Card Show Finds - 1976-1977 Topps Basketball Cards

1976-1977 Topps #127 Dr. J

 Found these some time back at a card show but wanted to give you a good look at these unique cards.  They are from the 1976-1977 Topps Basketball set.  No review on these but I do like them, especially the collegiate stats you'll find as well as the pro stats.  Couldn't pass up the Dr. J card and I've always liked Clifford Ray and Billy King so those were no brainers.  These cards are part of the tallboys phase Topps went through and measure  1/8 inches by 5 ¼ inches.  Enjoy.

2013-2014 Paninin Basketball Trading Cards

Great Motor City jersey on Andre Drummond

Panini has what I would call a base set from their brand which has no branding like the Prestige or Hoops offerings from Panini.  I picked up a rack pack containing 40 cards.  Not a bad looking set but I wouldn't call it spectacular.  The front is dominated by the photo which is good.  I pulled four rookie cards, one red knight parallel card, two preparation cards and two knight school cards.  The base cards are dominated on the front by the player's photo which is just how I like it.  The photos are good.  They are all on court action shots with a few of the above the rim variety.  I like the photos with the one of Jordan Hill being my favorite (his hair in the photo is great). The bottom of the card has a blue background area that contains the numbers 13 and 14 on either side and the player's name, Panini, and the team name all in silver embossing.  Not a big fan of this look.  I can't put my finger on it but I just don't care for it.  I would have preferred to see a smaller Panini imprint somewhere, the team logo instead of team name and player position.  Seems like a lot but we've seen it on other cards and it worked.  They just need to get a little more creative. 

Poor Anthony Bennett looks so lost...

  The backs contain a smaller copy of the front photo on the top portion of the card with the card number and NBA logo in the upper left and right respectively.  I know this is random but I like the NBA logo placement for some reason.  Under the photo you see the player's name then his height, weight, and birthdate.  Below that are some pretty decent short takes on the player.  The team logo is to the left with the Panini logo under that.  College and draft position are next.  Stats include the last season and career totals - g, FG%, FT%, 3PM, RPG, APT, STL, BLK, PTS, PPG.  All good but with the points per game listed is total points really required?  Could use that space to add 3P% and/or change the blocks and steals to per game averages instead of totals.  While I prefer more stats the backs actually look pretty good.  The write-ups add value and it is just a nice looking, colorful back. 

For the price ($4.98) you can't go wrong.  Seemed a little light on stars but I can't complain too much.  I do like the knight school card inserts but the preparation cards didn't do anything for me.  The only rookie I knew was Anthony Bennett and, well he is Anthony Bennett...  The Jordan Hill Red Knight parallel is ok and I also received his base card.  There are plenty of other inserts with this set.  Look here to see some of the other inserts you can pull.  Always seems you like have to purchase boxes to really get good inserts.  I get it but it would be nice to grab some of these sometimes in retail packs.  Maybe I'm just not lucky?   For the value this is worthy picking up just for the fun of it.  If I was to choose one set from this year this wouldn't be it but I won't doubt I'll pick more of these up at some point.

Atlanta Braves Still Struggle with Offense

Some things just never seem to change.  Again I have to talk about the offensive woes?  The Atlanta Braves are having a good year at 54 and 45 but they are 1 game out of first behind Washington and have plenty of company vying for the wild card.  One thing that still gets me is that the Braves signed B.J. Upton two years ago when they could have resigned Michael Bourn for virtually the same price (Bourn is actually cheaper).  Yes they did it to help entice Justin Upton but the Braves have paid for that move.  All he seems good for is 150 strikeouts a year and the .197 average, .271 on base, and .311 slugging in 219 games.  And it isn't like he was all that great when played for Tampa Bay.  Enough whining about that.

Atlanta does have some players who are having very good years to include Justin Upton, Freddie Freeman, Evan Gattis and new second baseman Tommy LaStella.  Center field would be my priority to upgade the offense if they can make a move before the trading deadline.  I'd love to see a speedy guy who you can put at the top of the order that gets on base all the time.  Not a lot of those guys out there and as good as he's been in the leadoff spot I'd like to see Jason Heyward farther down in the order.  A third baseman with some power would also be a plus but other than Adrian Beltre I don't know if anyone fits that requirement.  I was glad to see Atlanta finally drop Dan Uggla.  Great guy who gave us one very good year but it was time for him to go.  I have to hope the offense can come around the second part of the season.  Maybe LaStella and the return of Gattis from injury can spark this offense.  It is just frustrating when you have such good hitters and some having very good years and the offense still doesn't produce.  Here are some of Braves' major league rankings so far this year: 
Runs - 27th
Homeruns - 17th
Average - 24th
OPS - 25th

Braves' pitching is sixth in the majors in ERA and is doing well.  Considering the injuries the pitching staff has endured and mist be considered a huge win for Atlanta.  I wouldn't complain if the Braves grabbed one more arm for the bullpen but that just seems like I'm being greedy. 

Atlanta can still win their division and/or compete for a wild card.  I truly believe this offense is better than what we've seen.  Hopefully something will get it going.  If it does there is no ceiling for this team in the National League.  I don't think a World Series birth is out of reach.  First they must reach the playoffs and find that inner consistent offense. 

2012-2013 Panini Prestige Basketball Cards

2012-2013 Panini Threads is another of the $11.98 retail boxes Wal-Mart now has on their shelves.  This box contained 8 packs with 10 cards in each for a total of 80 cards.  The biggest pull from this box was the Jose Calderon threads card.  I've never gotten a threads card ever so this was a fun surprise.  The front on the base cards has the Prestige logo and set date in the upper left or lower left depending on whether the card is portrait or landscape style.  The team logo is in the upper right or left depending on the orientation of the card.  The players name is either on a team color line near the bottom of the card or the far right again depending on the orientation.  The rest of the front is all picture which is a good thing.  The backgrounds are faded out.  Again in a color of the player's team.  The photos are pretty sharp but not as dynamic as the offerings from some other sets.  Still they are good photos that take up the majority of the card front and I can't complain about that.  I like the fronts and the only thing I'd add is the player's position.  I'm sure it could have been added somewhere. 

 

The top part of the card back is colored in the team appropriate color in something of a cloudy smoky design.  The card number is in the upper left, Panini and NBA logos are in the upper left and the team logo dominates the center of the "cloud".  The player's name appears in large script just below the team logo.  Next down is a section with the players information - Ht, Wt, Birthdate, Round Drafted,  and where from.  Would have liked to see the pick number with the round but that is ok.  The player's college should also be standard on cards.  Next are the stats - season, team, games, percentages (fg, ft, 3p), rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and points and points per game.  Stats include the last season as well as career totals.  I prefer to have more than just one year but I do like that they include per game stats as opposed to totals.  The lines of stats are highlighted in two alternating team colors.  At the bottom you'll find a write up on the player with the normal generic material.  Not a negative but unless a company gets creative with these I much prefer the stats from additional years.

 

Rookie cards have a banner down the right side of the card stating "ROOKIE".  They also have a shadow photo behind the player photo on the front.  Besides the thread insert the only other inserts was a connections card featuring Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash who were teammates in Dallas at one point and a hardcourt heroes Dwayne Wade.  This is a nice set but I'd probably buy something a little different before adding more of these to my collection.  Still the thread card was pretty awesome.  Not a "money" card but I'm still pretty excited to get one.  If you like basketball cards you should pick these up at the right price.  

2012-2013 Panini Threads NBA Trading Cards Part 2

Looked at this set in February.  Wal-Mart has since stocked retail boxes containing a total of 80 cards (10 cards per 8 packs).  These sell for $11.98 and are a good deal to me so I like picking them up.  I had a pretty good draw grabbing LeBron, Nowitzki, Durant, Duncan, Curry, Howard, Parker, and Bryant among many other starts.  Great pull and I just want to share a few of the cards I pulled.  On a side note one thing I noticed when trying to collate the cards by team is that one, there are a ton of players who don't have photos in their new uniforms.  Two, with there being no team logo and the team name in small letters collating was not an easy job.  Minor detail but I've always liked logos on the front and collating was more of a chore than normal because of the two facts. 

 

2013-2014 Hoops Basketball Cards Part 2

I wrote about these cards in a post in March that you can see here.  Since then I purchased a retail box containing 11 packs (110 total cards).  I love opening boxes and just wanted to show off a few more of these good looking cards.

Great shot on the Paul George card. 

More great shots from around the rim which is a definite theme. 

Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I'm a big Planet of the Apes guy.  Growing up as a kid in the 70's reruns of the movies and TV series made me a fan and kept me hooked.  I've enjoyed all the Planet of the Ape movies to include the Mark Wahlberg's Planet of the Apes from 2001 and the start of the latest take in 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  That brings us to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes which is out in theaters now.  I watched it yesterday with my 20 something daughter. 

<<<SPOILERS AHEAD>>>  We both really enjoyed the movie.  Set 10 years after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the apes are living peacefully in the woods across the San Francisco bay from humans who are trying to survive after a flu has decimated the earth's population.  A chance encounter then puts the two at odds.  Ceasar tries to keep the peace while dealing with those within the ape community who remember well how they were treated by humans.  Those apes would have Ceasar lead the apes against humans before they can again become strong enough to challenge the apes.  From there the apes are in conflict with humans.  I won't ruin all the major plot points but I thought they did a great job of making the movie a very realistic scenario.  I believe you can understand the actions by both sides.  The movie is paced very well and I can't wait to see where the next movie goes.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a great sequel which I recommend to everyone.