Quick Update On My Mail

I binged watched a few more Orange Is The New Black, its not a show I recommend for everyone, but I am enjoying it.  I luckily made it to season 2 and hope to finish it soon.  I might get to the end of season 3 and I'll be happy with that.

At any rate, I thought I would give an update on where a package of cards I bought off EBay is at.  The estimated delivery date is Saturday and it will probably make it by then.  However, I bought and paid for it Sunday and it was shipped out Monday and was 45 minutes away from me.  A straight line is wishful thinking though as my deliveries like to take summer trips.  To give some proof, I decided to show the last update I saw earlier today.

As you can see, it left Columbia as planned, then headed north to Des Moines, IA.  I've been to Des Moines, and I liked it, but I didn't expect my mail to go that way.  Then it decided to go to Kansas City, MO, which again is a nice place, but it wasn't necessary.  Then it went to Kansas City, KS.  I've been there too, but nothing to write home about (at least the part of town I went to).  I think the Des Moines part again is a mistake, which is common.  So as speculation, my next guesses is that it will head back to Columbia, then to my hometown on Saturday.  So in essence it went in a triangle, and to make matters worse, I'm almost inside that triangle, and could have walked to get it.

For those not hip on the Midwest, here is a Google Map I screenshotted with the map routes so far.

Location 1 is where the original package is from.  The RED line is where the package first went.  All the way to Des Moines, IA.  It didn't take a straight line, but likely highway 63. Then it went south to Kansas City, MO.  Again, not a straight line, but likely took 69 Highway.  Then as you can see on the other map, it headed WEST to Kansas City, KS.  If I had to guess, it took I-70.  After that I can only guess, but based on past packages, it will head back to Columbia (the grey line), then to ME (the pink line).  As you can see. My location and the original location is a lot closer than all the places its been. 

32 MILES AWAY!  That's all it needed!  Again, I'm not mad because it wasn't an important package, but it is frustrating that it could have gotten here faster, and even more the fact that probably could have saved the Postal Service a bit of money, but oh well.  I still say if they were more efficient they would do more business, but that's just me.

Hopefully I'll have it Saturday, and have it posted by Monday.  If not, I'll find more stuff to scan.  So for now that's all I have, I guess I can watch another episode or two of OITNB before I head to bed.  At least the Royals won over the Cardinals.  Wait a minute, they just went from KC to St. Louis, maybe they could have dropped off my package.  That would be a treat.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and have a great night.

Knocking Out Another Pack, and a Listia Win

Sometimes I lose track of time and don't prepare for a blog as well as I should.  It happened today, as I planned to scan some cards, but never got around to it.  Part of it was annoyance from the Post Office, and the rest I blame on binge watching Netflix (seriously, I hope to at least get to the end of season two of Orange Is The New Black before my trial runs out and I still need to catch up on Daredevil).  The annoyance with the Post Office isn't new, it happens about 40% of the time, so I sort of expected it.  I bought some cards on EBay and the seller lived in Columbia, which is about 45 minutes away.  Having some car issues lately I figured it would be easier just to spend the few extra bucks to have it shipped.  I mean what, 3-4 days tops?  Well, when it said expect delivery by Saturday (this was on Sunday) my first thought was "no sh**!"  The seller had a number up Sunday night and shipped it out on Monday.  So I checked Monday night and it indeed did leave Columbia.  I looked last night and much to my surprise (or not to my surprise I should say), it was moving right along and it had landed it its next destination- Des Moines, IA.  Yes, they shipped it north 140 miles or so away, when realistically I could have walked to the seller and gotten it by now.  I haven't checked it since, but it did leave Des Moines ready for its next stop.  Knowing how this works I know the next steps.  It will either head to St. Louis, then transfer back to Columbia where it will head to my post office.  Or, It will just go straight back to Columbia, and to my post office.  However, I think the trek it will take is over to Kansas City, KS, then head right by my house as it heads back to Columbia, then to my post office.  So Saturday is a good guess when I'll get it.  If I had really thought they would do that, I would have asked my sister to pick it up, but oh well, I don't blame the seller.  I had something similar happen to me on an Amazon order a few years ago.  Bought an item shipping from Dallas, TX, it then went south to I think Houston, then went all the way over to New Mexico and Arizona, up to Colorado, over to Kansas City, KS, then past my house to Columbia, then to my post office.  I came pretty quick for as many states as it went through but its sad when my mail travels more than I do. As for passing my house, I'm okay with that, I live in a small town, so I expect that, but I don't expect a package 45 miles away to head to another state or two before coming to my house.

Anyways, after all that, I wasn't in the mood to scan, and then forgot I didn't have much to show, but remember I did have a pack of Topps to show, and a couple Listia cards.  I'll show them first.

I haven't bid on too much on Listia as of late, but when I do, its for cards I don't expect to win.  If I do, that's great, but if not, I'm not too worried.  This was listed as 2 Royals cards.  I saw right off that it wasn't Alex Gordon, but Dee Gordon, so it wasn't exactly true, but I didn't have the Hosmer, so instead of raising a stink, I bid and hoped nobody else complained and that's what happened.  I'm not trying as aggressive to get all the Blue Border Royals cards like I am the Blue Sparkle ones, but this was roughly 5 cents for both cards, so who can pass that up?  I haven't decided if I'll keep the Gordon card, but I think for now I'll hold onto it just because one day I might make a PC for him.

So let's dive into the pack of Topps.  I didn't need it, but I had a coupon, and figured if I could get a few more cards knocked off my checklist, it would be good.  I think I got close to about 35% of Series One completed.  I think I might hold off on finishing the set for now as I'd like to work on other things.  By the time I go back a lot of the cards should be cheap enough to pick up.

This pack did get me a Ian Kinsler which I needed, and had a nice card of Cameron Maybin making a nice catch at Wrigley Field.

Here are some more of the base cards.  I like the Jordan Walden card, though I don't know anything about him at this point.  Shin-Soo Choo seemed to fall off the map after leaving Cleveland. Maybe its because I always heard about him with the Indians as they are rivals, but I never hear anything anymore.

You can't really tell, but the Henry Owens is a rainbow parallel.  As I said a couple days ago, I kind of stopped following the Red Sox after the 2007 season, so I don't know much about him.  I'll hold onto the card in case he because a big star, at least I'll hold onto for a while.

The Mike Trout is part of the Berger's Best.  What is interesting is that his name is in Gold.  I don't remember that on the original card.  I'm still not sold on the Berger's Best, and to be honest a bit tired of them using the same cards each year.  I mean how many reprints of the George Brett rookie do we need?  Sure 1-2 is nice every decade or so, but not every year.  How about some other players who may not get cards as often?

These three cards were nice additions.  I don't need the Garrett Jones, but I did need the Gehrig.  I have close to a complete set of the Greatest Streaks cards.  I might try to finish it pretty quick just so I don't have to worry about it.

A set that might take time to finish is the MLB Debut set.  It is a pretty big insert set so not one I plan to just know out.  I think my plan will be to get any assortment of the cards and go from there.  To be honest I like the Silver cards more than the Bronze or Gold, but the majority of my cards are Bronze.  I actually forgot one of them was a Gold until I moved it and noticed it looked different in the light.  For that reason, I like the Silver the most.  Maybe I'll get lucky and find a lot on EBay.  If I do, I'll probably try to find one that won't have to travel through multiple states to get to me.

Anyways, that will wrap it up for tonight.  I hope to get some scanning done tomorrow, and if I don't who knows, I might take a day off.  Maybe I'll find some patriotic cards to show off to gear up for Independence Day, or maybe I'll make some customs since its been a while.  At any rate if I take a few days off, don't be alarmed.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.  Now to decide if I want to watch the Royals and Cardinals again, or go back to Netflix.  I think baseball wins out.

Check Out My Other Cards

Yesterday I showed off my Royals portion of my COMC cards I got.  Today I will show the rest.  Nothing will be bigger than the Brett I showed yesterday, but I still like the other cards I got, so let's see them.

Rick Cash had a manly mustache.  That isn't the reason I got the card though.  All three of these guys played for Mizzou.  They also have very few cards, so finding them was a real treat especially for I think the Fellows and the Pisarkiewicz since they are the only cards they had.  Just to let you know, I don't have all former Mizzou players memorized, I found a couple lists online that had them all named.  Sometimes I look through them and search for the players.  One day I'll need to see who is left I don't have at least one card of.  My favorite design is the middle one, but the Cash one is a close second thanks mainly to the goalposts design.

Check Out My Stamp!  The Francis Peay is a stamp and not a card, but I was surprised to find it on COMC and even more surprised it was cheap.  I have one of his other cards, and according to the TCDB there is one more stamp of him, and that is all that was made for him.  He also went to Mizzou and on the campus he has a quadrangle named after him.

Henry Josey also went to Mizzou, and I also found this one cheap.  I have the base card so I wasn't too concerned getting a parallel (as I might have said earlier, I don't plan on getting EVERY CARD of EVERY former Mizzou guy), but this was like 35 cents, and at that price, I wasn't going to pass it up.  Its a shame he didn't get a fair shake in the NFL as I thought he could have made an impact somewhere, at the very least as a returner.

A couple more Mizzou guys, one is my first Jeremy Maclin card as a Kansas City Chief.  It is a parallel card, but the red border really makes this card pop.  I do try to get as many Maclin cards as I can because he was one of the first players I saw play when I first started going to the games. I still have a video somewhere of him scoring a touchdown from 20 yards out.

I try to collect Mizzou guys from all sports, with my main focus on basketball and football, but finding some baseball ones are nice too.  I don't know much about the baseball team at Mizzou (I can't get into high school and college baseball because I hate metal bats, it dirties the game to me), so I didn't know about Breckin Williams before finding this card.  All I know about the Mizzou baseball team is they just fired their coach Tim Jameison after like 20 years or more (which I think was dumb, but he's staying on at Mizzou in some capacity), and that they had a player (who was just drafted into MLB) named Ryan Howard.  Beyond that, I know some of the big names that made it through the ranks like Scherzer, Kinsler, and Aaron Crow (if he ever recovers from injury he is now with the Cubs), but I don't keep up too much, only the highlights on the local news if I have it on.

The next card is Greg Maddux. No he didn't go to Mizzou, I just scanned them together.  I got this card because it was an oddball from Church's Chicken, and it was cheap.  I don't usually look at what cards I have (as a result sometimes I buy ones I already have, like the 1975 Frank White I have relisted on COMC right now), so the oddballs are a safe bet that I don't have them.  If I start to focus more on my Maddux collection, I think the focus will be on late 90's cards as its the thinnest part of my collection.

After those cards, the rest are First Pitch cards.  They are a mix of 2015 and 2016.  I want to complete the sets, but I'm not going to pay very much for them.  In fact I think the most I paid for these cards were 40 cents.  Let's take a look.

Set fillers.  If I wasn't working on the set, I wouldn't have gotten any of these.  Sure I liked Grammer on Cheers and as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, but I never liked Fraiser.  I know of Austin Mahone and Jermaine Jones but neither are ones that would normally make me want to run out and get their cards.

I really thought I had the Agnes McKee but I didn't.  It pained me a bit to get the Lars Ulrich card because I've never liked him.  It's not because I don't like Metallica, though to be honest, I'm not big fans of them.  I do like their song Fuel, so there's that.  It's just something about Lars I don't like.

As for Mickey and Bill, well I'll be honest, I didn't know who they were.  I just needed the card.  I pride myself in knowing about music, but I'm not a Dead Head and I couldn't name one of their songs.  I heard of them and heard of Jerry Garcia, but I just never got into them.  I don't regret it though, its just something I don't listen to.

I only know of Graham Elliott because last year on Listia I would watch videos to build up my credits and everyday they would have one or two of Graham visiting Wrigley Field.  Probably filmed the same day this card was taken from.  He also went to a Atlanta Hawks game in another video I saw.  Beyond that, I don't know who he is, but again, I need to finish the set.  So what I'm saying is these were more set fillers.  At least I'm almost done with the set.

Okay, now these folks I do know.  I've wanted the Jon Hamm card since I first saw it because he went to Mizzou.  I would like a second one at some point to add to my Mizzou collection, but don't need it right now.  Beyond that, I can't really say I like him.  He comes off really smug to me, and I tried watching Mad Men a couple times, but just couldn't.  I really wanted to like it as I like marketing and advertising so I thought I'd love it, but it just seemed really slow to me. Maybe I might give it another shot one day, but I'm fine for now not seeing it.

YOU! YOU GOT WHAT I NEED!  It's Biz Markie!  How could I not love this card.  I still listen to Just a Friend from time to time, so this was another card I wanted from the get go.  I think they could have gotten a better photo, but I'll take it either way.

Now speaking of a great photo, I think the Chelsea Handler card might be the best one in series two.  I just like it.  I'm not even a big fan of Handler, but this is a good card.  I see she has a show on Netflix now, since I have a couple weeks left of a free trial I might check it out.  That is if I get through Daredevil season two.  Also since I just got hooked on Orange Is The New Black, I might not get to Chelsea's show.  I won't be too mad though.

Another Series Two card I wanted from the get go was the Gabriel Iglesias card.  My mom is a big fan of his, and so am I.  Its funny that I watch a lot of stand up comedy but somehow I totally forgot he was in All That and was on a season of Last Comic Standing (he was eliminated after sneaking in a cell phone).  His first couple stand up specials were amazing, but his special from a year or two ago was a little lacking.  At any rate, he's still funny, and I'm glad I finally got this card.  If I got another one I'd maybe try to get it signed TTM.

After these pickups, I'm down to I think 5 cards left to complete the 2015 set, with only 2 cards left in the Series Two Set and the other 3 from Series One.  I'm in no rush to finish the set, but if I find them cheap enough I'll get them.  I already found the Tom Morello cheap enough to get, so its ready to ship next time.

Let's see some 2016 First Pitch cards.  I'll start with the only one of the three I know, Carrie Brownstein.  I only know here because I'd watch Late Night With Seth Meyers and she would be in videos with Fred Arminsen when Fred would be filming Portlandia.  I've never seen Portlandia, but from the clips I've seen, I just couldn't get into it.

As for Bree Morse and IronE Singleton, I have no clue who they are.  Pop culture is passing me by and at this point I'm fine with that.  I will say all three photos are really nice, so I have to hand it to Topps on that.

Now I know 3 out of 4 of these, so maybe I know enough pop culture to get by.  I don't know Rebekah Gregory, but it is a nice card.  I think I read she ran in the Boston Marathon and got injured during the bombing.  It's nice when teams let people like these throw out the first pitch.  Not every one needs to be a worldwide celebrity.  In fact, I know Topps need to feature some celebs to sell the set, but I'd be fine if they did a set that had everyday people throwing out the first pitch.  It couldn't be any worse than the Punt, Pass, and Kick cards they did in the football set a couple years ago.

I knew of Gabrielle Giffords before I got the card, and this is another one that I like that they included.  That is another good photo as well, it shows that not every photo needs to be an action photo to be a good card.

Tony Hawk I knew obviously.  I used to be a big fan, but I'm indifferent these days about him.  It does make me a bit disappointed to not see him in a jersey though.  It almost seems like they needed him as a last second replacement and just plucked him from the crowd.

Lastly is Levar Burton.  I know him mostly from Reading Rainbow, but also from his role as Kunta Kinte in Roots. I never got into Star Trek, so I didn't see him on there.  I also remember him as the voice of Kwame on Captain Planet.  I loved that show, I still watch it sometimes on Youtube if I can find it.   I just read something interesting on Wikipedia that I never really pieced together, but I don't deny it.  His voice was sampled in a dc Talk song.  The song is one of my favorites actually and I always thought it sounded like him, but now I guess its confirmed.  The song is called Time Is... and was off dc Talk's 1993 album Free At Last.

Adding these to the few I had already I have over half of the series one set complete, and I'll work on it some more when the other cards get cheaper.  I have no clue why the Jordan Speith card is going for so much right now.  Last I checked it was around 6 bucks.

I forgot there was one other card I got as well, that I will show now.

I've been wanting a Michael Annett card for a couple years now, but never found one cheap.  Its not because he is an elite driver, but more because there haven't been NASCAR cards for a while so the last few sets seem to have higher prices.  I heard a new NASCAR set will be coming out at the end of July, and if so I will have to keep an eye out for it.  As for Annett, he needed HScott Motorsports to buy him into getting a guaranteed spot into the Sprint Cup this year (long story, only 36 teams get guaranteed spots, HScott worked a deal with another team to get him that 36th spot).  His average finish so far this year is about 36th, so he might be better served moving down a series for a year or two before trying again.  I know he's not a threat, but I still root for him, and usually I am happy if he just finishes ahead of Danica.  Then again, it would help if NASCAR was shown on Network TV, but I complain about that enough on Twitter, that I won't rehash it here.

That wraps up my cards from COMC,  I left some money in my account so I can get some more and have 20 or so ready to ship the next time the free shipping kicks in.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed these last two posts.  I have a couple more posts planned this week and hoping another package comes in soon that I bought on EBay.  It will jump start my First Pitch Series Two set.  So with that, I hope you have a great night.

Check Out My.... BOOM!

Late last week I got some cards in the mail from COMC. It appears I got mine a bit later than a lot of other bloggers, and even if not, most have posted their goodies.  When COMC announced their free shipping period I was waiting for it.  In fact, I've been waiting for it since at least April.  Fact is, I'm cheap.  Three bucks may not seem like a lot to most people, but to me that is about 9 cards more I can add to my collection.  My shopping on COMC is usually cards under 50 cents, and most closer to 35 to 40 cents.  However, earlier this year I found a holy grail card cheap and I jumped at the chance.  I was worried because I didn't have enough money in my COMC account, so I had to add some and at times they can be slow.  Luckily, the card was still available after the money posted and it was mine.  Of course it had a drawback.  It was listed in POOR CONDITION!  I've never been one to judge cards on their condition unless they are marked or folded or something else.  If the corners are rounded, who cares.  It means they've weathered a storm, and more were from the non-gloss days where they were really just pieces of cardboard.  So cards from the 80's and before with only rounded corners are fine by me, especially if they are cheap and I want it.

So what am I babbling about?  Only the one card that would have been #1 on my most wanted list if I ever made one (which I did plan to do, but excluding it would have tipped you off).  It was an impossible card for me to get because... well, I'M CHEAP!  I debate over something that is a quarter.  In fact I've decided to not get cards on COMC before because I didn't want to pay 40 cents, though I saw the going rate was a buck.  I'M CHEAP!  I decided against buying a season of South Park yesterday. The price? $3.74!  I talked myself out of it with the excuse "I don't really need it."

THIS CARD! Well, there's no talking myself out of it.

BOOM!  In the words of Jesse James Dupree of Jackyl PUH-POW!  WHEN MOONSHINE AND DYNAMITE COLLIDE!

Sorry... anyways, GEORGE FREAKING BRETT ROOKIE CARD!  In my head I just sounded like Don West saying that.  I miss those Shop At Home overnight card shows.

To me this is not poor condition.  I could see fair, but not poor.  Corners are rounded sure, but no marks, no folding, no peeling, it just looks weathered.  I kicked myself not buying his rookie a year or two ago for 18 bucks.  I told myself if I ever saw one that low again, I was getting it.  The closest I saw was 24 bucks.  This card was not 18 bucks.  It wasn't even 24 bucks.  This card was.... $11.49! A Brett rookie for under 12 bucks had me getting jumpy.  That's when I realized I was about 8 bucks short of the price, so I had to go to Paypal and get some money.  I had a problem last year with Paypal and my bank, so I was worried this time around. Luckily it went smooth and less than 5 minutes later, it was in my account.  I checked and the card was still there, and I bought it.  According to COMC the Brett rookie averages 80 bucks, of course in mint condition.  This one I have suits me just fine.  If I find one in better shape at a similar price sure I'll probably bite, but I doubt lightning will strike twice.

The worst part of it all was waiting.  Sure I had the money to ship it now (back then I mean), but I'M CHEAP!  I'll use every bit of that money on cards.  I know they have free shipping periods in June and even sometimes during the week of The National, surely I can wait that long.

June took forever to get here, but luckily it arrived, and so did my Brett rookie.  Also some other cards too.  So enough gushing on Mr. Brett, let's look at some other Royals cards I nabbed.

These Denny's cards are look alike but according to my lists, I didn't have this Appier card, so I got it.  That reminds me, I need to update my lists.  I should do that soon.  As for the card, it was the only Royal in the set, so I got it done, which makes me happy.  I'm not really big on these cards.  They seemed cool at the time but they lost their appeal to me now.  I do like the jersey Ape is sporting though.

Slowly but surely I'm working on the Blue Sparkle Walmart whatever the set is called of the Royals.  The Paulino one was fairly cheap, but now the ones I still need are of bigger players so  while some come in under a buck, I'm holding off on a lot of them until they get cheaper.  Might get the Butler one soon though, its been on sale a few times.

The Thunder card of Beltran was new to me.  In fact it might have been one of the last cards I purchased before shipping.  I like the design a lot even though I never cared for Wheaties.  I was more of a Corn Flakes and Lucky Charms guy (not together, that would be gross).  These days since they stopped making my favorite cereal (c'mon Kelloggs, make some Fruit Harvest again!), I tend to stick to Honey Nut Cheerios (or knockoffs) or Crispix. I know I'm getting old, but at least my breakfast is at least healthy.  Anyways, if I saw a box Wheaties with Beltran on it, I'd probably get it.  Then again I skipped boxes with Albert Pujols, so who knows.

These next three were one's I've been watching for a while, but never got them.  Two of them are from the high numbered series, which usually are higher priced.  The other is from the regular series.  I'm not big on the Heritage sets, but I am closer to completing this one now, so I got them.  I think I'm about 3 cards away from completing both the regular and high sets, sothat makes me happy.

Salvador Perez's FIRST CARD!  YES!  I've been wanting one for a long.... wait a second.  Um... does that say DODGERS?  Salvy was never a Dodger!  I find it interesting that I don't hear anyone talking about this being an error card.  At any rate I got a Salvador Perez card from his early years for under a buck, and I'm happy.

The Sam Selman and Logan Moon cards I've had for a while even before the Brett rookie.  They were closer to that 30 cent price I mentioned.  I figured maybe they will break out.  Who know maybe I could flip them if the cards suddenly skyrocketed.  They didn't but at least they go into my collection with the Moon card getting me closer to finishing that set, and the Selman, well, I'll have to see if that's the only Royal in that insert set.

Two more cards to show today, then the rest tomorrow.  This first one is the only autograph card I got this time, and only because it was under a buck (luckily I've done a few COMC challenges lately so I thought I could splurge).

I always liked Joe Randa and when I saw this, I thought it was worth it to get it.  I'd like to have an autograph of as many Royals as possible, so getting one on card like this seemed like a good deal.  I also have a minor league card of Randa (which I guess this kind of is too) as well as some of his major league ones (of course), so if I can find a relic card of some sort I can maybe pull off a trifecta, or well whatever having an auto, a relic, a rookie, and a minor league card is called.  I forgot the criteria for the trifecta or the quad... whatever, I might need a refresher.

The last card is another card I've sit on for a while.  In fact I might have bought it the same day as the Brett Rookie and while not at the same level of excitement, I was still elated to get this card.

I've wanted Johnny Damon relic card for as long as I can remember, in terms of getting back into the hobby.  While I'd love to have one as a Royal, having a Boston relic is fine with me.  My only question is why its two red pieces if they show him on two teams.  Shouldn't one be a Yankees jersey at least?  I mean I'm cool with it as it is, but it would have made more sense.  Boston for many years was my second favorite team, and actually was still my second favorite team when they won with Damon in 2004.  After they won again in 2007, I kind of stopped rooting for them, but I'll always remember the years Damon played for them and glad he won a ring somewhere in his career, too bad it wasn't in Royal Blue.

So that wraps it up for today, I might be able to get two more posts out of it, but if not, I'll finish up tomorrow.  Nothing as big as George Brett, but I still have some good cards that I'm glad I got.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.

A Little Late On The News

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was starting an occasional feature looking at magazines I get.  I also mentioned that I would corral all the ones honoring Ali together for a post.  I think I've gotten all that I will likely get so let's show off the three that featured him on the cover and a couple articles inside.

Let's start with the obvious choice and Sports Illustrated.  I've been busy lately with other stuff (namely a free Netflix trial getting as much viewing in as possible) so I haven't read any of these yet, but I like this cover.  No date of birth or death date, not even his name, just THE GREATEST.  That sums it up nice and nothing more needs to be said.

They also featured another photo on the back cover saying FAREWELL, CHAMP.  It was a nice touch, and the pages in between had mostly stories and articles about him, with exception to the NBA playoffs, so it was a nice tribute.

Next up is Time, which also keeps it minimal.  However, I would be okay with a slightly larger font especially if the background is all white.

Inside they dedicated almost the entire issue to him, and actually think just by looking at it, they did a better job than SI.  If you liked Ali and can still find this issue, I'd say go get it.

Third and final cover is from People.  People ran other stories and had very minimal coverage, so you could skip it if you wanted to.  I do like their photo selection though and thought the cover was laid out nice.

Inside I even scanned a few things as well among the three.

Time showed previous covers featuring Ali, which was pretty cool.  I'm not big on Time, but I will admit they can piece together tribute articles quite nicely.

I chose this one just for the photo.  A lot of the photos inside these magazines were really nice, but they wouldn't fit on the scanner so I could only go for smaller ones.

I think this was also from Time, but it could have been SI.  It fit so I included it.

This was on the back page of SI, and I thought it was pretty cool for them to bring it out of the archive.

Finally is some thoughts from celebrities which was a nice touch as well.  They spread it over two pages.

Here is the other page.  I like the picture Foreman posted.

Overall I thought all three had nice tributes to him, but I thought Time did the best job.  I never really touched on what I thought about Ali, and I think not being alive when he was at his apex never made me that big on him.  I didn't hate him, I just wasn't around to see him so I couldn't grasp the hype he got.  It would be like people being born in the last decade not understanding how great Michael Jordan was to basketball.  They only can see archives, and the sport has changed so much that looking back it doesn't look as extraordinary as it once did.  However, that doesn't take away from the man's ability and sheer dominance of the sport.  I didn't categorize myself as an Ali fan because he alway's seemed too cocky to me, but I know it not bragging if you back it up, but I've never been a fan of cocky people.  In reality he was one of the only names that you could say of an athlete and immediately everyone knew who you were talking about. At times he seemed to carry the World on his shoulders.

Once he got Parkinson's he still was fighting and he still had the same tenacity, focus, and swagger to him that he had in boxing.  I admired that a great deal as a matter of fact.  He never gave up, and despite people saying they won't quite, being diagnosed with a disease takes a hell of a lot out of you, its easy to give up.  For those that fight on, they fight until they literally can't anymore, and for that, I gained a lot of admiration for him.

He will be missed by a lot of people, that is for sure.  I've mentioned to some people I've wanted to visit Louisville, KY again in the near future (it will be 20 years this fall since I last went), and I was checking out a few places there and you could tell the city loved to call Ali their hero and even have quite a few places named after him.  I'd likely visit some of them when I do eventually go.

So that will wrap it up for today.  I got a package in the mail today that I plan on showing off starting Monday, and might even sneak in a post this weekend.  I have some plans for Saturday if it doesn't get too hot, so we'll see.  Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

Two Card Minimum

First I want to apologize on my post from the other night.  It was poorly constructed and poorly planned.  In reality I just wanted to do a blog and didn't have an idea, so I threw crap together and posted it.  I'm not even sure what all I wrote, but in the future, if I don't have any ideas, I will choose to not do a blog for that night or any night until I do have one.

As for tonight, I'm changing things up a bit.  It seems my sleep pattern is so off-kilter that I pretty much sleep whenever I find time.  Having said that, I'm tired as we speak, so this will be a short post.  In fact it will be two cards I won on Listia recently and that will be it.

So let's see card numero uno.

Short and sweet, I'm not into the superhero movies, but thanks to my cousin who is obsessed with all things Marvel (not that there's anything wrong with that), I know Hayley Atwell plays Agent Carter.  He would quite frequently retweet her tweets quite often.  The reason I got this card was nobody bid on it, and Atwell is featured in Series One of the 2016 Topps First Pitch series, representing the Royals.  Its one of a few I don't have as I don't want to pay much for it.  So I figured this would do for now.  I saw another Royal card is included in series two of First Pitch, so I'll keep an eye out.

I'm getting sleepy... But one more card to show. Unlike other bloggers who do one card posts, I try to go above and beyond, and double the output.

I'm talking crazy, let's just see the card.

Hunter Dozier is a Royals prospect who I hear is doing great in Omaha I think (maybe its Northwest Arkansas, facts can't stop me from blogging tonight).   I have a couple of his cards, so this will look nice with them.   I only knew of this set due to a couple Mizzou guys with cards in the set.  It is actually nicer than I thought, so maybe one day I'll see who else is in the set.

So that does it for tonight.  I'm sorry its not lengthy like normal, but when I get a chance to get sleep, I try to take it.  Thanks for reading and I hope to have another post tomorrow.

Shout Out To Mexico, MO

By now you might have heard about (at least for the day) the most famous town in Missouri- Mexico!  I had no interest in the NBA Finals, even a game 7, so I skipped it.  I also missed the NHL Finals this year too (I just forgot it was a win or go home game in that case), but I didn't care for Golden State or Cleveland, so there was no desire to watch.  However, after watching Believeland for the first time just 3 days ago, I did kind of want the Cavs to win for no other reason than to bring a title to the city.  After the Cavs won, Tyron Lue the coach of Cleveland was interviewed.  He quickly got a shout out to his birth city before talking about how great the team is and the city of Cleveland.  When asked another question, Lue again talked about the city of Cleveland, and again also name dropped Mexico, Missouri.

It was nice to hear he did this and the World has been talking about it sense.  Everybody has an angle, some already cracking Donald Trump jokes ("Trumps plans to build a wall around Mexico, MO"), some are confused ("why is there a Mexico in Missouri?"), some upset ("he went to Raytown South, not Mexico, he should rep KC"), and just about everything in-between.  All I heard on the Mid-Missouri radio stations this morning was how awesome it was.  Granted it was, but it already seems like overkill.  However running a tad thin on posts, I decided to jump in with a post.  Now this would probably be better fit for my Missouri Sports History blog, but oh well, I'm posting it here.

My topic today is where is Mexico, Missouri, and what is their history.  So if you haven't decided to look on Wikipedia, just keep reading.  As for Lue, I wasn't aware he was a product of Missouri, much less Mexico, so I got some learning done today too.  None of this is groundbreaking, but there is some interesting bits.

I started to type in Mexico, and before I finished typing it in, the local newspaper was ready to load. It appears I was on the Mexico Ledger page not too long ago.  So I figured I'd start there.  Eww, its a Gatehouse Media Newspaper, meaning their websites suck.  I know this first hand because they own several in the area, and I hate them so much (the websites, not the newspapers themselves), that I rarely go to the page.  The top stories on the page are the recent obituaries, and the Miss Missouri contest.  I forgot about that, the Miss Missouri contest each year is held in Mexico.  I have no idea why, I mean I could name 5 places better than Mexico to host it, starting with Columbia, since its centrally located and has more lodging than Mexico.  Anyways, Miss Missouri contest is currently going on.  I didn't read the article, but I haven't kept up on Miss Missouri in years.  I do know its usually (at least the last I heard) held at the Missouri Military Academy, also in Mexico.  Missouri Military Academy (or as some call it, MMA) has been around since 1889. I don't know a lot about MMA, but while looking at notable names that walked the halls I spotted a couple familar ones.  The first name that popped out was Howard Hughes, Sr.  Then I noticed an actor's name that didn't ring a bell until I thought about it for a second.  Randall Carver went to MMA. Carver had an uncredited role in Midnight Cowboy before breaking out  inthe 1974 film Time To Run.  However he is most famous for his one year stint on the show Taxi, as John Burns.  He still acts and had parts on The Love Boat, The Norm Show, and Malcom In The Middle.

Candice Crawford, former Miss Missouri, aka Mrs. Tony Romo

Another person who graced the halls was Dale Dye. Mr. Dye is a retired Marine Corps officer who fought in Vietnam.  Once he retired, he starts Warriors, Inc. which helps movie and TV shows making them more authentic.  He has also acted in many of the films, among them are Platoon, Born On The Fourth of July, JFK, Under Seige, Natural Born Killers, and more recently, Larry Crowne.  His TV roles are equally impressive with guest spots on Entourage, L.A. Law, JAG, Chuck, and Cold Case.  He's even voiced a couple video games (well, three) in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, Battlefield 2, and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.  More impressive are his awards he's been honored with, among them are the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, andthe Meritorious Service Medal.

MMA isn't the only place where you might have seen someone who became recognized world wide.  Among the notable people from Mexico are former Missouri Senator and former Governor Christopher "Kit" Bond, former NFL running back Jason Brookins, another former Missouri Governor in Charles Henry Hardin, Edward "Ted" Jones (son of Edward D. Jones), singer Martha Mears, former NFL denfensive end Howard Kindig, and ESPN personality Prim Siripipat.  Looking at Martha Mears (I'm always interested in musicians), I noticed she was fairly famous.  She sang for many actresses in the 40's and 50's.  Among them were for Marjorie Reynolds in the film Holiday Inn, Meet Me On Brodway, and Bring On The Girls; Hedy Lamarr in My Favorite Spy; Loretta Young in Half Angel; and many more, even Lucille Ball (The Big Street).

Yeah, that dude from Taxi

So with notable names out of the way, what about the town itself?  Well it got its name originally as New Mexico and was a hotbed for settlers heading to Texas as early as 1836.  After the Mexican-American War when Texas joined the United States, the "New" part was dropped.  The town of Mexico was incorporated in 1855 and was popular as a shipping-point for horses and mules thanks to the Wasbash Railroad and later Alton Railroad.  At one point is was a major source of the nation's fire brick production, and as a result was dubbed the Fire Brick Capital of the World.  However both plants closed in 2002. It was also once known as the Saddle Horse Capital of the World.  Today the city boasts a population of around 11,500 people and is situated 30 miles northeast of Columbia, 45 miles southwest of Hannibal, and 100 miles northwest of St. Louis.

With nothing much more to add, I will include a couple links for more information about Mexico.

Mexico Ledger Newspaper
Mexico, MO Wikipedia
City of Mexico, MO website

So, that just about does it.  For the record, I had no idea that Tyron Lue was from Mexico, MO.  I also wasn't aware he attended school in Raytown, which is why some Kansas City folks are upset he didn't name drop them as well.  I've never been to Mexico, but maybe a road trip is in order one day.  I planned on heading to Hannibal one day and it isn't too far out of the way, so why not.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day.  By the way, I'll have a better blog tomorrow, I hope.

Hope Driscoll was also a Miss Missouri, she later appeared on Survivor

Totally Complete

I was doing something yesterday and thought about my blog some.  Then I realized that despite the Royal Card Review name, I haven't really dedicated a post to Royals card in a while.  So today I will remedy this.  Long before I started this blog I was fairly active on EBay.  This was like a decade ago, and I would buy some random stuff as long as it was cheap.  I bought a script from the TV show Sports Night on time (I loved that show).  But I also bought some Royals cards.  It was shortly after I sold my collection off.  It may seem odd to buy again after just selling your cards, but I did it because I had so much I really didn't want, that I thought I could make a few bucks and clear some space.  After I did I didn't regret it, but I also did go out buying packs all the time.  It wasn't until my father passed and I got his collection that the juices really kicked in and I started collection more often.  Then when my sister Andrea passed I kind of went into hyper mode, and in turn it introduced me to Trading Card Database and eventually to sports card blogging.  I'm pointing this out because while it was likely I would have been collecting even if neither event happened, I don't think it would be to the point it is now.  I still would have likely found TCDB and the blogging, but it wouldn't be like it is now.

One thing wouldn't have changed though, and that's collecting Royals cards. I've always like the Royals obviously, but collecting their cards seemed to make me more of a fan.  That was kind of evidenced when I bought this set off EBay as I said about a decade ago as part of three complete sets of Royals cards.

I got three minor league sets of 1991 Classic of the Royals.  Today I will focus on the Baseball City Royals.  From the first time I got minor league cards, I've loved them.  I can't remember the year (maybe it was 1990) but the first minor league card I remember was of Pete Filson.  It was a CMC card.  I always thought the Classic cards looked more bland, but despite this I kind of liked the design a bit better (I like straight edges).  I don't remember having many minor league Royals cards, so once my collection was sold and I started to rebuild it, I saw these.  Since it was 3 sets and pretty cheap I bought them.  Not many names from this set I remember but its still fun to look at.  Its odd to me that some of the players are wearing KC hats while others are wearing the BC hats.  Also not a fan of the pullover style jerseys.  I just like the button down jerseys better.  I have to admit some of these names sound made up.  No offense to Jake Jacobs, or John Conner, or even John Cross, but I've seen better names of WWE wrestlers (don't ask me to give examples, they are few and far between). I do wish Bubba Dunn became a bigger name though.  I guess I can settle for Bubba Starling who is close to reaching the majors with Kansas City now.

I'm going to come right out and say it.  This is possibly the WHITEST BASEBALL TEAM SINCE THE 1960'S! I'm not starting a race war, but it seems incredibly one sided to me.  13 cards in and we finally see a bat, and a batting helmet.  That field doesn't look too great, maybe Baseball City was code for Tropicana Field (I will make a crack on the Trop every chance I get, that field is horrendous).  Not to be super observant, but Colin Ryan is in the exact spot for his photo that John Cross and Jake Jacobs were in theirs.  It is nice to see the scoreboard in the background.  Too bad it wasn't on, I guess they didn't need it on for picture day.

IT'S PHIL HIATT!  I finally know somebody!  I also notice the team is starting to appear to be less white now.  I wonder if this was just luck or they regulated them to the back of the set.  Maybe I'm thinking about this too much.  Though something else catches my eye, why are some of these guys standing farther off the field as the guys before?  Maybe I'm just making stuff up now.  Anyways Phil Hiatt made the majors and I have a few of his cards.  I remember him having a card in the 1994 (maybe it was 1995) Fleer set, so it seems like somebody made it from this squad.

Kerwin Moore also made the majors.  I just don't remember much about him though.  I also spot Pete Filson and now that I think about it, he isn't the player on the 1990 CMC card that I remember.  The problem is, I can't remember WHO that guy was now.  As for Filson, he did play in the majors, but by 1991 he was a coach.  I like the Scott Hennessey because you get to see most of the scoreboard.  Upon closer inspection, that isn't the same scoreboard as in the other photos, so I'm a bit confused now, but that is an awesome scoreboard.  I decided to show the backs of a couple cards, the first being Phil Hiatt, since he was probably the biggest name from the bunch, and Jay Andrews, III because he had more stats than most of the other guys.  I do like the Baseball City logo on the bottom of the card and like how the Royals logo is in the background as well.

Overall, I like these cards, the front is basic and simple.  I would have liked to seen a little more action, at the least show some of the fielders practicing catching fly balls or something, but back then it seems this was about all you got, so no complaints.  The backs are nice too, with my only complaint being too much open space on the bottom.  I think they could have included a bit of a biography of the player and if need be they could have made the logos of Classic, MLB, and the team a bit smaller.  Otherwise I can't say much else wrong with them.

It's been a while since I searched for team sets or specifically minor league team sets on EBay, but maybe I'll give it another shot.  Now that I have a fairly accurate checklist, it will be easier to see what I have.

So that wraps it up for today, I hope to do more of these in the future, but don't be surprised if it will be a while.  I have other stuff lined up, but should work on these more often.  Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the weekend.  As for me, I have a free trial to Netflix, so I'm gearing up for a binge marathon of Daredevil soon, and checking out some 30 for 30's that I missed.  The Four Falls of Buffalo was really good.  I wasn't too big on Believeland though.  The rest of my que consists of Adam Sandler movies and Fuller House.  I don't expect too much from either (I've sat through about half of Fuller House, I just have too many complaints so far).  Anyways, if you have any suggestions, let me know, I last had a trial last spring so I'm mostly caught up I think.  A rapper I know guests on Orange Is The New Black, so I might watch for him once I know which episode.

Ebay Browsing: Board Game Edition

It's been awhile since I last did one of these, and was reminded I did one about a year ago (I've done some since), but it gave me a reason to look on EBay.  This is a feature where I find stuff on the selling site that is either really cool or brings back memories from years gone by.  As always, this is not a solicitation to buy, and I am not endorsing the product or the seller by showing these, it is purely for entertainment (and to relieve my boredom which luckily a free trial to Netflix might cure).

The theme for today is board games.  I remember going to my grandmas house every Sunday growing up and my uncles would be there and it was a lot of fun.  Usually when all the adults would be there, they would break out board games.  It was always fun seeing them laugh and fight over the games.  I was usually too young to play, and by the time I got older, the tradition kinda stopped, but I still remember it to this day.  Even at our house on rare occasions we would play games as well.  Before I show stuff on EBay I wanted to mention our all time favorite game.  It was called Truckin' Fever.  I have never found the game anywhere else, but if I remember the story right, one of my uncles knew a guy who had a prototype of this game he was hoping to sell.  It was a board game where you were truck drivers and your goal was to raise money by hauling various loads across the United States (and some of Canada) while avoiding pitfalls along the way (engine trouble, weigh stations, food poisoning).  Once you had enough to pay off your promissory note on your truck you had to declare you was going home.  Unlike regular hauls, you had to land on your hometown exactly or else you had to keep trying and if you didn't have enough to pay you note off you had to go back out and haul more loads.  Since it was a prototype, I think I remember seeing the board one time and I don't remember what it looked like.  So my dad who had great drawing abilities, decided to make a replica of the board.  So we had a homemade board, and then he type up all the other cards needed for the game (the notes, two sets of trap cards, and of course the load cards called Dispatch cards).  Our game was completely made from scratch as it also included money my dad made from construction paper.  If I ever saw the real version I don't know if I could play it since this version is all I know.  I've dug around some and I've never saw this version of the game anywhere.  It appears there were a few versions of very similar games going around, but none really made it to mass production.  I always hoped to one day find a way to make a version of the game for the Nintendo, because my dad played the NES for a long time after it was out of style, into the early 2000's even.  I always wished I could find someone to make it for NES so he could play whenever.  He already played Monopoly on there often (and Dr. Mario).

Anyways, lets get into what I did find on eBay.  While I don't advocate for these games or these sellers, I will put a link up in case you are interested.  Here we go.

This first item is not a game I ever played.  In fact I never even heard of it.  My whole inspiration for this blog is based on this game.  I was trying to find some Royals stuff so it would fit into my blog, and found this, which in turn led to a post dedicated to board games.  Brett Ball sounds like an interesting concept, and if it was cheaper I would get it, but its not like I play many board games anymore, so no need to get it.

Next up IS a game I played.  It was one of my favorite games ever, and possibly one of the simplest.  Rack-O was a game where you were given cards to put in a plastic holder in the order they were given to you.  The object was to get all the cards to go from lowest to highest first.  It was simple but I loved it.  In fact I still have the game but its locked away in storage so it might be a while before I can get to it.  I have this version of the game shown (same box and all, but the box I have it busted to bits).

Now PayDay was one of the games I mentioned I'd watch the adults play at my Grandma's house.  It always seemed so fun, but to be honest, to this day, I've never played it.  It's not a game I see around too often, but if I did find it at a garage sale I would pick it up.  I'd also need to find a few friends to play it.  I have a couple that like board games, so that's a start.  I will say that this seller could have made the inside of the box look better by straightening it up some.  This version I believe is the one that my uncle had that they would play.

This is another game I don't think I've ever played.  The difference though is I OWN THIS VERSION!  I bought it I think at Walmart dirt cheap one day in hopes of playing it, but never got around to it.  Part of the problem is I don't think anybody could beat me at this game except maybe my sister.  However if I played this SNL version of Trivial Pursuit today, I wouldn't get too many right I bet.  I do like how up to that point, all the decades were featured on it.  I love that Gilda Radner was front and center too.

Another game played at Grandma's often was Family Feud.  I can't remember if this was the exact version, but it is close.  I remember playing this a couple times, but mostly I watched.  I always enjoyed watching, so  I was never too mad I didn't get to play.  I can't believe the Feud is still on, and can't believe two of my favorite hosts of all time were both hosts in the 80s.  Richard Karn and Steve Harvey are okay, but to me Ray Combs and Richard Dawson were always the best.  I remember WCW wrestlers were on the show one week.  I think Sting and Rick Rude played but can't remember who else.

Speaking of still on the air, holy cow.  Wheel of Fortune was always a classic growing up, but its not one I watch too much these days.  We had the board game too, but not this one.  This is the DELUXE edition, and it has a really sweet wheel included.  It reminds me of the spinner in the Game of Life, and I wonder why they didn't do that for all the versions, it couldn't have cost too much more.  I miss the older versions of Wheel where they had prizes at the end and such.  Now is that second wheel and its okay, but not as fun to me.

Our version of Wheel had this wheel.  It's not the same, but I will admit, it wasn't too bad.  I remember playing a couple times with my sisters, and I loved it.  My sister Andrea tried to have Family Game Night with her boys each week before she got sick, I didn't join them too often, but looking back I wish I did.  We never played this, but it would have been fun to try once, maybe get the Junior version since they were still kinda young.

The only game I enjoyed more than Rack-O was Triple Yahtzee.  I think it was because I could play it alone or with other people.  I remember countless games against my dad and grandma.  I never won, but it was still fun.  This deluxe version (which I still have somewhere) was awesome because it held the dice in place.  It also all fit nice in the box each time.  Triple Yahtzee for those who only played the regular version, is really the same game but you had 3 columns to fill instead of one.  It took longer to play, but at times made it easier, but towards the end if you had no luck (or Yahtzee's) it sucked.  First column was worth regular points, second column was worth double, and the third was triple.  You could put the score from each row in any column you chose so of course first Yahtzee would go in triple, and so on.  It also was good for helping with math too, which was good.  I think it actually is why I can do some larger math equations in my head without diving for the calculator.

Remember how I said my dad made the Trucking Fever board game?  Well he made one for this game too.  We bought this game at a flea market or garage sale or something, and when we got home, realized THERE WAS NO BOARD!  It was also missing the game tokens too.  The only reason we knew what was supposed to be included was the back of the box.  So a couple weeks later we finally had a board, but we never really played it.  The game is somewhat similar to Trivial Pursuit, but the coolest part was where the questions were located.  The questions and answers were all located in books that looked like TV Guide's.  I thought I still had a copy or two of them but I didn't find them while cleaning.  I would like an updated version and would be fun to play, though again, I'm not sure against who.

So these next ones were ones I didn't have, but you find the darnedest stuff on EBay, so I had to include them.

WHAT THE????? Surely this is a mistake...  A CANNONBALL RUN BOARD GAME??????

ANOTHER ONE???? How come I never heard about this until now?  To be fair, I never watched the first one, but I love the second one.  The board looks a little confusing, but I would still play it once.  If I found it I would likely buy it.  I did find a Magnum P.I. board game once but that's about the closest I've gotten.

TIME-OUT!  They made a Saved By The Bell game too?  Okay, I can believe that.  From the looks of it though, this looks confusing.  I don't know if I would buy this game but it is kind of cool to find.  I think I've watched every episode of SBTB from the ones with Ms. Bliss to the ones where they went to college (they made trading cards for those).  I'm not sure though I would need the board game.

So this was a fun trip down memory lane.  There were other games I passed up, but maybe next time I can show more.  Earlier I spoke of NES so maybe a future one can be ones about games we had.  We'll see.  Anyways, thanks for reading and have a great night.