12.31.10

Weather: Sunny, 38, no wind
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: good
Overall Walk Performance: ok, a bit sluggish today 
Current Mood: blah
How is your diabetes today?: ok i guess

12.30.10

Weather: Clear, 34, no wind, sunny.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: good
Overall Walk Performance: good 
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.29.10

Weather: Cool, mid-30s, cloudy, no wind.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 Miles in the slush! lol not as bad as yesterday though. i also dug out the garbage cans from the blizzard (tonight is garbage night) and then got the xmas decoration boxes down from the attic. also going to go shopping in a little while
Weather During Walk: good
Overall Walk Performance: good 
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

New Collecting Focus

Well, i've done it again. decided to collect more crap! haha
but this time, it's 80's graded legends, mainly their base cards
from Topps/Donruss/Fleer/Score/UD from 1980 to 1989.

i've already got a jump on some of them from my Topps 500 Home Run Graded Colletion. its going to breathe new life into me im hoping, as things overall have gone quite stale.

what im looking at is PSA only for this focus, in the 8/9 range, with 10s sprinkled in if they are cheap enough.

staying on target is key here, i have to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. and of course as always, there is no WRONG way to collect.

The guys that i will be picking up are HOFers, Legends, or guys i was a fan of during the 80s.

well, off to ebay to feed the addiction

12.28.10

Weather: low 30s, windy, cold, clear skies
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25
Weather During Walk: cold, windy, difficult to navigate with all the snow on the ground
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.27.10

Weather: low 30s, 40+ MPH Wind, COLD, clearish skies
Did you walk today?: No, Blizzard yesterday, over a foot of frozen snow on the ground. have spent two+ hours so far cleaning up the driveway. not finished yet.
If So, how far?: 
Weather During Walk: 
Overall Walk Performance: 
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.26.10

Weather: Snowing, low 30s, windy, cold
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles + Target for milk, which was packed
Weather During Walk: cold, head wind, snow
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok, feeling better today than yesterday
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.25.10

Weather: 30, overcast, light breeze, cold.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: blah, have a head cold, not feeling great
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.24.10

Weather: cold, not too windy, clear skies
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 2.00 miles + 2 hours of house cleaning
Weather During Walk: nice
Overall Walk Performance: tired 
Current Mood: tired, head cold coming
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.23.10

Weather: 33, 30+ mph wind. flurries
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: Snow Flurries, strong head winds
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: blah
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.22.10

Weather: Sunny, 32, windy
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold and windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: tired
How is your diabetes today?: tired

12.21.10

Weather: low 30s, WINDY cold, clear skies
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 2.00 miles
Weather During Walk: STRONG winds, cold
Overall Walk Performance: eh, my headphones died going into it, so it wasnt a very good walk today. im also helping baby sit 13 month old twins, which are a handful
Current Mood: tired
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.20.10

Weather: 31, cold, windy!
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: Cold and windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.19.10

Weather: 31, 23 with the breeze, overcast
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: chilly
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok, vision isnt sharp

12.18.10

Weather: 31, not much breeze, not bad
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: brisk
Overall Walk Performance: good
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

80's Hockey Cards: OPC vs Topps

Ahh the 80's. the times of mass consumption and production.
Sports cards killed many forests in the 80s, thats for sure!

Lately ive been into the hockey cards, specifically the 80s.

From Gretzky in the 79/80 set, to Sakic wrapping up the decade
with the 89/90 release. and oh so much in between.

Topps, the name synonymous with "Sports Cards" had two different
releases for Hockey Cards....Topps and its Canadian Sister,
O-Pee-Chee (OPC for short)

Being an American boy in new york in the 80s, Topps was "it"
my local T~Amo (candy store) carried Topps. But then again, who
didn't? lol

Discussing the "value" of sports cards is always tricky, more-so
when talking about it with people that are not "into" the hobby

To "Cliff-Notes" it, if a Topps Hockey Card is "worth" $20, its
OPC version is worth $30. Not sure why that is, as *i* do not
feel that there are that many less OPCs made. infact i could
argue that there are MORE of any particular OPC then its Topps
counterpart due to how much more popular the sport is in Canada.

When pricing out wax packs, OPC blows Topps off the ice.
Lets go over the decade at hand:

Year / OPC / Topps

79 - $275 (14 Cards / 396 Card Set) - $75 (10 Cards / 264 Card Set)
80 - $65 (10 / 396) - ($15 / 264)
81 - $30 (10 / 396) - ($7 / 198)
82 - $8 (10 / 396) - (N/A)
83 - $7 (10 / 396) - (N/A)
84 - $17 (15 / 396) - ($6 / 165)
85 - $40 ( 8 / 264) - ($20 / 165)
86 - $25 ( 8 / 264) - ($15 / 198)
87 - $7 ( 8 / 264) - ( $5 / 198)
88 - $7 ( 8 / 264) - ($4.50/198)
89 - $20ish, 48 pack box (330 card set) - $30 for a box of 36 (198 card set)
(This is where the MASS production started for Hockey Cards, and is in fact, the
only time that its widely accepted that Topps is better then its OPC release for the season.

"Big Rookie Cards" broken down by year:

Year / Player (OPC/Topps)

79: Gretzky ($800/$550)

80: Messier ($100/NA); Bourque ($100/$80); Gartner ($40/$20); Goulet ($15/$10)

81: Coffey ($80/NA); Kurri ($40/$60); Stastny ($15/$4); Moog ($25/NA); Murphy
($15/$8); Ciccarelli ($20/$10); Savard ($30/$10) (more on the '81 Topps issue below)

82: Fuhr ($40); Francis ($20); Mullen ($8); Hawerchuk ($20)
There was no Topps issued for the 1982/3 Season.

83: Housley ($5); Larmer ($8); Nicholls ($5); Lindbergh ($15); S. Stevens ($10)
There was no Topps issued for the 1983/4 Season.

84: Yzerman ($100/$40); Neely ($40/NA); Gilmour ($30/NA); Chelios ($25/NA) LaFontaine ($15/$8)

85: Lemieux ($200/$150); MacInnis ($30/NA); Iafrate ($5/NA)

86: Roy ($150/$100); Vanbiesbrouck ($25/$12); Clark ($15/$8); Steve Thomas ($5/NA)

87: Robitaille ($30/$20); Ranford ($8/$5); Oates ($15/$10); Hextall ($10/$10); Vernon ($10/NA); C Lemieux ($6/NA); Richer ($5/NA); Damphousse ($8/NA)

88: Hull ($50/$25); Nieuwendyk ($10/$4); Shanahan ($30/$15); Turgeon ($12/$10)

89: Sakic ($12/$15); Leetch ($3/$6); Fleury ($5/NA)


Year by year wax breakdown:

1979: Wayne Gretzky Rookie. What more needs to be said? Oh yea, last year cards of Howe, Hull, and Dryden. I give the edge to Topps on this one, risk vs reward.

1980: Messier not being in Topps is the only "let down" for this year.

1981: The Topps Issue was an interesting one as Topps (for some reason) decided to issue the packs in "Regions" of "East" and "West". Meaning that depending on which part of America you lived in, your packs contained some of the basic make up of the set, and then the rest of the pack was either "East" or "West". I've never opened any of these packs, so i do not know the breakdown of how many of each there are in any particular pack. (They did the same thing with Basketball in 1981 as well)
Now with the Rookie Cards that year, the Kurri and Stastny are in the "Basic" part of the set. The Murphy, Ciccarelli, and Savard are only in the "West" packs.
Unfortunately, Topps made absolutely no way to tell which packs are East and which are West. Kind of a bummer for opening packs now in 2010.
The OPC release is MUCH better for 1981, no regional release.

1982: No Topps, bummer.

1983: No Topps, bummer.

1984: The Topps issue was heavily printed. That and lacking three major RC's really hurts the product. OPC is strong. OPC Wins.

1985: With OPC dropping the cards per pack to 8 (yes EIGHT) vs 12 for Topps, i give the edge to Topps here. Al MacInnis was great, but a D-Man known for a hard slap-shot cannot give OPC the victory at the price point

1986: OPC still at 8 cards per pack, but Topps ups theirs to 15. Topps Wins with nearly twice as many cards per pack for nearly half the price.

1987: see 1986. There are a handful of rookies not in Topps, but the cards per pack gives Topps the edge.

1988: see 1987, and the rookies that Topps did miss, none are really worth pulling. Topps wins.

1989: OPC slaughtered MANY forests to print the quantities that they did in 1989. Topps was (all things considered for the year 1989 in Topps overall Universe) not all that massively produced. Topps wins.

1979: Topps
1980: Topps
1981: OPC
1982: OPC
1983: OPC
1984: OPC
1985: Topps
1986: Topps
1987: Topps
1988: Topps
1989: Topps

There you have it, my breakdown of Hockey Cards in the 80's.
According to me, you're best bang for your buck per year is listed above,
with reasons for why given.

Thank You for taking your time out to read my post,
Eric

12.17.10

Weather: Mid 20s, not horrible winds, clear skies
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold
Overall Walk Performance: good 
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: vision isnt 100% today

12.16.10

Weather: 23, 13 with the wind. cold, not much breeze, partly cloudy
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles + Target
Weather During Walk: Cold
Overall Walk Performance: good 
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.15.10

Weather: 24,9 with the strong wind. cold. overcast.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold and very head windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.14.10

Weather: Snowing. 22, 9 with the wind. and worst of all...ICY
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 2 miles. cut it short because of the ice and almost falling twice
Weather During Walk: Snow, wind and ice
Overall Walk Performance: slow to ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.13.10

Weather: 42,overcast
Did you walk today?: Yes 
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: chilly, overcast
Overall Walk Performance: good
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.12.10

Weather: Rain, Heavy Rain, Wind, Heavy Wind (40+ mph), 51
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3 miles
Weather During Walk: Started off fine, tail wind, overcast. started to rain about 2 miles in and i decided to cut it to 3 miles. started to pour as soon as i hit home.
Overall Walk Performance: good
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.11.10

Weather: 35,sunny,nice out today
Did you walk today?: yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: nice
Overall Walk Performance: good
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.10.10

Weather: high 20's, cold. lack of wind for once
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: brisk, but not much wind
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.09.10

Weather: COLD, low teens with the WIND
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles + Target for Socks
Weather During Walk: COLD
Overall Walk Performance: COLD 
Current Mood: eh
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.08.10

Weather: Sunny, COLD, with the wind in the teens.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: strong winds, very cold
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.07.10

Weather: 37, cold, WINDY
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold and extreme head wind
Overall Walk Performance: tough
Current Mood: cold
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.06.10

Weather: 32, 20 with the gusting winds, light snow flurries
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: blustery swirling winds, frigid
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok

What graded cards do i collect specifically?

i was talking with a friend today and he asked me what i like to collect.

so i thought it would make for a good blog and decided to write one up,
here goes:

what i like to collect are graded rookie cards across all sports, with
a focus on modern cards (1970 to today).

when it comes to Hockey rc's...

from 1970 to 1989 i prefer Topps (unless the player wasnt in Topps,
or there is no Topps ('82 & '83), then i will add his OPC).
from 1990 to now, i prefer Upper Deck Base. For the most part, that means Young Guns. I am also considering adding Panini / Donruss "Rated Rookies" to my cannon.

when it comes to Baseball rc's...

1970 to 1979: Topps, Like Slabs in the 7/8/9 range
1980 to 1988: Topps, prefer to have their base rc over a "traded". Like Slabs in a 9
1989 to 1999: Topps base where applicable. Then the other companies, in a 9
2000 to today: Bowman Chrome where applicable, in a 9/10

when it comes to Basketball rc's...

1970 to 1979 Topps, Like Slabs in the 7/8/9 range
1980 to 1989 Topps, Fleer and Hoops Like Slabs in the 7/8/9 range
1990 to 1999 Topps, Fleer and Hoops Like Slabs in the Slabs in a 9
2000 to 2009 Topps, Fleer and Prestige Like Slabs in a 9/10
2010 going forward: Donruss Rated Rookies in a 9/10

when it comes to Football rc's...

1970 to 1979 Topps. Like Slabs in the 7/8/9 range
1980 to 1990 Topps, Score and Pro Set. Like Slabs in a 9
1991 to 2000 Topps, Score and Ultra. Like Slabs in a 9
2001 to today: Topps and Score. Like Slabs in a 9/10

are these steadfast? not always, because sometimes a lower grade slab is too hard to pass up when really low priced.

There you have it, that's my current focus in a nutshell

Thanks for the read,
Eric

12.05.10

Weather: 39, COLD, windy
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold and windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok, runny nose dripping like Pat Ewing used to sweat on the free throw line.
Current Mood: tired as i ran some errands and the holiday crowds are not to my liking
How is your diabetes today?: vision is a little off

12.04.10

Weather: 39, cold, windy
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles + Target for test strips
Weather During Walk: cold and windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok, avg
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok, cold limbs, eating now

12.03.10

Weather: 39, light sind, clear skies, crisp
Did you walk today?: yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok, trying to get motivated to finish the xmas lights
How is your diabetes today?: ok

12.02.10

Weather: Cold, 41, clear skies, pretty windy
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 3.25 miles
Weather During Walk: cold, windy
Overall Walk Performance: ok
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok. im in the middle of putting up the xmas lights. its cold out and im tired

12.01.10

Weather: 57, HEAVY Winds (30+ mph), hard rain.
Did you walk today?: Yes
If So, how far?: 2 miles
Weather During Walk: HEAVY HEAD winds, raining almost horizontally
Overall Walk Performance: soaked. tough one today, cut it short to 2 miles because of the weather
Current Mood: ok
How is your diabetes today?: ok