Monday, May 2, 2016

The Middle of a Pennant Race

Sure the baseball season is only a month old, but I'm in the middle of a pennant race.  No, not the Royals, though they had a rough month are still in great shape.  They had a little funk last week hopefully they are done with it.

I'm not talking about a fantasy baseball race either.  I vowed after I somehow won one a few years ago that I would likely never do another one.  I wanted to go out on top... plus I lost interest in it halfway through.  I prefer to do a pickem type pool than a fantasy league.

So what pennant race am I talking about?  I'm talking about pennants.


I found my collection of pennants last month while cleaning, and to be honest I had a lot more than I remembered.  I'm not really sure what got me into collecting them, but I do like having them.  The first one I got about 20 years ago during a town festival in a neighboring town.  Since then I've wanted any I could find cheap.  The problem is I never find any cheap.  So I was surprised when I saw how many I've accumulated.  The good news is a few years ago I bought some covers and I still have an extra cover, so I might try to look for a cheap one to fill it soon.

This Mizzou one I got on clearance at a Walmart.  Its really plain, but it was like a buck, and that was good enough for me so I got it.  To be honest though, I don't think I've every displayed it.  Even now I've put all these in a closet so while they are handy, they still aren't being displayed.


I think I got this one not too long after the other one above.  This one still has the cardboard on it.  It commemorates Mizzou playing in the 2014 Cotton Bowl.  I like this one much better, but do wish it showed who they were playing in the game.


This one also has cardboard on it still, so odds are I also got this at Walmart.  To be honest I don't remember when I got this.  I rooted for Tony for a while, and my sister Andrea liked him, but I was never a real big fan.  I wouldn't be against getting more NASCAR ones, especially of drivers I really like.  I really should look for some.


This one I got for a quarter at Savvy Seconds a long time ago (before their original building burned down).  To show how much I like pennants, I am surprised I even got this, but I couldn't turn down a quarter.  I can't stand Nebraska, but I do believe I watched this National Championship Game.  Again, it would have been nice to have shown their opponent on it too, even if it was really small.


I also got this one on the same trip.  I wasn't a big Braves fan either, but I did like this one a lot, and it would take a lot for me to turn down a baseball one.  I realized when putting this in the covers, that the covers or maybe the pennants aren't all the same size.  Some don't really fit in all the way, which is why this one looks a little bent.

I got one more on the same trip too, this one I had to have.


I rarely ever see minor league products in these parts, and if I do, its usually Springfield Cardinals.  So when I saw this (again probably close to 10 years ago), I really wanted it.  I had never heard of the Springfield Capitals, but I really like this design even if it seems a bit plain.  I looked them up when I got home, but don't remember anything about them.  I might have to look again soon.


I might put these on display in a few months as this is an Olympic year.  These went on clearance at Walmart about 6 months after the 2012 games, and I kept holding off until they were under a buck.  Part of the reason is because I could tell they weren't selling, but another is these are really thin and flimsy compared to most others I have.  These are a lot easier to roll up if you feel like doing that, but I don't.  I might have even gotten it for 50 cents, but I was worried they would just pull them at some point, so I finally jumped on them.


When I say them, I mean this one as well.  I liked this one much better, but again was cheap and held off on them.  I'm hoping they make some more for these Olympics, and hope they have better designs, but I must say I like this one quite a bit.

I'm hoping I get to see most of the events I want to watch this year, but it seems they have odd schedules and never on a channel I have so I miss the main things I want to watch.  Though this year I think gymnastics and track and swimming are the only events I'll watch.  Though J'Den Cox is wrestling, so I might watch him compete too.


This might be the second highest paid pennant I have.  I bought this not too long after the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006 at MC Sports.  I also bought a Cardinals shirt too.  It wasn't a bandwagon type thing and I didn't turn against the Royals, I just wanted some kind of shirt to commemorate the win, and it was cheap.  This was marked down too so I got it.  I remember being about the only one at Wendy's who wasn't a Cardinals fan, so I kept hearing about how great they were, so I might have bought the shirt to wear on occasion to blend in too, but it was fairly common (and still is sometimes) for me to root against the Cardinals.  I remember a boss who was a lifelong Red Sox fan and we was working the night Boston swept St. Louis in 2004.  People called me a traitor (the dumb ones called me a trader), but truth was I was always somewhat a Red Sox fan, I just never proclaimed it as much as being a Royals fan.  I rooted for the Red Sox in 2004, and again in 2007, and rooted for Texas in 2011 against St. Louis.  My reason that time some thought was just spite, but it wasn't.  I wanted Ian Kinsler to get a World Series ring... and I also had a Rangers helmet, so it gave me a chance to wear it.

Anyways, I like this pennant because it shows the trophy and proclaims them the champs unlike those ones above just showing they played in the series.  I should look to see if I can find any Royals ones from last year.  I looked a time or too but was too expensive (and I'm cheap).


The final one to show you is the very first one I got.  I got it in the aforementioned trip to a festival in a nearby town.  The reason I liked it was because up until that point I never really saw any for sale.  Even if I did it was usually Cardinals ones, and I had no interest in those.  At this point in my life, I was a big fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  It was maybe a year or two after they got the new logo and ditched the creamsicle jerseys.  I liked the new logo and the helmets but I did miss those old jerseys.  When I saw this I asked my mom if I could get it.  I also got a window decal I put on my window (where it remains to this day, I left it there because it was so sun faded).  I even got the cover for it for free so it was pretty cool to have.  I hung it on my wall for the longest time.  I remember taking it down and waving it after they won the Super Bowl a few years later.  I left it on the wall for a real long time, even after I began to lose interest in the team.

While I don't root for them really anymore (I guess I'm more of a bandwagon fan these days) I still am glad I have this one.  It is my favorite not only because its my first one, but because it brings me so many memories.

If I had a wishlist of pennants, I would first like a Royals one (World Series or not it doesn't matter), then any or all of the Royals minor league teams, then likely any other minor league team..  In reality if I find them cheap, it doesn't matter what they are, I'd likely buy it.  I do wish I could find a cheap one of Presidential candidates I see from time to time.  It seems pennants have gotten less popular as time has gone on (much like baseball cards), but its still a collection I cherish.

That wraps it up for today, thanks for reading and have a great night.  I'm sorry for the late night postings lately, but I've been trying to write a new post daily and then get really tired and fall asleep.  I'm hoping to fix that soon.  I also plan to keep writing daily blogs for as long as I can (until I run out of stuff or am caught up), so I can get back on track and come close to my goal of more posts than last year.  I'll only do that though if the posts have meaning.  So if I draw a blank, I'll probably just take a day off.

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