WHO AM I? - Must Be Summer

It was a thin response to this current batch of 'signatures' (I use that term loosely). Only two people managed a guess. One went o'fer and the other got one out of three (and he put the wrong name to the autograph).

By judges ruling, 'TheForce' gets the victory. Congrats?

Cam Fowler

What can I say. This is the best of the three. Yikes!

Chris Stewart

Terrible stuff. He's one who has had his signature go down the tubes over the years (not to say it was awesome in the first place). But this looks like there is zero effort and zero care towards his name.

Curtis Brown

That's right......Curtis Brown! How you get that from 'IAN' is beyond me.

Brutal.

They should ban him from having signature cards in any product. Or better yet, do a set called 'crappy-graphs'.

That's the only place this auto belongs.

RAISE THE CUP - Keeping An Eye Out

I've lived in the same city pretty much my entire life. I've been going to the same card show over the winter months for well over 10 years now. I hit up the same card stores (although not as frequently as I'd like to) and pretty much everyone who knows me has a pretty good idea as to what I collect.

So much so that there have been times where someone has kept an eye out for things I might like, and in some cases even picked cards up knowing I would probably be interested in them.

I've acquired a number of great items for my PC over the years from the help of others.

This card is a perfect example of that.

1996/97 Upper Deck
#240 Joe Sakic

A friend of mine asked me earlier in the week if I needed this card for my 'Raise The Cup' project. I searched through my cards and couldn't find it. I never got back to him about it and kind of put it in the back of my mind the past couple days.

So it was a nice surprise tonight when I met up with him and a few other friends and he simply handed it over. Looking for nothing in return.

Many people might say "It's just a cheap junk wax era base card". Wrong! It's a great reminder of what I enjoy about this hobby, and a perfect example of doing something nice for someone else. And it's a great photo of Sakic hoisting the Cup for the first time in his career. Cool!

It was a simple gesture, but there's no question that this card will keep with it a great memory, a good story and a smile on my face.

Thanks very much Dave for the help with my collection.

Current Collection - 40 cards

LINDEN CARD OF THE WEEK - Decades Jersey Auto Gold 1/1

Huge mailday today. What a great way to start the long weekend.

The Linden collection grows by one more (and a giant one at that).

2010/11 ITG Decades
Rookie Game Used Jersey and Autograph
#RJA-TL Gold 1/1

This card is awesome (if I do say so myself). The moment I saw it I knew that I wanted it.

With the current Decades release by In The Game my Trevor Linden wantlist grew quite a bit. And slowly I've been knocking them off one by one.

This card was one I wasn't sure if I would ever see (let alone obtain).

But after my debacle a few weeks ago over a Panini Contenders 1/1, I think I compensated with a more aggressive approach towards this one when I saw it.

The moment it appeared on ebay, I put a bid in. I was soon e-mailed by the seller and by midday we had a deal.

What was really nice was that the seller did a great job of packaging and delivering (as I received it by the end of the week).

Thrilled to add it to the collection and it sits as one of the premer cards in my Linden collection.

My only beef is that it's not a hard-signed auto (ITG did a really nice job of hiding the sticker edge though).

WHO AM I? - C Is For Crappy

That's good enough for me.

It's rare to see an autograph today that has the appearance of patience, care and personality.

I've come to accept that signatures have just turned into scribbles these days.

Actually, that's not quite true. These three 'gems' might not even constitute a scribble. They're more like 'scribs'.

Too quick to complete the entire word.






Not much there 'eh?

Well, can you conclude who's chicken scratches these connect to? Conclusively?

Let's 'C'.

Should be more than enough of a hint for you.

As always, tell me the names of the three players and the 'C'onnection between the three.

Good luCk!

TO THE BIKE SPOKES!!! - Bernie Wolfe

Goalies are a rare breed. Eccentric, borderline crazy and unique characters. Some wear their emotions on their sleeve while others keep it calm and cool between the pipes.

Some are crazy addicted to routine while others workout and stretch like it's nobody's business.

Then there's Bernie Wolfe.

1978/79 Topps
#81 Bernie Wolfe

(insert some cheesy 70's theme music....like Sanford & Son)
It appears that he ate one too many hamburgers before the game. Or he's misplaced his wallet. Or he's doing his "It's Pat!" impression.

Maybe he took a puck in the gut. Just look at his eyes....they seem to reflect discomfort.

Oh.......maybe he's got to.....

Let's hope not.

Bernie was in the nets for 25 games the previous season with the Capitals. You'd think there would be something else out there to slap on a hockey card.

Even his mask is generic and boring. One of the few fibreglass masks that don't impress me at all.

What's sad is that this card is Wolfe's final piece of cardboard in the NHL. What a lasting impression.

Bernie, for your stomach-ache of a photo (I'm feeling a little nauseous myself)...

PPPPPFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

TO THE BIKE SPOKES!!!!!!

BOX BREAKS: 2010/11 Zenith

Last week's traders night at the local card store had me contemplating a box break.

The new Panini release - Zenith - caught my eye. I figured why not...I'll throw a little more support towards the card store (and its new store...it's really nice in there).


So with that, it was a box of Zenith (good thing I'm over the age of 9.....that's never gonna get old for me).

It's a 10 pack box with only 5 cards per pack. So right off the bat there's a limited number of cards to be had.

So they better be good - right?


The base cards are alright. Nothing spectacular with the design. What is eye-catching though are the photos. Some of them look like they've been given just a slight tweak to give it almost a hand-drawn look.


This Crosby is a good example of that. Now is it just me or does it look like a bit of a sketch? I quite like the filter put on the photos (and actually wish all the card pics looked like that).

There are 225 cards in the base set. 115 commons, 85 rookies and 25 legends. Lots of rookies (dare I say too many) and the word 'legends' now means the possibility of Linden cards to chase (sure enough....he's in the product).


I managed one red parallel (or as they like to call them 'Red Hot'). Apparently these are not the big pulls like parallels in other products.

They also have 'White Hot' parallels (or as I like to call them Ice Blue......since they're blue). These are the sought after parallels.


What's a product without inserts. And Zenith has a bundle of them.

These are the 'non shiny' inserts I pulled. I kind of like the 'Gifted Grinders' card, but the 'Chasing The Cup' insert leaves me with the blahs. Nothing special (sorry Habs fans). It's just a generic insert concept to me.


And now some shiny inserts. These have also given me the blahs. I really haven't even taken a close look at what I've got here. I just see a Henrik Lundqvist card where the card design gets more facetime than the player photo and a triple shot of Columbus Blue Jackets.....and no Nash.

I've lost interest in these....so let's move on.


Ooooohhhhhhh.......jersey cards.

Oh, wait...these are just the run of the mill jersey cards. Once again, an attempt at finding a theme and plunking the leftover jersey int he windows.

Part of me shouldn't complain about the jersey cards, but these are almost as bad as regular base cards.

Antoine Vermette - Winter Warrior? C'mon. Really? Maybe 'Fringe Forward' or 'Who Am I?'. That would be a more suitable set name.


Here are the legends cards I talked about earlier. Darren Pang! I'm mildly excited since it's a photo of him with his mask on (it was a pretty slick mask back in the day). Gilmour's a good pull as well.


But this one takes the cake. I really like this card. Showing me something I have never seen before. This Neely shot I don't think has ever been used on a card before. Slam dunk!


In my box break, I managed one rookie card. This Travis Hamonic is numbered out of 999. Did I mention the abundance of rookies? Yup.


I also managed an autographed rookie (which is not a parallel, but part of the base set). Zac Dalpe? Hoo boy.

At least it's hard signed.


But the big draw when it comes to the Zenith product is the 'Dare To Tear' concept.

For those of you unfamiliar....you receive an oversized card in your box (wrapped so you don't know who it is). I ended up with this Roenick. It's about the size of 4 base cards. Inside the card (yes....inside) is a regular sized card. Normally, all the big name, low-numbered cards are hiding inside these jumbos.

In order to get to the card, you have to tear into the oversized cardboard.

No offence again, but it's Jeremy Roenick. This was a no-brainer.


This rookie auto gold of Brodie Dupont was my Dare To Tear prize. It's numbered out of 10 which is nice, but a sticker auto? And who is Brodie Dupont? Did I mention the abundance of rookies in the product?

Overall, this product is a bit of a 'hit or miss'. While the Dare To Tear concept is fantastic, the bulk of the product just doesn't quite sing to me. Not enough bang for your buck.

Have you busted a box (or boxes) of Zenith? What are your thoughts?

RAISE THE CUP - Two More From Traders Night

A couple cards catching my eye in trader boxes a couple days ago. Cards that I knew I'd have to trade for.

It's been a while since I have posted any cards for my 'Raise The Cup' project. It's been too busy to do much hunting recently.

So without further ado - let's go!

2010/11 Panini Crown Royale
Regal Achievements
#16 Eric Staal /499

I had no idea this card even existed. I wonder if there are other Cup raisers from that insert set.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the photo though (small beef). Too much card design.

2004/05 Upper Deck Legends Classics
Signature Moments
#M42 Clark Gillies /125

This card on the other hand is probably the nicest card in the project to date.

A gorgeous photo, great design and a hard-signed autograph all add up to a fantastic piece of cardboard.

Not too bad of a signature, but a little sloppy compared to some of his contemporaries.

These cards have sort of inspired me to dig a little more come the fall season. It's a fun (and inexpensive) project I'm building.

Current Collection - 39 cards