Prince Fielder Is Calling It A Career

Another big name is being added to the “Retiring” list in baseball. Prince Fielder, who had neck surgery in July and apparently will not be cleared by doctors to play again for the rest of the season. It appears that Fielder will call it a career at the age of 32-years old.

It is interesting when you compare him to his father, he was a better hitter but they both ended with 319 homeruns and were only 20 RBIs apart.

Say It Isn't So Joe...err Conor

In a completely unexpected announcement, my second favorite UFC fighter Conor McGregor announced his retirement from MMA through Twitter early this morning. Some people believe this is just Conor being Conor and trying to make headlines, pulling everyone’s leg before coming back and saying he decided to un-retire and I hope this is the case.

It is odd because McGregor was to be the main event in a rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 200 in July and he had made no hint of considering even to retire. McGregor has officially been removed from UFC 200 due to failing to take part of promotional events tied to UFC 200, and some have brought up that his retirement may be connected to his disagreement with Dana White over the promotional events.

If the retirement is the end of his fighting career McGregor walks away as the UFC Featherweight Champion with a 19-3 professional record.

So Long Black Mamba

The NBA regular season ended yesterday with a passing of an era with the retirement of Kobe Bryant. While most fans were focused on the Warriors-Grizzlies game watching to see if the Warriors would hit 73-wins, they did, plenty were watching the Lakers-Jazz game to see Kobe play one last time and he left on a high note scoring 60 points after what seemed like he was taking every shot for the Lakers. I am not joking either, he took 50 shots while the rest of the team took 35 shots.  

Percentage wise this wasn’t his best game, it wasn’t his highest scoring game and the win didn’t put the Lakers in the playoffs, actually it knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs, but it will be memorable none the less. After 20 seasons, 5 NBA Championships and 18 All-Star selections he has decided to call it a career, and a Hall of Fame career to boot.

I am not a Kobe fan, as a Suns fan I am programmed to automatically dislike anyone wearing purple and gold but I will acknowledge he had amazing talent. Now had he been drafted by the Suns with the 15^th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, as was initially predicted in mock drafts, I would be telling a different story today.  

 

Happy trails Kobe, enjoy your retirement...you earned it.

Enjoy Your Retirement Steve

This past weekend Steve Nash announced his retirement after 18.5 seasons in the NBA. He spent 10 years in Phoenix, 6 in Dallas and 2.5 abysmal years in Los Angeles. It was after another injury plagued season that he decided to hang up his shoes having played in only 65 games over the last 3 seasons.

During his career he played with some of the greats over the past two decades like Kevin Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He isn’t an opposing player, standing 6’3” and weighing 180 lbs. but his speed was blinding and he sure knew how to control a game earning 2 MVP Awards and being selected for 8 All-Star Games. Unfortunately he never made it to the BIG GAME, falling short in the Western Conference Finals twice.

His last couple of season in Los Angeles he was just a fraction of his former self and it was depressing to watch him try to push through his back problems on a team that was also just a fraction of their former selves.

Nash is loved here in Phoenix, even though he did move on to the Lakers he is still beloved in the Valley. He is one of those guys that is so easy to like and so easy to collect. Here are a couple of my favorite Nash cards that I have picked up over the years.

His 1996-97 UD3 Rookie Card. Not even close to being one of his more expensive RCs but I have loved this card since I pulled it from a pack, the wood texture and image in the shape of the key is so cool of a design.

 A couple of 2005-06 SPx Winning Materials warm ups. I picked these up for a couple of bucks each. I liked the different colors so I got two.

A 2007-08 Stadium Club Beam Team relic. I love the Stadium Club sets and was so happy when Topps re-released the product in 2007. I pulled his Nash Beam Team relic and an Allen Iverson relic out of the same box.

 This last one I pulled from a tin of 2009-10 SP Game Used Basketball. It includes six swatches and is #/99 and as ecstatic as I was there was a bit of a let down too. The COA on the secondary card was stuck just above Nash’s relic and tore the paper a bit. Also the Nash, Billups and Iverson relics are not fit properly inside the die-cut and are hanging out. I pulled the card like this in 2010 but decided not to get an exchange when I heard horror stories about what some companies consider “Fair value trade”. I wasn’t looking forward to getting a Hasheem Thabeet rookie card #/750 or a Danny Green sticker autograph as a replacement.