Nothing If Not Random: September 2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Kevin Garnett to Retire

Kevin Garnett will retire after 22 seasons in the NBA. Garnett was nothing short of a stud - a guy who in his prime would give you 20+ points per game and double digit rebounds every game while playing outstanding defense. Much of his career was in Minnesota whom he helped elevate to a contender though the Timberwolves’ success was short lived. Garnett was also a passionate player who was just fun to watch.

Garnett won his only championship after being traded to Boston after the 2006-07 season. His minutes and stats both dropped but much of that was due to the makeup of the team. It was great he was able to get a championship under his belt. He deserved one as much as anyone else and his emotions after the game will long be remembered. I think Garnett was great for the league and I’ll miss that energy he brought to the game.

2003-04 League MVP

9 X All-NBA

2007-08 Defensive Player of the Year

12 X All-Defensive Team

15 X All-Star (2002-03 MVP)

95-96 All-Rookie Team

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

2016 Topps Bunt Baseball Cards

Topps decided to move their digital app cards to cardboard giving us their 2016 Bunt trading cards. Pricewise these are low end cards but still look pretty nice. The fronts have the great photos Topps always delivers with a large team logo behind the player. I really like how this was done. It isn't over the top and doesn't take away too much from the background. The Bunt logo is at the top of the card while the player name, position and team are at the bottom against a silver metallic background. I'm liking it. A simple yet nice looking different card. The backs aren't that impressive with any stats they might provide in the write-up. But I have seen worse. Overall I do like the cards and will grab some more.

Monday, September 26, 2016

2016 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Chrome Trading Cards

Was in a Target some time ago and saw the packs for the 2016 Topps Star Wars The Force Awakens Chrome Trading Cards and of course had to pick them up. I'm not a fan of chrome cards but these I like more than any other chrome cards I've come across. I think it helps that they don't have the all chrome/silver/shiny backgrounds that a majority of the sports cards have.

These are just "shiny" versions of the standard The Force Awakens set. I think they're done well enough that I like them. I won't pick any more up but I do think they are nice looking cards. If you like either the Star Wars cards or chrome as a whole I don't think you'll be disappointed in picking some of these up. There were six cards in the pack and I didn't grab any of the subsets or inserts. Not a big deal. I still enjoyed my pull.

2016 Donruss Football

Grabbed a retail blaster box of the 2016 Donruss Football. I really liked the cards last year so I went whole hog right off the bat with this set. There were a total of 88 cards in 11 packs. I like the design and enjoyed my pull.

The fronts have the Donruss logo, player's name, position, and team at the top on a team colored background. The border around the photo is in the same color but is broken up in stripes on the sides in appropriate team colors. The picture takes up the rest of the front with the exception of the team logo in the bottom right of the photo. Small touch but I like it.

I really like the backs which are done in team colors. A football surrounds the card number and the team logo is done in black and white. There is a player write-up as well as the 2015 and career stats for the player as well as additional player information (birthday, height, weight, college). I love the retro feel of the back of these cards. The first time in a long while I've liked the back of a card this much.

As for the pull I'm very happy. I only grabbed three Falcons and two Bills players but there were plenty of stars in this box so I can't complain. I love the retired players with the Steve Grogan and Archie Manning cards being the highlight for me. The Gridiron Kings cards are one of my favorites. I pulled DeMarco Murray which didn't thrill me any but it is still a nice card. I also grabbed a Megan Fox "Fans of the Game" card but was really hoping for a Daisy Ridley card but it wasn't to be. I like the "Production Line" card of Cam Newton as it harkens back to the old League Leaders cards. The one relic card was a Jonathan Williams Rookie Phenom Jersey Relic card. Not the greatest pull but he is a Bill so I'm good. The other subsets and inserts were ok but didn't stand out. There were still plenty of the inserts I didn't get but would love to. They did a great job on this set - I would have enjoyed grabbing some of the others. Check out the expansive checklist. Bottom line is I like this set quite a bit and will definitely grab more.

BREAKDOWN:

88 - Total Cards

84 - Base Cards (1 - Press Proof, 7 - Rated Rookie <1 Press Proof>, 5 - RC, 5 - Retired players)

1 - Rookie Phenom Jersey Relic

1 - Gridiron King

1 - Production Line

1 - Fans of the Game

Sunday, September 18, 2016

He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back by Mark Bechtel Book Review

I wanted to pick up some NASCAR books for my pop's birthday a few years back and this book kept coming up as I researched the NASCAR books out there. He really enjoyed it and gave it to me to read. My reading schedule hasn't been great but once I got started it was a book I didn't want to put down. Mark Bechtel does a great job of describing the events of the 1979 Daytona race and how it catapulted the sport into the public's consciousness. But this book is so much more than that one day. It provides so much insight into the beginnings of NASCAR as well as the great drivers early on and through the seventies. It also details the 1979 season itself which saw a great race for the championship. Bechtel lays it all out in an easy-to-read way that provides an abundance of information with humor and insight. If you at all like NASCAR you must read this book. You won't be disappointed.

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