It's Life

Basketball has kept me busy for the most part of the week, so blogging was put on the backburner.

It's life.

Here are some basketball updates that I haven't gotten to yet on here. Last Saturday, the first half of the team lost 28-14 as one girl took over the game like MJ. She scored 20 of that team's 28 points. The other half, the one I am head coach on when the main coach isn't available ended in an 18 all tie. We blew a 10-4 halftime lead and looked sluggish in the second half.

This Saturday it was a weird one. We played each other, so we all knew each other's tendencies and obviously the few plays we have. I was in charge of coaching half of the team (the third coach was out with the flu like a couple players too) while the main coach did the other half. I lost 24-11. However, at half time, I drew up a new play we have never practiced since we got the ball to kick off the second half which worked immediately, and we scored on it. I was stoked; the girls were as well. Maybe I got this coaching thing down some.

So far this year, the main coach's half of the team is 2-1

My half of the team is 0-2-1.

Which makes us overall as a team 2-3-1. Which isn't bad for a team mainly built of first year players. We are doing our best as coaches and the players are doing theirs as well. We are all learning together.

It's Life.

Along with basketball, I found out some health news as well.

One, the ENT called me back finally and they want me to get an ultrasound done on my face to just make sure on the two cysts and that they aren't missing anything. Gotta admit, when the big C word could be involved, it's a little nerve wracking. Though the ENT didn't originally seem to concerned.

Also, during practice last Wednesday, my stomach was bothering me with bad cramps/pain, and I felt a lot of nausea, so my wife suggested that I go to the ER just in case it was my hernia acting up and maybe tangled. Four hours, many tests later, they called it just a stomach virus. However, suggested that I get the hernia fixed this year basically as well. On top of that, the catscan I had done, showed a 2mm kidney stone in my left kidney, a partially collapsed bladder and irritation at the bottom of my left ureter. Yay!

Still waiting on my urologist to call me back to see what she wants to do.

It's life.

When trying to find a new post to put up, I was searching for pictures and realized that I never posted all of my Christmas mail day from Dennis of Too many Verlanders fame.

Along with the amazing cards he sent, he also included something for me to rip since 2024 was a year I barely ripped anything.

It was nice he did that.

This is some form of blister pack that included 5 retail packs. I haven't ever seen one of these before.

Here were the packs within. A nice variety.

This is what I found in those packs,

Silver parallel.

Rookie Carroll!

I would had been stoked about this before he went all P-Diddy.

 

Purple parallel.

Some fun stuff. A couple I am adding to my PC.

Thanks again Dennis for this! Sorry it got missed in my original post. I am just busy, health stressed and very forgetful at age 41.

It's life.

Hope all of the readers tonight are having a good 2025 and thanks for reading. I truly appreciate the time you take to read this gibberish.

But cards and coffee are both good gibberish.

It's life.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

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.

Pain And Pleasure With Series 1

There was a lot packed into this week.

Sunday, was the Big Game.

Tuesday, I had surgery. 

Wednesday, was Valentine's Day. 

Yesterday, I had a checkup with my PCP.

And mixed in with all of that Topps released 2024 Series 1 baseball.

It's been a mixed bag kind of week.

But at least I had coffee to carry the week and guess what...some cards too!

When you have cards and you have coffee, you know that means....some Cards Over Coffee.

*takes a sip*

Yesterday on my way to PCP appointment, I checked out on my online health portal on my phone-don't worry my wife was driving- and found out that my urologist wants me to wait until March 22nd to get the stent out. For one, the OR is booked and for two, the longer I can wait, the better chance for the stone and no other issues afterwards with needing to add another stent in.

Ugh.

That is a long time to wait and have pain for. It's been a rough three days, but I was at least able to get some sleep last night.

Hopefully that continues.

*takes a sip*

At my PCP appointment, everything else looked good and I was able to get my hernia referral sent over to the surgeons so I can meet with them. I assume that won't be fixed until an even later date. But I have to take care of things in order and the one I am dealing with right now is at the top of the list. I still need to get some PT done on my injured shoulder so I can have my arm back again.

After I was done with that appointment, I went and spoke to my urologist whose office is downstairs from my PCP about my pain and the surgery and trying to move up the date. Good news is I guess I can be put on a surgical cancellation list, bad news is I am doing all I can do for the pain.

*breathes, takes a sip*

*gets up and puts a new warm beanbag on the back*

*sits back down to do more on this post that already has taken an hour*

After my appointments, my wife wanted to go to Walmart since we were actually close to it for once. All Walmarts here are 45 minutes to an hour away from my house so when you get close to one, you go.

I wasn't expecting to get any cards, but figured I would go look anyways. There was plenty to choose from with Prizm basketball and football (two of my favorites but way too pricy), Stadium Club baseball, Mosaic for all sports and so on. 

And on the top shelf was where it was loaded with 2024 Topps Series 1 baseball. I stared at it...contemplating...my wife saw this from a distance and said it was okay to grab something. Knowing how tight finances are, even though I wanted a blaster for the Easter/Spring parallels, I went for a Hanger Box instead.

But, at least it was something and something I needed this week.

*takes a sip*

Hanger Boxes come with 59 cards. Such an odd number but a good amount. Each box has no guarantees other than some new cards from 2024.

My main want from 2024 Topps Series 1 this year is Jasson Dominguez cards, key rookie cards of hitters and the Easter/Spring parallels. Already knowing I won't get any of the parallels I want from a hanger, I was hoping for the other finds in the box.

Let's see if I did,

I pulled the clear pack out of the box and it started off well finding a Trout at the top. I haven't quite figured out if I like the new design yet or not. Maybe it will grow on me.

I didn't take all 59 pictures as that is a lot and I am not quite up to that yet, so I took pictures of key cards from the break.

(best base rookie I found, no Dominguez or Elly)

(is Ohtani tall or Mookie short?)

These were my key base cards. Looks like there are 350 base overall in the Series 1 set.

Now onto the inserts and parallels which were located in the middle of the pack. I skipped over them when scrolling through and did all of the base first, then backtracked.

Lars is a Royal Blue parallel found in retail.

I will say that the rainbow foil looks super sharp on this card design. Not too bad of a pull here.

Yellow Parallels. I think these are only in hanger boxes.

It wouldn't be a Topps product without throwing it back to an old design for one of their inserts. I despise these.

My favorite insert find was the Stars Of The MLB. Clean design with a shiny background and plenty of them in a hanger box to go around.

 

And the final key card of the box was a blueprint of McCutchen. These are meh.

Overall, didn't quite land anything I needed per say, but it was fun to rip into something new. Actually, it was fun just to be able to rip something for once.

It was definitely a week of pain and pleasure.

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

I probably won't grab anymore of these to open this year and I will be putting my focus on acquiring the cards I want from the product via pwe trade. If any of you have extra rookies or the Easter/Spring parallels call me interested!

Thanks for swinging by today and checking out today's post. I hope all of you have a great weekend.

And make sure you have your coffee ready for the next post!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*