Griffey Is Back

Regular readers know that I am a huge fan of Ken Griffey Jr. and when I found out that he just signed an autograph deal with Topps I could not have been happier. Before signing this deal he had an exclusive contract with Upper Deck and he does have over 1000 different autographs but since UD lost the MLB license no new autos have been released in over a year. Now we finally get to see The Kid gracing new product again.

Griffey’s first Topps autographs will be released in 2012 Topps Tribute (Feb 5, 2012) and 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen (April 18, 2012). I am not a fan of the Tribute autograph design but the Gypsy Queen version would fit nicely in my Griffey personal collection.

The NBA Is Back But Is It To Late?

If everything goes as planned the NBA is set to begin the 2011-12 NBA Season on Christmas Day and will play a 66 game schedule.

The question I have to ask right now is “Does anyone care?"

In a year where we saw lockouts in the NFL and NBA fans and collectors are feeling ignored and dejected. Two groups of millionaires (owners and players) fighting over who gets to take more of our cash has really isolated them from the fans. Over the years the NHL and MLB saw serious dips following lengthy lockouts/strikes and while the NFL was fortunate enough to not see a loss in fan approval following the summer lockout the NBA will probably feel the wrath.

The NFL ended the lockout before the season started so all we lost was a couple of pre-season games, add in some interesting turns in the standings (who really expected Detroit and the 49ers to look good?) and some great rookie play and fans are willing to overlook the lockout.

The NBA on the other hand has been a nasty divorce story since Day 1 of the lockout, we have already lost ¼ of the season and we will probably see the same teams sitting atop the standings with Miami leading the way before flaming out in the playoffs. A couple of teams are going to be in a difficult situation because some players have decided to go overseas and signed deals without an opt-out clause or even worse, got hurt like the Nuggets J.R. Smith who hurt his knee while playing in China and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko broke his nose and got a concussion during a game in the Russian League.

Is Ndamukong Suh Hurting His Career With His Choices?

During Thursday’s nationally televised game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, the Lions Ndamukong Suh was ejected in the 3^rd Quarter after pushing the head of Packer’s Guard Dietrich-Smith in to the ground three times then getting up and stepping on his arm. Suh claimed he was only “getting himself on balance” when he accidently set his foot on Dietrich-Smith’s right arm but this seems to be an on-going situation. In only his second season Suh has been fined $42,000 (not counting the impending fine from this game) and even spoke with the NFL Commissioner to clarify the rules and why he was getting fined in October.

Surprisingly he was not fined for his vicious face mask on Falcons Matt Ryan during the game last month or the following push on Falcons Guard Joe Hawley after the game and then again he surprisingly missed being fined last week when he ripped off Bear’s QB Jay Cutler helmet. Suh has even claimed innocence in most situations and it seems to be a concern to some people in the sports world, including ESPN, Sporting News and FOX Sports analyst (and former NFL VP of Officiating) Mike Pereira that he is either a straight up liar or does not realize the consequences for his actions.

As one of the few defensive players who’s cards regularly draws collectors attention you have to wonder if a suspension will cool his prices especially if he continues to play in this manor?

I have to admit that before this game I did not feel one way or the other about Suh even though I have heard that he plays dirty. It is football after all and the hits will come hard and fast but when someone goes out of their way in an attempt to hurt a downed opponent is definitely beyond necessary. If his intent was to injure Dietrich-Smith I hope that a fine and possible suspension will get Suh on the right path because he is clearly one of the best Defensive Tackles in the game today and I would hate to see his career marred by bad decisions.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a wonderful day, it is the day that we give thanks for everything that we have and we get to spend it with our family. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend. Today's artwork has lovingly been provided by my daughter.

2011 Certified Football Live

2011 Panini Certified Football is now live and cards are showing up on eBay including some of the “better” hits but I am not a fan. I do like the Quad Autos, not so much for the design but getting 4 prime patches and an on-card autograph is still pretty cool. The Hometown Heroes are doing nicely too.

The Immortals Patch Auto card are hideous, you wonder who decided to build a card and then cut a window for a quarter-sized patch and then add a sticker auto right over the player’s image. The patch only versions are not bad because the sticker auto is not covering the player.

One of the cards that Panini released during previews of the set had really drawn attention, the Quad-Patch Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Curtis martin card. I think pulling a 4-patch card of the best running backs in history overshadows the bling bling silver foil background.

eBay Trolling The Walter Payton Way

The other day while I was checking up on the Wayne Gretzky Parkhurst Masterpiece that I wrote about I came across an interesting auction for a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Walter Payton Black Border parallel.

A normal 2008 UD Masterpiece Payton sells for a couple of bucks while the various parallels can all be had for under $10 but does anyone else feel that $2000 for an uncorrected manufacturing error is a bit too high? The black border is mis-cut, if anything this card should be cheaper.

I can not tell if he is trolling or trying to find a sucker. The guy buys and sells a significant amount of 2008 Masterpiece border parallels and has 100% feedback on 205 deals so you would expect him to have an understanding of true prices on this set.

Vintage Card of the Month: 1922 Chelsea FC

I have seriously slacked on the Vintage Card of the Month posts so time to bring it back. In honor of the MLS season coming to a conclusion (The L.A. Galaxy beat the Houston Dynamo for the Cup) and Chelsea’s loss to Liverpool yesterday (plus my soccer season ended last Friday night) I decided to go the football route.

I selected a card from a 1922 issue of The Magnet, a sports periodical that included cards in the magazine. Cards contained either a player or team shot on the front with a short write-up on the back along with an ad for an upcoming Magnet issue.

This particular card is from the November 18, 1922 Magnet issue and shows the Chelsea FC team. The team lost to Burnley 0-1 the day that this issue was released and the 1922-23 season ended in disappointment going 9-15-18 and coming in 4^th to last in the First Division (Premier League) missing relegation to Second Division by only 6 points.

This card is in pretty tough shape with a bend in the upper right corner and chipping in the upper left corner and the back has some staining. The Magnet Library cards are pretty easy to find and usually sell for only a few dollars.

Suck It Sun Devils!

There is only one college football game that matters in the State of Arizona, the Duel in the Desert, the annual University of Arizona vs. Arizona State University game which goes back to 1898. Coming in to this game nobody considers records, schedules, possible bowl games or streaks; this game is a fight and tonight was no different.

ASU’s QB Osweiler and WR Robinson ran a passing clinic on the U of A defense but it was the final 5 minutes of the game that sealed the win for the Wildcats. Fear struck when Arizona QB Nick Foles went down with what appeared to be a phantom injury and was replaced by rarely used Bryson Beirne, who had thrown 11 passes all season. Beirne hits Criner for a 20-yd TD pass and the Wildcat D went in to effect and sadly ASU was moving until Osweiler threw his second interception with 2:15 left in the game. ASU got the ball back with 1:19 left and actually moved the ball to the Arizona 16 yard line with 4 seconds left but Arizona’s D looked back on the Desert Swarm days of the 90s and shut down ASU’s receivers and walked away 31-27.

 Living in the Valley I am in Sun Devil territory, something difficult for a life-long Wildcat fan and the Cats may only be 3-8 but I can walk proudly with my red Arizona jersey after a win like this.

The First Wayne Gretzky Parkhurst Masterpiece

Upper Deck released the 2011 NHL Parkhurst set just about a month ago and a carry-over from other Upper Deck sets is the Masterpieces, a hand painted card limited #/10. Upper Deck created the Masterpieces set with a 30-card checklist with each card limited to 10, there were multiple artists including Ben Young and Kelly Akins.

The big names on the checklist, Gretzky and Howe, were painted by an artist that regular readers of my blog will recognize, Jared Kelley. Last Friday the first Wayne Gretzky card (#7/10) showed up with an opening bid of $10 but was at $100 in only 23 minutes. After 7 days and a number of bids the card closed this evening with a winning bid of $312.65, well above the other Parkhurst Masterpiece cards currently up for auction.

 It makes you wonder if the painted Parkhurst Masterpieces will become as popular as the painted Presidents from Goodwin Champions.

Panini's Black Friday Pylon Relic Insert

Earlier this year Tracy Hackler wrote a story about Panini picking up a pair of end zone pylons from Super XLV along with game-used footballs and autographs from both the Packers and the Steelers players.

Now we get to see what happened with the pylons. Panini created a Super Bowl XLV insert set that will be included in the special Panini Black Friday redemption packs. These inserts will include both Relic and Auto-Relic versions.

I like the group shot of the Rodgers cards with the NFL Shield though you have to wonder why the upper right corner of the shield was placed horizontally in the card instead of vertically.