The Weekly Clean-Up

 

-  So I've been trying out a couple movie podcasts lately.  They're both about movies that aren't "current", which is what I want in a movie podcast.  Spoilers abound, so you should probably see the movie first. 

The Rewatchables is from Bill Simmons and a rotating group of guests.    

Unspooled is from Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer.  They went through the AFI Top 100 and are doing something else now.   

-  Watched an Anna Kendrick movie on YouTube - The Last Five Years.  It's based on a musical, so it's almost constant singing.    

-  Been going through a box of tea my mother sent me for my birthday.  Thought I had it figured out yesterday, but today (when I'm typing this) was a regression.  

-  Organized my card boxes.     

L.A. vs the World

L.A. Lakers 

Center:  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Forwards:  LeBron James, Elgin Baylor

Guards:  Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson

Key Reserves:  Shaquille O'Neal, James Worthy, Jerry West

Karl Malone played for the Lakers, but it was just one insignificant season.  So did Wilt, but it's a tough line-up to crack at center.  The Logo doesn't start.  Should he?   

Everybody Else

Center:  Bill Russell

Forwards:  Tim Duncan, Julius Erving

Guards:  Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson

Key Reserves:  Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, John Stockton

Both bigs are defense-heavy so I'm starting the better scoring threat at point guard.  If I did this three  years ago, LeBron would have bumped Doc.

   

Discuss!  

Dream Team with a Twist (football)

Every NFL team represented, with none repeated.  

QB (2):  John Unitas - Colts, Tom Brady - Patriots

RB (2): Jim Brown - Browns, Barry Sanders - Lions

WR (3): Jerry Rice - 49ers, Andre Johnson - Texans, Steve Smith - Panthers 

TE (2): Kellen Winslow - Chargers, Shannon Sharpe - Broncos

OT (2): Tony Boselli - Jaguars, Anthony Munoz - Bengals

G (2): Will Shields - Chiefs, Bruce Matthews - Oilers / Titans

C (1):  Dwight Stephenson - Dolphins

PK (1): Morten Andersen - Saints

   

RS (1): Deion Sanders - Falcons

DE (2): Bruce Smith - Bills, Deacon Jones - Rams

DT (2): Alan Page - Vikings, Cortez Kennedy - Seahawks

OLB (2): Derrick Brooks - Bucs, Lawrence Taylor - Giants

ILB (2): Dick Butkus - Bears, Chuck Bednarik - Eagles

CB (3): Mel Blount - Steelers, Darrell Green - WTF, Darrelle Revis - Jets   

S (2): Ed Reed - Ravens, Larry Wilson - Cardinals  

P (1): Ray Guy - Raiders

HC (1): Vince Lombardi - Packers

DC (1): Tom Landry - Cowboys

Okay.  What would you do differently?  Did I sacrifice too much for Brady?  (both Hannah and Stenerud)

The Weekly Clean-Up

 

-  Dark times have fallen upon the third floor.  I'm unhappy with all three of my primary card sources - TCDB, my dealer, and Cardbarrel.  Walgreen's hasn't had repacks in several months.  The labels are still on the shelf, so it's probably a Covid thing.  Can't go to Target without public transportation.  

-  I won a give-away a while back for a really sweet card.  Alas, it seems to have gone somewhere else.  (Not intentionally, I'm sure.)  So that's a bummer, but all I did was comment on somebody's blog, so it could be worse. 

-  Fuji mentioned that he keeps his commons.  I was keeping them but recently decided I don't have the space.  Maybe it's that I live in an apartment and he lives in a house.  Do you keep yours?

-  I'm shocked that my post about a TV show that ended in 2019 didn't get a ton of comments.  

-  I've noticed Pro Set football cards popping up in blog posts.  I didn't think people liked them, but maybe I should make some available in my contests / give-aways.      

-  I'll be rooting for the Chiefs tomorrow.  Might read a book during the NFC game.   

-  Got a new nurse at the clinic.  I was okay with the other one, but this one's prettier at least. 

-  Thought I saw my lesbian crush, but it was just a woman who dresses the same way and is approximately the same size.

 

Fuji:  http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com

   

Game of Thrones

I recently watched the series and have a few thoughts on it. 

Favorite Characters

5.  Bronn

4.  Melisandre

3.  Ygritte

2.  Jon Snow

Favorite:  Tyrion Lannister

Ned Stark was one of my favorite characters in Season One, but he wasn't in it long enough to make the final cut.  Cersei Lannister was one of my favorites through the first six seasons. 

Least Favorite Characters

5.  Arya Stark

4.  Brandon Stark

3.  Brienne of Tarth

2.  Joffrey Baratheon

Least Favorite:  Ramsay Bolton

Grey Worm made a run at the least five, but he wasn't important enough.  Ramsay over Joffrey for least favorite mainly due to being older.     

Recurring Elements 

White Walkers:  Not my cup of Lipton, but a major part of the story. 

Dragons:  Not my cup of Tazo, but a major part of the story.

Meet - Cutes:  Characters unexpectedly bumping into each other at random taverns, brothels, trees, rocks, etc.  No thank you.   

Magic:  Hit or miss.  Bran was annoying.  Melisandre was a bad ass.  The ravens needed more explaining.  Pyat Pree was entertaining.  So on and so forth.         

The Weekly Clean-Up

 

-  So I made a Time Travel trade with Matt, of Diamond Jesters:

   

       

The Langston and the Smith are rookie cards.

 http://diamond-jesters.blogspot.com

-  Dumped a lot of commons in the recycling bin.  I don't like wasting cards, but they were taking up too much space. 

-  Sent a card off to get signed hopefully.  But I'm an idiot so I didn't protect it properly for the return trip.    

-  Phil Spector died.  His legacy would have been better without the murder part.  

The Weekly Clean-Up

 

-  Got an order from Cardbarrel, which I'll talk about more in a future post.  But it filled a lot of gaps in my Cy Young and MVP projects.  

-  Got some cards from generous benefactors:

Several from Diamond King:

Rose and Torre for my MVP project.

Gibson for my Cy Young project.

Stargell and a couple others for my Diamond Kings subset builds. 

http://thediamondking.blogspot.com

Several from Fuji:

Plunkett for my Super Bowl MVP project.

Seaver for my Cy Young project.

A couple for my Diamond Kings subset builds, including this Ozzie.

A few attractive ladies, including Kimberly Southwick. 

http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com

-  I've gotten through six seasons of Game of Thrones.  

-  I finished The Rum Diary and was mildly disappointed.  Only 3 of 5 stars.

    

-  All the images in this post are from TCDB, except for the Southwick, which is from ebid.net. 

 

College Football Championship

 

An easy contest for friends of the blog: 

- U.S. or Canada address

-  have commented on posts that weren't contest / give-away related or have sent me cards

Predict the winner and the final score of the title game - January 11, 2021.  

Closest gets a PWE of 12 of my better Leaf Draft cards.  

Tie Breaker: earliest entry

If multiple entrants guess both the winner and the exact score, I'll send a PWE of Leaf Draft cards to each one. 

Deadline:  Kick-Off   

The Weekly Clean-Up

 

So I got some more cards from m'lady in Michigan.  Tried to give other people a chance, but still ended up with seven.     

-  When you owe Steve Rogers money, but then the Brewers purchase your contract. 

-  4 NL batting average titles, 3-time All=Star

-  18-time All-Star, 7 AL batting average titles

-  A couple Bash and Burn inserts.  

-  I like the Hellish background, though there's debate over how guilty he was.

-  This is an indigo parallel - SN 250.  

(first five images from TCDB, the last two from zeprock.com and ebay) 

I watched American Pastoral on YouTube.  Not the bomb I expected, but it could have been better.  More Connelly perhaps. 

Been slogging through The Rum Diary  (Hunter S. Thompson). 

https://acrackedbat.blogspot.com