
2008 Press Pass Matt Ryan insert of some sort

Yeah, so this is the real reason I bought this repack thing. I wasn't doing it for you at all. Just Matty and a box to put all my 2009 Topps cards in.

Ninth Pack:
2007 Topps

224 Sean Taylor (RIP)
413 Champ Bailey All Pro
433 Peyton Manning Postseason Highlights
53 Jamal Lewis
7 of 20 Rookie Fantasy Challenge of some Lion
97 Najeh Davenport
325 Robert Meachem RC

Ut, we got a Steeler in the pack! That's a touchdown since some guy on the AJC Falcons message boards calls himself Najeh Davenpoop and it makes me laugh. I don't reccommend reading the AJC Falcon blogs however, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany than in that comment section. The rest of the pack ain't bad either.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 20 after the ninth drive

Last Pack (thank the maker):
2007 Topps Draft and Prospects

81 Owen Daniels
25 Santana Moss
36 Warrick Dunn
151 Antonio Pittman RC Chrome
139 Darius Walker RC

Yay! Warrick Dunn! I'm finished with this thing! Hooray! No points for anyone!

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 20 GAME OVA

Supa Bowel Repack Waste of Time! Third Quarter

YEEEEEHAW! People are lovin' this feature! I think I've got negative hits for the day.

Third Bonus card:
1991 Score Matt Behr

I loved the hell out of Score football. Now it just looks weird. The Steelers will probably have to eat a point somewhere for the Browns anti-mojo.

Sixth Pack:
2007 Bowman

266 Jordan Kent RC
254 John Bowie RC
244 Justin Durant RC
255 Brian Smith RC
46 Brian Westbrook
38 Maurice Jones-Drew
11 Brett Favaruh
151 Anthony Gonzalez RC Gold parallel
BC25 Clark Harris RC Chrome
BC3 Courtney Taylor RC Chrome

Lots of Jaguars in this pack. And some quarterback who won't retire. This is the first Bowman set I've seen in a while that didn't use the Red/Green/Blue border motif. All red here. No points, The Cards and Steelers are still dazzled by Bruce.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 13 after the sixth drive

Seventh Pack:
2007 Topps

17 Some Lion
13 Drew Bledsoemuchheneededatransfusion
190 Bobby Wade
BF-193 That Farve guy again
Checklist 3 of 3
156 Chris Chambers
315 Ahmad Bradshaw RC

This is one of those 6 card packs they put into blasters to fool you so you'd think you were getting more packs. Brett and Bledsoe are great pulls, well, if it was 1998. I saw Willie Parker on the checklist, so I'm giving the Steelers an extra point which is immediately taken away by the Browns connection up above.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 13 after the seventh drive

Seventh Pack:
2007 Topps Total

There wasn't anything worth a flip in this pack. Just trust me on this one.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 13 End of the Third Quarter

Supa Bowel Repack Ripping Par-tay! Second Quarter

Ugh! Why am I doing this? I'm already bored with this! Why am I not posting 2009 Topps packs?? This is stupid! Stupid American Capitalism Holiday!

Second Bonus card:
2008 SaGe Hit Silver Foil parallel

Woooo! (there's that word again!) Adrian Peterson parallel thingy! I say again, Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Fourth Pack:
2007 Score

1 Tony Romo
28 Santana Moss
45 Some Lion
61 Aaron Rogers
38 Bernard Berrian Gold Parallel 100/600
337 Isaiah Stanback RC
68 E.J. Henderson Glossy crap

See, even Tony Romo goes Wooooo! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! No Pittsburgh or AZ players in here but Bernard Berrian's card is a Gold parallel, and Gold is a metal and Steel is also a metal, to the Steelers get a field goal. Science!

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 6 after the fourth drive

Fifth Pack:
2008 Upper Deck Draft Edition

46 Jamaal Charles RC
80 Shawn Crable RC
248 Matt Ryan and Chris Long Conference Clashes insert or short print or parallel or something
SOD8 Antone Cason Stars of the Draft
110 Ray Lewis
163 Drew Brees

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Matt Ryan insert or short print or parallel thingy!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love this set. The college uniforms and logos rock, the design is just goofy enough to be good and it's better than the Hits and the Press Passes for a college set in my opinion. I'm going to go out right now and buy every blaster of it I see. Oh wait! There aren't any mreo! I waited too long! HaHA! My plan worked. There's an Arizona Wildcat in the pack, but the birdies let the hometown hero go to San Diego, so the Steelers get a touchdown. Shut up! This is not your Scoring System!

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 13 End of the half

Supa Bowel Repack Ripping Par-tay! First Quarter

Wooooooo!!1 (I've been saying wooo a lot lately) Feetsbawl is on today! The Big Game. I've had a pretty crotchety view of the NFL this year but this is like America's version of a High Holy Day so I have to do something or the government will carry me off for reprogramming. Don't worry, corporate overlords! I've spent the requisite amount on chips, beer, chili, tabasco infused roasted peanuts and other assorted snackable things. I'm even going to celebrate by opening up of of those Wal-Mart Cube Repack Thingies that I love so much. Junk Football wax, bay-bee!! Depending how I feel I might even liveblog the bloody game since I'm sick as a dog and can't actually go out and have fun or anything. Not that the Super Bowl ain't fun! No, the commercials are quite entertaining. The game, well... holy crap it's gonna stink. Cardinals may eat Eagles, but pour some molten iron on the suckers and they're gone in a puff of feather ash.

The box had 10 packs and four cards in it. I'll break this rip up into four quarters to be topical and stuff. Enjoy it, it's likely the last you'll see of football until at least late April. I guess I'll try to predict the game or something with Cardinal and Steeler cards. I'll make up the point scale as I go along.

First Bonus card:
2008 SaGe Hit Paul Raymond Silver Foil parallel

Paul didn't play a down for the Jets this year, but is still on the team with a reserve contract. On the bright side, he has a degree from Brown and a ood future ahead of him on Wall Street. Um... I feel sad now. Note: do not Google "Paul Raymond", Google "Paul Raymond Jets" or "Paul Raymond NFL". You'll get something other than football and you'll likely end up missing the game.

First Pack:
2008 SaGe Hit High Series

89 Josh Johnson
100 Darren McFadden
96 Mike Jenkins
97 Dustin Keller
55 Teammates Brian Brohm and Michael Bush
68 Devin Thomas glossy parallel

We've got a pair of Raiders running backs in here. The both couldn't combine for 1000 yard though. Weirdly, the Keller and Brohm/Bush cards are on much whiter card stock than the other cards. No Steelers or Arizona Cardinals in the pack though. There are Louisville Cardinals in the pack, so I'll give 'zona a field goal.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 3, Steelers 0 after the first drive

Second Pack:
2007 Score

299 Buster Davis RC
315 David Harris RC
222 Marvin Harrison
239 Daryl Smith
297 Dan Bazun RC
345 Mike Walker
174 Eric Barton glossy parallel

Dan Bazun is an awesome name. The first Cardinal shows up in this pack, but Buster was cut and signed on with the Colts as a linebacker. I'll give 'em a safety just because of the name Buster. The Steelers get a field goal because Marvin Harrison has Abs of Steel. Hush, this is Science! Three rookies in a pack is kind of cool but I hate these stupid glossy parallels with a passion.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 5, Steelers 3 after the second drive

Third Pack:
2007 Topps Total

77 Antonio Gates
69 Jonathan Vilma
392 A buncha Lions
545 Aaron Rouse RC
448 Jordan Palmer RC
162 Shaun Phillips/Randall Godfrey Red parallel
AW11 Jason Taylor Award Winner
90 Neil Rackers/Scott Player
168 Isaac Bruce
120 Dunta Robinson/Dexter McLeon
Turn Back the Clock Ad

Ugh, I hate this set. It's ugly and stupid and way too green and is hard evidence that Topps is purposely sabotaging everything I love. Two more Cardinals on one card. Rackers kicks an extra point to make that safety into a field goal, and Player punts this possession. No Stillers in here so they end the first quarter in a deficit.

Completely Scientific Score Prediction: Cardinals 6, Steelers 3 End of First Quarter

I Am Weak

Uncle Dayf finally caught his winter cold last night. Too much running around in the cold wearing a t-shirt, too much hanging around sick people and too many days with only 4 hours of sleep finally caught up with me. So now I've got the oogy, the drippy and the scratchy. I made a run to the store to get the usual stuff. Carton of OJ. Generic cold medicine. Chicken soup. Cough Drops. Ramen to kill the beasties in the back of my throat with boiling salty water and yummy noodles. I even got a bottle of Vitamin Water Defense to throw a little vitamin C and zinc shock and awe on the germs. I was good and didn't even get a single pack of baseball cards. Then I left the store and headed home. Wait... oh crap.

TEA!

I forgot the bloody tea! Just because I don't feel well doesn't mean I don't have to go to work and I need my caffiene. I'd just prefer the delivery method to be piping hot right now. I cussed myself and swung in the Wally World right down the street from my subdivision. I was hoping for some Tazo Awake tea, but they were out. Curses! I got a variety pack instead so I would at least get two bags of a caffeinated kick in the ass, then I could mellow out with some Zen. Even though there's absolutely nothing in the card aisle right now, I still wandered over there. There was a whole lotta nothin. Most of the same nothin that's been there since October. There really won't be anything new before Valentine's Day to be honest as they are usually at least two weeks behind the hobby releases. I still poked around though and took a look at abox of basketball cards hiding over in the Yu-Gi-Oh section. Then I found this:

Oh good grief, why did I come home with a repack box of entertainment cards?!? I just had an existential crisis over buying some Heritage and now I'm spending money on the crappiest of the crap? Really?? Why would I do such a thing? This is why:

This isn't a normal assorted junk repack box, the whole thing is all Lord of the Rings Masterpieces cards. They had three others there too: Some cartoon called The Kids Next Door, 2002 Operation Enduring Freedom and an old CCG called Legends of the Five Rings. This is a neat idea, the other Entertainment boxes had a bizzare mix of packs showing that no one in their right mind would want all of them. Stuff like a pack of X Files, N Sync, Enduring Freedom and Nickelodeon cards showing on the sides. Who wants all that crap? This here is like buying most of a retail box for quarter of the cost. Besides, they sell the plastic boxes the cards come in separately for five bucks anyway. I see these boxes as buying some storage and getting some junk wax for five dollars more. Even if they suck, it's just a five spot to rip some packs. I'm a Lord of the Rings fan so I couldn't resist. Here's some highlights from the first pack:

Yesssss my pressssiousssss...

The King of Arsty Fartsy

A scene from Sharky's new saturday morning cartoon series.

There's 140 cards in the box, and 90 cards in the set. It is extremely unlikely but entirely plausible that there's a complete set in there. Nah, this is Topps collation we're talking about. Still, why not? I get to rip a bunch of packs of cool stuff while I nurse this cold with cough syrup and scalding tea. Besides, seriously, there's nothing else interesting in the retail pack market right now. What would you rather have, five packs of Documentary or this? Upper Deck Icons? Piles of Updates and Highlights? The 2009 stuff better be out soon though or I fear I'm going to do something really stupid. I can't hold out much longer.

Card Show part 1 - The Wax

So, I went to my first real card show since the '90s today. Sure, I went to a bunch of FanFests and such that had card dealers as a feature, but this was the first by God real show I've been to in ages. This was actually at the same location as the card shows I went to as a kid, the Cobb County Civic Center. I had some good times at those shows in the '80s. I was always up for the oddball stuff and I found it at those shows. That's where a large chunk of my Vintage basketball cards came from. At another show I accidentally won a Braves cap in an auction. I had never been to a live auction before and I was pestering the hell out of the auctioneer trying to win something with my meager funds. One of the auctions was a Topps traded set that I bid on, and got out bid on with a 7 dollar bid. I tried to bid $7.50 when there was only one dollar increments and the auctioneer looked like he wanted to shoot me. The next auction up for bid was a Braves cap, which I immediately bid on thinking someone would surely outbid me, then I heard crickets. So my card money went to a Braves cap which immediatley broke when I put it on. I had to go to the dealer who donated it to get a replacement which probably made that auctioneer's day.

I was supposed to go to the show on Friday, but my request for a day off was denied. No one to cover. It's a shame too, because Bobby Cox and Otis Nixon were signing. I wanted to get in early to try to pick off some good stuff before more Vultures like me arrived. It wasn't meant to be so I went today hoping to find some of the leftovers cheap on closing day.

The Civic Center had banners announcing the show all around in front of the center. If anyone driving on the 120 loop was interested in baseball cards, they would not miss out on seeing those signs and pennants. I pulled into the parking lot and went inside. The table was manned by two really bored looking women. I asked for a ticket and they gladly took my money and stamped my hand with a little smiley face. there was a box of 1991 Upper Deck packs on the table, but I didn't ask about them. To the right was a snack bar. To the left was a table with some people eating pizza, another open box of '91 UD, some bags with some ads in them and some door prize registrations. I asked about the prize and a guy in a baseball cap stopped chewing on his pepperoni slice long enough to help out. He pointed out the registration for BP and asked if I wanted to do a raffle for some softball team. I passed so I didn't get a goodie bag. I already had a bag and I jut wanted to get to the cards.

The Civic Center has two levels. The lower level was where all the action was, up top circling the lower level was the autograph booths. I didn't see anyone there at all at about 1:15
and honestly there wasn't anyone on the list I was interested in seeing. the schedule posted on the ticket table was somebody I've already forgotten, Braves prospect Tyler Flowers (who I thought was in Arizona) and Chris Chambliss. Now Chambliss I would have loved to have seen. He wasn't signing until after 2 though and his prices had apparently gone up ten bucks. I'll be honest, I didn't plan this out very well and I didn't have a whole lot of cash on me. One sig from Chris and I would be shuffling through nickel boxes the rest of the day. I took the stairs down and started checking out the place.

It's getting late so I'll go into more detail on all this tomorrow. First though, the wax.

I came into the show hoping to get a wax box of something. I didn't want anything new, as that would be too expensive. I was really hoping to find a cheap and cool wax box from the late '90s or early '00s. Something like this guy would open. Failing that, I planned to pick up a box of cheap junk for five bucks or something just to open. Well, there was practically no wax in that entire building more recent than 1992. A couple of open boxes of new basketball cards was about it. A few tables were empty though and a couple of people were packing up early so it's possible that the wax was sold out or packed up already. It just seemed really odd that there weren't a lot of boxes around. Maybe they just doesn't make enough money to be hauling them around the country to sell at shows, who knows. There were a couple of tables with 5 dollar junk boxes though. 1988 Donruss, 1990 Donruss, 1991 Pro Set Football, Pro Set Soccer, 1990 Fleer Football, 1992 Pacific Football, some Michael Jordan Upper Deck Locker boxes (anyone remember those?) 1991 Upper Deck Hockey and a couple of boxes of Topps Big. I almost got the Topps Big. I had the thing in my hand and decided to think about it and come back before I left so I wouldn't be lugging it around all day. I ended up not buying it because the dealer at that table was a little annoying with his prices and I honestly had better ways to spend five bucks.

I couldn't leave without any wax though so at the third to the last table I visited I found a couple boxes full of junk packs. I asked how much? the dealer said ten for a buck. That worked for me, I was willing to blow a buck on some crap wax. There was a who's who of junky wax in there. 1990 Topps Football, Pro Set Hockey, Racing cards from the early '90s (and not NASCAR racing, either) tons of really random non-sports stuff. Some packs of 1989 Donruss caught my eye. There was only one problem: I picked one up and noticed the wrapper was kinda loose. Really loose. Like, wide open loose. All the '89 Donruss packs were open. Just left wide open. Now, I had bought a bunch of '89 Donruss packs from dealers in my college years hoping for a Griffey pull and found zilch. If I had no chance with supposedly trusted dealers back in the day, what chance did I have with open freaking packs? I put the pack back in the box (almost accidentally stripping the wrapper completely in the process) and reevaluated the wisdom of this purchase. On one hand, the packs ain't but a dime. On the other, I have tons of '89 Donruss and I don't need more commons. In the end I compromised and got a dollar's worth of packs to sate my appetite for opening packs, but I only chose sealed packs with one exception. Here are those packs:

1990 Topps Big series 1
1990 Topps Big series 2

These two packs have plastic wrappers so they were mostly sealed. Well, the flaps on the 2nd series pack were technically open but the rest of the wrapper was tight. If someone opened this pack (WHY would someone open this pack!?) to search it, there's no way they would have gotten the card back in so tight. I've opened too many of these packs to know that you can't just peek inside the things. You open it and that's it, there's no turning back. Besides, I had gotten set on that box of Big and these made up for not getting it. The Series 2 pack has already been completely opened on A Pack A Day, series one will probably be up tomorrow sometime.

1991 Pacific Pro Plus football

This pack is actually open but I bought it anyway. I know a kid who likes these packs, he calls them the 'chocolate wrapper packs'. I'm beginning to wonder if these packs were opened not due to shenanigans but to someone leaving them in the back of a hot car or something causing the wrapper to simply melt. As you can see this wrapper is really crinkled up and doesn't actually completely cover the back. I'm still not buying an open pack of '89 Donruss no matter how cheap it is. I got robbed enough when I was a kid, thankyouverymuch. This is the last of the sports packs.

1990 Weirdness

I have no earthly idea what these packs are. One is The Pharaoh's Revenge, the other Desert Rats. There is a sticker on the back of each with 1990 written on them. The packs look hand wrapped like a Christmas present. The wrapper itself is pretty sturdy paper, it's not flimsy wax paper at all. They are obviously horror themes and the packs are presented by "The Old Undertaker". The cards are illustrated by A. Osorio and are copyright Rosem Enterprises. I found a mention of Rosem Industries on Zelda's Mars Attacks page. They put out a 13 card "Update Set' of Mars Attacks cards in 1984 that was based on Wally Wood sketches and the really gross and gory ones that got cut from the original set. A set is expensive as hell, but I really want this card. What can I say, I'm a fan of Wally Wood and that card is totally Wally Wood. So it looks like Rosem Industries is a homebrew card manufacturer for non-sports stuff. I'm down with that. A. Osorio, I can't find anything on. I've found an artist named Pepon Osoria and a guitarist names Andres Osorio, but that's as close as I've gotten. These packs are nifty though and were basically the reason I bought any packs at all after being turned off by the open packs. Until I find out more about these suckers, don't expact a pack rip of them any time soon. The rest of these packs I'm going to be torturing A Pack A Day with over the next several weeks.

1987 Who Framed Roger Rabbit

P-p-p-p-p-p-leeEEEAAAAse Eddie, um I mean Topps! Give me a Jessica Rabbit card! And it better not be the card with gum glued to it! I'll need that green crap Christopher Lloyd used to wipe out Toons to get that gum off the first card, I can tell. In a good vintage Topps pack the gum slides around freely and happily. This gum ain't slidin.

1991 RockCards

This pack reminded me of Upper Deck X so I had to have it. You can't tell from here, but that wrapper is a freaking HOLOGRAM. Wiggle the pack and the R O C K RockCards in the front move over the RockCards in the back. I'm deathly afraid to open this beast for fear of 1990-91 Pop bands. I desperately want there to be a Pixies or They Might Be Giants card in this pack, but I'm going to get Mariah Carey and Sinead O'Connor. If I'm lucky. I'm intrigued as to how crappy the actual cards will be considering this company likely blew their whole budget on HOLOGRAMS for the stupid wrapper.

1991 Desert Storm Victory Edition
2001 Enduring Freedom

What can I say, I was feeling patriotic. I do appreciate the irony of "Victory Series" in regards to the other pack however. I have plans for these packs, just you wait. And we finish off with...

1992 The Elvis Collection

'Cause Elvis is Everywhere.

The Elusive Ones

When I chose to get a regular Hobby box of Topps instead of a jumbo box, I knew I was going to miss out on two things: the two guaranteed hits and a complete set. The hits I didn't mind, I can pick up a relic and auto off eBay cheap as hell right now with all the case breakers flipping their pulls. The set was a little more worrisome, I knew if I didn't get it squared away I'd bee obsessively ripping packs like mad until I finished it. Silly me, I should have realized that I'd like the insert sets so much this year I'd be obsessively ripping packs like mad anyway. Between the Trading Card History, 50th Anniversary Rookie set and the Target T205's I'll be ripping for a while, even if I end up with a pile of Mantles and 14 Joe Biden cards.

So to justify buying packs full of doubles I'm going to conduct a little experiment. My hobby box had exactly 300 cards out of the 300 card set. I still need 30 to complete it, 31 if you count the Giuliani bullcrap card. I'm going to list them here, and see how many packs it takes to finish the set just through opening packs. Don't send me trade offers, don't send me cards through the mail, I want to finish this set through wax only. I'll probably complete two other near sets before I do it, but I want to see if it's possible. I'll quit if I finish all the insert sets before the base set, but hopefully it won't come to that.

The ones I pull will be in bold and will have the players name and pack number next to them. Packs are Hobby packs unless I note otherwise.

Here's the list:

5 - Scott Kazmir - Pack 20
8 - Stephen Drew - Pack 13
13 - Kendry Morales - Packs 1-5
23 - Ross Gload - Pack 20
29 - Anibal Sanchez - Pack 46
41 - Rich Aurilia - Pack 9
64 - Mike Lowell - Pack 13
72 - Mike Piazza - Pack 10
86 - Scott Podsednik - Pack 46
92 - Ross Detwiler RC - Pack 46
93 - Kenny Lofton - Pack 46
104 - Kevin Youkilis - Pack 9
115 - Johan Santana - Packs 1-5
142 - Chris Duncan - Pack 16
148 - Gerald Laird - Pack 16
154
171 - John Maine - Pack 10
184 - Tadahito Iguchi - Packs 1-5
191 - Orlando Hudson - Pack 28
193 - J. J. Hardy - Pack 10
196 - Chin-Lung Hu - Pack 20
210 - Mark Teahen - Packs 1-5
214
232
234 - Red Sox Postseason Highlights - Pack 7
242 - Manny Acta - Pack 16
250 - Jonathan Papelbon - Packs 1-5
266
298 - NL League Leaders Home Runs - Fielder, Howard & Dunn - Pack 27
319 - Joey Votto - Pack 13

Again, NO TRADE OFFERS. I'm finishing this set through packs!

Here's the good pulls out of the packs:
Packs 1-5 ( I sorted these before I decided to run the experiment) - Biden & Edwards Presidential Candidates, YR13 Halladay Year in Review, AR10 Dave Johnson & AR12 Dan Johnson 50th Anniversary Rookies. 5 cards for the set.

Not bad, 5 inserts I needed and 5 cards for the set. Add three gold foil cards and that leaves 37 doubles. Or, looking at the glass half full, I now am 37 cards into my second set.

Pack 6 (Target) - Mantle HR530. No cards for the set.
Pack 7 (Target) - TCP12 Steve Pearce T205. Got the Red Sox without the politician card for the set.
Pack 8 (Target) - TCP14 Wladimir Balentein T205, AR3 Doc Gooden 50th Anniversary. Two sweet inserts, but none for the set.
Pack 9 (Target) - TCP7 Chin-Lung Hu T205, AR34 Chipper Jones 50th Anniversary. Two for the set AND a Chipper! I already know I will not beat this pack in this experiment.
Pack 10 (Jumbo) - Edwards Prez, 202 Mike Lamb Gold, AR15 Hanley Ramirez 50th, Mantle HR520, YR50 Verlander Year in Review, OTG11 A-Rod Own the Game, THC5 Clay Buchholz History. Good: a few nice inserts and 3 cards for the set. Bad: only three for the set out of a jumbo. there were also 4 others that I pulled in the first 9 packs though. The first Presidential candidate double was disturbing.

One box + 10 packs (including a jumbo) and I still need 19 more for the set. I'm averaging about one card I need a pack though. This could take a while.

Pack 11 - AR26 Ozzie Smith 50th. None for the set.
Pack 12 - C08-HC Hillary Clinton. No cards for the set, but I didn't have Hillary yet. I've done reasonably well on the Predidential candidate cards so far, but soon I will get nothing but doubles of them and It Will Suck.
Pack 13 - Mantle HR #506. Three for the set! I doubt I'll beat that.
Pack 14 - Mantle HR #505. Nothing for the set.
Pack 15 - AR47 Shawn Green 50th. No cards for the set.

Yipe, five packs had only three cards and they were all in one pack. If it weren't for the two 50th anniversary cards (and the Chipper Jones Trading Card History Promo I got free with the packs) this would have been horrible. Sixteen to go.

Pack 16 - AR40 Mike Piazza 50th. Three more for the set! The Piazza card beats the hell out of the Mantle Home Run card too so this takes over as "best pack".
Pack 17 - 208 David DeJesus Gold. No cards for the set. I'm not even getting doubles of the ones on the list I needed so I'll still be chasing them for the second set.
Pack 18 - OTG3 Ryan Howard Own the Game. None for the set.
Pack 19 - TCH3 Dice-K Trading card History, MMS49 Mickey Mantle Story. No cards for the set but two sweet inserts.
Pack 20 - YR53 Oliver Perez Year in Review. Three more cards for the set, but I got the WORST CARD EVER for the insert. Rotten, lousy, graargh!

20 packs in and I've pulled 20 cards for the set. One a pack. I'm getting better odds on the inserts. I fear the last ten will be exponentially harder to pull.

Pack 21 (Jumbo) - Rudy Giuliani Gold, AR33 Billy Wagner 50thMantle HR #515, YR45 Randy Johnson Year in Review, OTG14 Ryan Howard Own the Game,TCH25 Grady Sizemore Card History, two decent gold foil cards - Sox Classic Combos and A-Rod. Thirty something base cards and not one for the set.
Pack 22 (Target) - TCP13 Vlad Guerrero T205. None for the set.
Pack 23 (Target) - OTG25 Fausto Carmona Own The Game, AR19 Julio Franco 50th. None for the set and the Fausto is a dupe. I'm overdue for a trade with Indians Cards Always guy anyway.
Pack 24 (Target) - TCP5 A-Rod T205. None for the set.
Pack 25 (Target) - TCP4 Luke Hochevar T205. None for the set. How easy are these T205's to get anyway?? That's 6 in 8 packs.

Complete disaster on this group of 5 packs. I got a bunch of inserts but none of the last 10 I need. That's it for a little while until I see a blaster hit the shelves.

Pack 26 - C08-MR Mitt Romney. None for the set. Did Topps purposely find the sleaziest picture of Mitt?
Pack 27 - OTG3 Ryan Howard Own the game. I have the Howard insert already, but I finally got another one for the set. 9 to go.
Pack 28 - Kazuo Uzuki Fake Bullcrap Advertisement. The insert sucked, but I got another one for the set. Down to 8.
Pack 29 (Target) - AR11 Jermaine Dye 50th, Barack Obama. None for the set, but a Braves Dye insert. The Candidate dupes are starting to pile up.
Pack 30 (Target) - AR5 Gary Carter, TCP7 Chin-Lung Hu T205. None for the set, another dupe insert.

Five more packs, got 20% of the cards I needed. Or to put it a bit more bleakly, 2 cards out of 50. Even more disturbing is most of the inserts I pulled are dupes too. I STILL haven't seen a freaking blaster. I'm starting to get antsy about that, I want to find out what the Wally World inserts are.

Ok finally found a blaster. The Wal-Mart exclusives are interesting, but that's for another post. Here's the rips:

Pack 31 (Wal-Mart) - AR51 Francisco Liriano 50th, OTG23 Brandon Webb Own the Game. None for the set.
Pack 32 (Wal-Mart) - Nothing. First pack without inserts. The box topper pack and two inserts in the first pack somewhat mitigates this, but it's still disappointing.
Pack 33 (Wal-Mart) - MMS48 Mickey Mantle Story. No cards for the set and I think the Mantle is also a dupe. The box isn't working out too well so far.
Pack 34 (Wal-Mart) - C08-MR Mitt Romney. None for the set. One last chance for even one card I need...
Pack 35 (Wal-Mart) - MHR513 Mantle Home Run. None for the set. I was also taunted by several cards that were one number away from ones I needed.

This box was a disaster. None for the set and at least two of the inserts were dupes. The box topper made up for it though as you'll see next week. So far I've ripped the equivalent of at least another box looking for those last thirty cards and still come up short. This is why what I'm trying to do is a bloody stupid idea. Still, who knows, I could get lucky next time! (yeah right)

I haven't bought any Topps for a couple of months but I decided to try one more box to see if I would get lucky. The Box Topper pack had Man-Ram, Ichiro and Mantle Deck Perez cards so I'm off to a good start. If I get one or two of the 8 I need for the set I'll be dancing.

Pack 36 (Wal-Mart) - OTG5 Brandon Webb Own the Game. None for the set.
Pack 37 (Wal-Mart) - Useless, worthless 3rd copy of Kazuo Uzuki and nothing else.
Pack 38 (Wal-Mart) - MMS55 Mickey Mantle Story. AR28 Garret Anderson all star rookie. No cards for the set.
Pack 39 (Wal-Mart) - C08-FT Fred Thompson. None for the set. Once again I'm striking out on a Wal-Mart box.
Pack 40 (Wal-Mart) - MHR517 Mantle Home Run. None for the set.

Second straight blaster that netted nothing for the set. Starting to get the picture? I did need the Fred Thompson card though, so the inserts save the box from disaster. Maybe I should try a Target blaster since the Wal-Mart ones aren't working out too well.

I probably should have noted each time this post was updated with a date or something, but it's too late for that now. Maybe next time I try something as daft as this I'll remember to do that. True to my word, I got a Target box this time. They are discounted to $7.50 a box now, which is like a gallon of gas nowadays. Cards are increasingly becoming a better value! This box started off badly as the T205 bonus pack had a Joba Chamberlain and TWO Steve Pearce cards. I think those are my third and fourth Pearce T205 cards. Pulling just one little card I need to complete this set will make up for it though. Just ONE.

Pack 41 (Target) - YR55 Mark Reynolds Year in Review and none for the set.
Pack 42 (Target) - OTG9 Lance Berkman Own The Game, AR44 Todd Helton 50th. None for the set.
Pack 43 (Target) - No inserts and none for the set. Ouch.
Pack 44 (Target) - Another pack with no inserts and all doubles. This is getting painful.
Pack 45 (Target) - MMS46 Mickey Mantle and zippo. There wasn't even a Brave in this box.

Three straight blasters and none had even one card I needed. I need to rethink my strategery on this project.

Pack 46 (Value Pack) - C08-JM John McCain, YR3 Ian Snell Year in Review, OTG10 Own the Game Miguel Cabrera and four cards for the set! And I only cheated a little bit! Check out the full pack rip here.

SuperBig Game Bowl Football Card Extravaganza!

Ok, it's Super Bowl Sunday so what better excuse than to post a crapload of Football cards. The plan was to find one of those 10 dollar blasters with some packs and some cards and whatnot, but the only one I found had the worst cards ever on the front. Something like 2002 Score and a bunch of Press Pass. The bonus was a graded card, no thanks. I made my own blaster instead by buying a pack of 2007 Leaf Rookies & Stars, a 3 pack Legends Blister and a five dollar cube from Target with 75 cards and a pack.


I would have preferred if I could have found a pack of Upper Deck First Edition, but Leaf R&S was the cheapest pack there. What the hell, let's open this overly thick pack.

45 Torry Holt
56 Ronnie Brown
A big ol' chunk of cardboard
6 Jeremy Shockey
73 Jamal Lewis
46 Vernon Davis

Daaayum, these cards suck. Too much white space on the front. The photo has ghosts and stupid looking squares all over it. The exact same photo is on the back, squares and all. There isn't even a rookie in Rookies & Stars. Blech. This pack is a good excuse to start drinking.There is a Jeremy Shockey card in the pack which could be a good omen for the Giants. Or a bad omen, considering the shittyness of this pack. Maybe the repack plister will be a little better.