Black Friday

*takes a sip of non black coffee, one thing I haven't ever enjoyed about coffee was it being completely black. Not that I drown mine in creamer to make it all creamer either. It is a little lightened that way I get more coffee than creamer flavor. I think a great cup needs a great balance and today's cup hits that spot*

Black Friday is known to most as a day of shopping, whether that means online or in a store people go crazy for the crazy deals. Sometimes even trampling others to get to them.

Black Friday to me is tomorrow and isn't anything close to shopping or landing a crazy deal. Tomorrow I will be going into surgery to get my kidney stone removed. Well, hopefully removed. The past two surgeries I have had to remove a kidney stone, I have had to go through two surgeries to get the job done. The first surgery usually tells the tale of whether the urologist can reach the stone or not. If they go in and can't get to it because of my "narrow tubes", I apologize for the TMI, I will get a stent put in place and will need a second surgery to remove the stent and stone.

It's all the party that it sounds to be.

*takes a sip of coffee, hopes it can calm down the nerves and stress of tomorrow. Then realizes he can't drink coffee in the morning since can't eat or drink after midnight. Starts drinking this cup faster to get more in today*

One positive at least this week is I found a pack of 2019 Panini Black Friday kicking around so figured to fit the theme of today's post, I would show off the results. I will promise in advance that I won't show off the results of tomorrow's Black Friday though ;)

There are two cards per pack of Panini's promo Black Friday packs. It was actually quite sad this year not to see this fun promotion continue. There are some really nice cards that can be found in these packs. I know the odds are against me since the pack is skinny and it's just one pack but I was still hopeful for a possible parallel or autograph.

First card, Hall Of Famer Kurt Warner. Kurt was a Super Bowl champ and MVP when he led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans. What an ending to that game with the Titans falling just one yard short of trying to tie the game up. One of those Super Bowl memories I will have.

I am also a fan of Kurt's. He was a NY Giant for one year (I try to chase down cards of him in Big Blue but not too many out there), he is an underdog and who doesn't root for them, and he is a devout Christian which I am all for.

Back of the Warner card.

Next card, Josh Jacobs and it's a rookie. I would have rather found Daniel Jones but not going to complain too much about one of the top players of last year's draft.

Jacobs is having a great sophomore year and proving he wasn't just a one year wonder for the Raiders last year. Their offense definitely builds themselves around how he does.

Back of his card which is slightly different than the Warner.

Not too bad of a pack break with a Hall Of Famer and a possible Hall Of Famer.

*takes another sip to finish up the first cup, will pour a second very soon*

I am hopeful they will find a way just to get the stone out with one surgery and hoping not for a second. I know I will be a bit out of it for the rest of the day tomorrow so watch for updates in the near future on here or on Twitter if you follow me there.

Maybe while I am knocked out in anesthesia tomorrow, I will dream about actually landing more of these Black Friday packs or that big screen TV I always ask my wife for. Which will be great until I wake in realization of how my Black Friday actually went.

Remember 2019?

 

*takes a sip of coffee reminiscing about the good times*

I decided to take a trip back in time in my mind when the world was normal. Remember a time when you could go visit family on holidays? Take a trip to the beach? Go to an eating establishment with friends or family? Going to a Dr's appointment without needing a Dr's appointment to get in? Get together with 10 or more people? Go grocery shopping? Find retail sport cards at the store?

Yeah, I do to. 

Even though that was simply only a year ago, a lot of those things you don't realize how much they actually meant until they were taken away. Even those family get togethers with that one annoying aunt or uncle who discussed politics at the table.

As this year has gone on and holidays are approaching, I am realizing more and more how much those things meant, even the simple things of running to a grocery store, to my cycle of life. It's like taking sunlight away from a plant and expecting it to grow with just water and a seed.

At least I have a distraction in blogging and card sorting to get me by. Even though most parts of the hobby this year haven't been the same either.

*takes a sip of coffee trying to perk myself up. See what I did there, tried to use a coffee synonym joke to help with my feelings of 2020.*

One of my last Walmart runs in September, I actually stumbled on a few packs of retail at the store. It 

wasn't the newest product by any stretch but it was product so I grabbed a couple of packs just to have something to break. I actually felt like a champion that day just for finding any retail packs.

The packs were 2019 Score football fat packs.

I stored one of the packs away, it's still sealed, for a later date just in case I get another retail itch to open since I am no longer going to Walmart until Covid goes away (all three Walmart within an hour of me are in "hot" Covid zones). In the meantime, I did rip one of the packs and thought I would show off my finds today.

*takes a sip, already ripped*

2019 Score came with a 330 card veteran base set that has some great photography such as this A.J. Green.

The base set was also topped off with 110 rookies pictured in their College Uni's to make it a 440 base card set. One of Panini's bigger base set products. Could actually be the biggest knowing most of their base sets run 100 cards. 

My rookies from this pack were not too strong. CJ Conrad was at least Giants PC material even though he didn't make the team but I will keep it.

Each Fat Pack comes with red parallels as well,

T.J. McDonald was my first

Followed by Saquon Barkley. I really miss him making plays like this. Can't wait until he is on the field next year.

And no rest of the pack which was made up of a variety of inserts. Sorry for the early no hit spoiler but I am sure most of you have already scrolled by my rambling just to see the pictures anyways.

*takes a gulp and back to the inserts*

NFL Draft  has 30 cards to collect. I landed the speedster Hollywood Brown

Captains has the team leaders, such as Cam Newton that I haven't adjusted to seeing in a Patriots uniform yet, that has 30 cards to collect as well.

Fantasy Stars...well I have had Rodgers as my QB many times in Fantasy and he never scored much for me. It's too bad I didn't have him this year however as my QB's have been less than par especially when you start out with Carson Wentz and now have Taysum Hill. There are 20 of these to collect.

Epix, an Epix fail compared to what we saw in the 90's but it's still nice to see an attempt to bring it back. Also finding any Patrick Mahomes in your pack is a pack saver. There are 30 cards split up into three 10 card sets. Similar to the 90's. There is Game, Moment and Season and each of the 10 players has a card in each set. I have all three of Saquon Barkley.

All Hands team are those great catches that happened the previous year from guys who have gloves of steel. There are 10 of these to collect.

Signal Callers are the QB's leaders in this 30 card set. The two I pulled are QB's on different teams. Jameis is with the Saints and Darnold is with the bench/injured reserve most of the time.

And finally, Throwbacks. 20 card set to collect. The Darnold is a red parallel if you look really closely.

And that's it. Not a bad pack considering I landed a few PC cards and most were known names in football.

*takes a sip to finish up this cup and post. Definitely need more coffee to drown the sorrows of 2020 out*

2020 has taught me many lessons both big and small. Other than the one about how much those things meant to my cycle of life in the example I gave above, I also learned even more how much things I already have in my life on a daily basis are even more important to me now.

Why Do I Consider These Things?

 

*takes a sip of coffee, sits down to type his latest installment on Cards Over Coffee*

I wanted to start off today's post by saying thanks for the well wishes in terms of the kidney stones. I have yet to pass them so still not feeling that great today but trying my best just to push through. I don't get to see my urologist until the 14th so I am praying hard they pass by then. If not I could be staring down surgery once again and I don't really want to head down that road in 2020.

So I don't know if its the pain meds talking or I am going crazy or maybe it's the cards in today's post served up by The Diamond King, but I have an itch to start up an all 90's card blog again. Tell me if you have heard this story from me before.

Picture this, a blog dedicated to cards from 1995-1999 covering all sports, all of my projects, and all of my completions and of course all of my needs. Combine that with some pop culture and 90's cartoons and it sounds like a beautiful harmony. But, once again, would I have the time to make it worth my while? Or would it be another one of my projects that I start and quit?

This is the fork in the road I am at right now with the idea. 

I don't want to start any new projects without doing it right or finding time to do so. On top of all of this craving to start a 90's blog, I really want to expand and do a NY Giants one as well focusing on the biggest collection I have. There are a lot of team blogs, not sure I have seen an NFL one, so I know it would be fun but a lot also to tackle.

Why do I even consider these things?

*takes a sip of coffee, feeling like breakfast may be a good idea soon*

Regardless of which road I take with those ideas, I thought it was finally time to show off rest of the cards that The Diamond King, sent to me. They have been sitting in my drafts for way too long now originally as a mini series but I changed my mind and did this as one post.

There really isn't too much to say about these cards as the cards themselves do the talking,

 

 

 

If those didn't make you want to start up a 90's card blog, I am surprised. The only way those don't interest you is if you aren't reading this post at all.

Thanks to The Diamond King for one epic mail day I am still working on sorting months later.

As for 90's Cards Over Coffee, sorry was feeling that out, I am not sure what I will do moving forward. I will say I am much wiser than I used to be when it comes to just starting up a blog or two knowing my time restrictions and patience on those blogs to build up. 

This blog isn't quite where I want it to be or even close to be yet, but it's like this raisin toast. It isn't quite as good as my cinnamon raisin bagel, but good enough to keep coming back for more.

Maybe those new ideas turn out to be raisin toast or maybe they will turn out to be slices of bread with what appears to be raisins. For now, I have time and patience to make that decision and in the meantime, I need to focus on getting the "raisin" out of me.