[CLOSED] One Last Spot Left In the Hockey Box Break

T-minus 2 Hours and counting until this place goes up to 11 and we close up the Hockey Box Break.


If you have already paid, Awesome!  If not...not as awesome.  But it's ok.  I know you are good for it.

There is one spot left in the break.  As you can see by the care free, gamble at all cost attitude of Dave H from Wax Stain Rookie, you can purchase an additional team if you so choose.  There are some good ones left on the board.  Check the list.

I am going to experiment with my camera tonight and see what might work best for busting these boxes since all my video breaks up to this point leave something to be desired.  I should also be able to do the randomization thingy for the bonus teams later this evening too if I can figure it out.  I will post those as soon as I get them done.

I bet you all can hardly wait. The only thing better than this would be to do it in person at the National show in Baltimore with everyone sitting there watching.  Wow!  What would the logistics of that be?  At least it gives me an idea for next time.

[CLOSED] Group Break Update (ONE SPOT LEFT)

Hey everyone...



The group break is almost filled.  I am actually surprised.  There were a couple glitches but nothing we couldn't work through.

For anyone that may still want in, there is  ONE SPOT LEFT as I am writing this.  I am closing up shop tonight or if this gets filled first.  


Those of you that are already confirmed as in, send payment soon if you haven't already.  Those that haven't been confirmed, make sure you sent me an email with your address.  I'd like no loose ends prior to the start of the break.


Entries are only $10 which covers two teams, one you pick, one random, as well as shipping.

Here are the teams that are left...

Anaheim Ducks
Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames
Carolina Hurricanes (or Hartford)
Dallas Stars (or Minnesota North Stars)
Edmonton Oilers
Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators
Phoenix Coyotes (or the old Winnipeg Jets)
Saint Louis Blues
San Jose Sharks
Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals

So if you want in, time is running out.  Go to the main page here and leave a comment with your team, then shoot me an email with your address so I can confirm it and let you know to send payment.

[CLOSED] Pick Your Team For The Break (Boxes In Hand 2 Days Early)

You heard that right.  The boxes for the RDFGFEMSPSACGHBBE are in my possession.  So let's take a moment to go over the ground rules.

You will have to cut me some slack as this is my first ever group break so I don't really know what proper etiquette should be but I will do my best.  This is a long post so bear with me a moment while I go over everything there is to know about the break.

1. Pick a team of your choice.  Every team is available except the Pittsburgh Penguins (they are mine, you can't have them).  You will also receive one random team of my choice...well it won't really be my choice per se.  It will be randomized with one of those randomization thingy's.  Leave a comment in this post with your team and also send me your choice via email along with your address for shipping.  Once I verify that your pick is kosher, I will let you know to send payment.  (SO IF YOU PICKED IN A PREVIOUS POST BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO ANTSY, PICK AGAIN!!)

For teams that existed in antiquity, you will get the cards as long as you possess the rights to that franchise (ie, the Nordiques became the Avalanche; Winnipeg became Phoenix; Hartford became Carolina, etc.)  Any potential cards of teams that no longer exist in any shape or form will be thrown in the pile of unclaimed teams for me to keep or to give away some how at the end.  Multi player cards of different teams will be burned in a bon fire of my choosing...just kidding, calm down.  These will go to whichever team comes first on the card unless another represented team has no hits, then it goes to them in order left to right.  Do I have to explain that or is it understood?  Ok, lets say there is a card of Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, and Mike Modano, in that order.  The Detroit team gets it unless they already had a hit and either Colorado or Dallas has not gotten a hit from the break.  If that's the case, then Colorado gets it.  Unless they too got a hit, then Dallas gets it  Needless to say, the multi-player cards will be held till the end to see who ends up with it.  Capiche?

Draft picks with minor league, collegiate, world league, etc. franchises will go to the team that drafted that player.  I can go on and on about this but I think everyone understands the gist of this.  (Man this is getting confusing).

Your entry fee will cover both teams and shipping of your goods.  Speaking of entry fee...

2.  The price of entry is $10 payable to me via Paypal.  If you do not have Paypal and want to participate, send me an email and we can try to work something out.  The address to send to is t n pa r i sh 1 at y a hoo dot com (without the spaces, of course).  I think the rage is to have everyone send payment as a "gift".  I don't know what that means or why they are all doing it so, whatever.  Just send the money however you normally would do it.  In the memo/notes (wherever you can type) section of your payment, please list your team as well as reiterating your address for shipping (I want to be sure I get these right when it's all said and done).  DON'T SEND UNTIL I VERIFY THAT YOUR TEAM PICK IS VALID AND I TELL YOU TO PAY.  I will do my best to update the list as quickly as possible.

3.  There are 15 slots available.  I would like to have at least 10 of these filled before starting the break but I am not going to leave anyone hanging if we don't.  The show must go on, as they say.  There are 30 teams in the league (during the time frame these boxes were released) so this works out pretty much perfectly.  Unclaimed teams, if there are any, as already mentioned in rule 1 will either be kept by me or more than likely be auctioned off to the highest bidder or something of that nature at the end of the break.

4.   Everyone will get a "HIT".  Even if you don't get one pulled out of a pack, you will get at least one (obviously pulled from my personal collection of over 500 memorabilia cards and about 200 autographs).  By definition, for our purposes, hit refers to either some type of memorabilia card or autograph.

5.  I will try...and that means TRY, to do these breaks on video.  We all know my vid skills are lacking but I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to pull a fast one on you.  I want this to be as fair as it is fun for everyone.  I don't want to have to scan everything but if I have to, I will.

6.  I'd like to have the sign ups complete by Thursday and start breaking these on Friday.  So be quick.

7.  I can't think of anymore rules.  If I do, I will randomly make up said rule as I am like Oz, the almighty and all powerful.


And now, the boxes we will be breaking

2002-03 Vanguard

Configuration: 24 packs per box. 6 cards per pack.

• 3 #ed Memorabilia Cards per box.  
• At least 4 serial numbered rookies
• 6-8 Insert Cards
• LTD and Gold Variation Parallel Cards as well as 24 Pacific Complete cards per box

 2002-03 Exclusive

Configuration: 20 packs per box. 5 cards per pack.

• 1 Autograph Rookie Card and 2 Memorabilia Card per box
• 8-10 Insert Cards
• Gold and Blue Parallel Cards

 2002-03 Quest For The Cup


Configuration: 24 packs per box. 6 cards per pack.

• 3 Memorabilia Cards per box
• 4-5 Serial Numbered Rookies
• Gold Parallel Cards and 24 Pacific Complete cards per box
•  6-7 Insert Cards
• Randomly inserted Marty Turco Autos (I doubt it but we'll see)

 

2001-02 Adrenaline

Configuration: 24 packs per box. 5 cards per pack.

• 2 Memorabilia Cards per box
• 1-2 Serial Numbered Rookies
• Premier Date and Hobby Variation Parallel Cards
• 5-7 Insert Cards
• Ilya Kovalchuk Autograph cards 

 2001-02 Crown Royale

Configuration: 24 packs per box. 5 cards per pack.

• 2 Triple Memorabilia Cards per box 
• 1 Serial Numbered Rookie per box
• Hobby and Premier Date Parallel Cards 
• 2-4 Inserts Cards

 2003-04 Crown Royale

Configuration: 20 packs per box. 8 cards per pack.

• 4 Memorabilia Cards per box with Patch Variation Parallels
• 3-4 Serial Numbered Rookies
• Red and Blue Parallel Cards as well as 40 Pacific Complete cards
• 6-8 Insert Cards

So if my math is correct, that should be 136 packs for a total of 788 cards and about 16 hits.

And now the team list

1. Pittsburgh Penguins - - The Real DFG    [PAID]
2. Detroit Red Wings - - Captain Canuck     [PAID]

3. Chicago Blackhawks - - Sal (Puck Junk)    [PAID]

4. Toronto Maple Leafs - - 1967ers    [PAID]

5. Colorado Avalanche (or Quebec) - - Kevin O.    [PAID]

6.  New York Rangers - - jasonvorhees    [PAID]

7. Atlanta Thrashers  - - Nick B.      [PAID]

8.  New York Islanders - - BA Benny    [PAID]

9.  New Jersey Devils- - Wicked Ortega

10. Vancouver Canucks - - Michael    [PAID]
11.  Ottawa Senators - - Dave H    [PAID]
12.  Boston Bruins - - Drop The Gloves    [PAID]
13. Philadelphia Flyers -  - Brad    [PAID]
14. Columbus Blue Jackets - - Dave H    [PAID]
15.


TEAMS STILL REMAINING

Anaheim Ducks
Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames
Carolina Hurricanes (or Hartford)
Dallas Stars (or Minnesota North Stars)

Edmonton Oilers

Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators
Phoenix Coyotes (or the old Winnipeg Jets)
Saint Louis Blues
San Jose Sharks
Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals

So there you have it.  Leave a comment below with your team request and shoot me an email with your info ( t n pa ri sh 1 at ya ho o dot com, without the spaces).  Wait for me to verify your pick before you send payment.  I don't want anyone paying for a team that may already be off the board.

If all goes as planned, this should be fun.  At least I hope. Remember, I'm shutting down entries on Thursday night at 9 PM CST (or earlier if it fills up).  So be quick.

DON'T FORGET TO SEND ME AN EMAIL WITH YOUR INFO SO YOU CAN PAY FOR YOUR TEAM.

I Am Not Immune (my one and only annual A&G post)

Yes, you heard me.  I, the fanatical Pittsburgh sports and general hockey fan, am not immune to the siren song that is Allen & Ginter's.  I am a sucker for retro looking cards, to which I have more than once acknowledged.  This years A&G is nothing new to the card collecting community, nothing different than what has already been done before, and is actually kind of stale in my opinion, but...I still love it.

I went a little overboard I think with a couple blasters, a retail box, and a handful of rack packs but hey, how else do you expect to complete a base set with all the SPs?  When the dust settled and the mountain of pack wrappers finally toppled over, I was left still needing 137 cards in the base set.  That's still almost 40%!!  I think I also decided to go after many of the insert sets, including most of the mini's.  No way I will be able to complete a base mini set...not with all the parallels that are inserted into packs. 

Here were some of my favorites...

 Nolan Ryan base card, looking all "I'm going to K you and there is nothing you can do about it".

 Roberto Clemente Highlight Sketch card.  Just awesome.

Hank Aaron base card.  If only I had a time machine...

What?  It's a card.  I didn't make it up.

 The Emancipation Proclamation from the Historical Turning Points set.  Look at Abe, just waiting to plunge that wooden stake into Dracula's cold heart.

 

 It's an old guy with a fish.  What is not to like about this card?

 There are a bunch of mini's to choose from but the old school Padres Tony Gwynn has to be my favorite.

And finally, Yu. Not You, Yu.  Looking like a high school kid, all nerdy and stuff.

Here is a list of what I need, along with a whole host of mini's that are on my Set Needs Page.

1 2 6 8 9 10 11 14 15 22 23 27 28 29 32 33 34 35 37 38 42 44 46 50 53 54 61 62 64 65 71 75 77 78 86 87 88 89 91 92 93 98 102 111 112 114 121 122 125 128 130 137 139 142 147 148 156 158 162 169 171 173 174 175 176 177 182 183 187 188 191 195 197 198 199 207 209 211 214 220 222 223 226 238 240 242 243 245 246 248 250 252 253 254 255 262 263 264 270 273 277 278 283 285 287 291 292 298 299 300 302 303 304 305 306 308 309 310 313 315 319 321 322 323 325 326 330 333 334 337 339 341 344 347 348 349 350

I have a whole slue of base doubles that I can trade...about a 100 or so, as well as these others:

SPs - - 301, 307, 316, 318, 320, 327, 332, 342, 346 (x2), 
Mini's - - 166, 249, 269
Mini SPs - - 335
Mini A&G Back - - 213
What's In A Name - - 35, 76, 83 (x2)
Historical Turning Points - - 8
World's Tallest Buildings - - 1, 2, 3, 7

If anyone wants to make a deal on any A&G, let me know.

Stay tuned for more updates on next weeks big community group break.

Future Group Break Update

Just to tease a little more on the potential future community box break...


I have obtained the rights to 6, yes, 6 hobby boxes.  I know in the last post I said 5 but I reserve the right to change my mind whenever I want.  Am I done with 6?  Who knows?  Maybe I am, maybe I'm not but as of right now, the number has been changed from 5 to 6.  Make a note of it.

As for other details, I'm still thinking I can manage this at $10 for 2 teams (one picked, one assigned).  That seems like a fair way to do things and should basically cover costs (probably not but who cares).  I have not officially rolled out the break and already I have 8 teams potentially wiped off the board because some people are too impatient. 

I will try to post more details as the days roll on.  I hope to have this break officially opened for business by the middle of next week.  I was shooting for this weekend but I will be busy as my band is playing a gig at the Pierogi Festival in Whiting, Indiana.  It used to be a quirky little festival that celebrates Polish heritage and those over-sized ravioli's stuffed with whatever you can imagine (no, I'm not Polish...not that there is anything wrong with that).  Ever since the Food Network covered the event a few years ago, the place is jam packed with people from all over.  Now they see crowds of about 200,000 come through there over the three day event.  My band got chosen to play one of the entertainment stages on Saturday at 2.  If you find yourself in Northwest Indiana about that time, stop on by.  We're in the beer garden.

Stay tuned for more details about the break.

Working on something for everyone...

(I know, stealing images from old album covers is wrong.  But it fits.)

That's right, kids!!  You heard me correctly.  Despite the countless additions to my PC and the seemingly endless box breaks, coupled with the trips to shows, my LCS, and numerous collection acquisitions...I'm going to now do something I have never done.  What is it, you ask?  Quite simply...

THE REAL DFG's FIRST EVER MID-SUMMER PRE-SEASON AFFORDABLE COMMUNITY GROUP HOCKEY BOX BREAK EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

or

The RDFGFEMSPSACGHBBE for short.  On second thought, let's just go with Group Break.

I thought long and hard over this one and decided to give the fans what they wanted (actually no one wanted it but I thought it would break up the monotony).  Believe it or not, I am growing tired of opening stuff just to throw it all into a box or binder and forget that I have it.  I love to share (brag) about what I open but I lack the originality to pull it off in an entertaining way.  It's also taking way too long to catalog everything I have, too long to separate out what is for keeps and what is sell-able, too long to create lists of what I need to complete more sets of newly busted wax, and I just don't have the time that I used to.  So the beneficiaries of my little, oh, we'll call it a funk...will be the readers of the blog.

I don't have all the details ironed out yet but it will be open to all the readers and even non-readers if they crawl out of the woodwork (and pay me).  As the title suggests, it is going to be HOCKEY related so the teams will all be NHL based.  I know, I know.  Hockey breaks generally don't do too well historically.  Well, I'm being optimistic here.  I haven't seen anyone try one of these in a while (at least not with non-high end stuff) and there are way too many hockey collectors out there in blog-o-land currently to not be able to pull off something like this.

I'm looking to mix this up a bit with some early 2000s Pacific branded stuff since I have received numerous comments from other readers and bloggers about how they enjoy those because not many collectors have a ton of this stuff.  Depending on what happens between now and probably the middle of next week when I decide to open these flood gates, I may have a few more things up my sleeve to add to the mix.  I'm thinking at a minimum, at least 5 Hobby Boxes.  That should get us a nice assortment of base cards as well as inserts and 10-12 "hits".  If I can come up with more than that, I will, but the key is AFFORDABLE...(so no high-end stuff here [unless of course people start demanding it])  I'm also going to work on a way to try and get some type of "hit" to each participant and possibly balance out any team stacks that fail to live up to what I think may be worth their weight of the break fee.

Speaking of break fee?  I'm sure you are all wondering the cost.  I'm pretty sure I will be able to get this to about $10 shipped and probably have two teams per entry.  That way, we can have 15 slots with everyone getting 2 teams (one you pick, one I pick).  Of course the Penguins will be off the table (and any Pittsburgh "hits" will be replaced) but all others will be fair game.  As long as I can get about 1/2 to 3/4 of the board filled, I think this can work out.

Stay tuned for more details.