Taking On The Boomstick

Sadly, vacation time is over and it will be back to the grind on Monday.  It was great to get away, and kind of nice to give the blog a rest for a few days.   As I mentioned in my last post, we went to a Rangers game while in Dallas.  Thankfully, we caught the Rangers in one of their hot streaks and got to watch them finish off a sweep of the Blue Jays.   I was able to see Yu Darvish pitch in person, as well as watch Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler and Mike Napoli go deep.

And that wasn't even the best part of the day.  This was:

I, along with the lovely wife, my sister and my little boy dove headfirst into the Rangers now famous "Great Bratbino" bratwurst.  Actually, the Boomstick is the more famous of the two, but I am a bratwurst connoisseur, and had to go with that option.

For those not in the know, the Broomstick and Bratbino are 2 Ft, 1 lb delicacies, available starting this season at Rangers Ballpark.  They are $26 each, but I was happy to pay that much.  The only thing I didn't like about getting one was the 30 min wait that kept me from the game for a bit.  Luckily, the Boomstick stand is located in an area of the concourse where you can still sort of see what is happening on the field.

 Here are a few Boomsticks heating up..

And here is my Bratbino: one half with Kraut, and the other half plain.  It was not the best brat I've ever had, but it was pretty good.  The casing didn't have the "snap" I was hoping for.  Between the 4 of us, it was no problem to eat all of it.  I probably could have eaten 1/2 to 3/4 on my own, but no way could I have eaten the whole thing.

Since this guy was shared, I don't have any funny upset stomach  or ill timed "movement" stories to share. 

2012 Topps Tribute

Topps Tribute is a set that doesn't seem to get a lot of attention in the blogging community.  I'm sure many out there are like me and just can't bring themselves to gamble on a getting a big hit at such a high cost.  For sets like this (see Topps Sterling 2009) I'm actually a bigger fan of the base cards than the hits or parallels anyway.  So I'll save my money and pick up a few of my favorite player's base cards, which can be had at a tremendous value when you consider the up front cost of busting a box.  Here is a handful I received this week:

Let me break out the obligatory "scans don't do these cards justice" refrain.  Scans don't do these cards justice.  They are very bright and shiny and remind me a lot of the wonderful Flair sets in the late 90s. Yes they also remind me of the Topps Tribute sets from the past two years as well.  I won't be chasing this set, but these are very pretty cards and would look great as a complete set in pages.

Cardboard Catastrophes Keeps Making My Day

I can't seem to catch up to Jeff at Cardboard Catastrophes.  It seems like he always has something up his sleeve that I want and he sends it before I can even put together my side of the trade.  He was nice enough to do some finagling on the Diamond Topps giveaway site and came up with the only other Texas Ranger di cut card I needed (I'm passing on Vlad Guerrero and don't want to spend what I'd have to for the Nolan Ryan) for a close-enough-complete Rangers set.   His cards arrived in the mail yesterday.  I haven't even put his in the mail yet.  This same scenario plays out on all of our trades, which makes me wonder how he tolerates me. 

Here is the Beltre.  I love these cards, and I've become a huge fan of Beltre this year.  I'm very excited to get this.

He also sent a few extra cards.  The Ryan Fleer Greats card is a handsome card that looks like it belongs in a leather bound album in a luxurious home office that smells of pipe tobacco. 

Thanks for being a great trading partner Jeff, and I'll get some good stuff out to you soon!