2016-05-31

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 31

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Stanley Cup Finals
SJS 0-1 PIT

Conference Finals
TBL 3-4 PIT
SJS 4-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthCup
PIT0.59370.3
SJS0.56829.7

Pittsburgh took game 1, and has a 70% chance of winning the cup. San Jose will try to tie up the series tomorrow night, and avoid going back to San Jose down 0-2. 

2016-05-29

eBay Wins #228

After all that hockey prognosticating, I'm back with some eBay bargains. This time it's another classic junk wax set, 1988 Topps. I actually bought a factory set of this awhile ago, so these will all go in my trade list, where I'm sure they'll stay practically forever. I really need to start paying attention to the sets I've already completed when searching for cheap cards.

1988 Topps
#2 Don Mattingly
#8 Kevin Elster
#67 Ken Oberkfell
#77 Tom O'Malley
#82 Darrel Akerfelds
#87 Mike Mason
#102 Barry Larkin
#103 Curt Young (x9)
#117 Jim Steels
That's no typo, I actually have nine copies of the Curt Young card. Several (or maybe all, it's hard to keep track) came in a large lot of A's cards I purchased. Some of  the cards in this post came from 3 unopened packs that were used to fulfill "random cards" purchases, including the Barry Larkin.

1988 Topps
#124 Ray Knight
#131 Don Schulze
#132 Donnie Hill (x2)
#149 Ken Howell
#158 Tim Hulett
#175 Kevin Bass
#176 Jeff Reed
#177 Frank Tanana (x2)
#180 Terry Kennedy
According to my blogger tags, this is the first Terry Kennedy card I've posted, which I find hard to believe. He played for the Cardinals at the beginning of his career in the late 1970s.

1988 Topps
#181 David Cone
#186 Rafael Palmeiro
#189 Wes Gardner
#193 Brian Fisher
#214 Dave Schmidt
#230 Pat Tabler
#232 Bob James
#241 Damaso Garcia
#245 Rich Gedman
Dave Cone? When was he Dave Cone?

1988 Topps
#259 Ron Kittle
#260 Vince Coleman
#268 Bruce Ruffin
#271 Ken Gerhart (x2)
#282 Pat Perry
#284 Larry Bowa
#286 Chuck Crim
#324 Danny Jackson (x2)
#329 Chris Speier
If this were a tic-tac-toe board, I've won with three Cardinals right down the middle column, and a bonus Chris Speier to boot.

1988 Topps
#337 Jim Gantner
#338 Brian Holton
#339 Kurt Stillwell
#349 Bob Walk
#360 Tony Gwynn
#361 Greg Maddux
#366 Chet Lemon
#373 Checklist 265-396
#379 Rafael Ramirez
Tony Gwynn was another card that came in one of the unopened packs. That's not a card, even in a junk wax set, that any seller would let go for a bargain price.

1988 Topps
#382 Keith Miller
#393 Matt Nokes
#400 Ozzie Smith
#405 Dwight Gooden
#428 John Shelby (x2)
#430 Glenn Davis
#445 Mike Krukow
#448 Mike Davison
#452 Willie Wilson
I'm always glad to get another Ozzie, especially when it's cheap.

1988 Topps
#454 Marvell Wynne
#458 Ron Hassey
#461 Danny Darwin
#463 Fred McGriff
#475 Pete Rose
#490 Larry Parrish
#496 Guy Hoffman
#524 Gary Lucas
#526 Juan Berenguer
Fred McGriff is one of those borderline hall of famers, and his vote totals have reflected that so far. I don't think he'll make it in, unless there's some overhaul to the process very soon. While were overhauling, let's put in Pete Rose, too.

I've got some more 88s, but too many to tag all the Cardinals in one post. This one covered 76 total cards including the duplicates, and came out of my half-cent box, adding 38 cents to my Total Spent, and knocking down my average to 1.37 cents. We'll take it down a little more with the rest of the 88s next time.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought4127
Total Spent$56.56
Per Card1.37 cents
Change-0.017 cents

2016-05-27

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 27

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Stanley Cup Finals
SJS 0-0 PIT

Conference Finals
TBL 3-4 PIT
SJS 4-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthCup
PIT0.59357.0
SJS0.56843.0

Pittsburgh held off Tampa Bay, and now they've advanced to the finals to face San Jose. With home ice, I have them with a 57% chance of winning the cup, so not a complete walkover. If home ice were reversed, they'd still be favored at 53.9%, and if you think home ice is meaningless, which is nearly has been during these playoffs, they're still 55.5% likely to be the winners.

2016-05-26

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 26

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 3-3 PIT
SJS 4-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
SJS0.568100.047.3
PIT0.59358.333.2
TBL0.56141.719.5

The Blues had a great season, and advanced further than they have in 30 years, having last made it to game 7 of the conference finals in 1986. The Sharks are now the first team in the finals. Their opponent will be determined tonight in Pittsburgh, a game I have as 58.3% likely to go to the Penguins.

Also, yesterday the header of my projection said Pittsburgh over Tampa Bay, something that clearly won't be the result of the cup finals. It should have been San Jose.

2016-05-25

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 25

Pittsburgh over Tampa Bay

Conference Finals
TBL 3-3 PIT
SJS 3-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
SJS0.56876.736.3
PIT0.59358.333.2
TBL0.56141.719.8
STL0.55423.310.7

My projection hasn't been very stable this year, because each series keeps flip flopping back and forth. Pittsburgh tied their series and will be 58.3% likely to win Game 7 tomorrow. Tonight St. Louis will have to win in San Jose to force a Game 7 back home. They've been alternately dominant and walked over in this series, so pretty much anything could happen, but I have them with just a 43.5% chance of winning tonight.

2016-05-24

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 24

San Jose over Tampa Bay

Conference Finals
TBL 3-2 PIT
SJS 3-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
SJS0.56876.738.7
TBL0.56171.934.1
PIT0.59328.116.0
STL0.55423.311.2

St. Louis lost 6-3, but it was 4-3 when they pulled the goalie, so the game was a bit closer than it looks in the scorebook. Still, a loss is a loss, and they'll have to win the next two to advance to the finals. I've got them down to just an 11.2% chance of winning the cup. I suppose I should root for Pittsburgh tonight, so the Eastern Conference champion won't have a huge rest advantage should St. Louis pull out a game 7 win.

2016-05-23

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 23

St. Louis over Tampa Bay

Conference Finals
TBL 3-2 PIT
SJS 2-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
TBL0.56171.934.7
SJS0.56849.725.0
STL0.55450.324.2
PIT0.59328.116.1

With a road win in Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay is now the overall favorite to win the Cup. But, they won't be favored against either Western conference team, so my "Winner vs Loser" projection has the 3rd most likely team as the winner, because that's the most likely matchup at this point. But, if I were simply picking the team most likely to win, it would be Tampa Bay.

Tonight's game will see one of the Western Conference teams take a 3-2 lead, one win from making it to the finals.

2016-05-22

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 22

Pittsburgh over St. Louis

Conference Finals
TBL 2-2 PIT
SJS 2-2 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59357.432.8
SJS0.56849.723.5
STL0.55450.323.2
TBL0.56142.620.6

The last 8 games have just reduced the 7-game series to best-of-3 series, although now the Blues have a slight advantage over San Jose. That's because they now have home ice in 67% of games instead of just 57%. They showed last night that they still know how to score, putting up 6 goals against San Jose. At this point they have a real chance of setting the record for most playoff games in a single season, which stands at 26 by 4 different teams since the playoffs were expanded to 4 best-of-seven series. Only one of those teams won the cup.

Tonight the Eastern conference will untie their series in Pittsburgh, and I'll be rooting for the weaker-on-paper Lightning.

2016-05-21

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 21

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 2-2 PIT
SJS 2-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
SJS0.56871.033.7
PIT0.59357.432.8
TBL0.56142.620.3
STL0.55429.013.3

I always feel the need to explain this situation, but maybe it's more obvious than I think. Despite San Jose being the most likely team to win the cup, the most likely winner-loser matchup is Pittsburgh over San Jose. That's because Pittsburgh is favored in the East, and would be favored over either Western Conference team. But, San Jose is much closer to advancing to the finals right now, because they are up 2-1 while the East is tied at 2 each.

Hopefully tonight both series will be tied at 2-2, as St. Louis tries to break their 2 game scoreless streak.

2016-05-20

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 20

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 1-2 PIT
SJS 2-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59373.642.0
SJS0.56871.032.5
STL0.55429.013.0
TBL0.56126.412.5

The Blues have now lost 2 games in a row, and look like they might not score another goal this postseason. They're not out yet though, with a 29% chance of winning the series. A game 4 win would bring it to a best of 3 with home ice advantage returning to St. Louis. Tonight Tampa Bay will try to even things up in Pittsburgh.

2016-05-19

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 19

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 1-2 PIT
SJS 1-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59373.642.0
SJS0.56854.625.0
STL0.55445.420.3
TBL0.56126.412.7

Pittsburgh won a road game in Tampa last night, and leads the series 2-1. I now have them at 42% likely to win the cup, and Tampa down to 12.7%, just over 1 in 8. Both Western conference teams took a slight hit too, since they're now slightly likelier to face a tougher opponent.

2016-05-18

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 18

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 1-1 PIT
SJS 1-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59354.331.0
SJS0.56854.626.1
TBL0.56145.722.0
STL0.55445.421.0

After 4 total games, both series are tied 1-1, and we've come full circle in the projections, back to the pre-round projection of Pittsburgh over San Jose. The home teams are slightly worse off, having given up home ice advantage, so Tampa is now up to third most likely to win the cup, and St. Louis drops to 4th.

Also for you eagle-eyes out there, my cup odds don't add up to 100.0 because of rounding.

2016-05-17

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 17

Pittsburgh over St. Louis

Conference Finals
TBL 1-1 PIT
SJS 0-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59354.331.0
STL0.55462.929.1
TBL0.56145.722.3
SJS0.56837.117.7

Pittsburgh is back in the driver's seat, although they've effectively lost their home ice advantage, with the series now a best-of-5 with up to 3 games in Tampa. St. Louis will try to keep theirs tonight in game 2 for the Western Conference.

2016-05-16

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 16

St. Louis over Tampa Bay

Conference Finals
TBL 1-0 PIT
SJS 0-1 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
STL0.55462.929.7
TBL0.56159.428.9
PIT0.59340.623.2
SJS0.56837.118.2

There's nothing more tense in hockey than having a 1-goal lead with about 2 minutes to go, and the opposing team pulls their goalie. The Blues survived that last night and came away with a game 1 win.

With these games being so evenly matched, there are going to be quiet a few slight upsets, which then shuffle the teams I've sorted here by likelihood to win the Stanley Cup. St. Louis is on top for now, with a 29.7% chance of winning their first cup in history, but Tampa Bay is right behind them. Tonight the Eastern Conference finals will continue in Pittsburgh.

2016-05-14

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 14

Tampa Bay over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 1-0 PIT
SJS 0-0 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
TBL0.56159.428.6
SJS0.56851.625.4
PIT0.59340.623.2
STL0.55448.422.8

St. Louis went from the 3rd most likely to least likely team to win the Stanley Cup, even though their chances actually went up a bit. That's because the previously lowest team, Tampa Bay, is the team who won. So while their own chances went up, the chances for the West went up as well, as they are more likely to face a weaker team. Pittsburgh suffered all of the losses, of course. Now, I'm not sure these numbers will mean much as long as Tampa's involved, because they lost their top goaltender Ben Bishop last night - the only non-strategic reason I was rooting for them. For some reason there's an off day with no hockey today, and tomorrow St. Louis hosts San Jose to open the Western Conference finals.

2016-05-13

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 13

Pittsburgh over San Jose

Conference Finals
TBL 0-0 PIT
SJS 0-0 STL

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-4 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthFinalsCup
PIT0.59358.733.5
SJS0.56851.624.4
STL0.55448.422.2
TBL0.56141.319.9

I didn't get the opponent I wanted for the Conference Finals, as San Jose beat Nashville. Still, the Blues have an almost even chance against the Sharks by my numbers. I'll be rooting for Tampa in the East, not only to get a weaker opponent, but so that we can face Ben Bishop, former Blue and local St. Louis guy.

2016-05-12

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 12

Pittsburgh over St. Louis

Round 2
STL 4-3 DAL
NSH 3-3 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthRound 3FinalsCup
PIT0.593100.058.734.4
STL0.554100.051.923.8
TBL0.561100.041.320.8
SJS0.56858.930.414.4
NSH0.52941.117.76.7

The Blues pulled out an impressive win to take the series over Dallas, and are currently the Western Conference favorite. that will change if San Jose wins tonight, but St. Louis would be favored over Nashville. Either way, they now have home ice advantage through the rest of their playoff run, for what it's worth.

2016-05-11

2016 Stanley Cup Projection, May 11

Pittsburgh over Dallas

Round 2
STL 3-3 DAL
NSH 3-3 SJS
PIT 4-2 WSH
NYI 1-4 TBL

Round 1
MIN 2-4 DAL
CHI 3-4 STL
NSH 4-3 ANA
SJS 4-1 LAK
NYI 4-2 FLA
DET 1-4 TBL
PHI 2-4 WSH
NYR 1-4 PIT


TeamStrengthRound 3FinalsCup
PIT0.593100.058.733.5
TBL0.561100.041.320.2
DAL0.57457.032.116.1
SJS0.56858.928.913.7
STL0.55443.022.310.2
NSH0.52941.116.76.3

Don't worry, you haven't missed my previous projections; this is the first day I'm posting them. I finally got an NHL-specific script written, and I thought, why not post my projections just like I do for baseball and football. Maybe I'll even add in the NBA next year. The only real difference for hockey is that I've decided to experiment with taking home ice advantage into account. Most places I read say 55% is a reasonable number for two evenly matched teams is reasonable, so that's what I used, and all future matchups consider the home team in each game of each series. That means that, while St. Louis and Dallas are reasonably closely matched, the extra home ice advantage pushes Dallas all the way up to a 57% likelihood of winning game 7 and the series tonight. I realize home ice has not been that strong of an advantage so far in this year's playoffs, but I'm willing to chalk that up to a small sample size for now.

2016-05-09

Fairfield Football Repack #9

I think I'm about done with these repacks, for two reasons. First, my local Target is running out, and the next closest Target's are just out of my way enough to be annoying. Next, finishing a set via random loose packs is provably hard, which is why good collation in full boxes is extremely helpful in finishing sets. At this point I'm much more likely to get a duplicate to trade, but I'll need a trading partner before I can consider that helpful. Maybe I'll write up a post on the math of random packs one of these days. If you just can't wait for me, read up on the Coupon Collector's Problem,

2013 Score
#68 Matthew Stafford
#116 Matt Cassel
#125 Chandler Jones
#220 London Fletcher
Airmail #252 Robert Griffin III
Franchise #298 Robert Griffin III
Future Franchise #307 DeMarco Murray
2013 Rookie #432 Tyler Bray
Two Matt's don't make a right, I always say. Nor do two RGIIIs for that matter. London Fletcher was one of my favorite Rams, and I guess for awhile I thought he was much older when he played in St. Louis, because I would just be surprised every year he was still in the league. Even today, he's only 40.

2013 Score
#4 Michael Floyd
#12 Tony Gonzalez
#173 Jared Cook
#264 Terrell Suggs
I got another (now former) Ram in Jared Cook. I'll probably follow the players who were St. Louis Rams and hope they do well on their new teams, but I'm not so sure about the team itself in a year or two when a large majority of the players are new to the team in LA, like Jared Goff. It'll be interesting to see who the last St. Louis Ram standing is, in both LA and the NFL as a whole.


2013 NFL Teenymates
Cleveland, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, New York
Green Bay and Tampa were new, so I now need just 3 Running Backs; Seattle, Buffalo, and Houston.

2014 NFL Teenymates
Buffalo, Cleveland, Baltimore, Dallas
Cleveland and Dallas were new in this group, bringing my list down to 7.

2013 NFL Teenymates puzzle

2013 puzzle progress
This puzzle is now dangerously close to finished, with just 3 spots to go. The middle two pieces are the rest of the Teenymates name, and the piece at the bottom is Pittsburgh.

2014 NFL Teenymates puzzle

2014 puzzle progress
New England and New Orleans were new to my puzzle, and are keeping that Miami piece from hanging off in the ether. Nearly complete puzzles are much easier to move around and scan.


NFL Teenymates
FiguresPuzzle Pieces
TeamQBRBWROL1234
STL01100100
SF01300110
SEA00000110
AZ01000110
GB01000210
CHI02100130
MIN01400140
DET01100230
TB01100100
ATL02100100
NO01200110
CAR11100210
DAL01100130
NYG02400120
WAS01100110
PHI02100200
TeamQBRBWROL1234
NE01100110
NYJ02300220
BUF20300110
MIA01100110
SD11100110
OAK12100110
DEN11100200
KC01000200
IND01100130
HOU00000100
JAC02000140
TEN02200110
PIT02200020
CIN01000210
CLE02100110
BAL01300110
PieceQBRBWROL1234
Tee0100
nyM0010
ates0010

RB Special: Glow-in-the-Dark
WR Special: Monster (x2), Orange

2016-05-07

eBay Wins #227

Here's another random penny basketball card, I picked up, and it's an insert no less. I really like Fleer Ultra's baseball designs, and this basketball insert set looks pretty good too. The highlighted circle is slightly embossed, a hallmark of late 90s cards.

1996-97 Fleer Ultra - All-Rookies #8 Kerry Kittles
As I've said before, the NBA definitely gets the short end of the stick when it comes to my sports fandom. There's only so much time to watch games, after all. If you gave me a "real or fake" test with some NBA players names and put Kerry Kittles in there, I might well have said fake. But I looked him up, and he had a 9 year NBA career. I'd certainly recognize any baseball player who played that long during my sports-watching lifetime, and probably any football or hockey player too. I'd have assumed that the reason for my lack of recognition was that the Nets never made the finals while he was on the team, but they actually did two seasons in a row, 2001-02 and 2002-03. I've just got a blind spot for basketball I guess.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought4051
Total Spent$56.18
Per Card1.387 cents
Change0 cents

2016-05-05

Fairfield Football Repack #8

With my 8th repack, and each one containing 4 figurines from series 2 and 3 of Teenymates, I've now got enough that I could complete both sets if I could arrange the right 1-for-1 (or n-for-n) trades.

2013 Score
#46 Geno Atkins
#81 Jermichael Finley
#142 Andre Brown
Airmail #221 John Skelton
Franchise #296 Josh Freeman
Future Franchise #330 Alfred Morris
2013 Rookie #412 Phillip Thomas
2013 Rookie Blue Parallel #424 Star Lotulelei

2013 Score
#2 Larry Fitzgerald
#114 Davone Bess
#175 Chris Givens
#186 Colin Kaepernick

2013 NFL Teenymates
Atlanta, Oakland, Baltimore, St. Louis
The Rams and Ravens were two new figurines for my collection, and I have 5 running backs to go.

2014 NFL Teenymates
New Orleans, Minnesota, New York Giants, Tennessee
I got Minnesota and the Giants in the last repack, and now I have 4 of each. Take my Vikings, please! The Saints and Titans were doubles, too, so I still need 9 wide receivers.

2013 NFL Teenymates puzzle
All 4 of these were new pieces.

2014 NFL Teenymates puzzle
No new pieces in the 2014 puzzle.

2013 puzzle progress
I need just 5 more pieces to complete the 2013 puzzle.

NFL Teenymates
FiguresPuzzle Pieces
TeamQBRBWROL1234
STL01100100
SF01300110
SEA00000110
AZ01000110
GB00000210
CHI02100130
MIN01400140
DET01100220
TB00100100
ATL02100100
NO01200100
CAR11100210
DAL01000130
NYG01400120
WAS01100110
PHI02100200
TeamQBRBWROL1234
NE01100000
NYJ02300120
BUF20200110
MIA01100010
SD11100110
OAK12100110
DEN11100100
KC01000200
IND01100120
HOU00000100
JAC02000140
TEN02200110
PIT02200020
CIN01000210
CLE01000110
BAL01200110
PieceQBRBWROL1234
Tee0100
nyM0010
ates0010

RB Special: Glow-in-the-Dark
WR Special: Monster (x2), Orange

2016-05-03

eBay Wins #226

Today's eBay lot is some brightly bordered 1988 Score.

1988 Score
#78 Will Clark
#334 Billy Jo Robidoux
#406 Ken Howell
#473 Darren Daulton
#511 Steve Ontiveros
#590 Harold Baines
#591 Bill Buckner
#593 Rick Manning

Steve Lake is shown in uniform for the Cardinals here. The other two Cardinals today are Will Clark and Les Lancaster, both of whom finished their careers in St. Louis.

1988 Score
#596 Steve Lake
#598 Ross Jones
#602 Les Lancaster
#603 Ozzie Guillen
#604 Tony Bernazard
#657 Mike Schmidt
These cards were again out of my half-penny box, so I've added 7 cents to my total eBay bargain purchases.


eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought4050
Total Spent$56.17
Per Card1.387 cents
Change-0.003 cents

2016-05-01

Fairfield Football Repack #7

At 4 figurines per series per pack, 7 packs gives me 28 from each series. As there are only 32 teams, and the insert figurines are somewhat rare, I'm going to start seeing more and more duplicates.

2013 Score
#48 Josh Gordon
#86 J.J. Watt
#161 LeSean McCoy
#162 Bryce Brown
Airmail #238 Christian Ponder
Franchise #283 Cameron Wake
Future Franchise #328 Doug Martin
2013 Rookie #401 Markus Wheaton
Hot Rookies #9 Tyler Wilson

2013 Score
#14 Joe Flacco
#109 Brian Hartline
#153 Denarius Moore
I always gloss over the cards because they're not why I buy the repack, but I am sort of growing to like this set. Plus I have so much of it now, I almost want to complete it just because.

2013 NFL Teenymates
Cleveland, New York Giants, Oakland, Atlanta
How's this for a plot twist: All 4 running backs are new, leaving me just 7 to get.

2014 NFL Teenymates
New York Jets, Minnesota, New York Giants, San Francisco
But all 4 wide receivers are not. In fact, they're each the third of their respective teams. I still need 9 of these.


2013 NFL Teenymates puzzle
I've pretty much decided the packs aren't random, but are just "assorted", because all 4 of these pieces were new as well...


2014 NFL Teenymates puzzle
While these 4 were also my third copy of each piece. Since there are two packs of each series in each box, and I haven't tracked them at the pack level, I don't know this for sure, but it certainly appears there are a limited number of combinations of two figures and two puzzle pieces that can occur in packs, at least for Series 2 and 3

2013 puzzle progress
I'm not going to show 2014, because it looks just like it did last time. 2013 is down to just 9 pieces left, while 2014 has 10 left still.

I just realized I had some errant values in the series 4 puzzle pieces column, and they should have been in series 3, so I've shifted those over. I should just remove series 4 entirely, but that's kind of a pain to do in html, so it'll stay for now.

NFL Teenymates
FiguresPuzzle Pieces
TeamQBRBWROL1234
STL/LA00100100
SF01300110
SEA00000110
AZ01000110
GB00000210
CHI02100130
MIN01300130
DET01100220
TB00100000
ATL01100000
NO01100100
CAR11100210
DAL01000130
NYG01300110
WAS01100010
PHI02100200
TeamQBRBWROL1234
NE01100000
NYJ02300110
BUF20200110
MIA01100010
SD11100110
OAK11100110
DEN11100100
KC01000200
IND01100120
HOU00000100
JAC02000130
TEN02100110
PIT02200020
CIN01000210
CLE01000110
BAL00200010
PieceQBRBWROL1234
Tee0100
nyM0010
ates0010

RB Special: Glow-in-the-Dark
WR Special: Monster (x2), Orange