The NBA season has started, and the Houston Rockets began with a nice win over the Golden State Warriors. Of course, a win in the first game of the season doesn't count for much in the long run, but it's nice to see the team working well together and adjusting to having Chris Paul and James Harden on the same roster. I imagine they'll be good enough to make a run in the postseason, and probably get into the Conference finals, but I can't see them getting into the Finals or winning it all unless some of the other super-teams fall apart or have injury problems.
This card doesn't have anything to do with the Rockets, but I don't really chase cards of current Rockets these days, and Manute Bol is the only retired guy I collect who still appears in a lot of sets outside of Hakeem Olajuwon. Bol doesn't get a zillion cards a year, but he gets a couple. I pick them up when I can. This Heroes Materials relic card comes from 2016-17 Panini Absolute Basketball, and was an eBay buy. It's got a swatch of fabric and is serially-numbered # 17 / 99.
The back of the card uses a zoomed-out version of the front image, and talks about Bol's height and his shot-blocking prowess. The days of towering shot-blocking specialists are pretty much over, but I'll still collect cards of guys like Bol, Gheorghe Muresan, and maybe Shawn Bradley as long as I can find new ones to get.
As I write this, the Houston Astros are down 2-0 to the Yankees in the 4th inning, so I'm off to watch and hope that they can pull out a comeback and at least bring the ALCS back to Houston with a 3-2 lead. With the way things have gone the last couple of days, though, I'm worried about their chances.
