Lest we forget…

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

Contest Winnings from Wax Heaven!

A while back, Mario over at Wax Heaven had a contest.  He was giving away the winner’s choice of cards from his break of 2009 Bowman Sterling football, in exchange for finding some of these:

I tracked down 8 or so, and got in touch with Mario.  He sent the Bowman Sterling cards I selected my way, and told me to send the Barnses his way when I received.  They have been patiently waiting on top of my scanner to be sent south.  Here’s the cards I got in return.

Thanks for the contest, Mario.  The Barnes card will be headed your way tomorrow. 

Fantasy Football Interlude

I need 8 fantasy points out of Zach Miller for a win this week.  A 20 yard TD or 80 yards would do it.  I’m not optimistic.

2009 Upper Deck X

Upper Deck X is one of those products I am glad I don’t have to break.  Hamilton had a fairly sizable list of cards, but they were easily obtainable (except for the fact that there were 4 plates for every card on the checklist).  I picked up most of them off eBay, and then Marie over at A Cardboard Problem hooked me up with one of the Exponentials (I think E^4).

I didn’t scan the base card, nor the die cut parallel of the base card, but the Exponential inserts are actually quite sharp, so I’ll show the whole range of them here.  I am assuming they go in numerical order with increasing odds, so that is how I am going to present them here.

The easiest one, and in my opinion the nicest design.  The blue foilboard really pops.  Its a busy design, but every once in a while a busy design is OK.

For whatever reason, UD switched the Exponential 2’s to a horizontal design.  Still a lot of blue, though.  Still a cool looking card.

Exponential 3’s were my least favorite.  So much effort was made blending the other four designs, and then they just cut this version of the card in half.  Blah.

A lot of black on the Exponential 4’s.  Nicer than the 3’s though.

Always nice to cross a set off my checklist (X is my second 2009 set, after SP Legendary Cuts), even though I don’t have any of the plates.  They aren’t a high priority for me anyways.

I’m still alive!

I just haven’t had much blogging time lately.  I still have a bunch of A&G to get organized, but I had a family reunion last weekend that had been consuming my life for a while.  It went great, though and now hopefully I will have less running around to do and more time to relax a bit.  I have some pickups to post, and some wantlists to update.

I busted a second box of A&G, but my rough scoring didn’t set off any high Gint-A-Cuffs bells, so I didn’t bother with a break down or anything like that.  It was arguably cooler than my first box, but you really need to luck out with the multipliers.

Gint-A-Cuffs: Pack Twenty-One

Running Total:  224

73:  Vernon Wells (+1)

4:  Jorge Posada (-1)
116:  Charles Darwin
176:  Ramiro Pena (-1)
220:  Suez Canal (-1)
145:  Todd Wellemeyer
57 Mini:  Frank Evans (+2)

NP37:  Johan Santana National Pride

Total for this pack: 0 (Ouch)
Running Total: 224

Gint-A-Cuffs: Pack Twenty

Running Total: 210

126:  Trevor Crowe
107:  Bryan Berg
38:  Troy Glaus
211:  Kevin Millwood
312:  A.J. Burnett (5 – 1 = 4)

AGHS5:  Josh Hamilton (+3)  Sad that there is no bonus for a favorite player in this subset.

LMT4:  Unicorn (+7)
NP44:  Yuniesky Betancourt

Total for this pack: 14
Running Total: 224 (Could have been great with the sketch card.  That Hamilton insert was worth the same as if I had pulled a base card )

save

Gint-A-Cuffs: Pack Four

Running Total: 56

Much less scanning with this pack.

100:  Ichiro (0)
271:  Jair Jurrjens (0)
140:  Loren Opstedahl (this card creeps me out) (0)
173:  Francisco Rodriguez (0)
60:  Matt Holliday (0)
93:  David DeJesus (0)
Mini NH10:  Mohandas Gandhi (+5)

NP53:  Vladimir Guerrero (0)

Total for this pack: 5 (Gandhi saves the day)
Running Total: 61 (On pace for approximately 350.  Somehow, I doubt my luck will hold).

Its Finally Here: Let the Gint-A-Cuffs Begin

Gosh, I hope I’m not supposed to pay anyone to use that logo.  Anyways, my box finally got here.  And it has been busted.  In the interests of full disclosure, these packs are in a somewhat random order.  I opened half the box sitting in my car, waiting for a ball game to start, and the other half at home.  I tried to randomize things after that, but each pack is intact.  Anyways, on with the Cuffs.

Total Before This Pack: 0

N43 Boxloader: Chipper Jones (+10 for being on the favorite player list).  I’m already confused.  Is it +5 for the boxtopper, and an additional 10 for the favorite player list, or just 10?  Or is it +5 (*5) for the box topper and the favorite player list.  I chose to score conservatively, in the hopes of not getting yelled at.   Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Running Total: 10

I’m a sheep

I’m on twitter.  Yeah, I don’t really know how it works or anything like that, but I am there.  Same username:  thehamiltonian, and you can view my awesomely random tweets in the sidebar of this blog.