Football '14 Week 5: October (No) Surprise.

       I want to apologize to all five of you who look forward to my weekly football posts.  The awful things that have been swirling around the NFL this year combined with the beyond awful way the league has reacted to them has made my stomach turn and left me unable to enjoy football very much.  Now that the calender has turned to October, as usual, the NFL will start inundating us with their pink regalia.

I find it in poor taste that the league pays such lips service to something as important as breast cancer and then goes out of its way to profit off of it without actually giving much to charity.  This year they are "toning down" the pink to try to lay low until all the bad pub dies down and they can go back to being the money-making juggernaut they usually are.

Now, if the NFL had any gumption or dignity, after all the Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, Adrian Peterson (isn't it sad that I have to list so many and could keep going) stories, they would have switched off the pink this year and made it purple for domestic violence awareness, which also has its "month" in October... 

But sadly, there is no shady charity for the NFL to exploit and then profit from on colorized memorabilia, so that would never happen.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

       Sorry I have been scarce the last few weeks, I have been trying this crazy new thing called "having a life" and "going outside to enjoy the lovely weather" - crazy, I know.  Anyway, this thing has been going around the internet like a plague so I thought I would share mine...

I already give to Team Gleason but there are many other good ALS charities out there, and even Curt Schilling's charity is decent since he isn't making video games through them.  As with any charity, just look in to who you are giving to and make sure as much of your donation is going to research as possible.  Awareness is lovely, but all the pink in the world never cured anything.  Proper money for research does.

Don't feel like dumping a bucket of ice water on your head?  That's fine, as long as you give to charity who am I to judge?  And if donating to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease isn't your speed, that's fine too.  There are a million other charities to give to.  Remember, if you go to bed healthy in a house with clean running water after a hot meal you paid for with money from your job, you are doing better than most of the world.  Giving back what you can is not hard. 

Football '13 Week 2: Pajama Game.

       I like to take Sundays off.  Not because of any biblical edict, mind you, simply because, as someone who used to work seven days a week (and on the wrong side of 30), I have grown to appreciate the value of 24 hours to reset your batteries.  These days I work more sporadically - sometimes 3 days a week, sometimes 6 days - but I do enjoy staying in my pajamas all day and watching sports (or bad movies) once a week.  During football season, the Sunday day off is non-negotiable.

Since they haven't made an insert set of players in their pajamas (yet), I will give you the closest thing I could find, a 1992 Lime Rock set of Saints cheerleaders, the Saintsations:

Of course, 20+ years later, these outfits look downright Puritan for NFL Cheerleaders.  The 80's hair is also, as always, a hoot.

I haven't bought much 2013 football product yet.  Topps did drop some Archives very early this year and I picked up a lot on Listia and made a page:

The 1976 Topps is one of my faves.  I think they have reused the 1959 design a few too many times, though.  I find it a little odd that they used 1985 and 1986 designs, since those years are back-to-back (obviously), but the designs are so different, I guess that doesn't matter much.  I am in the minority of kinda liking the 1986 design; I never much cared for the 1985 look,

This is (I believe) the first time Topps has done Archives for football since 2005:

See? There is the 1959 set again.  Also here is the 1984 set (yay!), the 1975 set (double yay!), the 1971 set (meh), the 1966 (double meh - that design worked better for hockey), and my favorite, the 1962 design.  I really really need to make a page of that one. 

So on my glorious pajama day off, what am I wearing? (no, I am not coming on to myself) This page offers a hint:

OK, it was not much of a hint and it isn't a Deuce #26 jersey so I will tell just you.  On this page is the rookie (and only card ) of Steve Gleason - it is the middle left card, he is on the right of the three.  Gleason would have slipped through the cracks of even the most astute fan as an 8 year backup who wasn't even drafted.  Yet, he got himself a marvelous claim to fame in one tremendous play: he blocked a punt in the first quarter of the first game back in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina.  This was a magical moment for a city that truly needed a magical moment.  I was at that game and up to that point, that block was the loudest sound I had ever heard.  Sadly, tragedy has struck Steve Gleason and he has been battling ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) since at least 2011.  He has become a very outspoken champion for research and has been very visible in public the last couple of years despite his declining health and physical condition.  When I was in New Orleans last week, I bought one of his organization's shirts and while I normally would never pay full price for a sport shirt, I felt that since all the money was going to his charity, I would make a rare exception.  While I doubt many of you would want a #37 shirt like mine, I think it would be a marvelous idea if you donated to his charity.

So right now I am getting some laundry done while baking an apple crisp (damn, I love autumn).  I am switching between the crappy early games and the Mets game waiting for the Manning bowl to kick off at 4:25.  I even went to the store to get ice cream and no, I didn't change out of my pajamas to do it.  I take my days off that seriously. 

Piety and Charity.

       It is Good Friday and Passover, so I will celebrate with a double dose of blasphemy by eating nothing but bacon-wrapped steaks all weekend.

But to make up for it, I will remind you I have a charity auction up on eBay with one day left.  If you are a New Jersey Devils fan or know someone who is, spread the word and give to a good cause, The Red Cross.

I will be tied up with the joys of family for the next few days, but I promise I will get back to the joys of baseball card pages soon.  Can't wait that long?  OK, fine...

While I may have mocked faith in an above paragraph, Roberto Clemente was a man of god and gave his life trying to help people.  This makes him far more than a ballplayer in most people's eyes.  This beauty is my 1956 Clemente.  I was way ahead of the curve on Clemente.  It seems the late 90's brought all the Clemente worship and card craze out in people, but I was on the Roberto bandwagon way before then.  I bought all his early cards at shows in the late 80's and did not pay an arm and a leg for them.  Sadly, I sold my 1955 Clemente rookie about eight years ago when it was the choice of cardboard or rent.  I kept my '56, though, as I always preferred it to the '55 anyway.  I will probably be clutching this card while living in a refrigerator box, because I am not selling it.  Ever. 

Saturday Bloody Saturday.

       OK, long story time.  I know some of you don't like to read them, but this one has a point, so either bear with me and read it or skip to the end to get to the important part.

       About 20 years ago, I was roused by my mother from a lovely post-school nap to go give blood.  I had never given before, but my mother had read that there was a critical shortage of blood in the area and she wanted me to go with her to give.  She is blood type O negative, which is considered the universal donor, so she was/is a steady donor.  So, I struggled to my sleepy teenage feet and went with her.  The procedure was relatively quick and painless (even the needle part) and they gave me juice and cookies afterward, which is great...anything with juice and cookies at the end can't be all bad.  I didn't think much of it.  Then, literally two days after I gave blood, my grandfather collapsed in his garden.  He had an aortic aneurysm that burst.  Needless to say, this is a quite catastrophic thing to happen.  He was rushed to the hospital and needed 12 pints of blood to get him through his surgery, which was successful.  In my view, and it may not be entirely true, but in a way, I had helped to save my grandfather's life.  I became a blood donation advocate from then on; I have volunteered for the Red Cross over the years, I constantly give blood, and, best of all, my grandfather lived another 16 years.

So this morning, I got up and drove to beautiful downtown Newark, NJ and gave blood.  I try and do it as often as I am allowed and as long as my health will let me.  I even got some sweet swag while doing it:

I am keeping the hat, because, hey, free hat!  But the shirt is only an XL - I haven't fit into XL shirts since I was about 11.  So I have decided to auction off the shirt and give the money right back to the American Red Cross.  Normally, I would never implore you to look at my eBay auctions, but this one is important...

***Hey everyone who didn't want to read my story, this is the important part***

Please click here to view this charity auction.  I know most of you aren't Devils fans but maybe you know one, you could buy it for them, or at least send them the link.  I am not usually the altruistic type, but I happen to think this is all pretty important and believe me, it saves lives.  People always talk about how they can make a difference in the world.  Well, this is a simple thing anyone can do.

Please give blood.  Please donate to the Red Cross.

Thank you.  I now return you to my usual snarky and immature little blog.