A Champions Mail Day

Today's mail day has been a long time coming and I have been really anticipating it.

As I am sure you know by now, the NY Knicks were not only the Eastern Conference Champions....

But they also took home the big trophy and were this year's NBA Champions as well.

I knew I had to own some cards to celebrate a moment I have waited years to happen and a moment I may not be alive for the next.

To finally have all three of my teams take home a trophy in my lifetime is a massive brag. Not too many sports fans get this ride unless they play the bandwagon fan role.

That's not me. I take all of the suffering in hopes a comeback story comes and I can brag about it.

Not only did I add the Topps Now cards, but I also won a contest in the Knicks run for the title.

 

I won this really sharp Charlie Ward autograph from @TheGardenPulseApp.

But, because of the delay in shipping out the prize.....

He sent this amazing on-card autograph Allan Houston as a bonus. As many of you know, Houston was my main man of the 90's Knicks!

Thanks so much @TheGardenPulseApp !

Before I close out this post, I had some free time from school work and wrote a new article for Bags Unlimited. Make sure you check that out here,

https://www.bagsunlimited.com/blog/trading-card-protection-guide

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy a cup!

 *Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2026 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

The Return Of Basketball

The season was over.....but not anymore...as basketball is back!

That's right, I will be back to coaching again this week.

On Thursday, all of us 3rd/4th grade girls coaches were contacted about an opportunity in the district. There is an AAU Tournament coming up in two weeks and a team had dropped out and they were wondering if a new team would like to join. 

Since I had so much fun coaching already and this opportunity just sitting there, why not join again for a short time? I will be joined by my assistant coach and a coach from one of the other girls teams that I didn't get to play this season.

Now normally, to join AAU in any capacity, you have to have lots of money and top tier talent. Players have to pay their way in and the team needs a sponsor to cover the cost of being in the tournaments. And depending on where you live and what tournament your AAU team wants to participate in, there can be hotel and other costs as well. 

It's the big league. It's about winning.

Fortunately, the good news is, our team entry will be free and the traveling will only be in an hour or so away.

The bad news, the tournament is on April 18th and 19th which gives me and two other coaches that signed up roughly two weeks to build and train a team all within four to five practices.

Since Friday, I have been messaging, sending out emails to find players along with the other coaches. We were given the chance to pick four of our players that played for us this past season.

My top three are already on the same AAU team so I went for four others. Three of the four said yes, while the fourth one would have if their family hadn't been heading on a trip for April break that weekend.

As of tonight, I have a roster of nine girls waiting to hear back on the tenth whose parents have not replied at all. So only 1/3rd of this roster knows my system and how I go about things.

It's going to take some serious dedication and work the next two weeks, but I know it will be worth it.

Something else that will be a lot of work.....

 

Is trying to catch up with the leader of the biggest Allan Houston collection on TCDB.

I don't think I rank in the Top 10 anymore like I once did. I haven't checked or added any Houstons in a long time.

But, with basketball back, I am sure I will probably add some more Houstons and hopefully bump myself up some. The one I showed off in this post is my latest add.

If you have any Allan Houstons that I don't, check out my TCDB to see, would love to PWE trade so hit me up!

I am not sure how much I will be on here for the next five weeks with college down to the final five weeks of Semester 2 that's loaded with projects combined with now basketball. 

I will try to be back on here again soon. All I know for now, I will need some extra cups to get me through all of this.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Layered Part 2

Coffee is ready, cards are ready, keyboard is ready, so I guess I am ready.

Let's tackle Part 2 of my mail day from Jon from  A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts.

Now that I tackled all of the non-sport end of the mail day, let's check out some sports cards that were hidden in the layers.

 

I have a copy of this Ken Griffey Jr, but this one is out of the package so it will fit in my box of Griffey cards. Sadly, the voice part doesn't work, still cool though and love the photo.

 

I thought this card was super cool. It's made of really thick plastic like a backboard would be.

I think someone knows of my love for 90's Knicks basketball and my PC player of Allan Houston. This starting five was where my passion for basketball came from.

I always thought these had a fun design. I try to forget he played anywhere else but NY.

Upper Deck was always creative, they once even joined forces with Lego to create a Lego character and card to go with it.

I can't wait to add these to TCDB to see if I have them or not. After you reach a certain point in any collection you tend to forget what you have and what you don't. That's why spreadsheets and TCDB are so important.

Rivalries. Knicks, Heat, those were the liveliest of games in the 90's.

And the biggest surprise of the box was this card,

 

Andre Williams Tools Of The Trade rookie. What I love about these cards is the variety of relics and where they come from on the players uniform. They can be pants, jersey, gloves, etc. They were some of the best Panini relics. I am not sure I have this one or not, will have to check TCDB, either way I keep all relics and try to see how many of each I can add. 

That does it for Part 2. Still more to come from this mail day.

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2025 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Layered Part 1

*coffee ready, takes a sip before doing a big post for today*

I assumed you have noticed by now, but I have added some posts on Sport Card Collectors to help me catch up on all of the drafts I have here. By putting up some quicker posts on SCC, it allows me to put more emphasis and time on the posts that matter more which are the ones I post here.

Not that some cool cards aren't being shown off there too. So, maybe check them out.

But being able to do some "quick" posts there will help me catch up faster here. Those quick posts though will be the last ones on that blog so enjoy them while you can :)

Now I want to get to today's post which will take a couple of posts in order to accomplish posting it all.

*takes a sip*

Jon from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts contacted me a couple months ago and started to ask me about certain cards and if I would be interested in them still. He has read my blog long enough, and been a friend long enough, to know that I would be.

He told me at some point those cards would hit the mailbox and they most certainly did.

I didn't know what to expect in this box other than the few cards he mentioned in our emails back and forth.

After opening the box, I discovered that there were many layers to what he sent.

First, I came upon this note and surprise within.

Then layered with another note with more surprises.

And another layer under that with an even bigger surprise.

The more I dug through the layers I uncovered and found more exciting items.

There was such a mix of sports, 90's, non-sports and non-card items.

Keep in mind I am not posting everything that he sent. That would take many, many posts but instead I decided to post a taste of everything.

I didn't even know they made Gargoyles cards. It was a popular show but wasn't in my Top 10 favorites, I did watch it though.

I almost saved this card to post on Halloween, but I didn't.

Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves trading cards.

On sick days at home from school, I always put soaps on in the background until 3pm when Disney Afternoon came on.

I am not sure what these are, but love the images. I may use some of these for a Halloween post instead.

Jon obviously has read my blog and saw that I am a huge dinosaur fan. They were my jam before sports.

Speaking of of Dinosaurs, I always made sure to watch this. "Not The Momma!!"

  

I recognized this face immediately, it gave me "nightmares" as a kid. Yes, that's Robert Englund. Cool addition to my Horror nostalgia pc.

 

Then I found these two. They are the reason I got into writing and am still writing. I grew up wanting to write horror because of these two, but instead I write about pieces of cardboard with pictures. They are still the ones who influenced me here.

Thomas Edison. Inventor. Me Coffee Card Guy, Coffee Drinker. We are the same.

I don't know what this card is, but it's one of my favorite non-sports from the box.

Then I went all Happy-Happy Joy-Joy when I found these two in the box. I was a HUUUUGE Ren and Stimpy find. I was to Ren and Stimpy like kids are to Spongebob now. Saturday nights with SNICK couldn't come fast enough.

My favorite superhero. "I'm Batman"

I never watched Under The Dome with all of the shows I was already watching at that time, but maybe I should now. This is a pretty cool die-cut.

 

By now you are probably wondering what the other items were in the box...well...this was the first layer. These art cards came from The Dark Knight rises. The Dark Knight saga is probably the best Batman movies ever made.

And at the bottom of the box....

 

Yes!!!!! My favorite Darkwing Duck episode ever!! All the villains, all the heroes. all face off! This is sooo cool!! My childhood was split between Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Darkwing Duck. This is a great add to my DW PC.

And there you have Part 1 of my mail day from Jon. I told you it's a lot and there is still a lot more to go 

This is what I expect your faces to look like right now. In awe over what you have already seen and curious to see what's to come.

Part 2 will be posted soon.

While you wait, just soak in what you already saw and....

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2025 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Houston, I Am Ready To Launch

*too late for coffee...the only time I don't drink it*

Since I am up late watching the Knicks, playing poorly tonight, and have Knicks cards to post about, only makes sense to do so.

I may be into watching basketball again right now, but it definitely won't be as deep into my blood as it was in the 90's. There was nothing like basketball in the 90's and Knicks in the 90's.

I absolutely loved basketball.

As a kid, not only did I watch every Knicks game on TV, I would also create my own league playing by myself outside and acting out as some of my favorite Knicks players against rest of the league's teams and players. I kept track of stats, scores, etc on paper which some I still have to do this day. I was also honest about the league, the Knicks didn't win every championship or game, though they came close most seasons.

I always had two players I loved acting out as most, John Starks and Allan Houston. These guys will always be my favorite all-time Knicks players.

Especially Houston.

I always felt he came up in the game's most important moments and always loved when you could hear Allaann Houuuuuuuston being called out on TV when he knocked down a big three pointer.

So, I started a small PC of him a few years ago. It's nothing big nor is it anywhere near the top on TCDB, but it's still fun to add to when I can.

Before I added some new ones recently, I started at 13th place on TCDB. I am well behind the leader but when your username is AHoustonCollector it's expected to be. That would be like anyone chasing me on a lot of my collections on there. I dominate a lot of spots.

So, I don't worry about numbers when it comes to my Houston collection. I just add fun cards when I can and build a collection that way.

This Luxury Box card I thought was a nice looking/designed card.

Any insert, especially a shiny one is always an add.

But, base are cool too.

But not as cool as one of my new favorite Houston's now. I have wanted this refractor for some time, now I have it.

Speaking of refractors...another nice 90's one here. I can't decide if I like the Chrome or Finest one more.

Houston relic cards are pretty much free. You can find them for next to nothing. I like to add some when I can.

I own a few autographs so far, this one was a cheap add.

And my final new add was probably my favorite one. This autograph card doesn't sparkle, doesn't shine, but it simply looks great. 

Not a lot of movement with the new adds above and a few others, but I am up to 11th. Maybe someone reading this today can help me move up further.

If you have some or are curious what my needs are, you can check out my want list collection HERE.

If you indeed have some I need, just drop me an email to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com.

*looks up at the Knicks score again, looks back down*

Looks like by the Knicks game tonight, I will be spending Sunday afternoon watching a Game 7. I just hope the Knicks can pull it off, this franchise has been through too much and I would actually like to see one of my New York teams win.

If they don't, I will have my Houston cards to focus on at least and remember the good times.

Have a great sleep.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*