Okay, I Lied

Okay, I lied.

I didn't mean to. Well, was it a lie or did I just forget with so much on my mind.

I will let you decide.

But, first, my latest basketball update.

*takes a sip, well a chug, it's been a long week-only Tuesday*

Well, as I told my players, you can't win them all. We fell 22-16 this past Saturday. It was just a sloppy played game by my players and I would probably put that blame on myself more since I tried to install a few things in the ten minutes we had before the game began. 

Lesson learned. That wasn't the time for that.

We trailed by double digits at one point, but at least we closed the gap some by the time the game ended.

As I told my team, there are lessons to be learned with every win and every loss and you can't win them all. We will just look forward to practice and make ourselves better.

That begins Wednesday night before our next game on Saturday.

*takes a motivated sip*

The game wasn't the part I lied about, it was about having finished up my cards from 2025 Christmas.

Buried in  my drafts was my latest yearly Christmas trade with Becketts Cheap Wax Wednesday's writer Shane. Who was once a blogger under the same blog title.

This trade wasn't the typical one for us. We always go big or go home and this was a massively dulled down version of that.

Tiki parallel.

 

Another Tiki parallel.

 

Things heating up some here with two very low numbered Rodney Hamptons that go towards my rainbow chase. The first one is /5 and this one is the /2 card. This is the only one I have seen listed of this.

Still waiting on the Super to be listed.

A new Purple Marvel PMG for my set chase of this as well. The rest are very expensive so I may not be able to add anymore sadly. I really want to do the Doctor Strange one so I can finally finish a set of five off.

Any Napoleon Dynamite fans reading? That's all there really is to say about this card. I now have two of the three characters from the movie with only Uncle Rico missing.

And that was the end of the trade.

Thanks again to Shane for another great one.

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

But, before I close out, *takes another sip*, I wanted to show you the update to my 2024 Topps Chrome Rodney Hampton Chase.

Topps Chrome Sapphire. Still have a few to go! Lost out on the 1/1.

Topps Chrome itself. Just missing the Super 1/1 and the basic red /5.

I hope to finish both of these rainbow chases someday.

Thanks again for checking out my cards and coffee blog. I sure hope you have been sippin' and readin'.

Have a terrific Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee With Mandy Moore

*takes a very excited chug...this post and item has been a long time coming.*

*takes another sip*

My latest mail day from Shane from Cheap Wax Wednesday fame came with such a big collection item, I carried the box home from my mailbox like Gollum saying, "My Precious".

I barely made it through the door before ripping into it.

And there it was. My second most wanted autograph sitting right there. I couldn't believe it and now I want you guys to believe it.

*takes a sip before showing off the item*

Since 1999, I have been a big fan of Mandy Moore's music and acting and may have had a crush on her as well. 

I have added a couple of cards of her over the years, she isn't featured on many, but have always wanted an autograph for my collection. It serves both as a fan piece and a nostalgic piece.

 

When I saw that Mandy was releasing a new CD. I checked it out and noticed that if you pre-ordered it, it came with a very special item.

 

A signed art piece!

With Shane's assistance, I was able to get one. 

Such a great item!! This goes up there with my Elton John add this year.

Thanks to Shane for the assistance on this piece.

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

In comments today, let me know your favorite Mandy Moore song, movie or TV show spot.

Mandy, if you are reading this, thank you for signing these for fans and keep doing what you are doing!

*takes a final sip*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Completed The Trifecta

*sits down, takes a sip and gets ready for a new post on Cards Over Coffee*

*laptop is open and my fingers are getting ready to produce some magic*

Every year for the past five years or more, I pull off a trade with my buddy @ShaneSalmonson which usually leads me to landing some 90's wax to open around Christmas time. Which makes sense knowing he is the Cheap Wax Wednesday king of 90's so he can find the deals.

However, the last couple of years we have taken a step back on that as the crazy prices for unopened 90's wax has taken over. So there hasn't been as much unopened wax in our trades.

The ones that I have gotten though, I can't get myself to open. I know that sounds weird, but, that's just how it has been. I have roughly a half dozen 90's wax boxes that are currently being displayed on my shelves at home.

Three though, stand out above the rest.

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

I can't count the number of times I have posted about 90's Zenith football. I would need my hands along with your hands to do so. But, I don't want you to take your hands off from your coffee mug reading this or have me set down mine. That would be wrong.

I simply love 90's Zenith and it hits that Nostalgic heart of mine with a big arrow. Being the product, I hit my biggest 90's pull from (Emmitt Smith Z-Team), a product I am chasing the inserts and base sets of and a product with the simple memories of opening with my father, it really is a favorite.

So, when I added an unopened box of 1996 Zenith from our trade three years ago, I left it sealed.

 

Then, I was able to add a box of 1997 Zenith football sealed last year in a trade with Shane who acquired it from a fellow blogger, I decided it was time to chase the Trifecta.

I needed all three, but the cost of a 1995 Zenith football box wasn't getting any cheaper and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to complete the three.

That's until Shane went to this year's National knowing I was looking for a box, he found a cheap one and snagged it for me.

 

And it was delivered last week after we completed our latest trade.

Now all three sit on my shelf together. Maybe I should align all three in the shape of the Pinnacle logo :)

Thanks again to Shane for helping me complete this.

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

I am not sure how long I will keep all three unopened. There are days I get tempted but other days I feel I would regret doing so. It's sort of like having that devil and angel on your shoulders giving you the pros and cons of opening it. Both holding coffee mugs of course.

Your thoughts on my chase is welcomed in comments. Also let me know if you would open them or keep them sealed.

Have a Terrific Tuesday!!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Following In The Footsteps

*turns on Pandora Elton John station, starts jamming to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road*

*gets cards ready, coffee prepped and laptop ready. it's time for a new Cards Over Coffee post!*

When you compare my father and myself, there are a lot of similar interests as I followed in his footsteps with a lot of the things I like.

We both are NY fans. NY Yankees, NY Knicks, NY  Rangers and NY Giants fans in an area dominated by Boston/New England teams. I think others always scratch their heads when they find out we were not even from New York and follow those teams here.

We both also collect sport cards, though most of his collecting now is more flipping than collecting. The new age of the hobby has done that to him but he still does collect some cards.

We even listen to the same kind of music. It was Eagles, Chicago, the local radio station and of course, Elton John.

I remember going to card shows and having him put on Elton's Too Low For Zero cassette tape and we would listen to it to the card show and back. When there was a new Elton song on the radio, we would turn that up. Music was just as important as sports to us.

As I sit here listening to Elton during today's post, it brings me back.

*takes a sip, switches the song to I'm Still Standing*

My obsession with non-sport cards and my love of music have really been crossing over this year as I have picked up many singer's autographs or cards just to have that nostalgia.

When I added this Elton John card, Elton's checklist of cardboard was short and just base cards.

Then came 2021 Leaf Pop Century which included a line of relic cards from the legendary singer.

I am fortunate to have great friends like Shane from Cheap Wax Wednesday fame who grabbed two of them for me for my collection. Each swatch had a different colored relic.

This relic is numbered to 80 and features a darker colored relic.

 

This one here is a white relic numbered to 12.

Back of the card.

I haven't seen any other colored relic releases yet, but would definitely be interested in others if I do.

These are the only cards in my Elton John PC so far. There are others out there I need to add at some point and on the top of that list is still an autograph need. I don't believe he has any certified autograph cards out there...yet. At this point I would love to add an authentic autograph CD cover or anything. I heard he did TTM awhile back so I attempted that once to get sent back a replica autographed picture so I must have missed the cutoff for when he was signing. Bummer.

Thanks again to Shane for snagging the relic cards above and trading them to me!! Appreciate you as always buddy, despite you not liking coffee and liking the Boston sport teams.

*takes another sip before finishing up today's post, switches song to Tiny Dancer*

Even though I have a lot in common with my father, there are still a lot of things we don't. He could do "manly" things that I can't such as doing oil changes for a car, fixing a muffler with a coat hanger, building stuff and other things like that. I also don't agree with some of his life choices but that along has made me a better man to learn from his mistakes.

But, for what we do have in common, I am glad I followed in those footsteps.

Have a great Monday.

Comment below your favorite Elton John song.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Finest Times

 

*coffee is ready, sunny day is here and we are off running for another new #CardsOverCoffee post!*

*takes out CD player, yes those still exist, and turns on Green Day's Good Riddance Time Of Your Life for today's background music for the post*

*takes another sip, starts to reminisce to simpler times*

The 90's were great. I was young, I was outside with my friends, I was watching Saturday Morning cartoons with my mom while eating a bowl of Rice Krispie Treats cereal, I was jamming to the best decade of music, I was writing tons of nonfiction stories, and I was enjoying the hobby of sport cards like no other time. 

Life was good. I had no complaints.

Compare that to today, where I am older wondering which side of my back I will wake up to aching, mainly inside working, watching nighttime television if I am lucky while trying to limit my eating, almost passing out from gas prices, writing a sports card blog, still in the hobby, dealing with a pandemic, watching everyone's morals fall apart and the world crumble.

That's a shortened up list as well.

The 90's you can say were the finest of times in my life. Which is why I still collect a lot of "stuff" from that era.

Childhood toys, magazines and comics, and sport cards all make up a good portion of what I chase to bring back those finest memories.

So, when my buddy Shane from Cheap Wax Wednesday found some Topps Finest Refractors from the 90's at his recent card show trip, it was a definite want for me.

*takes a sip, sits momentarily to listen to the lyrics of the song. sure was the time of my life*

Shane sent me a variety of years and players with these refractors. I didn't care who they were. I remember a lot of the players and how excited I used to get when I opened a pack of Finest and saw something shiny in the middle of the pack. I would slowly look at the cards in front and behind the shiny card before fulling revealing it.

I couldn't do that with my mail day from Shane as all of the refractors were in a stack.

*takes a breath, slowly scrolls through the uploaded pictures remembering opening up packs of Finest with my father*

 

*smiles after reaching the bottom. takes another sip*

Those cards were such a great memory and trip back in time. For those of you reading today and remember those times, I hope these brought you back as well.

I must also note, see how I left the Finest Protection on, that will always stay on in my house.

Thanks to Shane for picking these up for me.

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

Even though today's times are not as much fun, it's still a blessing to wake up every day and make the most of it. I am also glad I was able to "take the photographs and still frames in my mind" from the 90's and remember them. Cards help bring those memories alive a lot of the time.

Thoughts on today's cards, song choice, the 90's and your favorite part of them welcomed in comments.

Have a terrific Thursday.

*song ends, post ends, CD player put away for another time*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Unguarded

*another warmer day is helping melt the snow away. the more snow that it melts the more I can get outside and play some sports again such as wiffle ball, football and a sport based on today's topic, basketball. takes another sip, dreams of getting outside but for now gets ready for a new #CardsOverCoffee*

I never played in a basketball league growing up, but I played plenty b-ball with friends at school and at home. There were lots of great memories made. One of those memories I mentioned on here previously when my friend Brian pushed me through his grandmothers sliding glass window as I drained a three to beat him. But, I have other ones as well.

I remember getting elbowed in the face going up for a rebound against a classmate causing me to bleed everywhere, but coming back in the game five minutes later after the school nurse checked me and said I was good to go. I remember Dustin who would always say "fake out" over and over again as he would keep spinning to avoid defenders and make the shot. I remember a kid named George who thought he was Duke material and was the best player on the playground court in 8th grade and how I showed him I wasn't too bad myself. The memory of the high school PE class where I won a 1:1 tournament against actual high school basketball players. I am not sure why I never tried out for a team or whatever held me back, but I sometimes regret not doing so.

*gets up, soaks up some more sun, takes another sip*

I really loved the game of basketball back in the 90's and early 2000's. There wasn't a moment where you didn't see a ball in my hands taking shots. I would go out in the middle of winter and even take some shots with a snow covered ball and at one point, I lived on a farm where my court was a poured concrete silo. It came in handy when I missed as the ball would bounce back from the concrete walls.

When I wasn't outside enjoying the game, you would find me inside watching the Knicks on NBC or watching Duke on ABC. I remember watching a lot of UNC/Duke games and the Knicks taking on rivals, Heat, Pacers and the Bulls.

It was like a Super Bowl win for me when my team beat any of those teams. Especially the Bulls. They had to have been one of the most hated teams in the 90's right? I know I couldn't stand them at all. There wasn't even one player on that team I liked. It didn't matter if it was MJ, Rodman, Longley, Kerr, the Coach Phil Jackson or even today's subject, Scottie Pippen. I wanted them to lose and lose bad.

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

For me, the 90's was the height of the NBA. Those rivalry games were so good as you could feel the hatred and respect right at home. But, as the sport got into the 2000's, my interest started to fade as my favorite players started to leave and even the ones I hated. The game was even changing itself and my love of the sport started to fade as I found myself losing interest.

I no longer found myself inside watching games, I even didn't even feel like playing it outside as much anymore as my shift was towards baseball and football more. Basketball was not in my life anymore and I even started to unload some of my basketball cards in trades.

It wasn't until I was in my 30's when I found myself coming to a realization while turning on a game for background noise that I may had watched the greatest era of the sport. Some of the all-time greats played during that time and I got to watch them. Maybe I needed a way to celebrate that and maybe not all basketball needed to be out of my life.

That's when I started a list of basketball players, I wanted autographed cards of. I wanted those players who made an impact to the game. So I made my list, checked it twice and started to hunt them down.

I have so far scored autographed cards of Allan Houston, John Starks, Karl Malone, Magic Johnson, Christain Laettner, Kobe Bryant and John Stockton since then. It isn't easy landing a lot of the guys on my list with the values of those guys skyrocketing daily, but I have chipped away using some good trade bait to acquire them. Totally worth it though.

One of my latest additions came in book form, even though I told myself I wanted only cards of these guys. I guess you just have to be happy to get what you can get these days.

My buddy Shane from Cheap Wax fame came across an offer for an autographed book of Scottie Pippen and asked me if I was interested in a copy since he was getting himself one, I knew I needed Pippen still from my list and told him I would absolutely take it on.

The signed copy came with a letter of authenticity along with the autograph of Pippen.

Unguarded tells the life story of Scottie Pippen and everything he had to overcome to be a part of that Bulls dynasty. I haven't decided when or if I will sit down to read it anytime soon. I prefer to protect the autograph first since I actually haven't read a book from beginning to end in probably 20 years. I prefer to write more than read.

Thanks goes out to Shane for helping me land a Scottie Pippen autograph for my collection.

Other players I am still in search of are,

• MJ
• Shaq
• Tim Duncan
• Patrick Ewing
• Dennis Rodman
• Penny Hardaway
• Mugsy Bogues
• Charles Barkley
• David Robinson
• Reggie Miller
• Grant Hill
• Shawn Kemp
• Gary Payton
• Allen Iverson

A mighty list remains that's for sure. I add a few players I forgot about occasionally as well.

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

Up until the last couple of years I haven't watched an actual basketball game other than background noise. That changed when the Knicks drafted RJ Barrett, Duke connection of course, who I thought was an interesting piece for their future. He seems to be the best player they have right now, but also needs some work still.

As for myself playing basketball, I do have a basketball hoop I take shots on still. I am no longer the die hard I once was, especially since my hoop is on uneven ground and I have no ACL in my right leg, but I still take some shots. Now that my childhood friend Brian has moved back from states away this past fall, maybe he will pop over and we can at least do a game of HORSE at least. At our age, it wouldn't take much to get injured otherwise.

In comments today, let me know your thoughts on my latest addition, who your favorite players of the 90's are and if you collect any of them.

Have a great Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*