Superbowl XLVII Pre-Game

Jason Witten wins the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.  Nice clips and tributes to Payton who passed away in 1999.  Doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but there you go.  At one point I owned a Payton RC

The Sandy Hook kids choir and Jennifer Hudson are singing "America the Beautiful".  Noting beats Ray Charles, but the kids were sure fun.  Not a big fan of Ms. Hudson, but she looks incredible, and I think it's a nice tribute to all those who have lose their lives in senseless tragedies due to gun violence.

Some of the Ravens are getting pretty emotional, they might have the edge in terms of really wanting to win the big game.


Alicia Keys doing the National Anthem.  I've always known there were three other verses of the Star Spangled Banner, I looked them up just a few weeks ago, they are much more powerful than the one verse that we all know and love  Check it out:

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

I'm not a big fan of Ms. Keys but she did a nice soulful rendition.

The latest HOFers will be out in a minute for the coin flip.  We're now at the point in my personal football watching career that I actually saw the modern inductees play their entire career.   In fact I remember Draft Day for Warren Sapp who dropped because of a weed test. UCLA Alum Ogden had a wonderful career.

2013 inductees;
Larry Allen
Cris Carter
Jonathan Ogden
Warren Sapp

Bill Parcells
Curly Culp
Dave Robinson



Baltimore wins the toss and defers.  Time for Kickoff!

Welcome to the Budget Collector's Live Blogging of Superbowl XLVII

Here come the introductions of the players - usually they do the defense, I wonder if that will hold up.

FYI My official prediction is 49ers 27, Ravens 20.

Superbowl XLVII Live Blogging Returns

I didn't live blog the big game last year because I had company over, and it's rude.  This year however, there should be nothing to stop me, as the wife will be out doing a CPR class, and the daughter is kind of sick with a cold, so either she'll be watching with me or she'll be in the living room watching cartoons.

The Setup:

46" Plasma with good sound.  Tempur-Pedic bed.  Grub will include Vegetarian Chili that I'm going to make later today.  I don't drink alcohol anymore, so if there is a beer involved it will inevitably be non-alcoholic, and that's just sad isn't it?

The current line is the 49ers to win by 3.5 points.  I think that's probably pretty accurate, I think they're probably going to cover the spread.  The over/under is 47.5 points, I'd take the under if I were a betting man.

The game is on CBS this year, remember it switches networks every year, and the announcers are Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.  Simms Rookie Card can be bought on eBay for a couple of bucks, and no that's not really an indication of his career, after all he did win a Superbowl in 1987, and owns a second ring from the 1990 game.  The low price is due to the over production by Topps of the 1980 football set.  You can still find unopened packs of the stuff for less than the price of a current pack of Topps 2012 Football.  There's also no other good rookies in the set.

Simms 1980 Rookie Card.  

I don't really pay attention to the hype over the commercials before the game, I think that's kind of silly when it comes down to brass tacks.  After all, we're discussing advertising, you know, things designed to get you to buy something.  I will, however, be blogging about my opinions on the adverts.  I also downloaded the Star Trek Into Darkness app for my iPhone and will be anxiously awaiting the second quarter so I can scan and unlock whatever the bonus content is.

I'll have much more tomorrow, but I wanted all six of you to not forget about me.

Have fun!

RIP Richard McWilliam - UD Founder

Just got this in the email from UD:

As you probably have learned by now, Richard McWilliam passed away unexpectedly over the weekend at his home in the San Diego area. We are heartbroken today, and everyone at Upper Deck has joined together to remember Richard, honor his work, and support his wife and their three children.

I want to assure you that while his departure is a hard emotional blow, it will not affect Upper Deck’s ability to fulfill the commitments and obligations we have made with our business partners.

For the last year, Jason Masherah has been carrying the title of Vice President Marketing and Business Development, while also overseeing day to day operations. With Richard’s passing, the company has formalized Jason’s role and named him President. The company will carry forward Richard’s vision, and we intend to continue to introduce innovating and exciting products that will reinforce Upper Deck’s position as the leader of our industry.

We appreciate your expressions of support and condolence, and look forward to working with you. We're available to you for any questions or thoughts you may have.

Sincerely,

Chris Carlin

Sports Marketing & Social Media Manager

Whatever you might think of Upper Deck's current configuration as a company, you cannot deny their impact on our hobby. The first >$1.00 pack of cards, the first major insertion of certified autographs, the first jersey cards, the list of firsts from UD goes on and on, and while they're no longer a major player in the sports game, lacking licenses for everything except the NHL, they're still producing great cards.

It's sad when anyone passes away, more so when that person is an industry leader and visionary. My condolences to his family and all the folks at UD.

Off Topic: Curiosity - "What's Inside the Cube"

I downloaded Curiosity a couple of days ago, and after a couple of days of not being able to join, I've been playing it, fairly regularly for a couple of days. I think I'll end up playing on it a lot. Why? Because I'm interested in the entire social experiment that's happening here. At it's heart the app is a game. A really lame game actually. The premise is simply this, there is a huge cube in a room, and you have to get to the middle of it by chipping off it's layers one cubelet at a time. There are MILLIONS of cubelets in each layer, however, there are also almost a million players chipping off cubelets all at the same time. At the heart of the cube is something wonderful says the creator Peter Molyneux a quite famous and wealthy game designer. And only one person gets to see what it is. I don't expect to be that person. As I mentioned there's almost a million other players, that's based on a recent interview which stated that the app has been downloaded 900,000 times already. I suspect as the cube gets closer and closer to being completed the number of downloads will go up. I'm curious to see what's inside, I'm curious to see how the different images and texts on the different layers tie into the endgame. And I'm curious to see what the outcome is going to be. I guess I'm just curious. You can be too, it's free in the App Store.

Election Day

Duke Voted, Why Haven't You?

Mars Attacks Topps Heritage!

I will absolutely and totally admit to being a sucker for Nostalgia. In particular I absolutely adore the Mars Attacks property, originally a trading card set in 1962 illustrated primarily by Wally Wood and others. Most people only know it at a movie, but it's so much more than that. Topps tried an ill-fated comic book line in the mid-90s, Mars Attacks was one of their flagship titles. I think I MAY still have them in storage, at least I hope I do.

It's been 50 years since that original card set was released, and despite it being reprinted at least three other times, it's being done again, Heritage style, which means same printing process, same old cardboard, same old packaging with some new-age inserts and bonuses. Bonuses like sketch cards, printing plates and the requisite limited-edition parallels.

I've been collecting the set for awhile, piecing it together pack by pack at $2.09 plus tax (Target, thanks) for 6 cards has been tough, as Topps notorious penchant for cruddy distribution continues apace with it's lack of imagination when it comes to parallels.

Sell Sheets

The set breaks down like this:
55 Standard Cards - reprinting the original set.
10 "Deleted Scenes" - seeded 1 per pack
15 "New Universe" - seeded 1 per pack
5 Lenticular 3D cards (1:8)

1/1 Sketch Cards -
1:24 Hobby
1:96 Retail

Parallels:
1:3 - Puke Green
1:24 - Silver
1 per case - Gold Parallel (Hobby only)
220 total printing plates (4x each card)
550 (10 total per card) foil autograph by Len Brown

I have purchased a total of 23 individual retail packs. I know this because I have exactly 23 New Universe and 23 Deleted Scenes Cards. I have pulled 6 Green Parallels and 1 silver. I've also pulled 2 lenticular cards. AND, the grand-poo-bah, a sketch which I just pulled today. Ready? Here it is:

I DO believe that it's a Dan Brereton - which if it indeed is, would be a coup-and-a-half since he's one of my favorite comic artists. His series "Nocturnals" is monster-mayhem on a grand scale. I also adore his "Giantkiller" series from DC from a few years ago. Now I'm not 100% sure it's a Brereton, so I'm kind of posting here to see if anyone actually recognizes the signature.

As to my set collection, well the good news is I have a complete 10 card Deleted Scenes set.

That's it. For my personal set I'm missing the following:
2
12
16
19
20
23
24
25
31
33
36
44
47
51

and the New Universe: 7, 11

Lenticular 2, 3 & 4

I have the following doubles for trade:
3
5x4
6
10
11x2
13x2
14x2
17x2
21x2
22x4
28x4
29
30x2
35
38x4
42
46x2
48
49x2
50
53

Deleted Scenes:
1
2
3
4x3
5x2
7x2
8x2
9

New Universe:
2
5
9x2
10
12
13x2
14
15

I am totally willing to trade my parallels, but only for the Lenticular Cards or a Sketch if you want to part with yours.

Green (3x per 1x Lenticular) 3, 8, 15, 29, 49, 53

Silver (Straight up 1:1 for a Lenticular) 46

Trade Rules: I live in So. Cal. I'm willing to trade to Canada, but that's about it for over-seas. Sorry UK. Unless you can supply all my needs. Then we'll talk.

On commons I'll do my 2 for your 1.

We should ship at the same time.

If you're interested in trading, please send me email to wmnoe@yahoo.com.