Bowl Season

I'm officially a man with too much time on his hands.  Or at least I am until January 4th.  Work is done for the year, and that means the good stuff is just getting started.  I've promised myself I won't touch any work until next week, even though I'm officially off that week.

But the reality is that there just isn't all that much to occupy my attention.  Not even a day into my holiday, I've already knocked out a good chunk of the card sorting I had hoped to do and watched more Nexflix than I'd like to admit.

But one of the perks of being home for an extended break is that there should be a pretty steady stream of college football to watch at pretty much all hours of the day.

 If nothing else, it's some glorified background noise.

 I'll be watching closely for WVU and Pitt's bowl games, and plan to watch the college playoff games.  But beyond that?

 I'll likely be channel hopping, trying to find a competitive game or some teams with cool uniforms.  Yep, my sports watching priorities sure are advanced.

 My latest COMC order had a nice mix of some college uni cards.  It's probably the smallest portion of my collection, and rarely the easiest to add to.

 But I'm always happy to add some fun cards to the collection, and it breaks up the black and gold monopoly on my team collections.

 Hope the work year is winding down for everyone else as well.  It seems like blog readership and posting has tailed off pretty big time this week, so I hope everyone is busy with holiday fun.

COMC Haul - The Backyard Brawl

Sports team allegiances can be a tricky thing.  I grew up a huge Pitt fan.  My dad had tickets to Pitt football games through work, and he would take me to a couple games a year, typically against the weaker matchups that clients didn't want to go see.  But what did a 11 year old care if he was watching the Akron Zips?  My first real focus in collecting was Dan Marino.  It blew my pre-teen mind that the greatest quarterback in the game went to this school half an hour down the road from me.  I had it set in my mind that I would be heading to Pitt when it came time to pick a college.  I have a Marino collection of a few hundred cards, but sadly most of his cooler cards are outside my price range.  But I was able to snag this one for about $2.

Apparently pre-teen me didn't understand too much about academics, and ultimately when better scholarship offers came around from more prestigious universities  it was still a tough decision to not go to Pitt.  But I still followed the football and basketball teams pretty closely, until I ended up in grad school at WVU.  Cue dramatic music.

 So now I collect both teams, but spread my focus between early 00's Pitt players and players from the 2010-12 teams while I was at WVU.  And while both teams have pretty strong followings, it's not hard to find cool cards on the cheap.

 I have been after this Curtis Martin auto for quite some time.  I forgot to bid on a copy on ebay a few years back for $5.99, which seemed like a great price for a rookie auto of a Hall of Famer.  Then I found a few copies on COMC for around $5, an even better price, but didn't pull the trigger.  So I was pleasantly surprised to see a copy sitting on COMC for $4.25 at 3am on Black Friday right as the sale went live.  I couldn't click the purchase button fast enough.

 I mainly try to stick to cards of guys in their college uniforms.  But at just $.65, this auto of former WVU fullback Owen Schmitt was too cheap to pass on.

 I know I've name dropped this a million times on the blog already, but I taught Geno Smith during his sophomore year at WVU.  He was a really nice kid, though some of his antics as a pro have me shaking my head.  I had planned on starting a player collection of him, but those plans went out the window pretty fast when the Jets selected him.  While it's been a bummer to see him struggle, it has finally brought his prices down to earth.  I'm hoping I can start to expand the collection during the offseason, and hopefully Geno can land with a different team that might be a better fit to allow him to develop.

The Morning After

Yesterday was a pretty big letdown for Pirate fans.  There's a natural ebb and flow to sports, and Pittsburgh is undoubtedly a city that is crazy about its sports teams.   One of the fascinating things about living in Ohio was seeing just how different the sports culture there is.  In and around Pittsburgh you will rarely go more than a few moments without seeing something related to the sports teams in public.  Whether it's a car decal, Steelers tshirts hanging in a store that sells nothing related to apparel or sports, or a Lets Go Bucs sign out front of a business, the city's identity is linked to the way the city relates to its sports teams.

I like to consider myself a pretty smart guy, but there was something just dumbfounding about living in an area that wasn't "that" crazy about their sports teams.

It's been an interesting few years for Pittsburgh sports.  The Steelers have slipped into the middle of the pack after a pretty hearty loss to the Packers in the Super Bowl a few years back.  Expectations of reaching the Stanley Cup finals each and every year for the Pens are perhaps a bit unreasonable, but the team has continued to fall short in the postseason after stellar performances during the year.  And the Pirates finally turned things around, but have yet to bear fruit in the postseason.

 And that's where things sit today, following a blowout loss that kicked the Bucs out of the playoffs.  It'll probably be a few months until there is any substantial news about the Bucs.  For me this is the slow season - I might catch a most of the Steelers season, and I'll watch hockey here and there.  But nothing compares to my love of baseball.

 But that certainly won't stop me from collecting cards.

 All of the pickups in this post came from the National, mostly from one dealer's quarter boxes.  While I was mostly looking for Pirate cards to add, I didn't pass up a chance to snag numbered cards of Steelers for a quarter.  One box contained almost nothing but numbered inserts from 1998-2000 Donruss products.  Most of the stars were pulled, but it was a perfect chance to add about two dozen new cards to my Kordell Stewart collection.

 And of course I couldn't pass up the chance to add to my lesser collections as well.  I know OPC is a lower end hockey product, but this Stat Leaders card not only features two Pens, but also has some awesome old school foil.

 And despite being a proud Mountaineer, I still have a soft spot for my childhood favorite Pitt Panthers.  How many Curtis Martin cards are there featuring him in his college uni?  Not too many I'd imagine.

Is that...Kevin Greene chasing Gale Sayers?  Yes, why yes it is.  I don't think I need to explain why or how this card ended up in my pile.

 But of course there's always room for dime box digging as well.  One of the things I dislike most about the move out of Three Rivers was the coinciding destruction of old Pitt Stadium, with the Panthers and Steelers now sharing Heinz Field.  It's hell on the turf, but more importantly the Steelers awesome endzone logo has been replaced by generic white striping.

 Speaking of dime boxes, I found about half a dozen different Hines Ward rookie cards in dime boxes at the National.  That's something that would be almost impossible to imagine happening in the Steel City.  I didn't have any Hines cards aside from a UD Choice card I pulled as a kid, so they were welcomed additions.

 But then again so was this one.  This came as part of the large number of signed cards I picked up over the weekend.  Most of my pickups were baseball, but I couldn't say no to an autograph of the Steelers legend, even if the black signature is a bit lost on the card.

See, the perfect distraction to take my mind off my Bucs.

Marino Monday

Dan Marino was my first true player collection.  Or focused collection of any kind.  By age 10 or 11, my dad started taking me to a few Pitt games each season at the now destroyed Pitt Stadium.  I instantly became a big fan, and was amazed by the fact that perhaps the greatest quarterback in the game, Dan Marino, had not just gone to Pitt, but was from the Pittsburgh area.

And so started my fleeting childhood obsession.  Marino instantly became my favorite player, and the Dolphins my favorite team.  Soon my bedroom was decked out in teal and orange, from the bedsheets to the garbage can.  And so started my humble Marino collection, since around that I also discovered the amazing world of local card shops.

My collection never grew to anything resembling epic proportions.  A couple hundred base cards, the odd insert or two, and the crown jewel: a serial numbered card!  At that age, and for the late 90's, it seemed like an amazing collection to me.

I haven't really given much thought or effort to the collection since then - the occasional Marino pickup at card shows if I find something in a dime box, but that's about it.

But I'll make an effort to show off both old and new pickups.  Both these beauties came from a dime box.  Edge was probably my favorite card company growing up.  I know a lot of collectors take issue with their cards, but they were shiny, affordable, and had some nice designs.  What more could a pre-teen want?

At this point my hobby funds are going in too many different directions, and the sheer number of Marino cards out there too overwhelming to seriously restart the collection.  The natural completest in makes my collecting endeavors all of nothing pursuits.  But it's definitely fun to revisit my collection, and hopefully some luck (or great trading partners) will allow me to add a few new pages to my Marino binder.

My Flea Market Adventure

While my posts have been pretty infrequent, there has definitely been a consistent theme when I do get around to writing: bemoaning the lack of card purchasing opportunities in the Pittsburgh area.

The wife-to-be and I have always loved going to estate sales, thrift stores, and the like.  She likes to find old furniture and clothes to re-purpose and fix up, and I'm always on the look out for some new collectibles for my future man cave.  Preparing for the wedding has only intensified these thrift store ventures - we're using mismatched vintage plates for the reception, and are doing a lot of the decorations and crafts ourselves with a vintage fall festival/halloween theme.  In short, it will be awesome.

We have just about exhausted the supply of plates in every decent thrift store in the Pittsburgh metro area, so we were both really caught off guard when my Kate's mom mentioned a flea market we had absolutely no idea existed.  It's only about 20 mins from my parents' house, but after a little digging I discovered why this gem of old junk had remained hidden to us.  It opened in 2007, right around when I was starting college, and is set off the highway behind a Wal Mart.  Yep, never had the slightest idea it existed even though I've probably driven by it a few hundred times.

So we decided to take a break from wedding related stuff to go do...some wedding related stuff.  In all honesty, I must confess she was much more focused on the task at hand.  I was using my keen Black and Gold-dar to look for new finds for my collection.  At this point, I can spot a pile of McFarlane, a dime box, or some old Starting Lineups from 40 yards away after years of practice.

Aside from a glass pumpkin for $1, we struck out on the wedding side.  Fortunately for me, the collectibles end was for more lucrative.

As soon as we exited the indoor portion and stepped out into the outdoor vendors, I spotted a table with Starting Lineups and a few boxes of cards.  A quick flip showed it was mainly early-mid 90's star base cards in toploaders.  Even at 5/$1, nothing seemed worth the price tag, but I decided I would stop back later after making the rounds.

I ended up coming away with some awesome non-card stuff that I'll show off a little later.  But after making my way around the other vendors, I made my way back to the cards.  Again things didn't look promising.  But I found one numbered card.  And then another.

And while I'd love for this story to end with my finding a hoard of 90's inserts, the finds were far more intermittent.  I picked up most of the cards with the idea of trading or flipping them.  But at these prices, the 90's nostalgia they bring back may end up being well worth the $3 I spent.

 But the dig wasn't without some great finds.  This Sosa/Marris Black Label '98 Gold Label card definitely would have drawn a nice chunk of change in the late 90's.  Even today, it's a great card.  But...nostalgia!

Speaking of which, since Pinnacle is back, any chance at also seeing some of the awesome 90's Score parallels again?

The foily goodness of the decade was out in full force in these Naturals inserts.  The cards have foil on both the fronts and backs, and the bright backgrounds really let the player photos stand out.

Pinnacle Mint was one of the more unique products, including coins of various rarities in each pack along with the cards.  Much more creative than the Topps cards with regular ole pocked change that people are shelling out big bucks for, don't you think?

And of course the day wouldn't be complete without at least a fewwwww main-collection pickups.  The Steelers '94 75th anniversary throwbacks are my absolute favorite uniform, and I couldn't pass up the chance to add the Dawson, which will be heading out in the mail to be signed.  The other cards are additions to my respective Pitt and WVU collections.  Finding college uniform cards can be tough, and neither program has turned out a ton of pro players, so they'll find a home in my slowly expanding binders.

Nothing that will drop your jaw, but some fun and unexpected additions to my collections.  And while the range or quality of the cards may not rival some of the other flea market finds I've seen folks have, I'll definitely have to make a point to stop back in the next few weeks.


I guess that's part of the fun of a flea market - these cards aren't worth much anymore, and like most of the stuff on dealer tables they are well past their prime.  But for a few dollars the fun of digging through the boxes not knowing whether I would find a few cards that might simply be fun, nostalgic additions to my secondary collections, or a 90's goldmine that might be able to fund my own collecting.

Double Header

Two posts in one day?  I don't think I've pulled off that feat in a few months.  Heck, even one post has been pretty tough to come by. 

Even with the Pirates in their first pennant run of the millennium, I can't help but be at least a little excited about the upcoming football season.  And even though I'm a proud Mountaineer, now that the Backyard Brawl has been disbanded and the Big East is (virtually) no more, I can cheer juuuuust a little bit for Pitt.

Pitt has had a tradition of good, if not great, running backs.  And while Shady McCoy may not live up to the accomplishments of Tony Dorsett or Curtis Martin, his autograph certainly has a place in my collection.  I snagged this in Dayton a few months back for $8.  I'm pretty sure this is the most I've ever paid for a non-Pirate card (which isn't saying much, since the previous high was probably something like $3), but I'm thrilled to add it to my slowly developing college collection.

Check Out My Impulse Purchases: Pitt Panthers Edition

I've mentioned before that my college sports allegiances are complex.  In the late 90's, my dad had seats at Pitt Stadium.  He mostly had had to use the tickets to schmooze clients, but would usually take me to a couple games each season, including the final game at Pitt Stadium. 

I became a huge Pitt fan, Dan Marino became one of my favorite players, and that was that for the better part of the next decade and a half.  Until I ended up at West Virginia doing my graduate work  I suppose either way I'm cheering for blue and gold.  My fandom is a little more complex, but collecting is pretty simple: anything from either school has a place in my collection.  Of course the implosion of the Big East now makes it a cheer for both teams.  A little.

I've taken a little liberty with these additions: Barlow is the only player I really watched during his college career.  Brown and Jells were both players who I watched in the NFL, but their college careers came before I really took any interest in college ball, while Lewis was quite the irritation during the Backyard Brawl.

 The auto on this Lewis auto looks much more crisp in person, but I generally love the look of Leaf/Razor's products over the past few years.  Hopefully Lewis will get some more carries behind former Panther LeSean McCoy.

As I mentioned earlier, both these players are more memorable to me for their pro careers.  But it's nice to add a couple more old school college autos, and I love the old Pitt unis (though I prefer the current dark blue/gold color scheme).  A little uniform variety definitely makes the binder pages more enjoyable for a uniform junkie like myself.

A Little Bracketology

With March Madness upon us, and spring training winding down, what better time to show off a few other aspects of my collection.


One team you won't be seeing in the tourney are my alma mater, the Duquesne Dukes.  In fact the Dukes haven't been seen in an NCAA bracket since 1977.  Not a lot of hobby love for the Dukes (and rightfully so), though former wide receiver Bruce Hocker found his way into HIT, featured on two cards in photos from the Senior Bowl.  Hocker was viewed as a potential late round pick/rookie free agent, but never surfaced in pro football to my knowledge.

This year I'll be rooting for Pitt.  I was a big Pitt fan growing up, and spent my grad school days at West Virginia, where I had the chance to teach a couple of the current men's basketball team members,  I can definitely say that the idea that college athletes don't at major schools don't work hard in class is a myth, but a down season means I won't get to see them in action during March Madness.  

Even though my shared fandom of two rival schools causes the occasional conflict of interest, I've amassed nice little collections of each school.  Both universities have been far from prolific at producing pro players.  The shift from using college photos to combine/training camp photos on NFL cards has definitely been a blow to college uniform only collectors, but hopefully there will continue to be more cards produced for this niche market.

And in case you were wondering, yes I'm aware there are nothing but football cards in this post.  My NCAA basketball cards are in a box...somewhere...to be scanned down the road.