End Of 2025 Thoughts

*coffee is hot and ready and I am to for a new post on Cards Over Coffee*

The last day of 2025.

I can't believe how fast this year has truly gone.

It started out like every year in my life and then out of nowhere, I was facing new health problems, going back to school for the first time in 25 years and then head coaching a 3rd/4th grade girls basketball team.

It's amazing what can transpire in a year.

*takes a sip*

For my hobby, this year brought forth more of the way I had to collect last year. With finances the way they still are, I had to keep the adjustments I made last year on how I added new cards. It was the only way I could collect.

Here is how I did it and feel free to follow my plan. I used a lot of apps to get gift cards

First, I signed up for some apps that offered FREE gift cards. First one is Fetch which I have had for a while now. It's a receipt scanning app so all you do is scan receipts and earn points towards gift cards. I have earned over $200 to eBay this way. I don't get why more don't sign up for this. You throw receipts away, why not make some use of them. If decide to sign up, please USE MY CODE 8TB9M to earn 2000 points for yourself and for me. Help me, help you!

Another app I found was CashWalk. This one you simply walk and earn points, but you can also earn extra points by watching ads which I do. It doesn't take very long, and I use my gift cards for this to Walmart or Amazon. I joined this app and earned $50 to Walmart already. If you sign up for this one, PLEASE use MY CODE GEPAM to sign up so I can earn points, and you can too!!

The other app I use is Frisbee. This is another receipt scanning app that earns you real money! You don't have to have any certain amount before you can cash out. Currently I have $12.33 I can use on a Visa Gift card just for scanning receipts. If you decide to join this one, just drop me an email to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com and I will send you my referral link.

All three of these apps also offer games you can play and earn with to. I just don't have time for that aspect, even though I can earn more like my wife did. She played games for Fetch when she wasn't working and has already surpassed me in gift cards in  my five years in her five months. She gave a ton away at Christmas including an eBay one to me. I am not talking $10 ones either, I am talking $50 ones. Yeah, crazy.

Second, trading has helped me add cards but at a much slower pace this year. Nobody seems to want to trade anymore. It's a dying trend, maybe more so than sport card blogging. When trading completely goes away for me, I am not sure how I will be able to add bigger cards.

Last, I still have a few sponsors on Twitter that helps me earn gift cards that I can use to bring in cards. It's a lot of work, but, I am doing my best to stay in the hobby.

I will lean heavily again on all three of these things going into 2026 to keep my hobby going or otherwise it will crash.

*takes a sip feeling thankful for what I have been able to accomplish to stay alive in the hobby*

I wanted to take a minute out to thank those of you who voted for Cards Over Coffee in Nachos Grande's End Of The Year awards.

This year even though I didn't feel like I blogged very much, Cards Over Coffee was nominated in three categories and won in two of them.

Favorite Blogs,

 

Favorite Under The Radar Blog, which I agree that even though Cards Over Coffee has been around for over five years, I feel it's still left not out there yet.

But, the third category, the big fish I ALWAYS wanted to take home once again goes the legend,

Congrats to the GOAT Night Owl Cards again for taking home for the fifth year in a row the trophy for Blog Of The Year. According to the write up it sounds like there is competition now and I am not sure where Cards Over Coffee fell in that race. Maybe 2026 will be the year of the coffee!

Maybe a run at the Trading Card Database Blog Of The Year is in the cards...and coffee.

*takes a sip*

As for my 2025 thoughts on the hobby, the hobby is still heading into a monopoly rabbit hole of scams, money driven products, high risings costs and low values and collectors disappearing into the mist of inflowing gamblers is the easiest way to put it. Nothing will change the way I collect complete junk.

*takes a final sip before the end of this post and the year*

Once again, thanks to all that voted for Cards Over Coffee (I assume some of you must have), and I am hoping to blog more in 2026.

Here's hoping that 2026 is a better year, not just for me, but for all of you as well.

I want you all to stay safe tonight and make great choices tonight. (drink coffee instead of alcohol for one) and don't eat too much! Well, okay, you can eat a ton. Not sure what my plans are yet.

Happy New Years Eve!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Post #800

*takes a sip from a freshly brewed cup*

Post #800.

This post was a tough one for me.

I contemplated back and forth on what I wanted to do with this post for a couple months and I took time away from posting to figure this out.

Before I dive into the deeper part of this, let me get you caught up on the past couple of months.

Let's kick if off health wise first, after meeting with my Gastro doctor in August, she suggested that because of my bowels and heartburn issues that I needed both a Colonoscopy and Endoscopy.

I got those done a few weeks ago, the good news, the polyp they found wasn't cancerous and they didn't find anything else. They also used two different cameras for those same time procedures....I asked :0 LOL. They also didn't go in one end and out the other either :)

The only bad news from that visit was that they told me I have a hiatal hernia. Ugh. Just had a belly button one fixed in September and now this. I guess for now it's one of those monitoring kind of things and will get an ultrasound done on it in six months.

My shoulder I have been dealing with since May finally took a step forward. PT wasn't getting anywhere so they sent me to Ortho. Ortho thought maybe they could see a very slight tear in my labrum but not seen well enough on the blurry scans to call it so. A few days ago I had a cortisone shot done, which was more like 8 shots, and still waiting for that to fully kick in. The shoulder has had it's good and bad since. If the shot doesn't take, surgical will be the next option......

I think that was it for health updates, now onto life ones.

Basketball season, well practices, have begun since the end of November and we play our first game next Saturday. It feels like we don't get enough time on the court to practice but we make do with the time we have. As my first year as a head coach, things are going okay so far. We have practice later today where I will need to initiate more scrimmage time for us to prepare even though some could use more drills to tighten up some skills. Only limited to an hour of practice so we will see how I plan that out.

I also just finished up my first semester of online college on December 15th. Here were my final grades for all three classes,

Not too bad for a first year student. I start classes back up on January 26th. I am fully enjoying this time away even though life has been hectic and sadly I even signed up for summer ones. My goal is to get an associates degree in two and a half years.

With this newly found time off, I found a little bit of time in my card room and finally packed up 15 PWE's to mail out to friends and blogger friends that I have owed.

Let me tell you what a relief that was.

But, I still have more to send out. We will see when I get to that.

Next will actually be taking time to play some Madden 26 and hopefully sorting some cards. I must use my time the best I can.

*sip taken*

Alright, now back to what I was opening up about with Post #800. It was a post that was pretty close to being....well....the end of this blog.

With everything going on in life, I really had to sit down and ask myself questions.

Did I want it this to be the final blog post? Do I feel like going forward with new posts? Will I find the time to do new posts? Is my heart into blogging anymore? Or after all of this time am I tired of this? 

Here WAS the ORIGINAL Post #800:

"There are so many ways I can go with this post, but, I think the way I am going to go will be a surprising one for all of you.

This year has been one of the busiest years of my life and with school ongoing, mixed in with life, basketball coaching and then trying to find time for my actual hobby I had to make a tough decision. I am calling post #800 it on this blog.

I just don't have the time to do this anymore the way I want to.

Also, my heart just isn't in it to continue on with any form of blogging. I feel because of that and time restrictions, my usual creativity with posts has disappeared into fast and sloppy posts (I feel today's doesn't quite conquer the emotion of this last post)  just to say I got one done. Not the kind of quality I know you guys expect on this blog and myself on here. I always told myself when I hit this moment, that should be it for me. I didn't want to just put out posts. I want to only put out interesting content.

Does this mean I will be gone forever from blogging? I don't know. I expect once I am out the routine completely, it would probably mean the end. But, it may not mean that either. If I do make a comeback at some point, it may not be here.

I will still be active on the blogs commenting when I can and I will be also active on Social Media as it's fast and quick to post mail days there. Click the social media tab on Sport Card Collectors blog, HERE, to find me all across social media! I will also still have my email, sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com still open as well if you want to connect or pull off a trade or whatever.

I appreciate the support over the past five and a half years on here. It meant a lot with the check-ins or just saying hi or leaving a thoughtful comment.

I am hoping you will be taking one last sip with me.

*takes a sip hoping you did to*

Leave me your final thoughts on this blog, what brought you here, what was your favorite blog post memory or anything else random in comments today.

*takes a final sip on the final post*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out* "

But, after much thought and consideration, (takes a sip) and the fact I really added onto this post, I plan to CONTINUE blogging!! I don't know how many posts will go up from here on out or how those posts will look when they are posted. But, they will be there and hopefully be read and enjoyed with some coffee.

Thanks in advance for taking time out on reading this one today. Blogging can sometimes feel like an extra un-paid, under appreciated job, but I know in the end it's somehow worth it. Especially when I read comments about my blurbs.

*final sip of today's post*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Christmas 2025

 

As I wake up looking like this today, I just wanted to put up a quick post and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!

Hope you have your coffee nearby.

*takes a sip*

Well, I have the coffee for today's post covered, but what about the card part.

For that part of this post, I wanted to share my collection of unopened Topps Holiday Mega Boxes from over the years.

I have no idea why I am collecting them unopened now, but I am. So far, I haven't been very tempted to open them but you never know what can happen on a rainy day, though I would probably regret doing so.

I also regret not having unopened ones from the years they first started. Maybe someday I will add them.

*takes a sip with wishful thinking on landing 2017 and 2018 with Judge and Ohtani in them*

Even though I may wake up like the Grinch on Christmas morning, mostly because I feel green, bloated and tired. Once I get my coffee into me I turn into....

 

Clark Griswold afterwards. The family man. The man who loves Christmas. The man, the myth and the legend who is making memories.

I hope all of you have a great day and hope you find all of the cardboard you asked for under the tree. I know I have a couple blogger friends who sent me some wonderful gifts I will have to share at some point.

*takes another sip*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

New Years Check-In: Final Part

At the beginning of the year, I promised I would do some check-ins on my New Years hobby goals to keep myself accountable.

Well, here we are. Final check point.

So, let's see what they were and in red is where I finished up the year at:

General Goals:

• I need to sort out all of the cards I acquired or had taken out of binders in the last few months This project was done, until the latest Grady M mail day came and many other mail days after that. With no time to sort, they have been stacking up. But, I have done a few piles.
• Put those cards away once they are sorted same as above need to do this all over again because of the Grady M mail day and with many other mail days.
• Start to finish some of the sets I started especially the 90's ones. Still haven't completed or finished one  yet this year. It's not looking good.
• The binder numbering project needs to be finished. 
• Penny sleeve everything I haven't yet. Still not completed or even touched yet. I don't have enough time in a day to do everything in life and hobby. But, I have a pile ready to go!
• Binder my Eli Mannings that haven't been put away yet, fix the rest in the box Haven't begun this at all
• Clean up my card room. It's just a mess. I need it better organized to get to what I really need to get to. My room has gotten worse. Also, a lot of non-card junk has been tossed in there since I couldn't lift for a few weeks causing a bigger mess.
• Do some giveaways as I haven't ever really done any on here. Haven't gotten to this yet either, maybe once I get to 100 followers on here. STILL WAITING ON THIS. But, I have held a couple small Twitter Giveaways in the meantime.
• Up my PWE trades especially among bloggers. No time to trade right now. 


For PC Goals:
• Reach 1,300 Eli Mannings. This is a very lofty goal. I haven't even reached 1,200 yet. Still not to 1,200 yet!
• Add some of my most wanted non-sport autos such as Ed O'Neil, Tony Danza, and Jon Heder. Not yet :(
• Try to fill in Rodney Hampton gaps of 2023 products. Many still on eBay overpriced sitting there that need to find a way to my collection Some have been added, a long way to go still! Now I have a list of 2024 and even 2025 as well to do!
• Add more to my "other" PC's to move me up the TCDB board. Allan Houston, Michaela Shiffrin, etc. Haven't done but not motivated right now to. This is at the bottom right now of my wants.


For Blogging Goals:
• Decide if I can fit blogging into my schedule and continue blogging. Well.....more on this....
• Come up with new creative content: Ran out of ideas...all of my mind went to school.
• Take away the sipping breaks and behind the scenes content? I have been on and off with this all year.
• New blog layout? Hmmmm......
• Come up with new segments so far the new ones are not hitting home runs.
• Reach 500,000 views This one got blown out of the water!!
• Reach 80 followers Where you guys at? I finally gained one! But, still 28 from 100.
• Blog my Giants cards on Big Blue Cardboard since they don't fare well here? Reader's thoughts? I don't Thinking its time to really shut down both of my other blogs. Much to come when this month ends.

There you have it, my 2025 New Years Goals final check-in.

Oh, before I close up.....

 DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR YOU FAVORITE BLOGGERS AND TRADING CARD PRODUCTS IN NACHO GRANDES END OF THE YEAR AWARDS. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetvwvkYSz25E3AurL6CnPnSN-H5xaIV4RsmbCoYMGafvKs1Q/viewform

THESE ARE THE NOMINEES from my previous post that you guys and myself  (well others too) for the categories..

Cards Over Coffee has been nominated for two spots this year, if interested, please vote for Cards Over Coffee! Take a sip while doing it. But, at the very least, go out and vote! It's more fun than the political ones and leave a more positive impact.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Tooth Fairy

 I am always up for cool and unique cards.

One of the products that comes with a variety of cool and unique cards is Pieces Of The Past.

They have pieces of newspapers, relics, hair, coin and even teeth as relics in their products.

When someone on Twitter posted a picture of a tooth card, I wanted it.

So, I did what each great collector does, I low balled hard and actually acquired said card.

This is an authentic tooth of a Megalodon, part of a shark specie,  which went extinct over 3.6 million years ago. How cool is this?

Back of the card features many teeth swatches they acquired.

This has to be one of my favorite non-sport relic cards now. 

If only I could afford to add a hair swatch card now.

In comments today, let me know your thoughts on cards like this.

Hope everyone has a great Tuesday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

2025 Cards Over Coffee Hall Of Fame Cards

*sits down in a tux with a pile of cards to present the winners for the third time. let's get to some cards over coffee*

*first, lets take a sip or two*

Well, the third edition of my Hall Of Fame went okay. It was still very hard to get nominations in as I felt a lot of cards were left off that should have made it.

With that being said, this will be the LAST year of the Cards Over Coffee Hall Of Fame.

So, without further ado, let's get the last round of winners into the Hall.

*takes a sip before presenting the winners*

Here are the 2025 Inductees and who they were nominated by,

Nominated By Me! (9 Votes)

Nominated by Cardboredom (8 Votes)

Nominated by Matt (11 Votes, leading vote getter)

 

Nominated by Matt

Nominated by RJ Sahl (6 votes, I cheated and this was tied with Michigan at 5 votes, but I gave my vote to this one that helped it get in)

Here were the other cards receiving votes (pictures of those cards can be seen HERE),

Hejduk 111

Rhett Bomar 111

Griffey Haircut 1111

Michigan Frog 11111

Griffey/A-Rod Dual Refractor 1111

Congrats to the new members of the Coffee Card Hall Of Fame! And thanks to everyone who spent time nominating and voting. 

*tips mug to all of you*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee Break:2025-26 Topps Basketball Hanger/Value Pack

We are at the end of the retail wax that I got in the 9-card lot of autograph Daniel Jones cards I traded away. If you missed that, here is the ARTICLE.

I saved the basketball pack for last. I only had one reason for wanting to rip one of these and it wasn't because it was the first return of Topps NBA cards. It was to land a Cooper Flagg rookie card for my collection.

*spoiler, there is a reason why I left this break for last*

Without further ado, let's start to rip and take a sip with these highlights,  

Recycled MLB insert, but I still like it.

I don't know a lot about this year's rookie class other than two Duke guys. So not sure if this is good or bad.

A silver parallel or some form of throwback insert

These will always be purty. Love my shiny.

Now onto the rookies....

And some last card magic...

 

Yesssssss!!!!

Now these Flaggs aren't worth much anymore, but out of the boxes I have opened, this was the best card I pulled.

Let me know your thoughts on Topps with the basketball license again and ,my break overall.

Hope everyone is or will be having a great start to their weekend!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*