Guy's Box Topper Contest

Well, I'm pretty sure all of my followers already follow the Basketball Card Blog, but I figured I'd put the link here anyway. If you didn't know, Guy at the aforementioned blog is holding a contest for a great card (if you can call it that) that he pulled himself. It's a box topper 5x7 autograph of a sure future Hall of Famer. So definitely go check that out--it's a creative contest involving his favorite player, Nic Batum. I'm partial to the guy myself ;) In fact, his autograph is right there...
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As for posts about my hobby goings-on, I'll get something up soon. I've had random maildays and pickups here and there so I'll do a big recap.

Thanks!

Hardwood Update! 06/28/2010

Well, it's been a long while since I last made a post on here. To be honest, I just haven't had a lot of content to post about. I know a blogger like Guy doesn't need any mail to provide a quality blog post, but whatever. I'm here.

To begin with, you may notice the new layout. I made up a little background that you can see over there <----- and there ----->. I still can't get the blank space on the left to go away, though.

This post is supposed to be an update on my 2008/09 Topps Hardwood master set progress, though, so we'll go with that. I will say that I haven't completed any subset of the master set, but I've been making a little progress for how little I've been making deals recently. Microsoft Excel provided me with a nice little way to keep track of what I have. I put in a formula (thanks Basic Business class) to determine the percentage of the cards I own from each subset, and, after letting it crunch the numbers, here's what I came up with, including an example of each I have:

A) Base + Rookies /2009 (A/B versions): 28/150 = 18.67%

B) Hardwood Parallels /299: .................... 20/150 = 13.33%

C) Maple Parallels /175: ............................ 11/150 = 7.33%

D) Mahogany Parallels /75: ....................... 2/150 = 1.33%

E) Veteran Autographs Hardwood /39 ... 1/35 = 2.86%

F) Rookie Autographs Hardwood /69 ..... 1/25 = 4.00%

G) Hardwood Relics /175 .......................... 5/35 = 14.29%

H) Maple Relics /75 ................................... 3/35 = 8.57%

I) Mahogany Relics /50 ............................ 2/35 = 5.71%

So there ya have it. A decent start, if I may say so myself. I still need to finish off the base/rookie set, which I imagine will be the first to be completed. There are also the Rookie Autograph Patches that are signed on a swatch of jersey, and I may have my first one incoming soon. Then the 1/1 sketch cards (which I forgot about when I first chose this set) that I will probably have a hard time securing.

Thanks for looking!

Contest Winnings!

Hey all, I received the fantastic first prize from Guy's NBA playoff series contest over at the Basketball Card Blog! Cousy really does have a great looking auto and the contest was very generous of him. Thanks so much, Guy!

Upper Deck hooks me UP!

Hey all,

Just wanted to share this SWEET replacement I received from UD the other day. I had a copy of the Rudy Fernandez/Rajon Rondo dual auto redemption, just like TJ. I picked it up for about $10. Well, UD shocked me with this PC treasure:



O_O

Love it.

I love it. I absolutely love beating LA. There's no better feeling than that, and it happens so often. I especially love it when Kobe lets his team down. And today's game made me realize that I'm not really sure why we're trying to avoid the Lakers in the first round. We're guaranteed a playoff spot and, to be honest, the two teams I would want to play would be LA and Dallas. We've proven that we can win against both teams and in both cities. I would LOVE to knock out LA in the first round, which is a very real possibility. Plus, it'd give me an excuse (not that I need one) to go pick up one of the shirts you see above.

I also paid a visit to the local card shop down here today. I picked up several things, but there is one card in particular I want to touch on:


This is a base card from late 90s SPX. It looks fantastic and I haven't a clue why they don't use this type of stuff nowadays. The recent SPX releases have some nice looking base, but the majority of base sets are kind of bleh compared to this card. If you turn it, the head shot of Stoudamire looks as if he's turning his head...kinda creepy but very cool. Also, obviously, die cuts are awesome. Here are a few digital camera pics to capture the true beauty of the card:







Thanks for reading!!

Kicking off the Hardwood quest!

Hey guys,

Life is good. Portland is currently up by 34 (albeit over NYK) and I have me some...

Hardwood.

Here are my first few parallels for my set collection!

Rookies /2009


Hardwood Parallels /299


Maple Parallels /175


And in case you have any you're willing to part with...here's the public spreadsheet I made:

http://public.sheet.zoho.com/public/tblazers50/hardwood

Thanks for reading!

Cheap group break, anyone?

Hey all,

This blog post comes to you in two parts.

Part 1: NBA World

Portland has won 8/10 games this month and 9 of their last 11. Currently, we're a hair behind San Antonio. I'm talking 0.3% behind. If we were to fail in avoiding the Lakers in the first round by that margin, I'd be mad. Luckily, we have a big game coming up against OKC, the 6th seed, this Sunday. Ideally, we prove that we deserve that 6th seed and play Dallas in the first round. This season, we've definitely proved that we can give them a run for their money.

In other news, I found this video. Blazermania personified.



Part 2: Hobby World

You may or may not know (you probably don't) that I have chosen to start up a set collection. A product collection, to be more precise. I'm going to try and finish a many subsets as I can from:

2008/09 TOPPS HARDWOOD BASKETBALL

I don't have too many right now, but I'm making some trades for some. Guy over at Basketball Card Blog suggested I open up a box to kick it off. I would really like to, but I just can't afford by myself right now. So...I'm going to try and fill a group break of this stuff (only one box). I know I only have 3 followers, so this probably won't help much, but if you're interested, the video about it can be found here.

The options are:

A) 15 spots, $8.50 paypal per spot

Randomize all names, put them in a draft order, everyone gets to choose from the teams that are left when their turn comes up

OR

B) 10 spots, $12 paypal per spot

Randomize all names at the end of the break, people get to choose which card each time their name comes up in the draft. More info on the video description.

So, yeah. I already have a testimonial--Guy is willing to join in ;).

Thanks everyone!