The All Star Orphans.

       Tonight would have been the 91st All Star Game, to have been played in Dodgers Stadium.  Not only does this one not count, it isn't being played at all because we currently live in the worst of all possible scenarios where nothing good will ever happen again.  Rather than wallowing in our pain, let's instead look at some old school Topps cards. 

       Some of the best design quirks in Topps sets are in the All Star cards.  For most years from 1958 until 1992, they gave some sort of shout out to the best players in the league - though not always to the all star starters or even all stars at all (but we'll get to that).  For the most part, they did either subsets or on-card graphics to the previous year's all stars and I decided to create some pages to illustrate those designs.  And instead of picking the best player in the set or even the best photo, I decided to pick the absolute worst player.  I mean, they can't be that terrible, they did get an all star card after all, but not every collection needs to be the best of the best of the best, it adds a little variety to the pages.  While I was accumulating these cards, I dubbed the list "The All Star Orphans" and the name stuck; my thinking was most of these players were only all stars once or only got the one all star card in their career. 

       So that was my basis for these choices, they had to be either one time all stars or if that didn't apply, just the worst player among the usual superstars who make the All Star squad.  It worked out nicely that there were 27 different designs for my nine-card criteria. There were multi-player All Star cards in 1993-1995 and the last dozen years or so, the Update Series has had all the All Star selections (and certainly could have given me some truly oddball choices) but I have to draw the line somewhere and it made sense to go 1958 (the first year of all star cards) and 1992 (the last year of a run of a separate all star subset that started in 1982).  Let's break them all down:

1992: Bryan Harvey (2x All Star) Led the league in saves in 1991, ended up on the expansion Marlins and kind of faded away.  He has kids in the Orioles and Pirates organizations.

1991: Bobby Thigpen (1x All Star) His one big claim to fame was saving a record 57 games that year - which was 11 more than the record - though the record is now 62 by K-Rod in 2008.  He never saved more than 34 in any other season.

1990: Joe Magrane (never made an All Star team) Here we have our first non-All Star all star card.  He did go 18-9 in 1989 and led the league in 1988 with a 2.18 ERA (with a 5-9 record!) but after 1990 his arm fell off and he was never effective again.  Why did Topps go with Joe here? Who the hell knows. 

1989: Kirk Gibson (never made an All Star team) Ah, 1988 Kirk Gibson, how I hate you.  The designation on the card is PH and this is obviously a nod to his famous game one homer in the World Series.  He is the only league MVP to never make an all star team (and he played 17 seasons).  Why not just make a card for his series heroics?  God, I hate this card almost as much as I hate Gibson.

1988: Shane Rawley (1x All Star...in 1986) Rawley made the All Star team the year before.  This card is for I guess the brilliant 2/3 of a season he had in 1987.  He won 17 games by August and finished the year with...17 wins.  He was out of the league by 1989.

1987: Tony Bernazard (never made an All Star team)  The only explanation I can come up with for why they gave Tony this card is because they were tired of making a card for Damaso Garcia.  Why not Lou Whitaker, who actually was the all star second baseman in 1986?  Plus, the less said about Tony's front office career, the better.

1986: Tom Herr (1x All Star) This page has two of my most hated players. I don't know why, but my brother and I took all of our anger at the mid-80s Cardinals out on Tom Herr.  Not Vince Coleman, not Willie McGee, not even Jack Clark...we hated Tommy Herr.  It also figures he eventually found his way to the early 90s Mets, where we could hate him every night.  He also drove in 100 runs while hitting less than 10 homers in 1985, which is pretty neat regardless of my opinion of him.

1985: Jeff Leonard (1x All Star...in 1987) He has one of the great nicknames of all time: Old Penitentiary Face.  He has two other cool nicknames as well, One Flap Down and Hac-Man (or Hack-Man).  He had a pretty decent 1984 season (21/86/.302) but I am at a loss as to why his happy mug is on this card.

1984: LaMarr Hoyt (2x All Star) Hoyt won the 1983 Cy Young award and was also an all star in 1982.  He also loved cocaine and ended up out of the league by 1986.  I am shocked he never played for the Yankees during this time.

Best design on the page: 1988 (might be my favorite subset design of all) runner up: 1987 (the league logos and red, white, and blue stars pop)

Worst design on the page: 1985 (they just threw a star where the team logo is on the base card, the tan color is also a loser) runner up 1986 (zzzzzzzzz I'm sorry, I fell asleep looking at this)

1983: Pete Vuckovich (never made an All Star team) Pete did win the Cy Young award in 1982 and led the league in wins in 1981, so it is not egregious that he's here.  Alas, his shoulder turned to mush and he was out of the league by 1986.  Also, he later led the league in nose hair and won the triple crown.

1982: Ken Singleton (3x All Star) Ken might be the best player of all on any these pages.  He was a good steady bat for a decade for the Orioles.  But the first subset in the expanded 1980s Topps sets was just loaded so he "won" the honor of being here.

1981: Jim Bibby (1x All Star) Jim is exactly the kind of player I wanted for these pages.  He had a pretty decent career and he made exactly one All Star game. Of course, he didn't start the 1980 All Star game, J.R. Richard did. Why didn't Richard get the designation instead? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1980: Roy Smalley (1x All Star) He was a second generation player who made his first and only all star game in 1979.  He had a pretty unspectacular career and 1979 was maybe his 3rd or 4th best year but he started the All Star game mostly because of the "one player from every team" rule.  His dad never made an all star team.

1979: Richie Zisk (2x All Star) Zisk is a forgotten player but he had a pretty good run in the 1970s.  He got his all star card in 1979 for 1978 though his 1977 year was better.  If he had his big years for the Dodgers or the Red Sox, rather than the Rangers and the Mariners, he'd be much better remembered.

1978: Rick Burleson (4x All Star)  The 1978 All Star cards were just loaded with hall of famers and superstars, so I had to go with our first time four timer.  Rooster was known as a bit of a red ass in his day and he hurt his arm and was done as a useful player after 1981. 

1977: Randy Jones (2x All Star) Jones got lost in Fidrych-mania in 1976 and even though he had a great year and won the Cy Young, but no one remembers that at all.  Much like Fidrych, he was never very good after his big year in 1976 either.  Since Jones and Fidrych both made two All Star teams, I went with Jones because he deserves some recognition somewhere.

1976: Joe Rudi (3x All Star) Rudi was a cog in the A's green machine in the 1970s but he was also one of the players Charlie Finley tried to sell off in 1976, deals the commissioner all killed.  So he gets to be mentioned with players like Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue in that respect.

1975: Jeff Burroughs (2x All Star) Jeff famously won the 1974 AL MVP because the A's had three players who all split the vote, including the aforementioned Joe Rudi. He's not the worst player to win an MVP award but he's easily one of the most forgettable.

Best design on the page: 1976 (I love the chubby star designation, '76 had the best icons) runner up: 1978 (that badge is great and reminds me of the US Interstate signs)

Worst design on the page: 1981 (just for the very boring little drop down) runner up: 1980 (same reason)

1974: Rick Wise (2x All Star) The only multi-player subset in the vintage era, Wise finds himself among a bunch of iconic players - including Catfish Hunter on his own card. He also made the huge mistake of being traded straight up for Steve Carlton.  Not very wise at all.

1970: Rico Petrocelli (2x All Star) Topps took three years off for All Star cards, which is a shame since they all could have used them, 1971 and 1972 because they were so good looking, 1973 because the set is so boring. If Rico had the years he had in 1969-1971 in the 1990s, people would have said he was on steroids.

1969: Ken Harrelson (1x All Star)  Known more for a bunch of things other than his playing days (announcer, golfer, protruding proboscis) The Hawk had his career year in 1968 during the Year of the Pitcher and made the All Star team.  He was then out of the league by 1971 and eventually tortured White Sox fans with his homerism and annoying calls for decades. 

1968: Joe Horlen (1x All Star) Joe is another great example of All Star Orphan-ness.  He led the league in ERA and shutouts in 1967 but was fiercely mediocre most of the other dozen years of his career.  Dean Chance started the game and Catfish Hunter lost it, but somehow, Joe Horlen got the card in the set. Topps made no All Star cards from 1963-1967.

1962: Chuck Schilling (never made an All Star team) Here in the early days of all star cards, Topps went with the Sporting News or Sport Magazine selections, which is why Chuck got on the card even though he never did make an All Star team on the field.  Chuck finished 3rd in the ROY voting and yet was out of the league in 5 years.

1961: Frank Herrera (never made an All Star team) Pancho is probably my favorite Orphan.  He qualifies for One Year Wonder status as he won the IL MVP in 1959, had a pretty decent 1960 year (finishing second for ROY even), and then was back to the minors for good by 1962.  Heck, he never had a regular 'base' Topps card, he had two rookie card designs (1959 and 1960) and this high numbered all star beauty. Alas, Topps also went all Bob Clemente on him by anglicizing his name.

1960: Joe Cunningham (1x All Star) Joe finds himself in a high number series among a lot of hall of famers, but he had his career year in 1959 and wandered onto the All Star roster.  Willie Mays! Hank Aaron! Joe Cunningham!

1959: Wes Covington (never made an All Star team) I am kind of at a loss to say something about Wes, he was that average a ballplayer. He had good 90 game runs in 1957 and 1958 but never got more than 400 PA in any season.  He helped the Braves win the Series in '57 but then bounced around the league afterward.  Hey, he was once traded for Don Larson...just like dozens of other players.  Wow, he really is bland.  Um, his 1961 Topps card is pretty sweet, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

1958: Frank Malzone (6x All Star) Topps first foray into All Star cards finds us with the player here with the most selections.  But so stacked was this subset, I had to go with Malzone over Johnny Temple simply because, well, I owned the Malzone and not the Temple.  This subset famously includes the first Topps Stan Musial card and Bob Costas' favorite Mickey Mantle card.  I should probably get the Temple card to better fit in with the spirit of the project, but hey, these are my pages.

Best design on the page: 1961 (it was so good, they basically copied it in 1970) runner up: 1960 (very of its time)

Worst design on the page: 1974 (it fits the set, but man is it boring) runner up: 1968 (half the card is the year and an advertisement for The Sporting News)

Never made an All Star team: 7
1x All Star: 9
2x All Star: 7
3+ All Star: 4

       I hope this little rundown will help fill the void of no baseball tonight.  I know the league is suppose to start up again on the 23rd, but I will believe it when I see it.  So much stuff is going on so rapidly and so many players seem to not be into putting their lives literally on the line, I wouldn't want anyone to become a real orphan just so we can watch sports. 

Mail Call: Dog Sitters Aren't Supposed To Sit On The Dog.

       I recently spent a week dog sitting my brother's dog Stella.  You have seen her here before as this is certainly not the first time I have done the staycation thing with my favorite canine.  A lot of people think this is not a good way to spend your off time but I honestly cannot think of a better way.  I am not big on travel and adventure; the notion of going to Rome to see the Colosseum or to Tokyo to try to figure out a language that is way over my head sound like more trouble than they're worth.  Plus, going to Disney World with two small children, like my brother did this time around, sounds like pure unadulterated torture.  But spending a week of solitude in a large mostly secluded house with a very low maintenance and adorable yellow lab?  Pure heaven.  In fact, part of my motivation to reignite the blog came from my memories of writing curled up on a couch with the dog sleeping at my feet.

       The only really good part about coming home to real life is the big pile of mail waiting for you. Specifically the cards, the bills can go get fucked.

So let's take a look at the goodies inside these envelopes and packages.

       There is one Listia seller that I really enjoy buying from (he also has a dog as his profile pic. Coincidence? I think not...).  When I order a lot of 6 cards from him, there is always 9 or 10 in the envelope.  I like this both for the surprise and for the maximum efficiency of his mailing as this is about as many cards as you can get into a PWE before you have to add extra stamps.

Can you guess which card I bought this lot for?  Hint, it is not the Bobby Bonilla.  Oddly, it is also not the amusingly named Pete LaCock, who has a wonderful family history.  X for the center square if you knew the answer without clicking.

       There were some players I collect in that pile too.  That is a Frank Thomas I needed as well as a couple of Big Papis. Saints vs. Colts? I always like how that turns out. Also, that's Ron Meyer (no relation).

Joe Flacco has officially been categorized, the verdict is not elite.  But also, still not the worst QB to lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory. So he has that going for him, which is nice.

This year is an Olympic year so when I saw this lot, I had to have it to make a page.

These are 1996 Collect-A-Card Centennial Olympic Collection cards and I'd be lying if I said I had ever heard of them before.  The photography is nifty but you would expect that since the Olympics are pretty much the Olympics for sports photographers too.

       Speaking of collections, these are from the famous (and infamously overproduced) 1992 Sporting News Conlon Collection.

While this batch seems to make a tidy page, they are actually destined for other things.  A few name collections, a couple photo collections, and one is going with my Babe Ruth cards.  Your rudimentary knowledge of baseball history should tell you which.

       Okay, now things get a little more random.  That 1960 Joe Cunningham All Star card is bound for a small collection of cards that I will reveal, well, around the All Star Break (I bought that one on eBay).  That Rocky IV card is one from a set I never knew existed and captures one of the more ridiculous moments in a most ridiculous movie. Apollo Creed deserved better, dammit, and Rock should have thrown the damn towel.  I got that lot of Piazza cards for the MLB Debut insert that I didn't have but it included that UD Masterpieces which might be my favorite non-Met Piazza card. 

Lastly, I bought a set of cards on eBay that I ran into by accident looking for something else, but seeing it, I just had to have it.

        I am sure they are going for a Where's Waldo thing here, just another example of manufactured whimsy from Topps Opening Day.  While nine card sets are ideal, I don't mind ten when I can pluck one of the cards for a player collection - in this case, David Wright - and use the rest for the page (even if it includes a Chipper Jones card). 

I do love how busy this page looks and it will find a place of honor in my weird insert collection binder.  There was also a 2020 Topps blaster waiting for me, but that will have to be another post.  I needed something to cheer me up from missing that cute damn dog.

Throwback Thursday: Moses Malone (1955 - 2015).

       As one of the few folks of my generation named Max, I love my name and have pretty much made it an adjective for my unique personality among those who know me.  Like Madonna, Bono, or Cher - I am Max.  But most of you don't know that I have Moses Malone to thank for my name.


See, my mother was all set to name me Moses because of her love of the film The Ten Commandments - and not Charlton Heston, mind you, but Anne Baxter's reaction to him.  That's right, I was gonna be a Moe not a Max (and subject to Three Stooges jokes instead of tampon jokes, but I digress).  And then Moses Malone decided to enter the NBA draft right out of high school and everyone lost their minds.  She heard the name over and over and over again and she got incredibly sick of it.  So she shifted gears and named me after her favorite uncle instead.


So thank you Moses Malone fo' fo' fo' giving me my distinguishing moniker.  Rest in peace.

Mail Call: COMC Cyber Monday.

       I trust all of you enjoyed your Christmas.  I trust Santa Claus brought you everything your heart desired.  Me? I got a nice big lump of coal, but hey, free coal!  Anyway, as a certified (if not quite bonafide) "grown up" I really don't exchange presents much anymore.  Oh, I will bring something if I go to a party, and of course the kids in my life got something, but my attitude towards the whole gift-giving component of the holidays can be summed up in this little exchange between my sister and I the other day at lunch:

Sis: Oh, by the way, I didn't get you anything for Christmas.

Me: Don't worry, I didn't get you anything, either.

Sis: Well, you did just buy me lunch at McDonalds...

Me: Woohoo! Big Macs for Christmas!

All this does not mean I do not take advantage of the retail Armageddon that takes place every year around this time.  One of my favorite sites, COMC.com, always has a big Black Friday sale and then a Cyber Monday shipping special.  I used the latter to get a bunch of cards I had accumulated over the last many months to my house for free.  Freedom!  Let's take a look at what the gods of commerce have wrought:

 Those Iooss' make for one hell of a nice page.  The Jimmy Deans?  Well, they look okay, too. These cards finished off two half pages I started at a show over the summer.  It's nice to see the seasons come together so well.  That last vertical Met also finishes a page started at that same show, alas, it did not get a scanning opportunity.

The second batch here is not quite as cut and dry as it is all over the place.  You have a rookie cup addition and some wonderful Mars Attacks inserts to complete a page.  Then it gets even more obscure with a Chico Resch box bottom card that I accidentally discovered while doing the COMC challenge and immediately gobbled up. There is also an obligatory Gary Carter and a Pinnacle Trophy Collection card to fix a page that I had somehow screwed up while building (it happens). Then on the bottom row there is a NASCAR(?) driver and a 1964 Donruss Addams Family card, a must for any non-sports collection. 

But wait, what is that last card?  What's that name?

Buzz Nutter!


BUZZ NUTTER!!!


BUZZ fucking NUTTER!!!!!!!

Look at that, it's glorious.  I might never recover knowing there was once a professional football player, hell, that there was once a human being that went by the name Buzz Nutter.

Football '13 Week 11: Lyrical.

       Many of you have noticed my fascination with words and names.  While some are just amusing in and of themselves, others are simply lots of fun to say.  I love to go to a Mexican joint and order chimichangas.  I will say it two or three times.  Chim-eee-chan-gaaaaa.  I am saying it now as I type and giggling.  Plus there is also words like serendipity.  Rigamarole.  Hootenanny.  Phantasmagoria. Blubber.  So so many.

The Giants in recent years have had more than their fair share of fun names to say.  I lamented the loss of Osi Umenyiora from their defensive line because he and this man made up one hell of a good sentence:

Mathias Kiawanuka.  Key-a-wa-nuuuu-kaaaa.  So much fun to say.

And don't sleep on Prince Amukamara.  I really hope they somehow team up for a sack today just to hear the broadcasters announce that one.

I have a friend who is a huge Steelers fan and she just loves to yell Pa-la-ma-looooooooo whenever they play.  I gotta admit, I like Troy just for that reason.

Anyone else have a favorite player just because their name is fun to say?  Doesn't matter what the sport is...Buddy Biancalana and Fernando Valenzuela come immediately to mind...Shaquille O'Neal...and of course, Zarley Zalapski.  Let me know in the comments.

Game Seven NBA Style.

       I'm not a big basketball guy.  I watch a little here and there, usually by accident or when there is nothing else on.  I grew up a huge New York Knicks fan and as a kid I was a monster college hoops junkie.  But then instead of Syracuse, I ended up going to Emerson College (not exactly a sports hotbed, to say the least) so my love of the college game kind of withered and died over time.  And since the Knicks have sucked in grand fashion for the better part of the last decade, basketball has easily become the 4th of the big four for me.  But tonight is one of those wonderful nights for any sport: Game Seven.  I covered the joy of baseball's ultimate game in this post last year for the World Series. Alas, I am not quite the historian for basketball that I am for baseball, so let's just see what I have.

I don't really keep many whole 9 player pages for basketball, they mostly are 3x3. 

Here we see two of the three main players for the Heat, LeBron and Dwyane Wade.  I doubt I have ever owned a LeBron card of him on the Heat.  I don't think I have bought a pack of basketball cards in 5+ years.

Here we see Mr. Consistency, Tim Duncan.

I have a good friend who looks a lot like Dirk Nowitzki, though about a foot shorter.  And the less said about Kobe, the better.  I am not sure why I even have any of his cards.  Kobe Bryant is a Grade A Asshole on and off the court. 

I do have a few whole pages of players:

Here is one of my favorite player as a kid, Patrick Ewing.  I actually have 5 pages of his cards but I think one will make my point here.

I have Michael Jordan too:

I have two of his pages, but once again, one will do.

I try to keep my 3x3 basketball pages somewhat themed.

Here are the Big Three from the last Celtics' title.  I actually really enjoyed that team. 

Here you see some residue from my love of the 80's, Larry Bird...

...and the rest of the original big three...

With arch nemesis Magic Johnson there to boot. 

Wow. My basketball post is rambling.  I was hoping to find a page with some kind of interest...

...instead I only found a page with silly names.  My, I so enjoy pages with silly names, don't I?  If your name was Koko Archibong, you would to.  I mean, come on, that sounds like a character in a Cheech and Chong movie. 

Aside: I mentioned before where I went to college and it reminded me of a great little anecdote.  I shared a bedroom with my brother my entire childhood and it was a small room which necessitated bunk beds.  The only time I was without a sibling roommate was when he went into the army so I saw college as my chance to, if not have a room to myself, at least have a separate single bed.  I got my room assignment for my freshman year and I was put into a triple.  I saw my chance.  I could get the single bed and all would be right with the world.  So I arrived the first day and when I got to my room, I noticed one of my roommates had gotten there first.  He wasn't there but his parents were there unpacking his things.  He also had taken the only single bed.  I decided to speak up and I firmly yet politely said "excuse me, I know you got here first, but I have slept on bunk beds my entire life and I was hoping to get the single bed.  Not to mention I am very tall and don't quite fit well on a standard bed."  I figured I put it very nicely and succinctly. The mother immediately spoke up, also very politely, and said "Well, our son is 6'10"..." and as the words of that sentence hung in the air, I simply looked at her and said "I'll take the top bunk."  Turns out my roommate Kenny was the center for the basketball team.  Aside to my aside, our other roommate was 6'5" so I was actually the shortest person in the room.  I doubt the housing office could have possibly known, so I mean, what are the odds they would put over 19 feet of human in one tiny triple? 

Well, this post sort of went off the rails but to bring it all back around, tonight I will actually go out of my way to watch a basketball game, hopefully a very exciting basketball game since it is the ultimate basketball game: Game Seven.  I have no rooting interest but I really kind of despise LeBron James, so I will be rooting for the Spurs. I think 5 titles in 14 years makes for a nice little run. Plus, seeing a stoic, quiet team stick it to a team that is mostly bombast and braggadocio is always nice. Maybe I'll just watch the Mets lose to the Braves again.

Ketchup.

       I hate people who lament how much or little they blog.  I believe I blog just the right amount.  I do it as a hobby or, more to the point, to augment the hobby I love.  I do it when I have time or when I am inspired.  I have gotten behind, though, it would seem, as I have a bunch of drafts and a fuckton of scans that I haven't used.  So what am I gonna do now? Post about brand new cards I just scanned, of course. 

When I returned from New Orleans, there were a few packages waiting for me, one of them an eBay lot I had purchased and seemed to take forever to arrive.  I believe it was coming from Long Island, so I found it in my heart to excuse any Sandy-related delays.  I am a sucker for Topps Triple Threads.  I used to buy a few boxes of the stuff every year.  It seemed I would nail a big hit that would pay for the others.  It was a nice zero sum game.  Then, two years in a row, I kind of struck out and it soured me on the whole thing.  But I still like to have a nice page of the base cards, or in this instance, the sepia parallels:

I bought this lot because I got a lot of other cards that I wanted/can sell.  This is a good looking page and highlights the brief time Hanley Ramirez was in a Miami Marlins jersey. 

The other exciting package was a thick load of 30 cards from COMC.com.  I probably should have waited for Black Friday, but I am a firm supporter of Buy-Nothing Day, so I decided I can spend a dollar or two more for the bulk shipping and wait patiently.  Let's looks at the first nine:

OK, eight.  No surprises here.  Two Gary Carters from this year that I needed.  Two Zack Wheelers to start off my collection of him.  I think he and Matt Harvey will fight for my affection by the end of the 2013 season.  Also here are a 1984 Topps sticker of Tom Seaver and a 2004 Topps Pristine Legend of Reggie Jackson in his Arizona State uniform.  For all my huge Reggie player collection, I did not have single one with him in his Sun Devil digs; now I do.  Lastly, there are a mini Dickey and a golden Dickey, which matches my shiny Dickey.

Second nine:

Since no one seemed to have them to trade, I broke down and grabbed the two short print rookie cup cards from this year's Topps (the Reddick and the Arencibia). I also didn't have the Revere, but somehow overlooked snagging the Brett Lawrie...anybody have that one to spare/trade?  This shipment will expose the self centered habit I have to collect cards of people named Max.  You can see four of them here, two of them fictional (the Mann and Rebo) and two of them real, of which I did not have any (Russell and Monica Maxwell).  Rounding these out is a Cameron Jordan die cut rookie, Saints player I like (more on the direct purpose of that tomorrow or next week) and a OPC Legends card of Claude Lemieux, one of my favorite Devils of all time.  Remember hockey?  Yeah, me too.

This next batch are five 1996 Pinnacle Trophy Collection parallels and four 1984 Topps USFL cards:

I needed these to complete pages...

Here:

and here...

I now have pages of both USFL Topps sets and two from Pinnacle's late 90's obsession with dufex parallels, though I haven't featured the other yet. 

Since I have been obsessed and sorting my football cards, I have a few more to show.  I had found seven faux-vintage cards of two of my favorite old players, Gale Sayers and Joe Namath.

I snatched two more of each...

And now have a fantastic page of The Kansas Comet...


And Broadway Joe:

I should think about putting together that whole Namath UD Football Heroes set.  I do so enjoy those.  Namath and the Jets were my mother's favorite when she was a kid (for obvious reasons).  So while I am not big on the Jets in general, it seems fitting for me to have a page of Joe Willie.  The man is just too epic and awesome not to be represented.

***

You will also notice I updated the header graphic and added a festive holiday background picture (I would hate for all of you to get bored with my layout).  I have a bunch of Mets ornaments that go on my tree each year.  I would do a post about them, but someone already has a definitive Mets Christmas online repository.

Football Week 6: Names.

      While I have many pages of goofy baseball names, not to be shortchanged is this marvelous page of football names.

Smoker, Hooker, and Booty?  Sounds like my kind of party.

I do apologize.  My short little road trip from last week turned all epic on my and I was away from the computer for a while.  I hope this will tide you all over until I get back into a rhythm of posting. Meanwhile, I will bet you a dollar the Saints won't lose today, though. In fact, they can't lose this week, guaranteed!