COMC Black Friday Parade: Wooo Pig Sooie!!!

This year, in football at least, was rough disasterous for my Hogs this year.  But we at least finished with a valiant effort and near win against LSU.  So I wasn't too despondent regarding my Piggies when it was time to shop the COMC.com  Black Friday sale. 

I realize that 99% of you don't care about the Razorbacks, so I'm going skip the effort of commentary on these cards and just show the pretty pictures.  The important thing to remember is all of these guys below are Razorbacks.

 

One quick exception.  These D-Mac Inception cards are the boss.  I guess it's almost time to say it hasn't worked out for D-Mac in the NFL, despite periodic flashes of greatness.  He just can't stay healthy.  No matter, he's still probably my all time favorite Razorback football player.  If he would somehow find his way to the Cowboys, I would pass out from ecstasy much like I did when Cliff Lee became a Ranger for a half season.

 

Ok, this deserves a comment too.  Knile Davis is a bad MOFO, and I'm predicting greatness for him in the NFL.  I'm ecstatic about getting this auto for a couple of bucks.

Ok, another quick comment:  poor Tyler Wilson.  I remember draft experts saying (before the draft) he was the most NFL ready of all the QB prospects in last year's draft.  He was recently cut by the Raiders.  It doesn't work well when my Hogs go to the Raiders.

Congratulations Arkansas Razorbacks: 2012 Napkin Bowl Champions

Not sure if any of you caught the Napkin Bowl on ESPN 28 the other night, but my Razorbacks put on a show!  Here are some highlights:

 Clearly the Hogs game plan  was geared toward a steady stream of shiny Darren McFadden.  D-Mac left, D-Mac right and D-Mac up the middle. 

The second quarter saw Ryan Mallet light up the field with long bomb after long bomb.  The game became so lopsided that Mallett and McFadden decided helmets were unnecessary.

 And who was on the receiving end of those Mallett bombs?  Why Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs of course!

Black Friday COMC Spoils Part 4: Woo Pig Sooie!

I pretty well hit all of my hot collecting areas with the COMC.com Black Friday sale:  Sets on my master checklist, Rangers- and a bunch of Adrian Beltre.  Everything I bought had a place in my collection.  No shopping binge of mine would be complete without some Razorbacks, and I found some superb additions to my Razorbacks album at the sale, starting with this gem:

I don't know if Brett Eibner will ever make it to AA.  I hope so, since I would then be able to watch him in person here in NW Arkansas.  He's got some major tools, and Baseball America rated his as the best outfield arm KC's minor league system.  He's got lots of power too, but I guess he's having trouble being consistent and hasn't been able to get past A ball, which isn't a good sign for a college player going on his 3rd year in Pro Ball.

Nevertheless, this card is awesome to me- autographed (sticker but who cares) and showing Brett in his Razorback uni.  And it was only a buck.

Joe Adams is starting to make a little noise in the NFL.  This card was a little over a buck, which made me giddy.  We Hog fans will always remember Joe for the below play though- perhaps the greatest individual effort in Razorback football history:

 

Speaking of greatest and Razorback football.  Darren McFadden has to be the greatest football Hog ever.  I still haven't ponied up for a D-Mac auto, but this sweet Topps Inception card will do for now.

Finally, I added this mesmerizing Ryan Mallett card.  I hope this guy gets a chance to play someday.  I don't know why they keep giving that Brady character ahead of him the start each week.  What's he ever done?

Cleve’s Auction Night: Razorbacks and Minis

I had another good haul from Cleve’s auction last week, which makes two decent auctions in a row for me.  I doubt I'll make it three though because I didn’t put in a whole lot of bids for next week.     What did I get, you ask?

How about a huge stack of about 150 Gypsy Queen Minis?   I’ve had some luck picking up lots of these cards from the auctions lately.  There were several duplicates in here, but I’m not complaining at $4  ( under $.03 a card).

 
I also scored a small lot of sepia minis, numbered to 99.  No way am I going to try to build this parallel set, but I thought they would be good for Listia, or as trade bait if anyone is interested. 

Woooo, Pig Sooie!!!  It wasn’t a conscious plan, but I would up getting several former Razorback cards this week.   I'm stunned that I was able to get this Jarius Wright for only $5, especially here in Hog Country.    Jarius will go down as one of the greatest Razorback receivers ever, and is the currently the all time Razorback receiving yards leader.

I also picked up this nifty card of the guy who through the ball to Wright for most of those yards, Ryan Mallett.  This is a nice looking card and I dig the snippet of football leather sandwiched between the fabric relics.

Rounding out my Razorbacks was this Felix Jones relic.  Glad to see him start having a little success again recently.

Finally, unrelated to either minis or Razorbacks, I picked up this Jim Palmer manu-leather card.  Don't really need it, but it's still a cool card.

Grades:

150 2012 Gypsy Queen Minis  $4:  A+  Great bargain here, and put me in great shape to complete this set.  A full album of a mini set is going to look awesome.

2012 Gypsy Queen Mini Sepia Lot  $3:  B+  This should help me rack up some points on Listia.  They're also available for trade if anyone is interested.

Topps Inception Jarius Wright Auto $5:  A   This is a beautiful card, and I'm not going to find it cheaper than that anywhere.

Ryan Mallett Triple Relic Card  $6:  A+  I love Ryan Mallett and I love this card!

Felix Jones Stadium Club Relic  $2:  A:  Nothing flashy but only $2.  Great for my Razorback album.

Topps Manu-Leather Jim Palmer:  $3  B:  Eh, it's a neat card, what can I say.

The Sepia Minis and the Palmer are available for trade, the rest are staying with me.

Etopps Football Tracker 10/21

The trend for eTopps football was down a bit this week from last week:

Looks like I really whiffed by passing on the Andy Dalton card, which is up 28% over IPO this week.  Tom Brady and Cam Newton are carrying my portfolio, although Brady keeps ticking down each week.  I would bet this card settles in around $10 by the end of the season, so I might think about trading it now and getting it back later.  My purchases are still above the overall set index, even with Ryan Mallett and Julio Jones pulling me down.  I'm really surprised by the weak performance of the Jones card out of the gate.  Maybe it will pick up steam as he gets healthy. 

eTopps Football 2011 Value Tracker Update

I'm still in the black on my eTopps Football tracker, and have mostly been right on the cards I've declined to buy.  A couple of cards are new to the tracker this week:

I added Ryan Mallett and Adrian Peterson.  The Peterson is up as I suspected, and the Mallett is down as I suspected.  I normally would have waited to get Mallett later, and cheaper, but decided the former Razorback was worth buying at IPO price.  And he's only down 20 cents.  I missed the boat on Andy Dalton, but I just didn't want to pay $7 up front for that card.
Overall, the cards I've bought (up 47%) are above the overall average (up 26%).    Brees should be allocated on Tuesday, and I completely expect his card to stay above IPO as well.  As far as tomorrows new offering, I have a feeling we'll be seeing Cam Newton, and that one will be huge.

A Trade With Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle

Man, I got nothing tonight as far as clever post titles are concerned.  But I did just complete a sweet trade with Greg of the high end, sophisticated, professional looking Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle, and I am excited to show you the loot he sent.  The only thing I didn't like about Greg is that looking at his blog reminds me how amateurish mine is.  Geez, what a nice blog he has...  It must be nice to have brains and talent.

I recently picked up a really nice auto/relic of Clayton Kershaw at one of Cleve's auctions.  Greg must have really wanted it because he offered up a huge lot of nice cards for it.  It was a tough card to lose, but his package offer was too hard to turn down.   If you can get over me ending that sentence with a preposition, allow me show you what he sent.  First, we have a couple of Tony Gwynn relics:

I don't have either of these, and they are both really cool.  Love the pinstripe on the one on the left.  Next, we have some Pudge:

Ivan Rodriguez is one of those guys I've always followed and liked but haven't aggressively sought to collect. But when I come across his cards, I wonder why I don't collect him and intend to make it a point to beef up my collection.  He is one of the greatest catchers of all time, and should be a first ballot Hall of Famer.  These are a great boost to my small I-Rod collection.  The SPX card is a beaut!

Finally, Greg added in some nice cards of star players I collect, and an interesting low numbered card of former Hog, Ryan Mallett.  The back of the Mallett card describes it as a "make ready" card:  "A make ready is one of the first printed sheets.  It is used to adjust colors and registration.  4-color cards are a combination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.  Once all of those colors are combined, you have the color combination seen on printed cards."    My first "Make Ready" card!

Thank you for a great blog and a great trade, Greg.  Look forward to another one down the road!