At the Trade Deadline 15: Sportscards From The Dollar Store

I completed a trade with Sportscards From The Dollar Store. Actually, as of my typing this out on the 19th of January, he has completed the trade. I have been unable to get to the post office during business hours so that I can send his package to the Great White North. The big hits here were some cards from Topps Archives, both 2012 and 2013, especially the Ken Griffey Jr. 1972 Basketball design from 2013 Archives. He also included a Nolan Ryan Colgan's Chips insert from 2013 Panini Cooperstown. In researching it, I found that Ryan has two different Chips in the set, one smiling and one scowling. I wonder if they line up well enough that you could make a .gif of them switching back and forth between Happy Nolan and Mad Nolan?

Next up are a couple of cards of a quarterback with as many playoff victories as Tony Romo. That's right, Tim Tebow. I enjoy reminding the Cowboys fan at my office about that little nugget there. I hope that Romo never wins another playoff game so I can always have that little bit of trivia at my disposal. I can't say that I like the Jets or the Patriots at all, but Tebow did spend some time at each of those places. He may not be a great quarterback and his constant preaching might get a little bothersome, but that stretch of games he started for Denver was a pretty exciting time. I hope he does well in his new job as a college football analyst.

The package included a number of Mariners old and new. Is it just me, or is Alvin Davis wielding a comically large bat?

The football cards included a number of Denver Broncos, who you may have heard are going to be in this year's Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks. I like both teams, but I was a Denver fan about a dozen years before I started liking the Seahawks, so I hope Denver can find a way to win it this year. I hope Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson have a good game, and I hope that Richard Sherman gets burned on whatever happens to be the key play of the game. His post-game antics after the victory over the 49ers were ridiculous.

Ryan Clady played his college ball for the local Broncos of Boise State University. I am not a BSU fan, although I do have a couple semesters worth of credits at that institution. My loyalties lie with the miserable Vandals of the University of Idaho, so I just pretend the college football season doesn't exist. Knowshon Moreno has had quite a year this year, and Champ Bailey is one of the great long-term Broncos. Jay Cutler probably gets a worse rap than he deserves, but the guy's face just always looks surly and petulant. You can't help but feel like he's a whiner. 

A batch of Houston Rockets added to my collection of cards from my original favorite sports franchise. Tracy McGrady had a lot of promise, but it seemed like the Rockets could never really put everything together in the years that he and Yao Ming anchored the team, and then injuries put an end to that pairing altogether. That Olajuwon in the top row is new to me. I heard a lot of trade rumors surrounding Omer Asik a while back, but it seems like he might stick around. Otis Thorpe was a key member of the Rockets' first Championship team, and Sam Cassell was one of the more visible members of the team during both Championship runs. He also won a title with Boston in 2008, thirteen years after playing on the 1995 Rockets. That's a long spread between titles. I wonder if anyone else has ever won a second title with such a long span in between?

This Team Leaders card gains the honorary vintage title as it is probably the oldest basketball card I own.

The common theme shared by these hockey cards is facial hair. There are a lot of mustaches on display, and one particularly thick beard. I have to admit that I don't know much at all about hockey. I just never got hooked into it like I did the other sports. The cards are visually interesting, though.

I really appreciate the trade. I have a return package all ready to go, and I plan to hit the post office soon to send it.