Why Man, Just Why?

Bret Boone just lost my complete respect. Yesterday morning he sent multiple Twitter DMs to a Seattle newspaper reporter, completely unsolicited, on his feelings about the numerous sexual harassment/assault claims that have been made recently.

Here is my attempt at a transcript of the messages. I will include a screen shot of the actual conversation below.

Boone message to Seattle PI reporter Stephan Cohen

10:22 am (11/29):

“I got sexually harassed twice today. The Starbucks girl smiled at me and the woman at Rite Aid flirted with me. I’m getting a lawyer, unacceptable. Lol.”

Stephan Cohen response to Boone

10:39 am (11/29)

“I’m wondering why you felt like it was a good idea to make light of sexual harassment in an unsolicited message to a reporter.”

Boone to Cohen

10:50 am (11/29)

“Because it’s a joke and I have no clue who you are, nor do I care. Just sick of all the liberal BS and everyone all the sudden is offended. Sorry that bothered you. Go back to whatever you do in your PC world, and once again, I apologize if you were offended… You definitely would not be allowed to play golf in my foursome.”

Boone to Cohen

10:54 am (11/29)

“Oops, just happened again, the girl at Vons told me to have a good day…LOL…are you serious guy?”

Last night at 4:01 pm (11/29) Boone tweeted an apology on his Twitter feed, which Cohen acknowledged and retweeted.

“All, there are zero excuses for what I said earlier. None. It was 100% wrong. It was offensive. It was inappropriate. It was not remotely productive to any conversation regarding harassment. I apologize, and it will never happen again.”

This wasn’t a whoops heat of the moment type thing, he contacted a reporter who had no idea why he was being contacted and just went at sexual harassment and made a joke of it over a 32-minute period and didn’t apologize until 6 hours later. I am going to guess that someone from the PR department at the MLB or the Mariners contacted Boone and said he just seriously fucked up. 

I am done with Boone cards in my collection.

Please know that I am not making any claims of support/oppose any of the sexual harassment allegations that have been made in all sectors of our society recently and do not wish to discuss these allegations in any depth. This one, along with politics and religion, is a huge NO-GO topic for me.

Fire McAdoo, Fire McAdoo And Fire McAdoo!

 I am not a New York Giants fan, I have nothing against the team though, but I whole heartedly believe that Ben McAdoo needs to be fired today, not at the end of the season…today! His treatment of Eli Manning all season has showed he has little respect for the 2-time Super Bowl Champion QB and his unceremoniously benching of Manning is just the final straw. Forget Manning’s streak, this has nothing to do with how I feel about McAdoo, this is all about McAdoo’s ego and blaming others for his shortcomings.

McAdoo has never been a head coach prior to the Giants giving him the opportunity last year after the team ran prior, and successful, coach Tom Coughlin out of town. A move that has turned out to be a huge bite in the ass for owner John Mara. Sure, the team went 11-5 last year and made it to the playoffs but there is no question that was Coughlin’s team, not McAdoo’s. This year is McAdoo’s team, the 2-9 team (yes, I know there have been injuries) that is as dysfunctional as that one drunk uncle you see every Thanksgiving that the whole family avoids.

Eli Manning is 36 years old and has had a very tough season, the O-Line hasn’t been stable and injuries to key receivers has added to it, but to bench Manning with the claim of “Wanting to evaluate backup QB Geno Smith” is full of shit. This is the act of a desperate man trying to keep his job. Smith has been in the league since 2013 and has played 33 games prior to signing with the Giants. There have been plenty of opportunities of evaluating him from prior seasons plus there is off season training camps and the preseason.

Straight up and down, McAdoo is throwing Eli Manning under the bus, blaming him for the failure of the season and using the claim of “I had to use a backup QB” as his reason for tanking in hopes that the front office will give him one more season with a high draft pick.

The team should have finished the season with Eli where he belongs, under center, and then look at the opportunities. You don’t bail on the face of the franchise, this is what happened to Peyton with the Colts.

Mara should also consider letting go GM Jerry Reese too, the man's entire career is based on Eli's success and if Eli is being blamed for the season and being benched then McAdoo and Reese also need to be part of that blame and be shown the door. 

/rant

Monday Question Day- How Did You Do On Deals?

 Today is question day, a two-parter;

Did you take part in any of the deals?

And

Did you stay within your budget?

I did my purchasing on COMC and ended up picking up 24 cards and did very well, staying within my budget. I have 60 cards in my selling inventory and with COMC offering promotions all weekend I was able to sell 12 cards, I took that money and splurged on a card that has been on my wants list for way too long.

I had planned on posting this yesterday but when I finished I hit save instead of publish, so here is yesterday's post today.

That One Friday Where Stuff Is On Sale

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday.

I know some probably braved the stores and the sales, but after working 10 years in retail I do whatever I can to stay away from stores this weekend. I braved the internet instead and came close to picking up some boxes but held up, and it was difficult after seeing some great deals on Star Wars and UFC boxes.

Instead I am hunting for deals on COMC. This morning I already purchased 7 Griffey cards, all under .54 cents each, you can’t beat that. I know that there will be a couple of promotions running on COMC over the weekend so I am watching closely.

Going off on a Grandpa Simpson type story; when I first started working for Toys R Us in 1993 it wasn't called Black Friday but Green Friday, because it was the day that the stores made lots of money, and the sales were called "The Day After Thanksgiving" sales. It eventually changed to Black Friday, because this is the day where many stores/companies would finally make enough money to move out of the red (negative) on their budget in to the black (positive profit). But if you ask retail employees they would probably say it is Black Friday because it is the worst and darkest day of the year to be a retail employee. I do not miss working in retail at all.

For some humor, here is a real Grandpa Simpson rambling story:

"I needed a new heel for my shoe so I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. Give me five bees for a quarter you’d say. Now where were we, oh ya. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because if the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones."

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, a time for thanks. I am thankful for my family and friends and I am thankful for the readers of the blog. Writing posts are therapeutic for me, it helps me settle my mind and focus.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Black Friday Poll

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the deals and sales will be showing up everywhere. A quick question to buyers;

Do you look forward to box sales from the card companies, Blowout, Dave & Adams, etc.?

Or

Do you look forward to individual card sales from eBay, COMC, etc.?  

I don’t open boxes so I look forward to the individual card sales and the specials from COMC, not to mention their free shipping. They offer free promotions for sellers too over three days, I just set up my promotions for Black Friday.

Three Signatures Up

Topps’ newest wrestling release, 2017 Topps Legends of WWE, contains one of the more original triple autographs. The triple auto card is of Mick Foley’s three personalities of Dude Love, Cactus Jack and Mankind and it is neat that Foley signed each personality differently. Yes, please!

Monday Question Day- Auction Bidding?

Today is question day:

When it comes to auctions, how do you bid?

I prefer to wait until the last minute unless I am unavailable to make that bid in which I make my max bid and let things fall as they may. I know some people use snipping software, which I haven't gotten in to for no specific reason. I guess since I have been doing it this way since I started on eBay 17 years ago I will just keep doing it this way.

One thing that I try not to do is get caught up in a bidding war, I check recent sales as well as COMC and I set a price in my mind and stick to it. I read stories about shill bidding and I get all cautious but I have gotten caught up before on some of the more rare Griffey and Bader cards but when it happens I usually become gun shy and don't do it for awhile. 

Goldust Kiss Cards? Yes Please!

Yesterday Dustin Rhodes (AKA Goldust) posted a picture of himself doing kiss/autograph cards for a future Topps wrestling release. How freaking cool is this?

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards XV

I already had a double printed back error 1989 Upper Deck Griffey #1, I love error cards, but this one adds in the error of a mostly blank front. The front has an impression of a back on it along the left border, but the rest of the card front is blank.

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1910 L21 Leather College Pennants

 This month’s VCoM is a trilogy of 1910 L21 Leather College Pennants. The three pendants are for United States Military Academy (West Point/Army), United States Naval Academy (Annapolis/Navy) and the University of Washington.

Similar to the other tobacco cards of the era, these were inserted in to packs of American Tobacco Company packs as an incentive. I am not sure how many Universities were included but there were some interesting choices included; Reserve University, DePauw University and Mount Union University. Even though the University of Arizona was founded in 1885, 25 years before the release of this set, I am unable to find any mention of the school being included in the set which is a bummer.

I picked these three up because of how clean they are, they are in amazing condition with bright colors and no damage. It is fascinating how well the cards from this set have really held up over the years. Some of the cards are condition sensitive with the pennants where white ink was inlaid in the impressions/cuts on the leather have flaked off but the colored pennants do not seem to have the same problems. 

The Gift Of Giving, And Receiving, Griffey Cards

October was a “No purchase” month for me but that didn’t mean I didn’t get new cards. I was the recipient of the Great Giving Griffey box, a traveling box of roughly 500 Griffey cards that pass from Griffey collector to Griffey collector. You receive the box, pull out what you want/need for your collection, replace the cards in the box and pass it on to another collector of The Kid. I am very appreciative that Daniel from It’s Like Having My Own Card Shop thought of me when he was ready to send the box on, thank you.

I pulled aside around 50 cards and set the stack on my desk for later while I focused on building a website for a friend. I added around 60 cards to the box, plus some customs, and sent the box on, but I didn’t get around to going through my Griffey Want List and The Beast Jr. and updating until a couple of days ago. 

Most of the cards I pulled were base cards or base inserts, gray whales, that have been sitting on my wants list for a while, so it was nice to be able to knock a bunch of those off the list. A couple cards of note are the 1991 Stadium Club membership card. I had totally forgotten about this oddity, so I couldn’t pass on adding it to my collection.

I was excited to see some of Gavin’s custom cards too, I am very glad that he made several of them to put in the box. I have one of his glow-in-the-dark custom Griffey cards that he sent me a couple of years ago but these two are new to me.

TJ, from The Junior Junkie, started the Great Giving Griffey box in 2015 using dups from his collection and it really shows how close the community can be when it comes to giving. I am sure that all those who have received the box and all those who will be receiving it are so grateful that this project was begun and still traveling.

Happy Veteran's Day

Today we celebrate all of those who have served our country proudly. Thank you for your sacrifices to ensure the freedom of our country.

Griffey Is Immortalized On My Display Shelf

The newest edition to my Ken Griffey Jr. SGA collection is the replica of the bronze statue of Griffey that is located outside of SafeCo Field. The replica statues were given out at the April 14, 2017 game and are about 6 inches tall and are made out of resin so there is some weight to it.

Panini Player Of The Day Pack Contest Winning

Near the end of October I won one of Sports Card Collectors contests for 10 packs of Panini’s NFL Player of the Day. I just received the packs, so time to rip.

The base set is made up of 30 players plus four different parallels, the Rookies set consists of 10 players plus the same four parallels and there are 50 memorabilia cards. There are also autographs but they are only available as grand prizes in shops, a national sweepstake and through Panini’s Twitter contests.

I’ll start with my Seahawks pull of Russell Wilson, who was the POD for the Week 10 2016 win over the Patriots.

For the Cardinals, I pulled David Johnson (POD Week 7 of 2016) as well as the player who replaced him when Johnson went down with an injury earlier this season, Adrian Peterson (Intro to Saints).

The Rookies backs have their highlights from college since they don't have a NFL POD 2016 game.

I would like to thank SCC and Panini for the packs.

More Ball Family Drama, But Serious This Time

Yesterday UCLA freshman LiAngelo Ball was arrested in Shanghai, China for shoplifting. Also arrested were two other UCLA freshman, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill. The team is in China to play their season opening game against Georgia Tech when the three players were arrested for stealing from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel.

This is a situation that LaVar Ball is not going to be able to “Talk in to happening” when it comes to working with the Chinese legal system. What many people do not seem to understand, at least it seems that on Twitter, is that just because the three are American citizens it does not mean they will be charged under American laws. This happened in China, they broke Chinese laws and will be charged and perhaps tried under those laws. I have seen more than a dozen comments along the lines of “why are people making a big deal? It’s just a misdemeanor” or “he will just get a wrist slap and sent home”. Nope, no misdemeanor and no wrist slap.

According to Amnesty International attorney William Nee the students can be detained without bail for a month, some have been held even longer, and if there is absolute proof that any of the three players did in fact shoplift they may be looking at 3-10 years in a Chinese prison.

Let’s face it, LiAngelo was going to get drafted by an NBA team just on the hopes he can play but a single bad decision in a foreign country may have derailed those plans or possibly destroyed those plans all together. He is 18 now, if he does get imprisoned, even for 3 years, is going to affect him greatly. Those are going to be 3 very tough years on him and who knows what it will do to his mind and his body.

I dislike LaVar Ball with a passion but no matter how I feel about the father, I feel bad for LiAngelo. Unfortunately, when poor decisions are made there are consequences to be paid and he is finding out that some nations make you pay different consequences than a misdemeanor and fine.

Trade Completed V- Boom...Boom...GASP!

A couple weeks back I sent a pair of 1933 Goudey baseball cards to Matt of Bob Walk The Plank. I felt that the two Pirates cards, Ray Kremer and Adam Comorosky, belong in the collection of a true Pittsburgh Pirates fan. I didn’t trade for anything specific, it was a blind trade, but he came strong with what he sent me.

Two cards from my Top 10 Wanted List:

A 2007 Donruss Madden Shaun Alexander game card.

This doesn’t seem like much but this card has been sitting on my Most Wanted List the longest, in fact, it is one of the original Top 10 cards. BOOM!

A 2011 Topps UFC Title Shot Contenders Autograph Ryan Bader.

This card has been on my list the second longest and was actually the first card to replace a card that I picked up. BOOM!

The third card is a 2014 Topps Five Star Silver Signature Edgar Martinez autograph.

In August Jon from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts sent me my first Edgar relic card and now Matt hooked me up with my first Edgar autograph, and a killer card too. I love the black card and silver autograph, it looks amazing. GASP!

Monday Question Day- Oddities?

Today is question day:

What are the oddest cards in your collection? If you collect sports and non-sports what are the oddest cards in each collection?

This is one of those questions that gets the mind grinding. What is considered odd must be determined so this may be a bit more difficult. For myself I decided to limit my own selection to modern era official releases. There are so many oddball and Broder cards that many of them can seem extremely weird in comparison to an official card.

On the sports side, I would say my 2011 Topps Chrome Geoffrey the Giraffe #TRU card.

I worked at Toys R Us for over a decade working my way up from stocking shelves to Store Director. When I left I always promised I would never go back and wanted nothing to do with the company, retail at any company is horrible. But by the time this card came around in 2011 I was feeling a bit nostalgic and picked it up.

On the non-sports side, I went with my 2015 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Goudey Sid Meier Premium Floppy Disc relic. There are not many floppy disc relic cards out there, I only know of this one and Steve Wozniak has two different floppy disc relic cards in the 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions release.

Just A Rant

How does Lane Kiffen keep getting jobs?

Kiffen has been a bonehead his entire career and he has made poor choices left and right but last night with his team. Florida Atlantic University, up over Marshall 30-23 with 14 seconds left in the game and FAU with the ball on 4^th down and on their own 24-yard line and punting.

In what should have been a deep low punt down the center, forcing Marshall’s punt returner to waste time running to the sideline, instead Kiffen orders his punter to run out the back of the end zone giving up a safety and only taking 4 seconds off of the clock. Kiffen’s explanation was that he didn’t want Marshall to block the punt. OK, could be sound logic but it isn’t.

First- In Marshall’s first 8 games this year they have no blocked punts

Second- The play only took 4 seconds and Marshall got the ball back

Third- Most important and the “WTF?” moment

FAU was a 6.5-point favorite over Marshall so by giving up the safety FAU came in under the spread in what could appear as a point shaving decision.

Kiffen, after the game, took to Twitter about the score and it messing with the point spread but later claimed he didn't know about the spread until a friend texted him after the game. A FAU representative said that Kiffen was just joking with his Tweet and an NCAA spokeswoman said they are aware of the situation but said that the school is in the best position to provide comment.

I am not saying that Kiffen is in a point shaving scandal but no matter what he said coaches know the spread and for some reason decided to mess with it. He is not a good person, he has shown bad judgement through his career and he is a complete jerk and likes to throw shade at prior employers. If it turns out this was a conscious decision by him with the intent to affect the final score in a negative way I hope he gets the punishment he deserves (fired and banned from NCAA & NFL).

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards XIV

It was April 13, 1998, in a game against the Cleveland Indians in Seattle, Ken Griffey Jr. launched a long ball in to the right field seats to become the second youngest player to hit 300 homeruns.

Upper Deck released this 3x5 acetate card to celebrate the feat, which includes clips of the sweet swing that sent that ball (and another in the game) over the wall. The card is serial numbered #228/10,000, remember when 10k was a limited card?

So You Don't Have To Follow Up

I completed the month of October without making any card purchases and I kept a list of the cards that I would have bought/bid on had it been a normal month. This year I have been on a tight budget, so I based this experiment on how I would have shopped in 2016 when I was not on a similar budget. 

The only card that I considered breaking the rules for the month and actually bidding on was the 2012 Topps Under Armour Trey Griffey autograph but I would have topped no more than $15 and the price on the card went up so fast I didn't even bid.

Here is the list of cards that would have been in my collection and the cards final costs. The only card that really hurt was the 1996-97 Allen Iverson rookie, I have wanted one for years and that price was a steal.

10/1- 1996-97 Topps Chrome Allen Iverson #171 BGS 8.5 $17.66

10/5- American Horror Story Set of 4 Optispex $39.99

10/7- 1987 Rosem Night of the Living Dead 50 Card Set $7.95

10/12- 1988 Donruss book (hand cut) NY Yankees Jay Buhner $7.95

10/15- 2015 NECA Marvel Rocket Raccoon Hubsnaps $0.99

10/20- Ben Simmons lot $2.29

I ended up saving $76.83, not counting shipping, by not purchasing any cards. 

Dodgers-Astros... Game 7