For anyone that has seen the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, you know how awe inspiring they can be.  Big and little kids get goosebumps and it definitely is the highlight of any airshow.  The 2017 Maxwell Air Force Base Airshow this weekend was no different....a truly inspiring performance.





I have 8 packs of Japanese sports cards to rip in order to continue a fascinating day.  I picked up some of these in Japan a few weeks ago, but the B.League cards I picked up from YJ auctions over the past few months.  I have 8 packs in total, 3-BBM 1st Half Basketball , 2-BBM 2nd Half Basketball, 1-Epoch Horse Racing, 1- BBM Time Travel Baseball, and 1-Epoch Japan National Team Soccer.  I have not opened any of these packs, so am curious what is inside.  First up, B.League 1st Half.....



Would you believe that two of the packs were almost duplicates?!  Crazy and I randomly pulled these packs from the open box....oh well.  I was pumped about the On Fire card I got of Kimitake Sato.  These come one every four packs and is the first one I own.  They are much cooler in person with holographic stars in the background.  I really like the designs of these cards and I think BBM did an excellent job of limiting production and creating the right amount of hype with this set.  Let's hope the 2nd Half yields some goodness.


Bam, another On Fire card...this time of Seiya Ando of the Akita Northern Happinets....what a great name of a team!  The numbering of the 2nd Half continues from where the 1st Half left off (#073) and the design is identical.  All in all, not a bad rip for these 5 packs.  Let's see how the world of horse racing treats us....


Wow, I am on a roll...the one pack I picked up yielded an insert card that comes 1 in 6 packs.  I received a JRA Award Card for Major Emblem.  It has gold-foil printing on the front and a picture of the jockey and horse as well.  Out of this 62-card set, I got the following four cards (Golden Dream, Magic Time, Passion Dance, and Ojo Chosen.  If I knew more about horse racing, I could probably give you better details, but the front has a nice jockey/horse photo and the back highlights a race the horse won along with the odds and payouts for the win.  It also looks to have strengths and weaknesses as well along with some stats along the bottom.  I saw boxes of these while in Japan so I am not sure if they didn't sell well, or they were really popular.  Next is another Epoch product...soccer.

I'm on a roll with these insert cards.  This time I hit a 1:4 pack of Samurai Blue of the Keeper, Shusaku Nishikawa.  Pretty cool as it has a facsimile gold-foil signature on the front with a full-length pose of him.  This set is definitely eclectic.  It has a bit of everything....U-23, Men's National Team and Women's National Team.  I can't say I am a huge fan of the design as it seems too busy, but was a fun pack to break.  I like watching soccer and so am really looking forward to collecting German soccer cards when we move this summer.  Last up, a Time Travel 1975 set from BBM
 that promises to have a retro feel of the BBM 1975 design much like Topps Heritage...


I love this set as I've always liked the feel of the older cardboard stock.  This set did not disappoint, although I did not land any players that jumped out at me right away (Keishi Suzuki is a HOFer, but had to look him up).  It did land a card of 6 different teams and the look of the older uniforms is definitely worth noting.  Look at how Shozo Doi has adopted Sadaharu Oh's flamingo stance?  I could see myself collecting a set of these cards.

There you have it.  I hope you enjoyed the small variety of pack rips and have a great week!