The Old Man and The Jeter Card

As I was surfing the web at work during a quick break last week I stumbled across the following story.


To say Derek Jeter and his acting job in the game against the Rays has been blown out of proportion is a bit of understatement. Luckily (at least for me) I don’t spend much time these days watching Sportscenter or listening to talk radio, therefore I was spared much of the pseudo-outrage that comes out of these incidents.

Did he overact, yes. Should his entire career be called into question because of it? No. I don’t like the Yankees, and I don’t care much for their iconic captain, but I have to agree with him. His job is to get on base, the umpire’s job is figure what happened and get the call right.

The outcries for justice have been amusing. Even in the comments section in the linked story above the indignation is laughable. Jeter, for his entire career, has kept things pretty clean. He plays the game the “right way” which I take to mean he plays hard, keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t embarrass himself or his team. To think that 3 seconds of amateurish mock pain ruins all of that is ludicrous.


Despite the name of the store not being mentioned I’m pretty sure I know what card shop is referenced in the story. Seeing how I can only remember one shop being located in Largo, and it’s definitely the kinds that would cater to a man in his 80’s. Beckett is king and pack selection is limited at best. The owner does have an extensive commons collection in the back that he will let you go through for set-filling needs, which is nice, but there is no use going in there for any other reason.

What made me chuckle while reading the article is the image of an 87 year old man getting up from his couch and shuffling over to his house, sorting through his cards and taking one card and, with trembling fingers ripping it to shreds, mumbling to himself about “these damn whippersnappers” and how things were done “back in my day”. In other words acting like Grandpa Simpson.

Initially I cringed at the thought of a card, any card being destroyed. It’s a holdover from my formative collecting years. I’ve always treated my cards fairly well be they commons or game used gems. They are stored in properly marked card boxes. I make sure my hands are clean when I handle them. All habits I started as a kid. After all, when I started collecting as a kid every single 1988 Topps that I had was going to be worth tens of dollars when I was older.

When I was wee little collector I was in our basement sorting cards. It was probably a Friday night and I had them set on a card table so I could watch TV at the same time. I’m not sure, but there is a 92.3% chance that one of the original Star Wars movies was on. What can I say - I was a playa even back in those days.

For some reason my older sister came down and we got into an argument about something. There was some yelling and as an infuriated pre-teen I slammed my fist down onto the table upsetting a cup of water that was on the table next to a stack of cards. Needless to say some cards were ruined. I went apocalyptic. Yells became screams of rage, I may have been speaking in tongues. There may also have been tears, and I definitely have flipped the table over. I don’t remember everything, I’m sure my young, fragile brain blocked some of the memories to prevent permanent mental damage.

I don’t remember what the argument was even about, and I’m sure if you asked my sister she probably doesn’t remember any of it. What I do remember is the punch in the gut feeling knowing that cards were ruined, I had rendered them worthless. Of course, the older me realizes that they worthless before being covered in delicious Baltimore tap water, but at that time each and every Topps common card was valuable to me.

Now that I’m “old” I realize that they are just pictures of men with stats on the back. They aren’t sacred. If someone wants to cut them up to create art that’s cool. If people want to draw on them to make funny jokes, that’s cool. If an old man wants to flush Derek Jeter down a toilet that’s cool too. After all, that means there is one less of them out in the world, thus making the ones available incrementally more valuable.

So, loyal readers, what are your thoughts? Have you ever destroyed cards on purpose? Should those that do be stretched on the rack?

Tyson Tantalizes But Far From a Fury

I spent this weekend in enemy territory otherwise known as Pittsburgh, PA with my wonderful girlfriend in order to attend one of my best friends weddings. It was a perfect Friday wedding (on a side note - all of you couples planning weddings I highly endorse Friday weddings. It gives your out of town guests plenty of time to explore your home city).

After the wedding and reception, which featured the Pitt Panther, I dragged my exhausted better half back to the hotel where she promptly passed out by about 10pm. I had no problem with this as it let me watch the Tyson Fury / Richard Power match up on ShoBox.

I've been looking forward to this fight for the entire 48 hours since I learned there was a boxer named Tyson Fury. Born in Manchester, but of Irish Traveller ancestry, Fury was taking on a last minute replacement from California who is also training for mixed martial arts. Eager to see if lived up to his name I joined Al Bernstein and some other guy from York Hall in England to see the Fury take on the heavily tattooed American. Fury vs Power - eight rounds of non-title action.

It was....well....let's see...ummm...not exactly Gatti/Ward I. It wasn't even worthy of trying to find a fight to compare it to. Let's check out my live facebook coverage of the eight round match up:

through 2 rounds I have fury up 20-18. Big dude (6 9), a soft looking 263, not sure if he has the hand speed to be elite, thunderous but slow right hand.
Friday at 10:20pm · LikeUnlike ·

Halfway through the fight 4 rounds to 0 for Fury. For a big dude with an 86 inch reach he actually fights better on the inside. Power is eating a lot of right hands, Fury doing well with the left hook to the body - straight right to the head combo
Friday at 10:27pm · LikeUnlike

Fury continues his shutout through 6. I have it 60-54 for Fury. Rich Power looks like I do after a 3 minute jog - exhausted. He landed a solid uppercut dislodging Fury's mouthpiece, but had nothing left to follow up with and had to withstand a barrage of Fury punches.
Friday at 10:36pm · LikeUnlike

It's over. Fury wins. Rich Power looks like he just wandered the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Am I sold on Fury? Not yet. He does some things I like, but is out of control a lot of times. Would like to see how he does against better competition. Look for a wrap up on The Hopeful Chase sometime tomorrow.
Friday at 10:45pm LikeUnlike


The ref agreed with me and awarded Fury a victory by decision. Oddly enough in the match up the ref is the only one who scores the fight. The Showtime analysts didn't care for that method of scoring as they believe that the ref should only concern himself with the rules of the fight. I can't say that I disagree.

After taking a few hours to reflect on the fight there were a lot of things to like about Tyson Fury besides his name. He was active with the jab, followed up his straight rights with solid left hooks and worked the body. While he didn't knock out the overwhelmed Power he did punish him through the final two rounds to a point where it seemed Power was thinking about giving up.

Some things I didn't like. His hand speed was slow even for a heavyweight. As he steps up and faces tougher competition they will be able to dodge or block those shots and counter. He also leans his head forward when he jabs, with an 86" reach that few boxers out can match, he reduces his advantage every time he leans forward. With his slow hands again he leaves himself open to counterpunching.

Fury did some of his better work inside, constantly landing shots to the body while an exhausted Power tried to wrap him up. The overwhelmed American threw few punches (odd to watch a fight without HBO's CompuBox numbers) and let Fury dominate anytime they clinched. Better competition will not let Fury it that easy on the inside and will force him to work faster and harder.

He wasn't in the greatest of shape, while I expect few 263lb. athletes to be cut he also showed signs of tiring as the fight progressed into the later rounds. There is no way he would have lasted 12 rounds. The Showtime crew mentioned that the arena was extremely warm and that might of led to the sluggish action from both fighters, but it's no excuse to look the way Fury did after 8 rounds.

It is still early in his career, Friday night's win was only the 12th time he's fought as a professional, and there is still time to improve. So I don't expect him to take on Chris Byrd or either of the Klitchko brothers any time soon. At 22, he has time to improve his weaknesses and improve as a boxer.

If he is able to make the next step then perhaps he will live up to the potential of his name. So for now his induction into the Wasteland Hall of Fame is delayed until at least his next match.

Why Wasn't I Made Aware of this Sooner?

There is a boxer named Tyson Fury? I'm sorry, but that's the greatest boxing name of all time. Unfortunately, it's also a really limiting name. Boxing is pretty much it, after all if a doctor introduced himself as Dr Tyson Fury I might have to ask for another Doc.

Anyway, the undefeated heavyweight fights equally well named Rich Power tonight on Showtime. Fury is a somewhat regarded as a contender in the heavyweight class and is known as a bit of a knockout artist. So much so that if he can't hit his opponent with a power punch he'll hit himself.

Why are you hitting yourself?
Why are you hitting yourself?
Why are you hitting yourself?

According to the official research site of The Hopeful Chase (Wikipedia) his full name is Luke Tyson Fury and his Dad did pick the name in honor of Mike Tyson who was heavyweight champion at the time (and yes I feel old now). Could he be the next great British heavyweight? Who knows, but tonight's fight could be the first step to that title.

The Return of Mailbag Monday

Cards in the mail. At this point in life it's one of the few things I look forward to getting in the mail. In order they are:

1. Letter from my girlfriend
2. Letter from my parents
3. CARDS!!!!!
4. Netflix
5. Random coupon from neighborhood eatery
6. Bills
7. Bills
8. Bills


This batch of three actually went to my Florida address and my awesome girlfriend brought them with her on our quick weekend in Boston. They were courtesy of the Topps Million Card Giveaway. I am enjoying the promotion, especially trying to pull off lunatic deals for mid-90's junk (yup I'm that guy). I had to engineer trades to pull these three particular cards and decided to cash in on them because they fit a few needs in my collection.

 

In clockwise order starting with the right hand corner

1985 Topps Floyd Rayford. The expression on his face tells me that he had valiantly tried to make contact but failed, possibly during one of his 51 strikeouts in 1984. The back of the card informs me that Honey Bear Played three seasons at Manuael Arts High School in LA and was named All-City twice and MVP once.

1987 Topps Floyd Rayford. Chin tucked under his lead shoulder, top elbow "up" making little league coaches across the country happy, he looks ready to strike. Perhaps this was just prior to unleashing one of his 8 homeruns. The back of the card, a fountain of info as always, tells me that one of Floyd's hobbies involves electric trains. Good for him!

1963 Topps Dick Brown. I'm not sure, but I believe this card just became the oldest Oriole card in my collection. Dick Brown came from the Tigers in an offseason trade. He had also played for the Indians and Whitesox before coming to Detroit.

He would play part time in 1963 before usurping John Orsino as the starter for the next two seasons. Not a beacon of power he clubbed total of 15 homeruns for the Birds.

A brain tumor would force him to retire after the 1965 season, not allowing him to experience the clubs first World Series win in 1966. He would serve as a scout for them until his premature death in 1970.

His brother Larry Brown would also play one season for the Orioles in 1973.

Who was Dick Brown traded for? Whitey Herzog and Gus Triandos.

Chicago Photo 7

 

The sun was out (mostly), the air was cool and the folks in the crowd were jovial. What better way to spend the day before Labor Day then at the ol' ballpark. Being able to walk to a ballpark is a new experience. I can't say that I don't like it. No worry about parking, trains or traffic.

For the first time in years I decided to keep score. The rest of the crew managed to entertain themselves while I focused on the game. When you're scoring the game you watch it a little differently. You tend to pay more attention. You wait until the entire play is done before reacting. The wave is even more distracting than normal.

I would like to say that the Cubs prevailed to make it a perfect day, but they didn't. Not only did they not win, they got demolished. It was brutal. The Mets, with players coming into the game hitting .067, .157, ,213 (and they weren't even pitchers!) pounded the Cubs pitching to the tune of 18 runs (13 before we decided it was time to leave and have a beer at the Cubby Bear).

But a day at the park is better than a day on the couch, and even a Cubs blowout is fun when you're with friends.

Bonus Photo:

The air has cooled, college football is on the TV in the background and that can mean only one thing. Hockey is right around the corner. The good times are back again. In fact, the first puck drops in one month and a handful of increasingly shorter and crisper days.

All of the major storylines have been resolved and the major free agents have all found their homes for the next season. Gary Bettman made his power move and foreshadowed what could be a difficult renegotiation of the CBA in the not too distant future. With rosters mostly set, teams and fans can start thinking about how the season is going to play out.

Of course, it also brings the dilemma of how a transplanted Lightning fan is going to watch games in the big city. Do I forgo groceries for a few weeks and get the Center Ice package? Do I test the limits of the little netbook that could and stream games from some of the various websites out there that provide them on a possibly illegal basis? There is no way I can afford to go a bar 81 times in the net 6 months so that’s out of the question.

In all likelihood I will cough over more money to Comcast and sign up for the Center Ice package. After all, I will be alone in the cold darkness of my first Midwest winter and will need some comforting reminder of the town I used to call home. Nothing says hockey like seeing the Chief Bobby Taylor and Rick Pekhem sweating through the pre-game show on the Ice Palace plaza in the middle of November.

I’ve been warned that Fall can start any day after September 15th and I should invest in a heavy jacket and boots sooner rather than later. Lucky for me I’m now living in a neighborhood that is overrun with shops. I should be able to throw something together soon and for not too much. I now remember the beauty of second hand thrift shops and discount clothing chains.

The cold weather will make it feel more like hockey season, there’s just something not right about going to the beach before a game. Even better it should be a fun season in Hockey Bay, USA. After 3 years of wandering in the darkness Steve Yzerman has put together a balanced team - at least on paper. Many paper teams have gone up in flames in the past, and injuries could quickly undo all of the work the first time GM did this summer.

It’s too soon to anoint him a savior, but it would also be unfair to withhold praise. The shedding of Andrej Meszaros’ contract alone was enough to earn him another couple of years at the helm. To add a potential potent scorer in Simon Gagne and an up and coming goalie in Dan Ellis was damn near sorcery.

So while I can’t invest in season tickets and I probably shouldn’t invest in the TV package I will. The off-season moves have earned that, and it’ll give me a chance to watch Vincent Lecavalier’s phoenix-like rise to the upper echelon of hockey superstardom as well.

After all, who needs to eat well? Ramen noodles are very filling.

Is this thing working? Is this thing on?

The blog is not dead. It's just tired - really, really tired. A combination of laziness, moving, pirated internet, and no mouse have left me in no condition to blog coherently.

As the weather changes this thing should take off again. Wait what?!?!?! Weather is going to change? I haven't lived through a fall, not to mention a winter, in about 15 years.

I'm thinking that (and a lack of disposable income) will keep me home and glued to the internets, which means more posting. Lucky you!