It's Here! It's Here!

FedEx just left and I have my box of 2004 Greats of the Game in my excited little hands.

Here is the plan. I am going to try and limit myself to opening three packs a day and to blog each group separately. Whether I can stick to that or not is another matter altogether. Frankly, I used to get so terribly excited on Christmas Eve that, once, my mother actually had to slip me part of a phenobarbitol so I would fall asleep until Christmas morning. Parenting was a bit different back then. So, as you might guess, my impulse control can be a bit problematic.

That said, I figured I might figure out what I can expect from this box, based on the number of packs (15), number of cards per pack (5), and stated (but not guaranteed) odds.

Parallel Cards: Basic Card Parallels # to special year(1:60 packs): 0

Insert Cards: 29 Forever, # to rookie year (1:5 packs): 3

Game Used Memorabilia (1:15 packs): 1

Autographs (1:7.5 packs): 2

Base Cards (65 total): 69.

Given that I already have 26 base cards from the second series, I am hoping to get all, or at least most, of the remaining cards I need among the 69 expected base cards.

So, I have taken the three packs that seemed thickest and put them on the bottom, figuring that they are the ones likeliest to have hits in them. They may just end up being the packs with a checklist card added in, so my plan to save the best for last may be foiled. We'll see, and that is the exciting part anyways.

I've got another post sketched out about a great vintage break I participated in over at Crinkly Wrappers, which I will try and work on this week also. But, I have no clue as to what will go up when.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, that video playing in the background of the picture above is Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson playing one of my all time favorite songs, the old Hoagy Carmichael classic "Georgia on my Mind." Ray Charles still sets the standard for that song, but Wynton and Willie do come close. Here is the video. If you like jazz, blues, or country, you will like it.




ADDED LATER: Yeah, no impulse control. All 15 packs have been opened and I did get the hits generally in line with the expectation. There was one big hit and one big disappointment. I'll still blog 3 packs a day, but in the mean time, does anyone have a subscription to Worthpoint or Beckett Online Price Guide?

Woo Hoo!! Aw, Dang!!

So, I checked on the shipping progress of my box of 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game - Signature Cut Edition.


Darn weekend!

My Plan to Hit it Big

So, according to Fedex, my greatly anticipated box of 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game - Signature Cut Edition will be delivered on Monday. So, I wait.

Imagine my surprise when I wandered out to the mailbox to discover a package addressed to me. What could it be? I don't have any trades in the works. I was stumped. But, then I had a good idea. No, a positively brilliant idea. Check it. I looked at the return label to see who sent it to me. Pretty smart, huh?

Well, it was from Remington Park, the local horse racing track. They occasionally have photo contests which I enter. Well, they are only photo contests in the loosest sense of the word. I don't consider them real photo contests, because they are really just part of a social media marketing strategy and the results are more like popularity contests. The person that has the most Facebook friends, and can convince those friends to "like" their picture wins. Of course, there friends have to "friend" Remington Park before they can "vote." See what I mean? They are just using Facebook as a way to get their message out. The photo contest is just a means of broadening their "fan" base.

I am not one to beg my friends to "like" my picture (I am an ARTIST!!1!1!!!11!one!!), but still have managed to place high enough to get some free swag. A couple hats, a t-shirt, a gift certificate to the restaurant, and some free play at the racino, the casino in the track grandstand. But, today I got this:


That is right! A G. R. Carter bobblehead! Who is G. R. Carter, you say? Well, I didn't know until today, but he is the winningest jockey in Quarter Horse racing history. He even has his own Wikipedia page.

Any bobblehead collectors out there that would be interested in this rarity?

I will probably take the restaurant gift card and the free play certificates and make a night of it with my wife. We'll dine well, watch the races, and I'll see if I can parlay my $30 of free play into a larger pile of green. I am not much of a gambler. I've only bet on horse races once when, a few years ago, I went to the track with $50 in my pocket, hit the quinella in one race, bet on the wrong horse in another and walked out with a little over $100 in my pocket when all was said and done. I figure if I can actually win a little, I'll have some nice bank for the October card show. More likely, I'll just run through the $30 and call it a night.

Oh, here is a little video of a big time quarter horse race at Remington that was won by Carter. You can see at, around 1:15, his famous dismount.

A Good Day

The box of 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game I won on EBay last night shipped this afternoon. I have no idea when it will arrive, but I don't have to obsessively check EBay anymore to see if it shipped. Now I can obsessively check the Fedex website to track it's progress.

And to make things even better, I am heading up to OKC tonight to take in a concert by a favorite singer, Eilen Jewell. So, I will leave you with a few of her videos:

Score!

I have written previously about my desire to complete the 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game set and my difficulty in finding any packs or boxes of the second series.


I have finally been rewarded. A box came up on Ebay about a week ago, and I have patiently waited for the auction to reach it's denouement, which was last night. I was not about to let this one slip away from me, so I resolved to pay way more than it was worth. Luckily, I didn't come to that. The other bidders weren't nearly as desperate / stupid as I was, so it is now mine.

The only thing left now is to obsessively check EBay every 10-15 minutes to see when it ships. And to open the packs. And, I suppose, to blog about it.

Into the Off-Season

Jose Valdez throws the final pitch of the last game of the Oklahoma Redhawks 2011 season.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other Things