The Big Four

*it's late afternoon and I am on my fourth cup of coffee today. It is needed just like today's Cards Over Coffee post*

It has been a very long week. I found out that there could have been a possible positive Covid exposure in my household, that I needed two new tires for my car which was going to cost me a stocks in coffee, and a bunch of other smaller things popping up. I couldn't wait for the week to be over.

At least I am still alive and enjoying some cards and coffee on this rainy day. 

I have been sitting on some posts in my drafts for a while and figured it was time some of these posted. Sometimes on here it is hard to keep up with posts and sometimes things get buried within my drafts and I forget about not posting them.

But, I needed a good distraction from the week so it felt like a good time to get a post up.

*takes a sip before moving on with today's post*

Back in the 90's I was a huge Knicks fan. I was the Spike Lee of Knicks fans in my area. Of course my area is loaded with Celtics fans, but you get the point.

In my backyard, I would pretend to be that Knicks team and take on the league's best. I would set up 20 point quarters and be the starting lineups for both teams. When a team reached that 20 points, the quarter would end and I would write down the stats for each player for the quarter. It was a lot of fun to keep track of. 

I wouldn't always let the Knicks win either despite being the one playing the game. I always played fair games, and most were close. If either team was within three points after the other team reached 80 to end the game, they would get one last shot. It had to be a three point shot regardless of how many points they were behind. Sometimes they would tie or win the game and other times I would miss and they would lose. There were some games though where the outcome was completely one-sided so no team had that opportunity. 

There was an overall 20-game season, then three rounds of best of 7 playoff games. I would only play the playoff games up until the Knicks either won it all or got eliminated then a new season would begin. I must have played like this for ten years.

*takes another sip*

There were four players for my NY Knicks starting lineup I used for every game.

Allan Houston, my favorite Knicks player all-time, who had his superstar presence.

The three point dominance of John Starks

 

The ultimate rebounding abilities of Charles Oakley

NO AUTOGRAPH (wishing on star for one)

And then Patrick Ewing who did it all. I usually did a lot of spin shots with him after he got a rebound.

These core four carried this team to multiple championships for me....I just wished they could have actually churned out one in real life. I at least got a few "Gatorade" baths.

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

In case you were curious and so I don't leave you hanging, my fifth starter was a plug-in guy whether that be Charlie Ward, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, or Chris Childs. 

As for the cards in today's post, I have multiple Houston autos, that one and only Starks, just traded for that Oakley and now need to fill in that Ewing autograph gap someday. I would really like to complete my Knicks lineup of autographs.

I hope you guys had a great week and hopefully mine goes better next week.

Have a great Saturday night.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The One

*it's time for a fresh cup of coffee and some cards. Sounds like a great start to the morning don't you think?*

Every Friday on Twitter, @collect_sport, I put up a I Want/Need Thread where you comment a specific card need and I will retweet it in hopes someone will Sell, Trade or even RAK (I have seen this) the card to you. Some people use the thread the way it was intended while others make a team/set demand. I just go with the flow regardless as long as it helps the collectors commenting.

On the thread every week, I also give an example of a specific cards I Want/Need. I have had some success in doing so, but one card I have tried a few times without any luck up I put up again and this time to my surprise had a response.

That's when I met @MattyBW who had what I wanted and so much more.

*takes a sip, gets excited about showing off these cards and takes another sip before doing so*

It wasn't too long after he had replied to my tweet about that specific card need that we had a nice conversation. The biggest point of the conversation was to make sure I got that card but we talked about much more that led to a trade as well.

I recently just started collecting more Jasson Dominguez for my Yankees PC. This was my second add to the collection.

This along with a few newer Cal Ripken Jr cards I forgot to take pictures of were the "newer" cards of the group. The main focus was on the 90's basketball. And if you know me, that hits the sweet spot and in comparison to coffee is the king of the cups.

John Starks adds. I always find it both saddening and odd to see John Starks in any uniform that's not a Knicks one. He was a fan favorite and a favorite of mine.

Finest Shaq. Don't ever let him post up, guy was unstoppable unless he had to shoot free throws.

Hakeem with the block!

And then Hakeem with the shot. Well, the Best Shot. These fell 1:12 packs and also had refractor parallels as well.

My first picture wasn't the greatest at showing how cool this card actually is. So I held it up to a window.

Now rolls in a beauty....

1996-1997 Bowmans Best Honor Roll Refractor! These bad boys fell 1:192 packs but it's not only the beauty of the card that grabs my attention, its the players. Patrick Ewing was one of the trio of Knicks I liked and Karl Malone I enjoyed his game and tried to mock it when I played with my friends back in the 90's. If I was to try that now, my body would ache for weeks.

*takes another sip before the coffee gets cold. I like Iced Coffee okay, but not my hot coffee getting iced. While I am it, I might as well toast a couple of english muffins*

I haven't even gotten to the main card of this post yet and I bet you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to show it off. Hold your mugs, we are almost there.

For now, I will tease this card as an intro....

Yup, a 1995-1996 Spx Gold Jason Kidd. Anyone who has followed me knows my deep passion for 90's Spx. I own set all three NFL Sets, one MLB Set, Both NASCAR sets, One and a half Hockey sets, and now......

Hold that thought.

*takes a sip of coffee*

I don't normally like jelly on my english muffins, I am a fan of bland so butter is my usual choice, but I will take a bit more excitement today when I show off the exciting card.

*takes a few bites, sip of joe and now onto the big reveal*

I think I have made you wait long enough to finally show the main card of this post. Not that the other cards above aren't sweet.

To finish up where I was with my Spx set chase, I also have one and a 49th basket....hold your horses...

What's this...

BOOM! You guessed it. The MJ has finally come home to finish up my second basketball set. He is smiling like I was when I finally got to hold this card.

 

And here he is resting peacefully among his Spx teammates.

With this set finally now complete, I am only missing the 1996-1997 Spx basketball set to complete the trio. That one also has my favorite design of the three but is also a dream set. I don't ever imagine myself being able to complete that one.

An obvious huge thanks goes out to @MattyBW for helping me finish up this set. It was a long time coming and it feels good to finally get there.

If you have Twitter, check out my Friday Thread and see what project you might be able to complete. You just never know what you may complete or who you may meet and become friends with. Isn't that the point of this hobby?

Coffee Card blogger out.

My First Time

*another beautiful day, NFL full slate of games, and a cup of sunshine by my side and I am raring to go. Takes a sip, begins to blog....*

I always told myself I wouldn't expand my social media anywhere else besides Facebook and Twitter. However, when I started seeing some amazing contests on Instagram, I jumped aboard. At that point and time that was my only reason for using that site. I only had 20 followers which was fine because I wasn't using it for anything else.

That's before I created Cards Over Coffee.

I began to interact a little more after figuring out the website, began following more, having more follows and posting links to this blog on there. Right now I have grown that account to almost 400 followers and get a few view hits from there as well.

One thing I hadn't done on there, other than win a contest, is trade.

That's until now.

A buddy of mine on Twitter, @StephenJFurlong, tagged me on Instagram in a couple of Allan Houston autographed card photos that jwilbscards posted. I really liked both cards and decided to start a small conversation. 

At first, the conversation was very slow. I look at it as kindling. Since you had never interacted with a person before and they are messaging you about a trade it kinda throws you back some and you want to feel that person out first. So you start the fire base with kindling and you continue to throw a stick or two in. Then you may poke the fire before sticking in some papers/boxes/ etc gradually building it up. Before you know it, you are throwing gasoline on the stinkin' fire and that thing is burning wild.

That's how my first trade with jwilbscards went.

*takes a sip, well two, then another and heck, why not a chug. Begins to blog more*

What started out as a conversation for one of his Allan Houston autograph cards, turned out to be so much more. I seem to have a lot of those kind of trades.

Instead of blabbering on anymore about details, I will simply let the cards do the talking.

 Mike Francesa relic for my non sport PC.

 Eli Manning Optic red parallel. At one point I considered attempting a Eli Optic rainbow but realized I would never complete it and backed out.

Michael Cox rookie autograph. It appears his signature is as short as his time with the Giants.

 Sterling Shepard autograph. I couldn't capture it, but there is rainbow foil on this one.

Rookie cards I have been needing for my collection. Zeke and Henry who I expect both to have massive years

 

Edgar Martinez autograph relic. Not sure why I grabbed it, it just sounded good and is one of those underrated 90's guys.

 Two new Allan Houston base, both numbered.

Fleer Retro recreated all of the great autograph inserts of the 90's including Fresh Ink. Glad to have knocked down this one

This was the autograph that was going to be the original trade before the heat of this trade went out of control.

My first John Starks autograph and a signature I can now cross off from my needs list was apart of this trade as well. John was my second favorite Knick All-Time to Houston. Of course, Ewing is in that conversation as well.

And then came the jewel of the trade......

Eli Manning rookie autograph from Sage Hit! He has a really nice signature and I wouldn't mind adding Eli autographs all day long.

This trade went so smooth.... and silky and creamy...well...think I am jumping into my breakfast thoughts now..

*takes a sip, takes a box out of the fridge*

This Marie Callendar's Chocolate Satin Pie is the perfect coffee pairing if you don't already know that.

 

It's not too sweet, despite the look of it, and the smooth texture against the coffee is what makes it great.

 

Just let it thaw in your fridge and it's ready to go! No baking required!

 

Mmmmmmmm. Sooooooooooooo good. And for those of you at home thinking about my health as you see this picture, my blood pressure is finally coming down very slowly and I am working on weight loss and currently am down 7 pounds and working out daily. Occasionally though, you just have to spoil yourself but not overdo it. I have learned that lesson.

*takes a sip, a bite, another sip, and another bite or three*

I was very happy with my first trade on Instagram and thanks to jwilbscards for making it easy, I may look into further trading on the site once I start to get to know more individuals on there.

My next goal for Instagram is to finally win a contest. 

Before I close, I will say I don't expect to further my social media past Instagram. I mean who wants to watch a guy literally talk Cards Over Coffee on YouTube or do a Tik Tok on coffee and food pairings? Well, I probably would but as for doing it, I don't think so.

Retro Cup:Inside Outside

The Diamond King sent me a box loaded with 90's basketball goodness. LOADED. So I came up with an idea to do a mini series with so many great cards to show off called, Retro Cup. Along with the card showings, I will re-live a memory I had as well when it comes to coffee. So I hope you are sitting down with a cup of steaming fresh hot coffee so we can give this series a go.

*Takes a sip from a very hot cup of coffee, tongue goes numb for a second but it's okay, the coffee is in*

When I was younger, I always used my time wisely. I didn't waste a single minute because even at that age, I knew, life goes by way too fast. So have fun whenever you can was my approach. So no matter if I was inside or outside, I found a way to not sit around and waste anytime.

INSIDE:

When I wasn't outside, which wasn't very often (it had to have been way too cold or really raining), I found some fun things to do that wasn't sitting down in front of the TV.

I would write first of all. Hundreds of stories, hundreds of comics (I created a series off from Ren and Stimpy called Aaron and Stimpy. It was the adventures of my friend Aaron and the lovable cat Simpy).  I would play with action figures and use my imagination. I would read. I absolutely loved to read, non fiction of course. Then throw some PS1, not a lot, in there later on in the 90's but no matter what I did, I always kept myself busy. I was never bored.

Oh, and there was coffee. I can't forget the coffee when I was a bit older. I should also say there was cards to. At that point in my life, there wasn't Cards Over Coffee 😏. When I finally got into collecting, I spent a lot of time organizing, re-organizing, and writing down EVERY SINGLE CARD I OWNED in a notebook to keep track. Along with that, I would write down their "book values" and keep track of down and up value arrows, etc. I studied the Beckett like it was U.S. History.

OUTSIDE:

Long before the days of the internet, in the 80's and 90's, we had something called outside. I would play out there in snow, rain, sun, sometimes even an occasional rumble of thunder. I would be there from the time I woke up til the time I went for bed (with a few snack breaks in-between)

The outside was a marvelous place where you could use your imagination and let it blossom. I spent a lot of time by myself using mine. I would take myself on this wonderful journeys created in my mind either re-creating myself as Darkwing Duck or Tommy from the Power Rangers or even make myself some new hero I created. I would travel different dimensions, times, planets, etc fighting against the most evil villains ever. My imagination was endless. 

Other times, especially as I got older, I would play sports by myself. I found ways to use my garage to bounce a baseball off of and try to catch it. If I dropped it, the player was on base and safe. I created a full MLB league and kept track of stats/standings etc doing so. During the winter, I would do football season. I would throw the ball to myself and dive into snowbanks or try to keep my feet in bounds from doing so while playing as some of my favorite players in the league. I would keep track of stats, standings,etc. Then of course came basketball. I wont' go too far into this sport quite yet, but let's say it was comparable to the other sports I already mentioned.

Why not talk too much about basketball yet, well, that's because The Diamond King sent a lot of it and I have stories to save for another day.

*takes a much cooler sip of coffee, starting to get tongue feeling back*

Back in 1993-1994, Fleer Ultra created a basketball insert set called Inside Outside. This 10 card set was built of guys who dominated inside and outside the rim. These cards fell in random packs of 1993-1994 Fleer Ultra Series 2. I couldn't find the exact odds on these but I assume it was one of the easier inserts to find.

The front of the Patrick Ewing, the number one card in the set, of the card looks pretty cool. A fireball of a basketball flying into huge hoop with player in the forefront. The only place you can find a cool looking insert like this is the 90's.

 

The back has a write up and another new pic of Ewing with the Inside Outside.

Here's a look at other cards in the set that came along with the ride from The Diamond King

Dan Majerle

Jim Jackson

John Starks

Latrell Sprewell

Walt Williams

Larry Johnson

Seven of the ten cards are here and I believe I have the other three. I definitely have the big one in MJ. I pack pulled it about ten years ago. I will let you know in another post if I have the set.

*finishes up first cup, pours a second cup*

As an adult now, inside and outside has really changed but what hasn't changed is my approach to life. Don't waste a single moment.

INSIDE:
Blogging, card sorting/organizing, playing Madden, house chores, DRINKING LOTS OF COFFEE

OUTSIDE:
Even as an adult, I still prefer to be outside more than in. Unless it's freezing cold or boiling hot. I could handle that more as a kid than I can now.

Gardening, playing wiffle ball with my nephew, taking a walk.

Though I will admit that my imagination is still there, just can't express it the way I used to. How odd would it look if my wife came home from work and I had my action figures out on the table.

Instead, I take a look back on those memories I made and write about them on here. While also have some Cards Over Coffee.