And It's Christmas Time Again...

*takes a seat early on this bitter cold Christmas morning. Coffee in hand and ready to celebrate the day. Christmas will always be my favorite time of year*

Spoiler alert for today's post, there are no cards with the coffee today.

Today, I just want to celebrate Christmas as the dice have hit 00 on my Days Till Christmas Countdown Scentsy holder. Before you ask, my wife is a Scentsy consultant, so this is kind of a promoting her side business kind of deal. She sponsors me with kisses and coffee. Hope that wasn't too much TMI, if so, just cover your kids' eyes if they get to that part of today's post.

I cut back a lot on my decorating this year, not sure why, but instead I upped the lights. I have lights in every room of my house, including the front of my house, but not the bathroom where my cats like to hang. If you have seen Christmas Vacation, you will know why I didn't put them in there.

These Christmas throw pillows were the only new addition this year to my nonlight decorating, I think they are solid additions though.

 

My tree, bless its soul, has probably seen it's last year as one of the legs had broken and it's being held up by a book instead. I should have gotten a new one this year or even gone into the woods where I live and got a real one, but I just gave this one its final goodbye tour. It's like when a player gets signed back to their original team on a one-year contract to retire as a part of that team.

I should also mention the tree won't make it another year as it has fallen over a couple of times, once on me. Just picture that scene in Elf when he was trying to put the star on.

I am sure that will be one for the Christmas memory bank.

*takes a sip, starts to take a dive into that memory bank for a story from the past to share today*

Growing up poor, there wasn't a lot of expectations around Christmas. We visited the mall Santa maybe twice my entire childhood, only got a few gifts yearly which mainly came from the Santa Fund-and wasn't anything off from our lists-and my family didn't decorate much. The tree we would get, was usually the ugliest one that could be found in the woods-not on purpose-that made Charlie Browns look like a tree from heaven.

I also remember my parents never using real wrapping paper for our gifts, instead it was grocery store plastic bags or old newspapers. Then the memory of my sister getting caught in the middle of the night trying to snoop at her gifts. Another year, she opened them all and then tried her best to re-wrap them...my parents obviously saw that, and she got in trouble. I remember watching Rudolph, Frosty, California Raisins Christmas Special, Peanuts Christmas Special and the Garfield Christmas Special on television every year. I also remember watching Silent Night, Deadly Night and its sequels with my mother who would rent them on VHS.  None of this was the Ghostbusters Firehouse I wanted or felt at the time I needed, but looking back on those memories, they were so much more.

This may sound corny and probably repetitive, but Christmas truly is about family and the memories you make with them. It's not about the gifts, not about the glimmer and glam, and it's not even about having the prettiest tree. It's family.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I have plenty of other memories to share about Christmas and you will hear them all as years go on.

For this year, I just need to get off this computer to go and make some memories with family and I hope you all do the same. Well, expecting you to read this first of course.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! May your coffee mugs be filled, and your hearts be full.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee With Erin Andrews

*takes a seat, it has been a while since I put up a new post on here. But, that didn't mean the breakfast and coffee went away, it just meant the blog took a break but today I am ready to go!*

*has coffee in hand, takes a sip, begins to process thoughts for today's post*

What a month it has been. I haven't fully felt great, was busier than usual and had family come up for a little over a week from Nashville and Boston. 

It feels nice to have a few minutes to put up a new post on here as I still haven't fully given up my dream of making this blog something special. I just hope you guys are still around to read it.

(I also hope and pray you guys get the word out there on this blog. would be greatly appreciated)

*takes another sip*

Today's card I acquired a few months ago. When Panini released Donruss and brought back the Fans Of The Game autographs, one of the autographs I most sought out was the Erin Andrews one. The problem was they were out of my budget which is technically a lot of cards I want.

Lucky for me, I was working on a large coffee mug sized trade with Valley Of Cards and one of the cards he offered up for trade was that card. Without a doubt, I grabbed it as a part of our package deal.

*takes another sip, then another, a longer one, a shorter one, okay..a chug. Get's ready to show off the card*

 

Why did I want this card so bad? Because I am a big football fan and enjoy her sideline coverage on Fox. Plain and simple. I thought it would be a fun card add to the PC because of that.

Erin Andrews also has covered a lot of other sporting events as well I have seen her on.

*takes a sip before closing up today's post*

I hope Panini brings back the Fans Of The Game autographs again. Of course, with the hobby landscape changing with Fanatics in town, who knows what to expect anymore. I have always enjoyed this autograph series because it brings in people you don't always see with autograph cards.

In comments today, tell me someone you would like to see be a part of the Fans Of The Game series.

Other than that, have a great Wednesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Jeter

*sits down to an EMPTY CUP!! gets up refills cup, sits back down for a new #CardsOverCoffee*

Last year, Topps introduced an artist led card series known as Project 2020 which took 20 artists to do a reimagining of 20 classic Topps baseball cards of the past leading to a 400-card set.

At first, the cards took off a little slow until the flippers came in and started making a ton of money off from the cards which then drove others to the set. Even I fell into that trap, buying a Shore Griffey hoping to have hit a gold mine until I found out I was one of over 99,000 to do so. After that card, I never bought another and many left trying to flip them.

The cards themselves didn't entice me very much outside of the one I bought that I was trying to flip.

Then came one that caught my eye. Not just because of the player, but because of the design.

*takes a sip before showing off the card*

The Don C Jeter Project 2020 is an obvious design to most of us who watched television in the 90's.

 

It is based off from the logo used for the iconic Seinfeld television series. Having added a few Seinfeld cards to my collection in 2021, this card was at the top of my want list to have.

My buddy, @Jake1725, who is a big collector of the Project 2020 series, knew I had wanted this so he had bought it for me for Christmas. A great gift, from a great friend.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post. maybe should watch some Seinfeld with the next cup of yada yada yada*

The Jeter isn't the only Seinfeld related card in the Project series. The Topps Project 70 card of Mike Piazza done by Oldmanalan is a throwback to Jerry's apartment. That is the next card I want for my collection.

As for the Project 2020 and 70 cards overall, my feelings on them have changed as this year has gone on. I have actually come to appreciate them more and wouldn't mind adding a few more to my collection of players I collect or just because I like the look of them.

But first, I need that Piazza!

In comments today, let's talk Seinfeld and the Yankees. Which character matches up with a Yankees player, coach, or management? 

Here is my take,

Jerry-Brian Cashman

Elaine-Derek Jeter

George-George Steinbrenner

Kramer-A-Rod

Newman-Hideki Irabu

Let me know yours and don't mess up or NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Have a great Wednesday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee With Bob Saget

*sits down, has a cup of coffee ready and an evenly buttered asiago bagel to pair it with. sounds like a good time for some Cards Over Coffee*

I don't think you cannot call yourself an 80s or 90s kid if you didn't grow up with some version of Bob Saget on your television.

Whether that be the guy cracking side jokes while people got hit in the crotch on America's Funniest Home Videos-which I had no clue this show still existed on TV still-or as the fun-loving-OCD cleanaholic dad on Full House. He was a part of your childhood...somehow.

I watched both AFV and Full House growing up and enjoyed both shows. Probably more Full House than AFV, there is only so many times you can watch the same types of videos over and over again. With him being a piece of my childhood, I had to find an autograph card like I do with most of the actors I grew up watching.

*takes a sip before showing off the card*

And my search led me to this 2004 Leaf Rookies and Stars Fans Of The Game autograph. With a little luck, I landed it much cheaper than it is going now. This was actually an autograph add from three years ago I forgot to show off on here and figured it was time to do so.

 

Having been born in Philly, it is no surprise to me that Bob is an Eagles fan. Even though I don't like his choice of team, I won't hold it against him.

*takes another sip before finishing up today's post*

Bob recently starred in a continuation series to Full House, Fuller House that was played on Netflix. I plan on watching the series at some point and bought the DVD seasons so I can do so.

He also lended his voice to be the future Ted Mosby on the TV series, How I Met Your Mother which was a great show by the way. I am not sure the new series coming out How I Met Your Father can quite match what the original series brought or if they will use Bob in any form on that version either.

In comments today, let me know what you watched Bob Saget in or if you have listened to or seen his Stand Up comedy.

Hope everyone has a great Friday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Thanksgiving 2021

*takes a seat with coffee and the smell of turkey overtaking the house.*

It's Thanksgiving Day! Because of that, today's post will not be very long as this year I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in years. Usually I am the guy who pitches in with some of the side dishes.

Since it's Turkey Day,

 

Thought I would show off a Turkey Card from 2018 Topps Holiday.

There are other Turkey cards out there, but this is my latest add so it was quicker to get to.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I hope all of you guys out there have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy time with your family and be thankful. You never know what will happen or when. Be thankful for every minute.

In comments, let's hear your favorite Thanksgiving side dish.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Welcome To The Space Jam

*feeling a little groggy from yesterday's booster shot, sits down with a cup of coffee and is ready to get a quick post up on #CardsOverCoffee*

One of the biggest movie hits of the summer has made it onto cardboard now. Upper Deck who created cards for the original Space Jam movie (I wished I had some of those) created cards for it's long awaited sequel. I think it was pretty obvious that UD would make these knowing they have the LeBron James licensing rights.

I watched this movie when it came out streaming this summer and thought it was okay.  By okay, it was better than I expected but not close to the first movie. To me nothing beats an original and I think this proves again why MJ is still better than LeBron. Not only can MJ own the court, but he can also own a movie screens.

*takes a sip*

Last week at Walmart I found a blaster box of the product sitting on the shelf. I went back and forth with myself for awhile before coming to the conclusion that I needed to break one. Not only did I want to pull an autograph, I am aiming for the Gabriel Iglesias auto, but I think the manufactured film cell cards are cool as well.

There are 6 packs of 5 cards per blaster. I didn't see the price before I scanned it but was happy to see it was only $19.98. Seems cheap in comparison to other products out there.

The base cards feature the characters from the movie as you would expect.

 

And each pack came with one of these blue parallels.

The disappointing part for me was getting two duplicates out of the thirty cards.

There is one Ready To Jam per box as well. These cards look pretty cool. I tried to capture the rainbow foil the best I could.

And then came my favorite card from the box, a Breaking The Game 3D Lenticular card. This, this is cool. If I keep losing my hair, I may look like Elmer in the near future as well.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I rate this as a lot of fun. I know it's not in the flippers checklist of products, but I wouldn't mind opening one again or chasing the Lenticular set.

In comments today, tell me your thoughts on this product, on the Space Jam movie and if you have seen this movie and your thoughts on it.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Trade With The Diamond King

*takes a sip, finally getting to sit down for today's post after a busy morning which included getting my booster Pfizer vaccine. Time to find some breakfast as well*

Packages and PWE's have been flowing into the mail box like never before the last week or so. Not only has this led to some excitement, but has also put me in a tough spot when it comes to blogging them. I just hate making people wait for a thank you.

So most of those mail days I tweeted out, so hopefully you follow me on Twitter to have seen those. I think a good portion of my mail days will be posted that way. However, ones I get from fellow bloggers, I still plan to post this way.

*takes a sip, then shakes arm to get muscle loose from the shot*

My most recent blogger trade, I haven't done a lot of them this year, is from The Diamond King who had posted his best Griffey's including one he had for trade.

But, before we get to that card, our trade expanded a bit more and he included some awesome 90's inserts I didn't have (this is only a small portion of them)

Sp Matchups

Ultra The Book On

New Horizon Hideki Irabu

Upper Deck National Pride (how great does this look with the light box)

*takes a break for a minute to shake the arm again*

Playoff Illusions Spectralusion of Shannon Sharpe

Ultra Notables

*takes another break and arm shake. puts his left arm out, puts his left arm in, puts his left arm out, and shakes it all about....then goes back to typing*

On top of those great 90s inserts, then there was this beauty.

Wayne Gallman Triple Rookie Relic autograph from Absolute football. Even though he is in Atlant

a now, I still collect him.

And finally, the big piece.

  

2000 Skybox Dominion Eye On October Plus Parallel. The base version of this fell 1:24 packs while the tougher to find Plus parallel fell 1:240 packs. There is also a much rarer level with the Warp Tek parallel that's numbered.

Big thanks to The Diamond King on the trade.

*takes a sip, shakes the arm again, and gets ready to finish up today's post before moving onto more stuff to do today*

I know I have more mail days on the way from trades I just made, I also have some mail I have to send out which will lead to even more mail days. I am definitely not complaining about the situation, I just don't see myself sitting down to post them all like the old days.

What have you gotten in the mail box recently?

Have a great Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

I'm Batman

*(batman voice) pours cup, turns on laptop, sits down and checks updates on the Joker. Doesn't see any, I guess it's time for Cards Over Coffee*

I have been a Batman fan since my youth. It started with watching the 1989 Batman movie, to being heavily into Batman The Animated Series, to watching the 1966 series with my grandmother to collecting cards from and seeing Batman Returns and Batman Forever, to renting Batman and Robin on VHS, to going to the movie theaters with my Mother-In-Law to watch the Dark Knight series. If that last part doesn't tell how much I like Batman, then nothing will. 

Despite my fandom, I don't have a lot of Batman cardboard. The small amount of cards I had in my youth from Batman Forever and Batman Returns are gone. So I am basically starting from scratch with any additions I get now.

Earlier this year, Oren got me going on my Batman chase again and recently I added two more items to my collection.

*takes a sip before getting ready for a battle with The Riddler*

In 2013 Topps put together a 75th anniversary set that featured more than 100 different entertainment sets.

One of those featured The Dark Knight himself. This one isn't the base, still missing that one, but is the very sharp Rainbow Foil.

Then I found some unopened packs of 1995 Fleer Ultra Batman Forever,

 

So I grabbed one. Not sure if I will open it yet or not as it may mean more to me unopened.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post...and before I take on The Penguin!*

There is a lot of Batman sets I want to collect from the '89 Batman to Batman Returns to Batman Forever to the Dark Knight series. I do have an unopened box of Batman The Animated Series I got from my wife's uncle, but I don't plan on opening that up.

As always, I am interested in trading for needs.

By the way before I finish up today's post, I wanted to let everyone know my favorite Batman villain which is Clayface. After that, Joker comes in next (best played by Nicholson and Ledger).

And when it comes to my favorite Batman, Keaton, Kilmer and Bale played him best with Keaton holding a slight lead at the top.

In comments, let me know if you like Batman, your favorite villain, your favorite actor who portrayed Batman.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out...until Catwoman just arrived...meoooowww*

Getting Ready For The Holidays

*takes a sip on this dark dreary rainy day. At least it hasn't really snowed yet...though this is the time of year I enjoy it when it leads up to Christmas.*

Is it just me or does it feel this year Christmas has arrived earlier than usual. Black Friday sales all month, Christmas candy out at the end of October and gift giving commercials on in the middle of October. I love Christmas and all, but, even that's a little extreme for me.

Then of course there are holiday related cards. I haven't seen any Topps Holiday out in the wild, but last week I did find myself in front of a fresh case of 2021 Donruss football holiday I couldn't stay away from. Not because it's Christmas related, but because I haven't found any Donruss or NFL football cards on the shelves in months.

So I was able to grab one as that's all my budget allowed, though I wanted so many more.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Each blaster box of 2021 Donruss Holiday cards comes with 88 cards. There is also one Holiday Rookie Sweater card and one holiday Optic Preview card. 

Outside of the Holiday Sweater Relic and the Holiday Optic Preview card, the product layout is the same as regular Donruss.

 

I do wished they had holiday spiced it up some. Add some snowflakes, make the base set red and green borders, anything. Make this a separate product.

Same goes with the inserts.

I would have preferred some holiday themed ones.

How about,

Lighting It Up-cards with Christmas lights as a backdrop

Holiday Special-Red and Green Cracked ice cards

Christmas Vacation-Cards featuring players at the Pro Bowl with Christmas Tree borders

Something among those lines. If you are going to call it Donruss holiday, make it that way.

At least they do have the following two holiday themed cards to find within.

Optic Preview Holiday Parallel. These look great.

 

Holiday Rookie Sweaters. The only disappointing part about these, they are the same design as last year. I was hoping for a new look especially after completing the set last year.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

This was still a fun rip, but would be more fun if Panini took my advice on this. I like what Topps does with it's holiday product even though they could use some holiday themed inserts as well but they at least do a nice job with the base cards which separates them from the flagship products.

Let me know your thoughts on this product and if you agree that these holiday products should be a separate product from the regular version of it. Would also appreciate what insert names you would come up with.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Big Three

*takes an afternoon sip, gets ready for a new post on #CardsOverCoffee*

The 90's were a great time in the hobby for me. I started collecting towards the end of 1993 and built off from that in 1994. From there, I was all-in in 1995.

So when anyone asks me what I collect, I always list the following as my Big Three (and no I am not talking about any team that LeBron James played on) that are in no particular order.

• NY Giants. I take ANY AND ALL I don't have but have a bigger emphasis on Charles Way, Rodney Hampton, Eli Manning, Rueben Randle, Andre Williams, Darius Slayton and Kadarius Toney when it comes to players.
• Non Sport Cards. Allen Ginter Non Sports, Autograph and Relic cards from TV, Movies, celebrities
• 90's cards and inserts from 1995-1999. The shinier, the holographic, the unique, the acetate, the numbered, the better!!

The top two on this list are pretty standard, but I always note when I collect 90's inserts and cards, I prefer that they are on or after 1995. That's my sweet spot. My nostalgic sweet spot. For the most part, my trading partners nail it. I know my buddy and reader of this blog Oren has.

*takes a sip before continuing on*

If you haven't guessed yet, the following cards from today's post is my latest trade with Oren who went 90's insert heavy this time.

Including quite a few 1995 Topps Stadium Club Clearcut Inserts

More

A couple more

look more....

And one more. The acetate makes these cards really cool and it may drive me to another future set chase.

Ultra in the 90's always brought the coolness for inserts and this was one of their common lines with Double Trouble.

And 1996 Score Dream Team Manny. This is a beaut of a card!!! I already have a couple more of these on the way.

the final card today isn't from the 90's,

 

but it tackles a side player PC from the 90's in a Curtis Martin relic.

Thanks again Oren for the trade! I look forward to our next.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

Even though I have a Big Three when it comes to my collecting, I also have many other side collections off from that. There is Ken Griffey Jr, a ton of NFL players mainly ones from the 90's, Christmas related cards such as Topps Holiday Sp's and Pro Set Santas and others that are too many to list. I guess you can simply say I love to collect....or as my wife calls it, hoard.

Let me know below your thoughts on 90's inserts or what you consider to be your Big Three of what you collect.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Wild Card Is Back!

*takes a sip, takes a bite of a delicious carrot muffin. I know it sounds odd, but it's like eating unfrosted carrot cake in muffin form and it's amazing. First time I have ever tried these.*

I have said before and I will say it again, the 90's for me were the best era of collecting. I am not talking 90-93, I am talking 94, especially 95-99 in those terms. Those cards, especially inserts, are still some of the most sought out cards today.

So when companies bring back old product names like Panini has with Donruss brands and Upper Deck has with Fleer/Skybox, I give them a try hoping to relive what once was.

Most of the time, those all fall flat since you can't remake what once was. So when I saw that Wild Card football had returned I was curious. Would there be a million stripe parallels? Great photography? Fun inserts?

I had to get my answers, so when I went to Walmart last Tuesday, I caught a blaster box of it on the shelf and picked it up for $23.

Before I opened it up, I knew already that it wasn't licensed by the teams or collegiate league and would be similar to Sage Or Leaf.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In each blaster box of 2021 Wild Card Matte, there are 4 packs of 10 cards. You can also find 2 blaster box exclusives per box.

 

The side of the box gives you a sneak peek of what kind of subsets, or as I would call them, inserts you will find.

Once again the definition of a subset is a set within the base set. Inserts are separate looking cards from the base set with different numbering such as X12 as opposed to the base set number of 125.

One of the first cards I found was one of the first I wanted in Kadarius Toney. I will say I found the base cards a little lacking. Not much action photography and it's a plain white background.

The back of the card was statistic free and only had one sentence about the player. The base cards all have a MBC-numbering.

Here are some of the other key players I found,

Now onto what I found for my inserts.

Weekend Warrior

X-Plode

X-Plode Gold

X-Plode....I don't know....red? Though those are numbered.

 

Rookie Heat (which is by far the best looking insert of the group)

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

The product wasn't overly exciting, but, I will say comparing it to Leaf and Sage, it wins. The added foil inserts takes the victory over the other two unlicensed products.

Upon doing research on this product, I see they do offer the Stripe parallels for the base card set but you have to buy the Mega Box version to find them.

PARALLEL CARDS: 5-Stripe /50, 10-Stripe /30, 20-Stripe /18, 50-Stripe /10, 100-Stripe /7, 1,000-Stripe /5.

CHASE PARALLELS: 5-Stripe /10, 10-Stripe /5, 20-Stripe /4, 50-Stripe /3, 100-Stripe /2, 1,000-Stripe 1/1.

Also during my research I did see they offer the big named autographs in this product as well such as Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, etc. Which are hobby box offerings.

In comments, let me know your thoughts on these "bring back" products that companies are offering. What has been your favorite one so far? Also, your thoughts on Wild Card is also welcomed.

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*