There was a lot of crazy news in the UFC this week, mostly centering around Conor McGregor going crazy after a press event, attacking a bus with a group of friends, which resulted in a couple of fighters being injured to the point where they had to pull out of UFC 223. Conor McGregor also got arrested in connection with the incident. Max Holloway also had to pull out of the main event due to complications with his weight cut, eventually leading to Al Iaquinta stepping in to face Khabib Nurmagomedov instead. Maybe that will be a good fight, but the one I'm looking forward to is Rose Namajunas defending her title against the fighter she took the belt from, Joanna Jędrzejczyk.
Here are a couple of cards I've added recently, a 2016 Topps High Impact autograph of Namajunas, and a Tier One relic card of Jędrzejczyk from 2017 Topps UFC Knockout. I got both of these on eBay during the last few months. The High Impact autograph is unnumbered, while the relic card is numbered # 040 / 125.
Here are the backs of the cards. I guess when it comes to the main event, I can hope for Al Iaquinta to win so I can make huge money off the five Iaquinta autograph cards I pulled during my big Cyber Week breaks last year.
Today marks the end of my Cyber Week Breaks. It's been a lot of fun, and I got some cool cards out of it. This evening after work, I went to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi with my eldest son. I thought it was pretty good. There are a couple of characters who I'll need to track autographs down for when I get a chance. Today's breaks include the last pack in my 2016 Topps Star Wars Masterwork box and my last box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact.
Here are the base and parallels from the Star Wars Masterwork pack. Nothing too crazy here. Supreme Leader Snoke represents the newest films, while Greedo and Wicket come from the original trilogy.
Between the two trilogies falls the Great Rivalry of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul. That's the base Great Rivalries insert card for them. After three autographs, my last hit in the box is a medallion. At least it features Leia, a character I've got a pretty bog collection for. It's the base medallion, so there aren't any serial numbers or anything. Kind of a ho-hum way to close out the box, but that's kind of what you have to expect from these things.
Closing out the break is a Valerie Letourneau Femme Fighters insert and a Jared Rosholt autograph. The Letourneau is a double from the break, but doesn't have the damage that the first one did. The Rosholt is new to my collection. At this point in the break, getting a new autograph is good enough for me.
Those were the last two packs in my Cyber Week Break. I guess it's not too bad that they got me through 23 days of posts. I know some bloggers can stretch just one box of cards out that far, but I don't have that kind of control. Even making these breaks last this long was a chore for me.
I skipped a day of posting yesterday. I'm sure I had a good reason for it. Like the title says, today's post features baseball fighting, and the least expensive Danica Patrick autograph in my collection. Also some UFC cards. The breaks for today are 3 packs of 2012 Topps Baseball Series 2, a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact, and a pack of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout.
First up is the 2012 Topps Baseball. I got the last hit of the box in this batch of packs, a Golden Moments Gold parallel relic card of Jonathan Papelbon, numbered # 54 / 99. I promised baseball fighting in this post, and here it is:
He famously went after Bryce Harper in 2015 after they exchanged words about Harper not running a ball out. More exciting to me from this batch of packs was the Coco Crisp Black parallel card, which is a nice addition to my rather dormant Crisp player collection.
The Crisp card is numbered # 25 / 61. Pretty good stuff. He didn't sign anywhere after the 2016 season and took a job as a high school baseball coach, so I think he's probably done with pro ball.
The High Impact box finally dropped something other than an Al Iaquinta autograph, which I was pretty happy to see. Even better was that the autograph is from a decent name in the UFC, Amanda Nunes, who is the current Women's Bantamweight champion. My Femme Fighters insert was Tecia Torres, which is a duplicate for me. Still, the Nunes autograph makes this box a winner.
The Knockout pack was pretty good as well. First up is this Tier One Autograph card of Joanna Jędrzejczyk, who only recently lost the Women's Strawweight title to Rose Namajunas after successfully defending it 5 times. This is the base version, numbered # 018 / 199.
The second hit in the pack was this Fight Mat Relic Card of Lyoto Machida. This is the base version, numbered # 69 / 99. I still think it's funny that Topps puts 'FIGHTER-WORN MEMORABILIA' on the front of these mat relic cards. The mat is an important part of the action, but it's not really worn by the fighters. You wouldn't sell a piece of basketball court as player-worn.
A while back I saw that Danica Patrick had a new book, Pretty Intense, coming out, and there were autographed copies available for pre-order through Barnes & Noble. I missed out on it because it was one of those things I just kept putting off for a while.
Then on release day I went back to the Barnes & Noble site and saw that signed copies were available again, so I ordered one. It was like $24 including shipping. I thought it was pretty cool, and they sold out again pretty fast, so I'm glad I checked when I did. It's too bad it wasn't an in-person signing like the one I went to in September for Charlotte Flair, but Boise isn't exactly a hot spot for celebrity appearances. I think Danica did a signing in New York City, which is a little bigger than Boise. Actually, New York City probably has more people than the whole state of Idaho, and maybe a couple of our surrounding states as well.
I flipped through the book a little bit. It looks like a decent look into Danica's personal workout, nutrition, and mental health regimen / philosophy. I may eventually pick up an unsigned copy to actually read through.
That does it for today, and I guess for this year.
I've seen quite a few memes mentioning that if you're still not back at work, you're at the point where you don't really know what day it is. I am kind of at that point. Due to our schedule at work, I was able to take three days of leave and end up with ten days off in a row. Pretty good stuff, but I don't know how I will be able to go back after all this time off.
Today's is the last day in the Cyber Week Breaks that features all UFC cards, in the form of 8 packs of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome and another box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact. I added some football cards from a 2017 Donruss Optic Football group break to the end, so there's something for folks who aren't fight fans.
The last batch of Chrome packs dropped more serial-numbered goodness on me, along with my final autograph. The Karolina Kowalkiewicz is a Green Refractor, numbered # 72 / 99. The Luke Rockhold insert is the Refractor version of his Top of the Class card, numbered # 77 / 99. The Johny Hendricks Gold Refractor is numbered # 39 / 50. The Rashad Evans autograph is a base version, so it doesn't get a number.
Hey, it's another Al Iaquinta autograph! At this point, I'd be pretty happy with literally any other signature out of a High Impact box. The Carla Esparza Femme Fighters insert is a double for me, but that's okay. I like the Bruce Buffer cameo in the background.
I bought into a case break of 2017 Donruss Optic Football. The teams I wound up with are the Broncos, the Falcons, and the Cardinals. There were a bunch of base cards in the package, but I only took pictures of some of the Prizm parallels. There are a couple of base designs up there, as well as a Gridiron Kings card of Devonta Freeman and a 1981 Tribute card of Julio Jones.
I did all right as far as serial-numbered cards and hits go. The card on the left is a Black Prizm parallel of Carlos Henderson's Rated Rookie autograph, numbered # 01 / 25. The middle card is another Carlos Henderson card, this time his Rookie Patch Autograph card, numbered # 01 / 20. The last Broncos card is a Blue Prizm parallel of Von Miller's Gridiron Kings card, numbered # 072 / 149.
I got a couple more Blue Prizm parallels for the Cardinals and Falcons, a Chad Williams from the base set and a Matt Ryan from the 1981 Tribute set. I also got a Haason Reddick autograph and a Gold Prizm parallel of Carson Palmer, which is a pretty good card. I think I just now realized that it's a Carson Palmer card and not a Kurt Warner card.
The Williams card is numbered # 082 / 149, and the Matt Ryan is numbered # 140 / 149. You can see the card backs here, although I didn't take a picture of the back of a Gridiron Kings card. The Reddick autograph isn't numbered. The Carson Palmer Gold Prizm is numbered # 07 / 10.
I got some pretty decent cards in this break. I don't follow the NFL this year as closely as I have in other years. There has been a lot of drama in the league and the Broncos fell behind pretty early in the year, so I didn't have a lot of incentive to keep up. I don't even know if I watched a single game this season. I guess there is still time, but I have other things to do.
I still haven't seen the new Star Wars movie, but at least I have Star Wars cards to open and look at. I feel like a bad fan, but I just have a hard time getting out of the house to see a movie. Maybe I'll try to go next Tuesday after work, when they have the $5.00 tickets. Other than that, today has been a pretty lazy day for me. I did some cleaning and some napping, and that's about it. Today's break is a pack of 2016 Topps Star Wars Masterwork and a pack of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact.
Here are the base and inserts from the Star Wars pack. I got some pretty decent base cards in here, with Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and a Blue parallel of C-3PO. The Momaw Nadon card is an Alien Identification Guide insert, and my copy is a Canvas parallel, numbered # 64 / 99.
My hit from the box is another autograph, this time a Rainbow Foil parallel of Keisha Castle-Hughes as Queen Apallana, numbered # 44 / 50. She didn't actually sign any base autographs for the set, so this is her most numerous card in the autograph set. I don't recognize her as an actress, but she's apparently been nominated for or won quite a few awards.
I got a decent Femme Fighters insert out of the High Impact box, but then I pulled yet another Al Iaquinta autograph. That's the 4th one from this break. It would be really nice to have a little more variety in my High Impact autograph pulls. I wonder if this will be the last one, or if I still have a couple more tucked away in the remaining 3 packs?
Today we went out to my dad's place to make use of the snow that fell over Christmas. He strapped some seats onto an old car hood, tied the hood to the four-wheeler, and pulled the kids around in the snow. They all had a great time, and didn't want to stop. Some of their cousins were there, and I got to see my sister who is home for the holidays from some Navy training. After sledding, drinking hot cocoa, and feeding the cows, we went out for pizza. It was a pretty good day all around.
Here are my boys, shortly after their first round of sledding and just as I was about to drop my phone in the snow.
Today's packs are the first 8 packs in the last box of 2017 Topps UFC Chrome, another pack of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact, and another pack of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout. Tomorrow kicks off two days in a row with Star Wars cards among the breaks, UFC won't be the only thing on tap for a little bit. In fact, out of the six remaining days of Cyber Week breaks, there is only one more all-UFC day.
We start off the Chrome box with two box hits, a Blue Wave Refractor of Frank Mir and an X-Fractor of Jessica Andrade. The Mir card is numbered # 02 / 75, while the Andrade card does not carry a serial number.
The High Impact box had an autograph of Andre Fili and a Femme Fighters insert of Valerie Letourneau. The Letourneau insert has a pretty deep dimple along the top edge, so I'm glad it was a double and not one of the cards I needed for the set.
The Knockout boxes keep on giving with another strong pack. This one held a Knockout Relic Green parallel of Cody Garbrandt, numbered # 31 / 50. The second hit in the pack was a Knockout Autograph Relic of Paige VanZant. It's just the base version, but even her base card from this insert set is really short-printed, with this one being numbered # 20 / 35. This wasn't a bad pair of pulls, with some relatively low-numbered cards of a couple younger stars in the UFC.
I am having a hard time coming up with a title for this post, so I am just moving on without one. Today's packs were 2 packs of 2016 Panini Certified Racing and a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact. There wasn't a lot going on with them, so I added a pack of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout to the break to help it along.
The Certified packs were so dull that I only scanned this Danica Patrick base card. That's how it goes sometimes. It's a nice enough card, and it's always fun to pull a card of someone you collect.
The High Impact box included a Rose Namajunas Femme Fighters insert. It would be a better pull, but I already got that card on Day 3. I believe the Thiago Alves autograph is a new one for me. I'm glad it's not another Al Iaquinta autograph.
My hits from the Knockout pack were pretty good. First up is an Anderson Silva Tier One relic card. This is the Green parallel, and my copy is numbered # 04 / 50. I also got a Tier One autograph card featuring the signature of Arianny Celeste. This is the base version of her card, numbered # 18 / 50. Both of these folks are pretty popular, so it's nice to get some relatively low-numbered hit cards of them.
We are about ready for Christmas. The kids have been going nuts all day, asking what time it is and counting down the hours until bedtime. They will be pretty excited when tomorrow finally arrives. Our boys are all into LEGO kits, so that's what most of the gifts will be. Before we wrapped presents the other day, the opening to our attic looked like this:
Some of those sets are for me, so I guess I'll have a pretty good Christmas morning, too. I think the kids are about to actually get into bed, so I'd better go help wrangle them. I hope my readers also have a good holiday season.
More UFC cards today, but I will be showing off another pack-pulled # 1 / 1 card later in this post, just a few days after I pulled one from a prize box of football cards from Panini. Today's break was 2 packs of 2015 Topps UFC Chronicles and a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact.
I got a few different parallels from the Chronicles packs. The Krylov is a Gold, numbered out of # / 88, if I recall correctly. The BJ Penn is a Black & White parallel, numbered out of # / 188. There are also buybacks in this product, stamped with a foil Topps Originals Octagon.
That Green parallel is numbered out of # / 288. I also pulled one of the hits from the box, a Dual Relic of Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum. This one isn't numbered.
The Holly Holm Femme Fighters insert is a double for me, but I was expecting some doubles from that insert set. This is the third copy of that Al Iaquinta autograph I've pulled in this break. I'm getting kind of tired of seeing it.
One card I couldn't pull doubles or triples of was this one, because there's only one of them! This is the Gold parallel of Dominick Cruz's base card. I'm not much of a Cruz fan, but it's pretty cool to pull a # 1 / 1 from a pack.
That does it for today. I'm glad I pulled that Cruz card, because otherwise this was a pretty boring break. Maybe I'm just getting jaded. I'll be back tomorrow (probably) with some cool shiny cards.
Once again, I have a break that needs a little something extra to make it worth posting about. I guess if I were a better writer, I could make a good post out of anything, but that's just not going to happen today. The packs that were scheduled for today were 8 packs of Topps Star Wars: Jedi Legacy and a box of 2016 Topps UFC High Impact. I am adding a pack of 2017 Topps UFC Knockout to the post, too, as well as a surprise item that appeared on my doorstep this morning.
Not much came out of the Jedi Legacy packs. I guess the highlights were these die-cut inserts that fit together to make a circle. I think there was a promotion when this product was released that allowed collectors to obtain a disc card that fit in the middle when the puzzle was complete.
These Magenta parallels aren't that rare, but there wasn't much else to go with. I think you get four of these per box.
The High Impact box had a Felice Herrig Blue parallel in it, a Julianna Pena Femme Fighters insert that I already have at least one copy of, and an autograph of Al Iaquinta that I also pulled a copy of on Day 7 of Cyber Week Breaks.
With those breaks out of the way, here are the hits from the pack of Knockout that I opened. First up is a Fight Mat Relic of Ronda Rousey. Her last couple of fights didn't end well, but she is still pretty much responsible for the rise of women's MMA into the limelight. I am not certain, but this might be the first Rousey hit I've ever pulled. This is the base version, and it is numbered # 16 / 99. The mat relic piece is supposedly from UFC 157, where the first UFC Women's bout was held. That fight involved Rousey and Liz Carmouche, with Rousey coming out on top.
The next hit is a Fearless Fighters Autograph Copper Ink parallel of Matt Hughes. These are pretty tough to come by, as the Copper Ink autographs only fall 1:77 packs, or about 1 in 20 boxes. This one is numbered # 08 / 10. This box of knockout has been pretty amazing so far. It will be fun to see what else comes out of this product for me. And now it's time for the bonus item!
This is a terrible cell phone picture, but I couldn't scan this thing and it came rolled up in a tube and won't lay flat for a photo. Hulk Hogan's official storefront, Hogan's Beach Shop, was clearing out some stuff and I grabbed this poster featuring his signature x2, once as Hulk Hogan and once as Hollywood Hogan. He also added some nice inscriptions to the poster, with my favorite being the '12x Champion Brother!' on the right. It also included a Certificate of Authenticity with a little story about Hulk's rise to fame. I've been thinking about buying an autographed tear-away shirt from the shop for a while now, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get two signatures on a poster for the price of one. I'm pretty happy with this piece.
Also, Hulk Hogan retweeted my Tweet about the poster, so that's pretty awesome.
