Football Contest: Loser Bowl Final

 

 

The Raiders enter the last quarter with a 3-point lead and a season's worth of losses in their favor.  The Bears enter the last quarter needing to avoid just a few points to pull of an upset, capping an up-and-down season.

Both teams lived up to the Loser Bowl name, as neither pulled any inserts, autos, or anything else special.  It all comes down to base cards. 

Let's start with the 1986 card design:

The Raiders pulled one, while the Bears pulled a pair:

Things are looking bleak for the Bears.  27-31.

Moving back a year to the 1985 design:

The Raiders went empty-handed as Cutler may have blown the game. 27-32.

1976 design:

The Bears are blowing this one, but you can't say it wasn't a team effort. 27-33.  Only one design left.

1959 design:

The Raiders do get hit with some points, but the Bears answer right back:

It's appropriate that the two guys who helped the Bears win most of their matchups close out their season.

Final: Raiders 29, Bears 35

Congratulations to Spiegel's Raiders, who managed to lose all the way to a 2013 My Cardboard Mistress Loser Bowl Championship!

Spiegel, I will be in contact shortly regarding your prize.

Football Contest: The Final Weekend

It's hard to believe this is the 25th weekend since I started this contest.  It certainly helped keep football alive in the offseason for me.

In this final weekend, we will crown the best and worst teams. 

The Broncos lead the Rams in the Super Bowl by 9 points.  The Rams need someone to come through in the fourth to have a shot. 

In the Loser Bowl, the Raiders hold just a 3 point lead on the Bears.  The Bears are still in it, but the Raiders are very good at losing.

The cards for this final weekend come from a Hobby Box of 2013 Topps Archives.  The box has 24 packs of 8 cards, with 2 Fan Favorites autographs.  There are also inserts and short prints to be had.

Here is this weekend's schedule:

Saturday, August 31 - 5:01 PM - Loser Bowl Final
Sunday, September 1 - 5:01 PM - Super Bowl Final
Monday, September 2 - 5:01 PM - 2013 Topps Archives Hobby Box Review

Good Luck!

2006 Topps Allen & Ginter #227

This card is way better than the relic I pulled a few months ago.  Cubs and Orioles don't mix well.

5 Boxes of 2013 A&G: Full-Size Inserts

I have to say I'm a little at odds with 2013 A&G inserts.  I only collect the full-size A&G inserts, which goes against how most people feel.  That said, 2011 had a few full-size inserts, 2012 had a bunch, and 2013 has way too many. 

I do really like the Across the Years insert set this year.  You can count me in with the majority of folks who hate the lack of numeric ordering, though.  Sorting by alphabet is a pain in the butt.  I also wish the big A&G insert set (Dick Perez, National Pride...


Hey, while typing this it just dawned on me that there weren't any Baseball Highlights Sketches this year.  That's disappointing.  Anyway, back to what I was saying.


...This Day in History, What's in a Name) was closer to 50 cards.  The Dick Perez sets had 30 cards and came 1-per-pack.  Now, we've jumped to a 100-card set that comes 1-per-2-packs. Which is significantly harder to complete.

Anyway, here are the ATY cards I got:

 

Next up, we have two insert sets that I felt were a little too similar: Civilizations of Ages Past and Martial Mastery.  I think they should have gone with one or the other.  Another thing I would love is if the insert sets were 9 and 18 cards instead of 10 and 20.  Fitting in pages is good for me.

 



Who knew that Romans were all horse asses?

Personally, I could have done without either of those insert sets.  It's not that I don't like them (well, I don't really like the Civilizations ones) but they just don't seem necessary. 

The next two insert sets, though, I really like.  First, the Palaces and Strongholds are pretty neat.

Lastly, we get to the best full-size insert of all.  One Little Corner.  I love space stuff, so this was right up my alley.  It sounds like many others agree it's the best full-size insert set, as well.  The only thing that would have made these better is if they were acetate cards.  If the space part and borders were transparent, that would be amazing.  Since the Ginter Code theme this year involves time, I think it could have worked.  Putting a "futuristic" touch on these cards would have been cool.  Regardless, it's a nice insert set.  Besides, who doesn't love Uranus?

My want lists for these can be found here.  I didn't get Uranus.  Please, someone, give me Uranus.  I need Uranus.  I need Uranus to fill the hole in my collection.  Ok, I'm done.


















Uranus.

2006 Topps Allen & Ginter #226

Google image -> Kelvim Escobar -> Who is she? -> Google image -> Daaaammmmnnn (NSFW)

5 Boxes of 2013 A&G: The Box Loaders

I figured that I would break up the posts for my non-Gint-a-Cuffs boxes by card type instead of going box by box. 

I didn't exactly kill A&G this year.  It was a far cry from last year when two cards paid for all of my boxes and then some.  I don't buy the boxes as an investment, though, so it's no big deal.  I was thrilled to rip through all the boxes.

Here are the 5 box loaders I got:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's right, I got a duplicate of the Colossus of Rhodes.  That leads me to believe that my 6 boxes came from more than one case.

 

 

 

These 6 boxes put me up to a total of 17 boxes of A&G busted from 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013.  I've got to be getting close to a special box loader.