The First Rule Of Fight Club Is You Have To Go To A Car Show To Meet A Knick!

The New York Auto show is in full swing. The event is held at the Jacobs Javitz Convention Center every year and thousands of car enthusiasts visit the show each year to check out the new cars that will be released in the upcoming season and do other car related things. Being that I am not a car guy I have never been to the show. I don't own a car nor have I ever in my life. I have never worked on a car or even cleaned one. I do have a drivers license and can pump my own gas, so I at least have that going for me.

But I did attend the show today. Why, you may ask? None of your business!

OK, I'm just playing with you guys. Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks was appearing at the show today. He of 2 NBA Championship teams. He of the 50 greatest NBA Players of all time. He of awesome fashion and even better grammar was signing autographs from 1-3 at the State Farm booth and I was going to be there. Frazier has been on my want list for a while, so I made sure I was going to be there.

Thanks to New York Transit, I arrived at the convention center a little later than I expected to. For those who do not live in New York City, riding the subways on a weekend is one of the absolute worst things. There is always construction somewhere and it causes delays. So, it took me over an hour to get to my destination today. Thanks MTA.

After having my bag checked at the door and paying my $15.00 ticket for a show I had absolutely no interest in checking out, I made my way to the State Farms booth, which was on the same floor as the entrance, lucky for me. When I got on the line a little after noon, I was pretty close to the front of the line.

The front of the line was just a wrap around the ropes for me. Comfortable with this knowledge, I put my bag down and pulled out a book to read. I am currently re-reading the Last Night Of The Yankees Dynasty. It was a good read the first time I read the book and it is even better the second time around. I highly recommend it if you have not read it yet.

As it was getting nearer to showtime, I noticed the workers pulling out a couple of boxes of photos for Walt to sign. They were nice, except for the State Farm logo on the bottom of them. I had bought a mini basketball and my New York Knicks 50th Anniversary book that I am getting signatures inside. I was hoping to get "Clyde" to sign either one, but when I saw the pictures my heart sank. On one hand, I was thankful I was finally meeting arguably the 2nd greatest Knick after Ewing, but I really wanted Frazier to sign my items. Thankfully, it was announced that Walt would indeed sign what you had, but it was one per person, which I was fine with.

Around 12:55, I looked behind me and was shocked to see the line behind me.

Quite the turn out. I shouldn't be surprised. The man is a Knicks legend and is still very popular with Knicks fans thanks to his contributions to Knicks broadcasts on MSG as a broadcaster. He even opened a restaurant in New York City called Clyde Frazier's Wine And Dine. I've been there before and it's a very nice spot.

Right at 1 PM on the button, Frazier shows up. Check out his jacket. What did I say about his sense of fashion? Pretty sweet.

I was actully expecting him to be a bit late. As of late, whenever I show up for a signing the athletes are usually late. Although Hideki Matsui was on time, I figured it was a fluke and Walt would be a bit late. Nope. He was right on time and got right to work upon sitting down.

The line moved rather smoothly. Walt was interacting with the fans, smiling, posing for pictures and being the man I had heard he was. A very humble and gracious person. When it came to my turn, I decided I was going to take a picture with Walt, even though I rarely take pictures with the athletes. I was not passing that opportunity up.

Before I got up there, I decided to have the mini basketball I bought signed. While he was signing, I told him what it honor it was to meet him and I loved his restaurant, which he told me he was going to after the signing. I probably should have gone to get him to sign my book. Once I left, I took a look at the ball and wasn't thrilled with it.

The signature is not as bold as I would have liked it to be because he used a blasted Sharpie marker. Not Walt's fault. That's all he had up at the table. The day prior, I was looking for Deco paint pens and most places I tried didn't have them. I went to the one place I didn't go to yesterday after I left the show and found a few. I guess I should have gone to the store yesterday after all. Maybe if I had, I would have had a better signature on my ball. Lesson learned. 

After seeing how this ball turned out, I seriously thought about giving up getting signatures on balls. My other efforts, the Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Charles Oakley, Amar'e Stoudmire all came out disastrous. I'm going to try one more time, this time with a Deco. My Carmelo Anthony ball looks great and that's because he used a Deco. Same as Wayne Chrebet on a football. Those give me some hope.If not, it will be photos from here on.

Despite the signature, the day was a pretty cool day. I got to meet one of my all time favorite Knicks and even if the signature isn't the boldest, it will still look good on display when I get one up. A day like today, I'll take it every time. 

The Dilemma

Yeah, I see you. The guy who is a huge baseball card collector. Maybe your a player collector. Maybe your a team collector or even a set collector. The point I'm trying to make is you collect sports cards, just like I do.

Here is where we differ, and believe me, I wish it wasn't so. I see you on different card forums or posting on your blog pictures of how well kept your collection is. You either have them in binders by either year or brand; in boxes with rows. You obviously know what you have and what you need. You have a want list, a trade list and maybe even a holy grail list posted somewhere so someone, anyone, can read it and offer you what you need.

You have pictures of your man cave as well. Pictures of your signed baseballs, framed jersey, bobbleheads in cases, game used equipment and other goodies adorn your room. Your cave may be painted in the colors of your favorite team or there may be a bar somewhere in there with a large HDTV and a comfy sofa to sit in to watch your teams play.

Me? I look at those pictures and just drool all over my keyboard.

Where I currently live, I do not have the room to display all my stuff. I have 2 shelves up. My Yankee bobbleheads are on one shelf (and I've just about run out of room to display anymore) and my Yankees signed baseball PC is up on the shelf above it.

That's it.

Not that I mind. It is what it is for the moment. I have no doubt in my mind that one day I too will have a sanctuary where I can display my memorabilia, watch sports and drink beer. No, no. That's not what's bothering me.

Here is what is bothering me and has been for a long time.

That my friends is boxes upon boxes of sports cards...with a Dirt Devil thrown in between a couple of boxes. Btw, there are even more boxes that are not pictured above.

I didn't mean for this problem to arise. It just happened. I get cards from my team collectors or through trades and I will put the cards in boxes for safe keeping, until I have time to go through them and put them in the monster boxes I have waiting. Once I have them in their monster boxes, I plan to put the base cards into binders and keep the secondary releases in the monster boxes.

For example, I have monster boxes for Yankees Topps, Yankees Donruss, Yankees Upper Deck, Yankees Fleer, Yankees Panini and a box for just everything else. I also have monster boxes for my Jets, Knicks, Islanders and Devils cards. Once I have everything in the proper boxes, I would then take the main Topps release and put them in 9 pocket pages and stick them in binders. I would leave sets like Allan and Ginter, Turkey Red, etc in the boxes. I'm debating to have a Topps Heritage binder also.

Sounds like a good plan, right? Well, try and go through full box after full box and see just how far you go before you go mad.

See that? That's what I have to look forward to. Hours and hours of cardboard to sort through. This is something I never should have let get out of hand.

Now, it may seem like I'm complaining,,, OK, I am complaining a bit. But to be honest, I do love to spend a Sunday afternoon shifting through the boxes and organizing them. I may have a game on or music playing in the background as I do. Maybe have a drink while I work. I try to make it as relaxing a task as I possibly can.

I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. But, it needs to get organized. I too, would like to know just what I have, what I need and what I can trade. I am pretty sure that once I get everything organized, I will see that I have a pretty awesome collection, one that I can be proud to show off. I just need to figure out a game plan to get me to where I need to be.

Hey, I'm open to suggestions. Also, any quick and easy storage options you may have would be appreciated as well. If you have a blog post where you showed off your organized collection, I want to see that too.

I may also post a blog of any interesting cards I find in any box I work on. That way, I will be motivated to not only get my cards in order, but to continue to regularly post blogs here. I know I have been slacking and I apologize for that.

So, go ahead. Continue to post those pictures of your sweet collection. Show off how well organized your cards are. Let me know how many 1959 Topps cards you have. One day soon, I too will have my cards in tip top shape and will be able to tell you just how many of those 1959 Topps cards I need for my Yankees PC. That day will come and when it does, I will just add more cards to the collection because I will know exactly where to put them.

That Other Card Purchase: 2012-13 Panini Past And Present Basketball

In the last blog post, I mentioned buying a rack pack of another product and would blog about it at a later date. Well, here is the post I promise. My quasi review/haul post of 2012-2013 Panini Past and Present Basketball. Now, I usually don't buy a lot of basketball cards. I usually spend my sports card money on baseball, football and hockey. But during this past season, during the NHL Players Strike, I started following basketball a lot more closely than I had in recent years and fell in love with my Knicks all over again. Plus, I have watched videos of box breaks of this product so when I saw the rack pack in Target, I grabbed it.

Like Topps Archive Football, Past & Present Basketball has the look and feel of an old school product. However, it doesn't use past card designs like Topps Archive does. Obviously, Panini doesn't have a history like Topps does, but it still has a retro look and feel to it. Like Archive, Past & Present doesn't have the slick gloss that most card products do these days. These cards would be great for autographing. And like Archive, Panini mixes todays players with those from the past.

This set doesn't have a ton of game used cards, which to me is a good thing. The Gamers set returns to this years product and that's pretty much it. I am pretty pleased by this as I would like card companies to concentrate more on giving us some awesome inserts and more autographs.

Speaking of autographs, each hobby box come with 3 autographs per box. For current players, look to pull Modern Marks. If your like me and want to pull some autographs of former players, Elusive Ink is the set you will want. This set focuses on players who don't have a lot of autographs out there, but people will want to chase. Just by looking at the Elusive Inks checklist, I see some autographs I am definitely going to want to chase after.

Now, on to the haul:

The base cards seem to have more than one design

I just realized, Panini does have the NBA Hoops sets. If they have the rights, they could have incorporated past Hoops designs into this product. Unless they do that with Hoops. I really don't know. I haven't picked up any Hoops as of yet.

The rookie cards have a nice design to them.

Yes, I did pull a couple of Knicks in my rack pack

So overall, I like this product a lot. It was a fun quick break. The rack pack had 32 cards inside, but no inserts, which stunk. I have seen some of the inserts like Rise And Shine and Raining 3's and would have love to pulled at least one. But, it's a rack pack. Can't complain too much. I pulled a few nice singles. I will probably get the Knicks team set and chase the inserts, autos and David Lee cards if the price is right. I will say, if I was to buy a box of basketball cards, this would be the product I would buy.

New Additions To The Sports Room

Man, do I love a good mail day. It's seems like it's been forever since my post office box was filled with anything. It sucks opening up the mail box and not seeing that familiar yellow bubble envelope filled with card goodness. Yesterday, I got 3 of those beautiful envelopes in my box and I tore through them as soon as I got back home.

The first envelope was from my buddy, Chris. Chris is the A's collector in the team collectors group I am a part of and he sent me a sweet 2 bag envelope with both Yankees and Knicks cards. Chris knows what I collect and he made sure there was stuff I needed for my collection.

First, Chris added a couple of cards for my Mark Teixeira PC

2013 Bowman base

2009 O-Pee-Chee. What I like about this card is it's a preview card. Don't believe me?

Told you so.

And he added a nice 2007 Upper Deck Ultimate Star game used jersey card.

He also threw in these nice Yankee cards

Sometimes I think Topps has gone parallel crazy with these diamond and cognac cards.

Love these Topps 60 inserts

And he threw in this 2009 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatch Memorabilia Dave Winfield game used jersey card

And if you thought Chris was done, you'd be wrong because he also added some nice Knicks cards for my PC.

Some nice Ewing cards:

And some more Knicks cards:

A Channing Frye Topps Star Rookie #'ed to 549. He's currently with the Phoenix Suns, but has been sidelined with an enlarged heart and didn't play all season. Hope he is able to make a comeback next season.

Stephon Marbury Topps Star gold parallel #'ed to 325

Stephon Marbury Topps Star black & white parallel '#ed to 225

And just for giggles, here is the base version. I hear he is still playing in China and won a CBA title in 2012. It's too bad he became the face of all that was wrong with the Knicks while he was here. I still think he could have helped, but he feuded with Larry Brown, chased Keith Van Horne out of NY like he did in New Jersey and refused to play when Mike D'Antoni wanted to get him some minutes. I wonder if he regrets that now. He might have still been in the league had he shown some humility when D'Antoni offered to play him or when the Celtics offered him a contract. Hope he's happier in China.

Thanks Chris for the awesome cards for my collection. I have a package for you as well. I just have to get it to the post office.

Next up is a trade I made on a sports card forum I am a part of. I was offered a David Lee game used/autographed card for next to nothing, so I pulled the trigger and it arrived yesterday.

Didn't scan that well thanks to the screwdown case it's in. I couldn't find a phillips screwdriver to take it out for the scan, so I just scanned the card as is. I assure you, it's a sweet looking card.

Finally, I got this insert in from eBay for the Ewing collection.

1997-98 Flair Showcase Grace. Snagged this card for 1.00 shipped. Too good a deal to pass up.

It's days like yesterday that make me happy. I filled some holes in my various collections and can move on and try to fill some others. Now, maybe I can find some time this weekend to do some much needed organizing.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Mail day Of Two Players Who No Longer Play In NY

Ah, the mail day. Nothing makes me happier than opening my mail box and finding a package other than bills. As of late, I haven't been able to add anything new to my various card collections, but a few days ago, over on Sports Cards Forum, I was offered a deal that I just could not say no to. The price was right and the cards have found a home in two of my card collections.

First up is a 2010-11 Panini Donruss David Lee Production Line Game Used card. As of late, I have been trying to stay away from picking up game used cards as the rumors have it that some of these cards aren't exactly game used. Uniform collectors are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief over this, but that means I may possibly have a ton of cards that may or may not be utter garbage. I tend to think that they are actual game used jerseys unless otherwise noted. Maybe that makes me gullible, but I don't care. Ignorance can be bliss. This card is numbered to 399.

Finally, I was able to add a Darrelle Revis autograph to my Jets collection. I felt like I was Revis Island as getting a Revis autograph proved to be very elusive. I had one one on ebay a few months back only to be stiffed by the seller. Other attempts to add a Revis autograph to my collection proved to be futile. I was able to get the Revis card from the same guy who sold me the Lee card. Originally, he asked me to look through his Photobucket to look at Knicks cards and I had settled on the Lee and a Patrick Ewing game used card. I found the Revis while looking through his football bucket. At the time, it was going to be sold to someone else, but that person dropped out, leaving Darrelle all to this die hard Jets fan. Unfortunately, the Ewing could not be found, but that's OK, I can finally leave Revis Island like Revis left the Jets. Too bad I have to finally get Revis after he is traded. I still think that's a bad move by the Jets. By the way, this card is numbered to 10.

 It's been a while since I was able to add some really cool cards and I am very happy I was able to add these to my Jets and David Lee collections. Money has been tight and may be even tighter this summer, so my card additions might be slim for the season. But between trades and the members of my baseball card group, I still should be able to add some cool cards to my various collections. I also have the Yankees bobble-head give-a-ways to attend this summer, so there should be some new goodies added to the Sports Room and I cannot wait.

Kids, This Is Why You Make Sure You're Pen Works

Last weekend, The New York Knicks hosted various rallies all over New York City. They are in the Playoffs, facing the Boston Celtics and they were appearing all over the Big Apple getting New Yorker's excited about the possibility of a long playoff run which hopefully will cumulative in an NBA Title, the first for the Knicks since the 1972-73 season.

Looking on the Knicks official website, www.nyknicks.com, I was able to find out where, when and who was making apperances for the Knicks. The team was sending out former players to meet with fans, sign photos and hand out prizes. I found out that John Stark would be appearing at Traffic Sports Bar in Manhattan, while Larry Johnson, Anthony Bonner and the newest member of the Basketball Hall Of Fame, Bernard King, would be appearing at the Knicks Fan Fest, to be held the next day in front of Madison Square Garden before Game 1. I really wanted to get John Starks on a mini basketball then get King on a full sized ball and LJ on a mini.

I went to Traffic right after work. Starks would be appearing from 7:00 PM to 10 PM. There was a rap contest with bar patrons (some of the worst "rapping" I've ever heard), trivia contests and give a ways  That's was all good and well, but I was there to meet the man who once dunked over Michael Jordan and Horace Grant during Game 2 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals and won an NBA Sixth Man Of The Year Award, so I waited. And I waited. And, waited some more. Finally around 9:30, I asked one of the gentleman who worked for he Knicks if Starks had arrived and was told he wasn't showing up. Ticked off, I litteraly took my ball and went home. Not showing up for something you were scheduled to to appear at was so bad. I hope word got back to the Knicks that there was some upset fans who was looking forward to meeting him that night.

The next day, I got to MSG bright and early. I was not only hoping that Bonner, Johnson and King would show up, but I was hoping to get them to sign a couple of autographs.

The Knicks Party Van was parked right outside

You know this is your team when it's your mug that's plastered on the side of the Party Van.

The Garden was decked out in blue and orange on this day. Game One was taking place inside the Garden at 3 PM that day. While there, you could get a Playoff buzz cut with the Knicks logo shaved into your head or have your face painted in blue and orange. A lot of kids showed up with their parents to take part in the festivities. The Knicks did this one right.

You could also shoot baskets for a chance to win Playoff tickets. I tried. I sucked.

There was an appearance by the Knick City Dancers

And by the New York Sticks who usually drum in between periods of games in the Garden to entertain the crowd.

Or, you could try and dunk on this guy

Finally, Bernard King, Larry Johnson and Anthony Bonner made their way to the basketball court area to meet the fans. With all the fans that was there, This could have been a mob scene, but luckily, I was able to get to King first and ask him to sign my basketball.

Now, I had looked high and low for a Deco silver paint pen for this occassion. Of course, I would have a better chance of getting punched by Mike Tyson as he sings "In The Air Tonight" than to find this elusive paint pen in NYC. So, I finally gave up and bought a Sharpie Silver and a Sharpie Gold Paint Pens. I had spent much of the morning prepping the pen, making sure it was working and it was all morning. That is, until Mr. King was handed the pen. After signing the ball, he handed it back to me. This was the signature I got.

Curse you, Sharpie! I have been trying to get King to sign a basketball for years and when I finally get him, the pen craps out on me. Grrrrr. I have King sign my New York Knicks Official 50th Anniversery Book I am working on. He borrowed someone else's Sharpie. Surely, I would get a better signature in the book, right?

Nope. His pen crapped out on him as well. Close up of the autograph.

Sigh.

At least Anthony Bonner's signature came out nice.

He signed the first page of the book, right under the book plate I had another brand new Basketball Hall Of Famer, Richie Guerin, sign. Why did he sign his last name first?

Then I finall got to LJ. I mke small talk with him, asking if we were going to see a return of Grand Ma Ma. He laughed as he attempted to sign the mini ball in the same black pen as King signed the book with. When that failed, he grabbed my garbage paint pen and quickly signed my mini basketball with it.

You may not be able to see it. Nor can I, for that matter. But I assure you, it's there.

At least we finally got the correct pen for him to use in the book.

And that was that. I got my autographs and took off as it was getting more crowded. I couldn't even have taken a picture of the players if I tried. That's the hazard of free appearances. Everyone wants to meet the players, which is what they were there for.

Although I am very happy I met the players, I am quite disappointed at how the autographs came out. One you can barely make out and the other, not at all. So, now what do I do? Do I Goo Gone the autographs and try again, knowing that these players really don't make appearances all that often? Or do I just keep the autos, as is? I'm leaning toward keeping the King auto and cleaning off the mini and trying again for LJ with a better pen or someone different all together.

So, the morale of the story is, hunt down a Deco Paint Pen if you are going to get a basketball or football signed. Leave the Sharpies to photographs only. If you do not heed my warnings, you will end up like me, sitting on the floor of my apartment, wondering where it all went wrong. Shaprie no, Deco, yes!

New Additions To My Patrick Ewing PC

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a blog showing off cards from my David Lee PC. David Lee is one of my favorite Knicks of all time...but not the ultimate favorite. That honor goes to number 33, Patrick Ewing. I first became aware of Ewing while he was playing with Georgetown. I was watching St. John's basketball at the time and saw the epic battles between Chris Mullin and the then Red Men and Ewing and the Hoyas. Those were some great games, which Georgetown got the last laugh, winning the Big East Title that year. Ewing would go #1 to the Knicks in the 1985 NBA Draft and he became, arguably, the greatest Knick ever.

In 16 seasons, Ewing averaged 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks a game and shot better than 50% for his career. He was an 11 time All Star, an NBA Rookie Of The Year, an NCAA Champion, a charter member of the Dream Team which won Olympic Gold, was named to the NBA 50 Greatest list, had his number retired by the Knicks and was elected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame. All those accomplishments, but my fondest memory of Ewing was after the Knicks finally made it to the NBA Finals, Ewing jumped up on the broadcast table and celebrated with his arms outstretched.

I saw a T shirt of that image made and I want it.

I started a Ewing PC a year ago and have been able to add some nice cards. No autographs and just 2 game used cards because Ewing stuff is pretty pricey. Most of the nicer Ewing cards I own are inserts, which is fine because I am a fan of inserts and the 90's had a lot of them. I'll show some of my favorites in a later post.

A couple of friends of mine recently sent me cards and in them were some pretty sweet Ewing cards.

1997-98 Upper Deck Star Attractions Die Cut Insert

1998 UD Choice Starquest

1994-95 Flair Scoring Power Insert

1995-96 Fleer Double Double Insert

1994-95 Flair Big Numbers Insert

1995-96 Upper Deck Electric Court

1991-92 NBA Hoops Team Card

1996-97 Topps Chrome Championship Spirit Insert.

I got some really nice cards to add to the growing Ewing PC, so I'd like to thank my buddies for the new additions. I'm always looking on eBay and card shows for Ewing cards that I don't own. Would love to own a Ewing autograph one day, I'm always looking for deals on one. Ewing is not much of a signer, so his autograph is a good 2-300 dollars, which means my collection will not have one for quite sometime.

I got to see Ewing from the very beginning to the end of his career. Collecting Ewing is like reliving my youth when Ewing, Mark Jackson and Anthony Mason were running Madison Square Garden. No matter who comes along or if Carmelo Anthony wins an NBA Championship as a Knick, no one will replace Patrick Ewing as my favorite New York Knick.