Behind The Scenes

*sitting here cup in hand wondering if you guys believe what I type in this section is real or not. Light bulb shows above my head, what about a short behind the scenes post to show you how legit this is....*

And before I begin today's post, this blog and everything I put on here is as real as it gets unlike a lot of those so-called "reality TV shows". I have never, ever gotten into any of those. That's not reality. A real game of Survivor would be leaving those people on an island to survive with cameras watching them. Not play a game, unlock food, vote people off the island or something along those lines.

Real survival just like this real blogging.

*takes first sip of coffee*

I do have a couple of Coffee Breaks I could have posted about today in 2020 Optic baseball blaster box and 2020 Prizm blaster box but I thought I would go behind the scenes a little to show you what this blog is all about. Which in the end is simply Cards Over Coffee.....and an added breakfast food occasionally. But that would have been a long weird title for this blog so it's simply and mainly, Cards Over Coffee.

*another sip*

Most mornings I am able to blog on here are the same, first I get up and check Twitter for any notifications and scroll through a little. Sometimes that site can be a drag when you see so many collectors not getting along occasionally so it can be a very fast scroll. Then I will check out rest of the blogs and leave comments where applicable and move to turning my laptop on while I grab my cup of coffee to sit and blog.

 

This morning though, I am hoping to continue work on my football rookie card sorting. I have been tearing apart my rookie card binders for all sports, moving the good cards into penny sleeves and toploaders while also moving the lesser rookies into boxes. I have also been pulling out set needs I had forgotten about. I haven't decided if I will keep all cards in boxes or if I will stick with binders as well.

More updates on this project will be on here soon. I haven't gotten too far with it yet and want to get more done before I start a long drawn out detailed post.

I have been through roughly 10 teams so far and today I am sorting my, insert throw up face emoji, Patriots. In case you are wondering, I am not pulling out Tom Brady's left and right. In all reality there is none and more of the players in comparison to Shane Vereen. Also some set needs luckily.

*sets down his stack of cards, takes a bite of bagel, sip of coffee and moves on*

Every morning brings a variety and not every morning I have time to blog on here since most of these posts take over an hour for me to accomplish. That's also adding in breakfast time and coffee pouring breaks.

You can't have Cards Over Coffee without both elements.

 

Just to prove I didn't just snap a picture for today's post just to have something to blog about, here's a look back at a post I did last week about bagels and veggie cream cheese. Legit. Put that blue check mark next to the blog's name immediately.

 

*next sip of coffee, bite of bagel, back to keyboard*

Remember that day I spilled butter on my keyboard? Still cleaning that off when I hit some keys. That day I had a dead coffee maker? It happened. The day I had a bug in my coffee? Gross to think about again, but yeah, it's real. You read this as I do things which is part of the fun world I have created on here. I hope you enjoy it along with feeling sorry for me in some of those situations. Nobody should have their coffee ruined.

I know today's post isn't that long, but I wanted to give you a quick behind the scenes look at what happens on Cards Over Coffee not that you don't already read it. I have got a lot of errands to run today so gotta down this coffee, eat this bagel, finish these Patriots cards and start my day.

Cheers! *tipping my mug towards the computer screen, expecting you to do the same*

*smiles picturing you tipping your mug towards the screen in a return cheers and continues to finish coffee and breakfast*

The Card Pyramid

*woke up too early, sits down turns on the laptop, forgets coffee, goes to get the most important part of the morning, goes back to sit. Realizes he didn't turn the laptop actually on, he hit the caps lock button. Actually turns the laptop on, takes a big chug of coffee and seems ready to go*

It's another Monday morning. Which usually is a drag for most folks but I don't mind them. Except when I get up too early, then it becomes a drag. Like today may be.

Even though I ate a very late supper, I am already hungry this morning so I will grab what I call my complete meal.

What's in a complete meal?

Let's see,

First you start with the bottom of the food pyramid with your bread. In this case, it's a lightly toasted blueberry bagel. Which the blueberry part covers the next part of the pyramid with your fruit.

Up next, the greatest stuff known to man, Philadelphia Veggie Cream Cheese. This gives me both my vegetable and my dairy.

So I spread the veggie cream cheese on the blueberry bagel, top it off with Coffee with Hazelnut creamer (the cup I already poured this morning) which covers both the Meat/Nuts part of the pyramid and the sugar part and we have a complete meal.

I also know now what you are thinking as well, isn't veggie cream cheese gross on a fruit flavored bagel? Well, I will tell you not at all. I have also put it on a Cinnamon Raisin before. Don't gag too much before you give it a try!

It may sound like an odd pairing, but sometimes the most oddest pairings bring out the greatest things.

*sips some more coffee, takes a bite of his bagel, then another, and maybe another. Then moves onto the card portion of this post*

Another odd pairing is thinking about football players being featured on anything but a football field. You know what though, it works and it works marvelously.

My recent 1998 Fleer Metal additions tells me this. The Fleer Metal cards for 1996-1998 are some of the most unique base cards out there.

Especially the 1998 ones.

Let's take some football players, put some unique background scenes that is based off from the teams location or name that sound obscure but makes them a masterpiece. Who would have thought this genius idea would pan out and be as popular as it is today still.

There were 200 cards in this base set that featured a ton of great scenes and included a few Hall Of Fame rookies.

Let's take a look at some of my favorite cards in the base set,

Barry Sanders with a Lion, pure cleverness.

The rookies on the other hand, don't have such unique backgrounds but instead are out of this world. I mean literally out of this world.

I know one thing, the Peyton Manning and Randy Moss were nailed perfectly with their play because it was out of this world. Two of the greatest to ever play their positions.

However, Ryan Leaf should be shown with a pile of money in the background for what the Chargers spent on him to be their leader. Or maybe a watermark of Peyton Manning's head to show what could have been. I will let you guys decide on that one.

Football players and unique scenes, looks like a well balanced card to me that would fill up a Card Pyramid.

What's a Card Pyramid you may ask? I can see the expression on your face.

A Card Pyramid is similar to the food pyramid. Each section of a card set, base-insert-hits, has it's own pyramid and then has an all together pyramid to make up a product.

An individual pyramid, such as these Fleer Metal cards, has base design as the bottom, player checklist as the middle and back design for the top. Which the Fleer Metal has a well balanced pyramid. A full Card Pyramid would have three parts to make it well balanced. First would be a great base set, followed by unshakeable inserts then topped off with hits. Being a 90's collector, hits are like the sugar to a food pyramid. Not necessarily needed, but nice to have once in awhile in small portions. Though I may have more sugar and hits then I need sometimes which adds a little bit more padding around the collection/waistline.

*finishes up first bagel, moves onto second then takes a sip of coffee to finish up this post*

The big stack of Metal cards isn't a full set. I am still lacking roughly 30 or so cards to completion. I hope to have these wants posted soon.

In the meantime, give the veggie cream cheese a try on a fruit bagel and hope you have a well balanced meal and card pickup today.

Perfect Pairing

*coffee in hand, good to go*

Every morning my routine is pretty much the same. I get up, grab my glasses, make a quick bathroom trip and head to the coffee maker for my first cup of fresh brew. Once that first cup is in hand, I sit, catch up on Twitter/Facebook then it's either to the computer I go to be here with you guys or off to start the day depending on what time I have left.

Today is Sunday, a day off, so here I am.

*half way through first cup, yeah, one of those mornings*

Usually half way through my second cup I am looking for a breakfast pairing to go along with my coffee. What that pairing may be, depends on the day and what I have in the house.

Some days, it's a muffin (I prefer berry ones or pistachio).

Some days, it's an English muffin (only with butter on it).

Some days, it's a piece of cheesecake.

Some days, it's a cookie (or multiple ones)

But most days, it's a bagel. My perfect pairing.

I eat a variety of bagels, mainly with butter but sometimes with veggie cream cheese, but my top two favorites are Asiago and today's flavor, cinnamon/raisin. I don't toast my bagel a ton, just crisp enough unlike my wife who likes it borderline rock, and add just enough butter so I am not clogging the ole arteries faster than they need to be. And it's butter to, not margarine. I grew up hating butter and loving margarine, but as I have gotten older, butter tastes so much better. It's amazing how your tastes change over time.

My tastes have changed for both food and the hobby over time.

Another perfect pairing that I feel got better over time, was Upper Deck getting chromed with its card line of UD Ionix.

I didn't quite fall in love with the product back in 1999, but since then, I have traded for quite a few singles and felt it was time I re-opened a pack of the cards to see how I felt about it now.

So I searched eBay for a cheap one, and found one for $2.50 and .85 shipped. For that price, I figured it was worth the rip. Each of these packs come with four cards. So as long as each card is worth at least .84, it's worth the gamble. Once again, I am not a guy about value and I prefer the fun aspect a lot more.

There are a variety of fun and shiny inserts to find along with a chance at autographs. But, as you can see, the odds are ever not in my favor.

*first cup down, next one up. Also half way through my bagel*

Let's see if this pack had anything worthwhile in it. My one fear with opening up older product is the cards sticking together, fortunately, I didn't have any issue with these and I think it's because of the technology.

First card, Elvis Grbac. Played for three times, went to the Pro Bowl twice and even won a Super Bowl. He was one of those halfway decent forgotten quarterbacks of his time.

Antowain was one of my first big autograph rookie card pulls of the 90's, but he didn't quite pan out as well as I had hoped. But even still, he played for the Patriots which made him a two time Super Bowl champion.

Eddie was a big time running back for the Oilers/Titans. Four time Pro Bowler, jersey number retired for Titans and Ohio State, ROY in 1996, and a few other accolades. I just feel bad that he was another one of those players that went on too long for his career and played one forgettable year for the Cowboys. I wished these guys would just play for the one team for their whole career.

And the final card....what's this...an insert?!

1:6 odds of pulling this Electric Forces John Elway. This card alone made the pack. I enjoyed watching John towards the end of his career even though I was excited when my Giants beat their undefeated team and when the Jags beat them in the playoffs.

It's a win/win for me.

That was a lot of fun to open and was exactly what I had hoped for.

*finishes up bagel and second cup of coffee*

Just like my bagel and coffee this morning, Upper Deck having its own line of chromed cards really pairs up well. I may have to grab another pack or two just to open another and maybe keep one sealed for a rainy day. It's just too bad Upper Deck didn't have more to offer me nowadays since it only has a hockey license and I am not a hockey guy.

Someday I hope they will dominate again.

Before I close today's post, I wanted to let you know of another perfect pair I hope you already experience, cards and coffee. And no, that's not my subtle way of promoting this blog more. Well, maybe.