HOCKEY POOLS: My Second Draft

Last regular season was a good one for me when it came to the hockey pool I participated in.

I had a solid team and some fantastic goaltending which vaulted me into the lead early where I would stay for the season.

Well, last night was the first step for defending my championship. This draft was a little more interesting seeing as I had just participated in a draft earlier in the week. A couple players that slipped by me last time were on the radar this go around.


I ended up picking third (again) in a 9 person pool. I chose Green with my first pick (bypassing Malkin). I was not popular after that choice. I think if Green can score 25-30 goals, he will be one of the top guys in the entire draft.

Howard was not my first choice for goalies, but a lot of the big names were taken just before my pick. I'm thrilled though with my late picks. I wanted to get Selanne as my sleeper and landed him this time. I also had Comrie on the radar as well as he and Malkin are playing great together.

As with the other draft, we all chose 10 forwards, 4 defencemen and 2 goalies. The point structure is even the same so I can now put my two draft teams head-to-head to see which one performs better.

So I ask you..... which team is the better team? If you could only pick one..... which one would you take?

If you are in a pool or draft this season, best of luck and let the games begin.

LINDEN CARD OF THE WEEK - 1989/90 Topps RC Gem Mint

A rare Linden mailday is the focus of my Linden Card Of The Week.

I've seen a few of these pop up here and there and never really paid any attention to them until recently. I found an O-Pee-Chee version for a fairly good price and now I can match it up with the Topps version.

1989/90 Topps RC #89
PSA Graded Gem Mint 10

For $7.....SEVEN WHOLE DOLLARS....I grabbed a gem mint copy of my favorite player's rookie card. To me, that's a steal.

I think the reason why these graded cards have come down in price is the advent of laser cutting. Full sheets would be purchased and then cards would be laser cut and then submitted for grading.

I wish there was a way to determine if this card was laser cut or pack pulled. Obviously the later would be the more desired to me as it would feel a little more authentic.

Still, I am very happy to add this card to my collection.

Here's its twin brother.

1989/90 O-Pee-Chee RC #89
PSA Graded Gem Mint 10

A great looking pair if you ask me.

Now that I have these two, I'd like to track down some other high quality grading services' versions of gem mint Linden rookies (like BGS - Beckett Grading Services).

I won't pay an arm and a leg though. $7 will do just fine.

SCRIBBLES & SCRIBES - Sign Of The Times

Another episode of 'Scribbles & Scribes' and yet another appearance by a Sutter.

For the life of me I can't understand why this family can't scratch out a solid signature. My best guess would be that they just have other things on their mind.

Darryl Sutter
SCRIBBLE

On top of not 'staying inside the lines', this autograph just swirls around. I'm a little dizzy looking at this one. Thanks at least for crossing the T's (or whatever letters they are).

Definitely one of the more low-end sigs from an era of top notch autos.

Brian Leetch
SCRIBE

Thank you Brian. Thank you for having a legible autograph. Thank you for spending some quality time and crafting a unique signature. Thank you for taking your hobby collecting audience into consideration when signing your name.

Thank you for a wonderful career in which you won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year (by the way, Trevor Linden was the runner up). Thank you for being at your best during the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP (by the way, Trevor Linden was on the Vancouver Canucks team that was heartbroken after losing game 7 of the finals).

Thank you Brian Leetch. Thank you.

On second look, maybe it's not that great of an autograph. :)

HOCKEY POOLS: It's That Time Again

Well, last season I was the champion of the one and only pool I participated in. In fact, it was a runaway victory. I defend my championship this year and it will all start at the draft on Wednesday.

But this season, I was also asked by a couple guys at work to set a hockey pool. No prob.

Tonight was the draft for that pool. Eight of us showed up and we drafted 10 forwards, 4 defence and 2 goalies. We will drop the low 2 at the end of the year.

I picked third....I was happy with my draft position. Here are my picks.


I would like to first state that I am not a Leafs fan. I still can't believe I have both Phaneuf and Kessel on my team (and no, that was not said in my bragging voice).

The draft started well for me, but I am not super happy with a couple of my late picks. I forgot guys like Selanne and Comrie (who was going to be my sleeper).

I got caught needing a D-man and goalie as my last 2 picks. The nice thing about the goalie situation is that half way through the draft, I was the only one left that needed a tender. So I could leave it until the final pick and not worry about anyone else choosing one.

That said, Hiller was not high on the radar for me at the start of the draft.

It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

I'll post my other draft picks later this week after we pick 'em.

MY BLOG TURNS ONE TODAY!

Well, I knew the day was creeping up and now it is finally here.

It was one year ago today that My Hockey Card Obsession was born.

Over the past year, I've tried to keep my blog regularly updated (at 202 posts over the last year, I think that's pretty consistent) and one that reflects what the hobby represents to me. I've shared some of the items in my collection and have started some new projects.

Most importantly, I feel like I have stayed on track. I'm proud of what I have accomplished with this blog over the past year and am looking forward to bigger and better in the years to come.

I have recognized when the times have come where my blog had to be put a little lower on the priority list....and that's more than ok with me. I've also recognized the times when I feel I have neglected this blog and have tried to rectify that in a timely fashion.

What has really impressed me is that there are people out there who seem to enjoy my blog. That's cool. I started this blog so that I could put thoughts into writing and to now see that I have about 30-50 people check out my posts every day and have 23 people 'following' me is an accomplishment that I can say I'm proud of.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to check out my blabberings and I am looking forward to sharing more of my hockey card obsession with you.

BOX BREAK: 10 Packs of 2001-02 Pacific Vanguard

This break comes from the bulk lot of packs that I picked up a couple weeks ago at the local card show. These pack once retailed at about $6-7 a piece, but I managed to snag 10 of them for a buck a pop.

2001-02 Pacific Vanguard

At only 3 cards per pack, these were a bit more high-end for the time. Definitely not so by today's standards. :)

I was excited to see some of the old Pacific product sitting on the one table as I never did break this stuff back in the day. I just picked up the singles I needed for my collections at the time instead.

Some of the specs for the product...

First and foremost, these cards do not scan well. My apologies.

This set was released in early February 2002. This 130 card set consisted of 100 regular base cards and 30 rookie cards serial numbered to 404 copies each.

There were a number of parallels (as were prevalent in all Pacific releases back in the day)...Blue - numbered to 89 copies, Red - numbered to 38 copies, Premiere Date - numbered to 83 copies.

There were memorabilia cards as well...the jersey cards were double-sided two-player cards with simple jersey pieces. There were also dual patch cards of the same display.

There were some insert sets as well...'East Meets West', 'In Focus', 'Prime Prospects', 'Stonewallers', 'Quebec Tournament Heroes' and 'V-Team'. Can you say stereotypical insert set names or what. None of the inserts were of the high-end variety but there were some that had some pretty long odds of being pulled.

With that, let's take a look at some of the goods.


The base cards are pretty nice. Thick and shiny. They look like they are very susceptible to scratching or damage so having them in protective sleeves would be beneficial. The player selection is pretty select and going for the most part with the top players in the league at the time.

It's neat to see some of these guys on teams you kind of forgot they played on. Like Jeremy Roenick with the Flyers.


I landed two of the Quebec Tournament Heroes inserts. These were inserted 1:25 packs so getting 2 in 10 is definitely beating the odds. These cards showcase players who played in the Quebec Pee-wee tourney (which is considered one of the top tournaments of its kind).


This Pavel Bure V-Team insert is a great example of the kind of inserts you would find in Pacific items back 10 years ago. Nothing more than an excuse to put a player's face on another card.


Here is the one parallel I got in the packs. This Glen Murray is obviously the blue parallel (too bad it wasn't one of the more high-end players) and is a decent pull as they were inserted 1:49 packs for hobby and 1:25 packs for retail.


This last card is one that has me stumped. The card on the right is the regular base card. The one on the left is some sort of parallel or error. It is completely chrome on the front but is the exact same as the base card on the back. Same thickness and no serial numbering. I don't think it is a noted parallel so all that I can think of is an error card.

Kind of cool. Again, too bad it wasn't one of the more high-end guys (like Linden...ha ha ha).

Overall, this was a pretty fun break. There's great variety and the opportunity to hit some cool inserts and/or parallels. The downside would be the fact there's only 3 cards per pack. No regrets on this purchase.

OPINION: WHAT'S 'WRONG' WITH THE HOBBY

Most of the time, the topics for my opinions in this blog are the result of a discussion at card shows, local hobby shops or on sportscard 'hobby boards'.

This post is no different. I recently responded to a comment someone made about what he thought was 'wrong' with the 'hobby'. It got me thinking......so I thought I'd share.

To get everyone up to speed with a bit more of the specifics, this past week saw the release of Upper Deck's super-high end product 'The Cup'. Packs of this product go for hundreds of dollars. That's right, a pack (or as they call it - a tin) of The Cup can cost over $300. And I believe it's 5 or 6 cards per tin.

Now I have never purchased a tin of The Cup as I have no interest in the product. Only 1 Trevor Linden card has ever come from this release....and I know where it is (sadly not in my collection), so there is nothing that really appeals to me about the stuff.

The price range of the product is way more than I am looking to spend for cards (especially when you only get 5 of them), so my perspective on the product might differ from others. Fair enough.

The person who commented about the product linked a youtube video that showed a sportscard store opening up a case of the product. They just fired through it, tin after tin, like it was any other product and I'm guessing that the draw to the The Cup for them was the hopes of landing a high end card from the break (as I am assuming the cards will be going up on ebay, or at very least priced up and put into the store showcase). The person mentioned that this was a prime example of what is wrong with the hobby.

I disagreed.

To me, the 'hobby' is a very vast environment. More than just a card set like The Cup. In fact, a product like that is geared towards only a small percentage of the hobbyists. I would think most of us have no plans to even touch the stuff (although we all probably would like to). To me, the hobby is what I want it to be. It can be all low end products, it can be vintage stuff, it can be a certain player. It can even be The Cup. It's my choice.

But to say that a person (or store) opening large quantities of a high end product is what's wrong with the hobby I think misrepresents the hobby.

A product like The Cup is opened with the intent of a 'slot machine pull' (as someone put it in the responses on the board discussion). I agree with that take. I don't think anyone collects entire sets of The Cup. Maybe certain subsets, but I would think they purchase most of their cards after the product has been broken rather than open tin after tin trying to finish what they want to collect of it.

Most tins of The Cup are broken with the hopes of hitting that high end card that will recoup a large amount of their costs on the product (or in the most ideal situation.....give you a profit. Which rarely happens). That feeling of a box being like a lottery ticket is I think a huge aspect when it comes to the attraction to The Cup (or other super-high end releases). Personally, I have no issues whatsoever with that. In fact, I feel the youtube video accurately depicts the target audience for the product. It'd be weird to see an 8-year-old kid busting open multiple tins of the stuff.

Ultimately, people opening product, no matter what it is, or how much of it they break, or the costs is not what is wrong with the hobby. To me, it is people who take offence to an aspect of the hobby and then lay a blanket blame on said hobby.

If it's not your cup of tea (like the pun.........hey) then move on by and find the stuff that you want in your hobby. It's different for everyone.

While there are always things I'd like to see change in this hobby (or things I'd like to see return to this hobby), for the most part I'm very happy with what the hobby has to offer to me. I think that's why I enjoy it so much.

There's nothing wrong with that.