OUTSIDE THE BOX - Prizes, Prizes, Prizes!

Last week I participated in a little get together (via Blog TV) for Hobby Insider's new site launch.  While there were a few hiccups in the festivities (as in not enough bandwidth or something like that), the switch was flipped and a new main site page was launched.

See the banner at the top?  Thank you very much.  I'm hoping to do a couple or so every week to keep the content fresh.

I'm excited any time there is a step forward in what the hobby can offer to me and I hope this site will bring just that.  Time will tell, but you don't make progress without a little bit of work towards it.

But I digress.  This night was to celebrate, have some fun, and (unexpectedly) open some boxes.

I participated in some low-end, free box break team-style draft giveaways.

Free is good.

First up, I was offered a free factory set of Major League Lacrosse cards.  I didn't know they even existed.  They are going straight to my nephew and we're going to have some fun opening these up.

While it's not in pack form, I think knowing there is a complete set in hand will be fun...as will looking at (hopefully) all the cool action shots.

Um....this is football.

That's right.  A box of 2011 Topps Chrome Football was cracked.  Now apparently there are cards in this product upwards of $400.

I did not get those.

The base cards are shiny and show off a nice, clean design.  I miss when Topps had an NHL license.

One of the inserts from this product.  There's a Cam Newton that was pulled as well (but I didn't have Carolina).

Ooooooohhh.  A refractor.  I really miss when Topps did hockey.

That was fun now wasn't it.  And by the way - did I mention it was free?

Lastly....we have Victory!  Oh fun.

And I got the Flames as my team - double the fun.

Matt Pelech - the fun is overflowing.

Hey, here's a nice little insert set.  Seems to be some Finnish players (I had Montreal as well BTW).

A lot of these Finnish parallels were coming out of these packs.  That started leading a few people watching to ask what was up.

It didn't take long for a couple people to chime in that this was a box of Finnish Victory.  Hey, that sounds rare.  And a lot more fun all of the sudden.  And yes, those are two Miikka Kiprusoff cards I picked up.  Nice.

Overall, it was a hoot to pick up some freebies, but more importantly it was a blast to participate in something like this.  Chilling in the comforts of my own home chatting cards with about 100 others from all over the country.