The Blogger National 2024

*sits down, takes a sip of coffee. opens keyboard, begins to type today's newest post*

The last two years I have posted a Blogger National for those of us who can't enjoy the experience of actually being at the The National Sport Collectors Convention. That way we can still connect with one another without spending the big bucks to do so. Though I would love to sit down, have a cup of coffee and talk cards with you.

*takes a sip, tips mug towards computer screen hoping you will return the favor*

I am right on time with posting this year's Blogger National, so I am hoping you all will participate in this blog bat-around.

What is the Blogger National? Well, it's a blog-bat-around where you just take one post (or multiple if you so choose) in the next few days and dedicate it to showing off your coolest cards or your most favorite cards or a recent mail day you hadn't posted yet using the blog post title, The Blogger National 2024.

I want you to try to find the cards that are show worthy to you. You know, the dazzling cards that would attract all of the people over to your table (blog).

I received some show worthy mail day recently from my friend @Brent3323.

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

We first kick it off with some dirt from Washington Crossing. I never cared much about history or historical cards until I became an adult. I just wished I had paid more attention when I was younger, now I have to do all of the research.

Rintrah autograph from Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. This is my first Marvel autograph add in a long time.

Sean Elliot autograph. As soon as I saw that Brent had this, I wanted it. He was drafted by the Spurs in 1989, was always a consistent player in college and in the pros, was a two-time NBA All-Star, won a Championship with the Spurs in 1999 and also had his jersey numbered retired by the Spurs and his college University Of Arizona.

Then came an onslaught of Sterling Shepards. I always had a lot of respect for Shep. He played great, when he was healthy and was a team guy. Last year during his injury you could see him cheering on his teammates. That's the guy I want to root on.

With so many injuries in his career, it was only assumed this was not only his last season with the Giants, but the last season of his career. But this offseason proved differently as he signed a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Bucs. I only wish him the best.

(nice patch)

(I think this may be my favorite Shepard card now)

And there you have it for the Shepards.

Brent also passed along a lot of other shiny basketball cards including a JA Morant Revolution rookie (picture didn't upload for some reason)

Thanks again to Brent for this terrific mail day.

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

 

I am hopeful many of you will join in on this. Usually my Blog-Bat-Arounds go nowhere but maybe this one will catch your attention. Last year was no to very little turnout but I am trying again!

And for those of you who read this and don't have a blog, feel free to post your cards on social media and use the hashtag, #TheBloggerNational2024. I will be on the lookout for that hashtag on all social media platforms. Well, except TikTok. I haven't joined that at all yet and don't plan to.

Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!

Before I close, I also wanted to remind you of the Coffee Card Hall Of Fame voting and that it needs you guys to nominate cards in.

Details on the Coffee Card Hall Of Fame can be found HERE. I may add this to every post from here on out for a reminder as I will forget about this too! Haha!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Explosive Mail Day!

*sits down and preps the newest post for cards over coffee. sorts cards on the table into piles for pictures and discussions. well, short discussions. it is a holiday, takes a sip, is ready to go*

My mind is always running like a machine. Sometimes that is a good thing, other times it gets overwhelmed, and I can't focus. 

I spent this weekend trying to think of a post for today and my mind got overwhelmed as I couldn't find any cards featuring Independence Day or fireworks or even grilling. I wanted something exciting to post, so I went to see what I had in my blogging drafts and up popped a mail day I hadn't posted yet.

Let's hope this brings out the fireworks.

So, let's celebrate today's holiday by looking at a pretty explosive mail day I got from @Brent3323.

*takes a sip, tries to figure out what to grill today....then wonders what a cup of coffee would taste like on the grill*

I knew about a few of the cards coming from Brent, but I wasn't expecting all that I got in a packed bubbler. It was so much that I couldn't even post it all.

Since today is a historic day, why not look at some cards of history. There are a ton of these here, most are hidden in the team bags. I might dive into these more at a later date.

Hopefully soon I will have all of my Giants PC numbers updated and broken down.

Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard.

Tiki!

Terrell Thomas college relic.

This is what I believe is my first Lorenzo Carter autograph. It's just too bad that he didn't make the team after a decent season and now plays in Atlanta. I wish him all the best!

And finally, the one key card I knew that would be on the way....

A newspaper clipping relic from The Titanic! Awesome!

 

Back of the card. I really wished they would post a picture of the article they cut the swatches from.

Thanks again Brett for the mail day! I will hit you back hopefully soon.

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

I hope all of you have a Happy and especially safe 4th of July. Please also remember others today and don't make foolish mistakes such as drinking and driving.

In comments today, let me know what you will be grilling and celebrating today along with thoughts on my mail day.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

*also, I really don't plan on trying coffee grilled. that was just a thought. but maybe meat grilled in coffee marinade.....*

Monday Morning Cup: Pitt Of Despair

One mans love of NY blue comes to Cards Over Coffee as the season goes on. So it will be football, cards and coffee for this segment.

The new segment is called Monday Morning Cup and yes I know it's Tuesday, but the NY Giants first game of the season kicked off the new year of Monday Night Football. So we are having a Monday on a Tuesday. I am sure many of you have had those before.

*pours a cup of coffee, grabs a stack of Giants cards and takes some pictures. It's time to look back at last nights game*

This team had me very excited. All of the offseason talk about disciplinary coaching, Saquon being healthy, Daniel Jones muscle gain, offensive line upgrade, and the defense with some new additions all led me to believe this was a season of change. I had this team going 8-8 or 9-7 even with their tough schedule.

All of that build up for me who was pimped out in a Daniel Jones jersey for the game, then they actually played.

Last night the Giants fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-16 in a game that brought The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The three headed monster and theme I plan on using for this segment throughout the season to break down each game.

*takes a sip of coffee, still sad from last night but will find some positives to talk about first*

THE GOOD:

The Giants used their franchise tag on Leonard Williams to a lot of disagreement from fans. But, he went out last night and looked the best he has yet for the Giants recording 4 tackles, 2 for loss and even a sack. It was great to see and something this team will need this year.

One of the bigger acquisitions for the Giants this offseason was tackling machine Blake Martinez, need a Giants card of him, who did not disappoint. He recorded 12 tackles and was all over the field. Something the Giants have lacked since they had Antonio Pierce.

Bradberry, the biggest of the offseason moves, recorded 5 tackles and defended 2 passes that would have led to big time plays. So far, so good for him.

Sterling Shepard stayed healthy and looked great making 6 catches for 47 yards. I hope this continues to be the trend for him this year.

Darius Slayton looking like the number one WR on the team with two TD receptions and over 100 yards. He is picking up where he left off last year and has a lot of chemistry with Daniel Jones.

*another sip of coffee before tackling the bad. At least this cup of coffee isn't bad*

THE BAD:

This one isn't all that bad for Daniel Jones because he did throw for 279 yards and 2 TD's against a solid Pittsburgh defense. It's the two interceptions he threw that puts him in the bad category. The first pick was an ugly in traffic throw,  but what really put him in this category was the second pick that came on a long 19 play drive. The Giants were Pittsburgh's 4 yard line when Jones rolled out and was hit with the ball flopping in the air and picked in the end zone that killed the game and ended all of the Giants momentum. He should have either taken the sack or threw it short to Saquon who was open for a few seconds. Not all his fault with how bad that oline was. The play was very reminiscent of one that Eli would have made though.

Not pictured, in the first quarter after a Pittsburgh punt return fumble, Daniel Jones was hit with what appeared was his arm going forward (it really wasn't) and fumbled the ball which was then recovered by the Giants for a Touchdown. This would have given them an early 7-0 lead. Instead, the call on the field was an incomplete pass and Coach Judge decided not to challenge it in which he would have most likely won the call. The Giants ended up settling for a field goal instead.

*holds back tears before summing up the ugliest part of the game, this will take a few sips to get through*

THE UGLY:

This has nothing to do with Saquon, this is all on the offensive line. When your star player rushes 15 times and only ends up with 6 yards, that's not good. That makes your team one sided on offense and that's how a defense wins games. The oline gave Saquon no holes to run though whatsoever. Sadly the leading rusher on the Giants was Jones who was running for his life a lot of times.

Evan Engram with so much potential but just can't quite get there. He dropped a wide open pass in the first quarter, got called on a Pass Interference in the second quarter, couldn't run block and ended up with only 2 catches for 9 yards. The two back up tight ends had more production then he did which makes you wonder if he is a prime trade candidate for the Gmen who could use Engram for other holes on the team.

Finally, let's talk some Dion Lewis. One, he had 7 seconds left to the first half and chose not to take the ball out on a kickoff. Secondly, Jason Garrett didn't use him. They saw the struggles with Saquon why not change the pace some and add Lewis in more? He had one carry for one yard. Even the Steelers put Conner on the bench and put in Benny Snell who had a big game after Conner was going nowhere. Not to mention he is one heck of a great receiver out of the backfield and only had one target?! Gotta utilize him more.

As the experts say, #comeonman

*finishes up cup number one, if I drank alcohol that would have been added to the cup of coffee to help me through last nights game. Instead, I will add creamer and pretend*

The Giants lost and had some ups and downs, but I will say they played better than most of their past 0-1 team starts. They were just outplayed by a better team is a better way to look at it. I think there are some things to build off of from Week 1, but the main focus really needs to be that offensive line. I don't know if they need to look to free agency, trades or moving some people around. Something needs to change or that 0-1 will be 0 and a lot more.

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.