It's cold down here in Texas and what's best way to spend day indoors opening boxes of sport cards. A trip to local antique shop here got me stop at vendor booth selling boxes from junk wax era ranging from $5 to $10 a box. Being a sucker for junk wax fun I bought few boxes from sets I partially have or been lost. One of boxes is 1990-91 Hoops which is height of junk wax era. While opening packs I notice the allocation is different from their inaugural
set. From packs of their first set once you get certain cards you know the pattern
who its going be. It was very much random on this set despite getting repeat cards often. The box yielded me a with 90% complete set. Who did I get?
Start off cards 1-26 which is All-Star subset. Back of the cards have stats from player's All-Star game. A good selection of photos of Admiral shooting over Sir Charles and Rolando about to get blocked by Isiah. Any MJ card of him shooting is easily tops along with The Chief slam dunk and Reggie about to go long distance. Magic card wins easily as he got photobombed while holding All-Star MVP trophy
Let's go with rookies as the cards easily stand out a rookie label tag. I'm not sure which logo is an eyesore. This one or MLB rookie logo. To get the label its the player's first year in the league. It was good year for rookies for 89-90 season. Start of with the rookie of the year.....
The Admiral. Despite saying Rookie of the Year this is his third ever Hoops card. His first ever card came out in Hoops first year set. Like Ken Griffey Jr Upper Deck rookie, his Hoops rookie card became iconic as one of must have card at the time. Despite two years away due to Navy service commitment he never missed a beat he once stepped on NBA court becoming a Hall of Fame player. His play in his rookie season drove his rookie card up. Hoops released a second card for series 2.
As for other rookies:
His teammate Sean Elliot had a good serviceable career spending all but one season of his career with the Spurs. He bounced back from kidney transplant to play again. His jersey is one of ten jerseys Spurs retired.
The Rain Man was toast of the Sonics leading them to the NBA Finals only fall to MJ Bulls in 95-96 season. If Sonics didn't overpay a bench player would he still end up disgruntled and be overweight?
Tim Hardaway was part of Warriors Run TMC along with Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullins. His 14 year career netted him 5 All Star appearances, All NBA Team, and gold medal in the Olympics. Heat retired his jersey while Warriors criminally haven't done it yet.
Glen Rice had 15 year career with 3 All Stars appearance winning MVP in 97.
By the time journeyman Cliff Robinson left the league another Cliff Robinson popped up and is seen shooting a free throw. This one went on 18 year career playing for five teams with one All Star appearance and 6th Man Award.
One of first players from former Yugoslavia to play had 16 year career spending 14 of them on both northern and southern California. The Hall of Famer is currently GM of Sacramento Kings.
Another former Yugoslav player this is a sad one. The late Drazen Petrovic went to Nets becoming team's star player before tragically killed in accident. Prior going to NBA he dominated Yugoslav league. Nets retired his jersey in 1993 and posthumously enshrined in basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
What a shot for Danny Ferry first ever card. Drafted 2nd overall in 1989 decide to play in Italy instead for Clippers. I don't blame him. Clippers traded him to Cavaliers where spent 10 years with the team before going to Spurs for three seasons winning a title in 2002. After his playing career he worked in front office for Spurs, Cavaliers, Hawks, and Pelicans.
The first two Soviet players to play in the league. Both were teammates of USSR team who won gold in 1988 Olympics. Volkov is the first to get drafted. He played two seasons with the Hawks before returning to play in Europe. Recently he's been signing through mail with address from Atlanta. Marciulionis was a shooter coming off the bench before a leg injury shorten his career. He got inducted in basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Then to the stars and Hall of Famers I pulled. I'll start with....
The Human Highlight Real with star studded shot of him about to throw down one of his signature dunks.
The Bad Boys of Pistons who won their second straight NBA title. Yes its missing Bill Laimbeer but you got duo of Joe Dumars laying up, Isiah Thomas dribbling down the court showing who's no. 1 and defensive player of the year and pre-identity crisis Dennis Rodman dunking the ball.
The legendary Magic of Showtime Lakers. Here's a card photography that got ruined because of silly yellow box. It made Magic look silly at it with "Who? Me?" look on his face.
The twilight of the Celtic trio. Bird and McHale bodies broke down. Parish was a Celtic til 1994 playing final three seasons with Hornets and Bulls getting his final ring. For Celtics it was rough fall with death of Reggie Lewis adding to the blow. The team never recovered throughout the 90s.
Stockton and Malone formed one of best 1-2 teammate combos in the NBA as both were faces of the Jazz. Despite going to two finals both couldn't get the championship ring as both ended in hands of one Michael Jordan and the Bulls. This is going become a recurring theme.
Speaking of the Knicks their star player and face of the franchise of that era Patrick Ewing. He had Hall of Fame career with 11 All-Star appearances, NBA All-Team, and two trips to the finals. Both trips end up as losses first to Rockets in 1994 and Spurs in 2000. Didn't get to play in 2000 finals due to injury. Spent his final two years of his career with Sonics and Magic which is so wrong. Took up coaching where he is currently coach at Georgetown.
The Dream would added H next to the A of his name. He lead the Rockets to two straight NBA titles in 94 and 95 during the time MJ retired from the league for season and half. In a "this so wrong" move he ended his career with Raptors instead the Rockets.
Clyde the Glide would lead Blazers to the finals in that season only to lose against MJ and the Bulls. The story of 90s NBA finals. He would be traded to Rockets in 95 and finally got that ring along with Hakeem. He would also be part of the 1992 Dream Team.
The C in Warriors Run TMC trio. The five time All-Star and Hall of Famer is a two time Olympic gold medalist with 1984 USA basketball team and 1992 famed Dream Team. Was coaching for St. John til he stepped down this year.
Good picture selection of Charles Barkley of reaching out and snagging the ball likely from out of bounds. One of best players to never win NBA title. He came close in 93 with the Suns only lose to, guess what, MJ and the Bulls. After his playing career ended he transitioned to NBA analyst.
I'm done with stars, wait a minute, I almost forgot about....
It's your Airness and the Greatest of All Time about throw down and posterizing a Heat player in this awesome cardboard shot. When it comes to NBA in the 90s just mention Michael Jordan and the Bulls dynasty with six titles. He IS the face of the 90s NBA trendsetting the league to mainstream being on box of Wheaties, Nike commercials, a video game, and a movie with Bugs Bunny. Older generation of NBA fans consider 90s NBA as last great era. His cards still hold high regards in the hobby to this day even the junk wax era.
Few noteworthy cards from this box:
A miscut card of Adrian Dantley. Look at that crop.
What is about this Greg Grant card? There's a letter from one of early Beckett claiming singer Paula Abdul is in the background.
The card made headlines last year and drove up prices temporary. In the background are Melendez brothers sitting at courtside. Both murdered their parents and went on spending spree. Both are now serving life sentences for the murders.
There was another card in this set that had short buzz but forgotten in the hobby
This Sam Vincent card. It showed him laying up a ball, but look who's on lower right of the card. It's Michael Jordan and that number. It's not 23, its number 12! The game took place Valentine's Day of 1990. The story went his jersey got stolen before the game and had no backup. Only jersey available was no. 12 with no name stitched to it. He still put up his usual numbers but Bulls lost to Magic that night. MJ wearing 12 got immortalized on this card. Hoops remade Sam Vincent card and put it in series 2 packs. Meanwhile you can watch highlights of Jordan wearing 12 in this video.
That was fun box to rip pulling cards and reminiscing about the players from that era which is time I started watching the NBA.
Roger Penske buys Indycar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I expect this to be April 1 headline. Turns out the date was November 4, 2019. A press conference later the news sent shockwaves throughout auto racing world. "The Captain" Roger Penske, the man who started CART with the late Dan Gurney, the most successful auto racing owner with multiple CART/Indycar, NASCAR, IMSA Sportscar, and Australian Touring Cars championships with major victories at hollow grounds of Indianapolis and Daytona, the man with successful business ventures, now owns the top open wheel series in America AND the famous 2.5 mile track of Indianapolis. If the track was to be sold he's the perfect guy to own and run it. He been around the twists and turns of the on track and business side of the racing world for over 50 years. Not only racing but the automotive industry as well held The Captain in high regards and respects. Days before the announcement of the sale he called every Indycar owner as well NASCAR to let them know of his plans. They gave them their blessing. In the press conference Roger Penkse will step down from calling racing strategy from the pits to avoid conflict. Now he hopes to open more opportunities for the series and the speedway with potential thought of Indycar/NASCAR double weekend to having endurance sports car race on the road course.
Give Tony George credit. Still dislike and resented over The Split, when the time to come sell the speedway he could have sold it to anyone even to NASCAR or Liberty (who owns Formula 1). Instead he chose to sell it to the only person who been through trenches of open wheel racing from its growth to fall to regrowth: The Captain, himself, Roger Penske.
With The Captain now running the ship in Indianapolis what more opportunities can he open up? On this day forward open wheel racing heading to brave new world.
One product I never kept up is Topps Now. It's too gimmicky for having a card available to purchase for 24 hours and print run depending on amount of sales of the card. I been burned in the past by Topps when they introduced eTopps. I threw money in to it for years and didn't get much value in return. In fact I totally forgot I had eTopps account for over a decade til one of blogs I read mention about it. I dusted the account off and got half of the collection from eTopps portfolio on-card delivered costing me almost $50. With no trade/purchase demand in the hobby I'm stuck with "paperless" eTopps cards unless I get it on-card delivered. Last week I got Topps Now ad while browsing a website. One card they showed on the ad caught my eye I went to their site.
The one of Alex Bregman hitting a grand slam to lift Astros to 8-1 victory over Nationals in game 4. It's the pose and holding of his bat drew me to it along being a member of Astros. I end up making my first ever Topps Now purchase. I got the card from the mail today in a case with a foam inside to keep it protected. I hope Topps Now purchases become normal occurrence for me.
Bitter pill for this Astros fan having see his team losing in the World Series as all four losses came at home. Astros/Nationals series made history as the road team won in the entire 7 game series. It proved there's no such thing as home field advantage anywhere. The road team outscored home team 49-14. Nationals can only muster total of 3 runs in their three World Series home games. Astros offensive power was shut down in their final two home games despite many chances to score more runs.
Big "what if" is what if Astros put Gerit Cole on the mound in relief instead Will Harris. Will Astros hold on to the 2-0 lead? Cole testing free agent market and who knows if Astros drop money on him. Justin Verlander still couldn't win World Series game. This was Astros best starting pitching core along with happy homer hitters and got no ring out of it. I said the same for Dodgers when I felt that was one of best roster they had in and couldn't come up big as well.
Washington Nationals surprised everyone beating two of top MLB teams of the season in the playoffs on their way to title. Many wrote them off after Bryce Harper left for Phillies claiming their title run is over. The bullpen known to be very shaky at times. Instead they made playoff run getting the wildcard spot and having beat the Brewers to get in NLDS. They eliminated heavily favorite Dodgers in five games and swept Cardinals in NLCS before taking on another heavily favorite Astros to the distance and winning it. Stephen Strasburg was unstoppable on the mound. Juan Soto and Anthony Rendon provided offensive spark. Howie Kendrick two homeruns in postseason were game winning clutches. Max Scherzer bounced from shaky game 1 despite a victory and being scratched from game 5 for back troubles showed up for game 7 ready to win it. Starter Patrick Corbin came off the bullpen to help keep the team in the game. Manager Dave Martinez emptied the tank entire run to the World Series. At the end Washington Nationals came on top just when many thought team's title run is over. With Rendon being a free agent and question loom over Strasburg opting out the Nationals able squeeze one last playoff run for World Series title.
The one player who won't be getting Nationals World Series ring is Bryce Harper. He might be counting his big money but really missed out on that ring big time.
This 1990 Score baseball card immortalized event that took place 30 years on this date. I still remember it so vividly watching entire thing unfold on TV. I was 8 at the time getting ready to watch game 3 of World Series between Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants. Dubbed the Bay Bridge Series both cities separated by 5 mile bridge across the bay. A's took first two games at home and it across the bridge to Candlestick for games 3 and 4. Just as festivities about to start disaster struck as major earthquake shook the area including the stadium. TV feed was lost only to be restored minutes later. Outside the stadium it was carnage as buildings and highways collapsed and fires from ruptured gas lines raged. The game no longer mattered as TV crews focused of damages and loss of life in front of the viewers. I was glued on the screen as live helicopter shots showed section of upper part of Bay Bridge collapse down to lower level. With TV stations focused around San Francisco and Bay Bridge I didn't know about collapse of Cypress Freeway in Oakland. I found out about it watching a documentary of the earthquake (which I forgotten the name) I saw 10-15 years later on a movie channel. Another importance I have relatives living in Oakland (and still do to this day). I remember being scared for them. After hours passed my dad got a hold of my great aunt and great uncle revealing they along everyone else is okay leaving entire the family relieved. They were at home when the quake happened. That moment was re-lived 5 years ago with ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called "The Day The Series Stopped."
The World Series would resume on October 27 with A's taking 2 games at Candlestick in sweeping the Giants. At the time it was longest end date to World Series. It was only World Series victory for A's in their three straight appearances from 88-90 which included stacked lineup of Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Terry Steinbach, Dave Stewart, and Dennis Eckersley. I still remember game 3 for being homerun fest. Not much of celebration at the end due to the earthquake and causalities around of surrounding Bay Area. It was one of the memories etched in my mind while growing up.
Some things changed or stayed the same during those 30 years. Bash Brothers were no more, potential A's dynasty never materialized and despite many attempts for new one, A's still play in that shit stadium that been renamed many times that I'll just call it Oakland-Alameda. Giants landed Barry Bonds from Pittsburgh and bashed many homeruns. They left Candlestick for ATT Park located just few miles south of 80. Giants would have small dynasty with 3 World Series championships starting 2010. Both my great aunt and great uncle still living at the same house in Oakland along uncle who never launched out unlike three others.
EDIT: Another blogger point of view of Loma Prieta earthquake as he was living there when it hit head to Fuji's post at The Chronicles of Fuji.
WWE tour stopped in Odessa on Saturday for house show. I got good floor seats for event as well floating bunch of sign ideas. Why bring signs to house show? It's the interaction the wrestlers have with the fans. It makes you part of the show as they get away with lot of stuff on tour shows than televised shows. In 2004 I had JBL point at my sign as he made his way to the ring that read "JBL For President." In 2006 I had Sharmell pointing at my sign with her mouth happily wide open that read "Booker T = Batista Killer" based on locker room fight they had. Booker even made mention of the fight in his pre-match promo without mention Batista's name. I thought of potential sign ideas weeks before the event. I already settle on "Father of Maria Kanellis Baby" with arrows pointing at me. It took day of the show to come up with sign ideas. This isn't a brand show it was Supershow with wrestlers combined from both RAW and Smackdown roster. They can advertise who's coming but things change. Braun Strowman was advertised for the show but didn't appear.
On day of the show I got there early hanging around the back and getting
a picture taken with referee Charles Robinson. Slowly few wrestlers
drove up such as Rowan, Baron Corbin, and Viking Raiders. Knowing Viking
Raiders going be appearing I immediately created a sign that read,
"West TX is War!!! Viking Raiders" with the name original names of Ray
"Death" Rowe (now Erik) and Hanson (now Ivar). War part is a nod to
their original name War Raiders and previously in the indies War
Machine. Then there was third sign which became a whole different story and will mention later on.
The host went, "Really? Are you sure?" when I held up "Father of Maria Kanellis Baby" sign before it started. Show started with Viking Raiders taking on Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Viking Raiders pointed at my sign as I held it up high. They went on to defeat The O.C. Shinsuke Nakamura with Sami Zayn successfully defended U.S. title from Ali. Zayn gave Ali the helluva kick after the match. The New Day and The Revival battled for tag team titles. The New Day got the crowd behind them as they threw out pancakes to the crowd while The Revival get booed out just for hugging each other. The Revival eek out the win successfully defending tag team titles. Roman Reigns duke it out with Erick Rowan which included interference from Luke Harper. Reigns finish Rowan off with third Superman punch, The show head to intermission afterwards.
After the intermission King Baron Corbin demands the ref make him the winner after he attacked out Chad Gable earlier tonight. Gable came out and wants to fight. Remember I mention about fan interaction between the wrestler and the fans at house show? Corbin yelled at me for chanting "GABLE!" during the match which is pretty awesome. Gable picked up the victory over Corbin.
Here's the story of the third sign I had that end up being viral. Next match featured newly crowned Smackdown women champion Bayley who won the belt against Charlotte. She showed up with a changed look, popped the inflatables (and making a kid cry), and went full blown heel
telling the fans to screw ourselves. After the show ended I knew I got to make
anti-Bayley sign but what should I put? After few thoughts include lame
ones like "Bayley Hates Me" I decide call back to her post match promo. Since
she told the fans to screw ourselves I hit back with "Screw You Too
Bayley" sign. Meaning was since you don't like us then we don't like you too type. Little did I know is how impromptu and interactive the verbal exchange between me and her. She debut to new music as she walked down to the ring when she said saw the sign and yelled, "Why screw me?" I responded back with you told us to screw ourselves and making kids cry. She got the security take my sign, handed it to her and ripped in half. I got fist pumps from fans around me for the sign and interaction. During the match Bayley yelled at me and gave me death stares. I will get back to this later on how it became viral.
Bayley took on Charlotte in a good match til Tamina came in and attacked Charlotte causing a DQ finish. Becky Lynch hit the ring and made it a tag team match between Becky/Charlotte and Bayley/Tamina. Becky and Charlotte got the victory after making both of them tap out.
The main event as Seth Rollins took on Bray Wyatt. The match was short with Rollins winning via DQ after Wyatt put mandible claw on the ref. Rollins continues his onslaught on curb stomp only to get subdue when Wyatt put the mandible claw on him. The show ends and I felt this match should have been suited before the intermission. Put Roman and Rowan match on last to send the fans home happy.
I enjoyed the show and had fun as I cheered and jeered wrestlers, waved signs, and got up and personal with certain ones. I will end this on viral part of my sign.
Once I got back home from the show pictures of Bayley and my "Screw You Too Bayley" sign surfaced on reddit and twitter. Even Bayley media twitter page made mention of it including video of her tearing the sign. I didn't expect to it blow up around wrestling circles. If it gives power of heel Bayley I'm glad to help in that part as a fan.
