More Fun With Explosives...I Mean Pack Busting

I swear this is the last 5 pack combo busting post for awhile. I only have a few more unopened rack packs/boxes left in there but the random packs are depleted. Overall I'd say I faired pretty poorly considering there was nothing of super value here. There was also nothing of substance to add to my PC other than about a half dozen or so. Maybe this final round will make up for everything...or maybe it won't.

Pack #1: 2005-06 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey

#289 Adrian Aucoin
#413 Jamal Mayers
#407 Joe Thornton
#450 Mikko Koivu (R) - Young Guns
#250 Marian Hossa
#422 Ed Belfour
#330 Martin Gelinas
#DP16 Sidney Crosby - Diary of a Phenom
#221 Nathan Horton - Victory Update Insert

Nice Pack!! Finally a couple cards that I can safely be happy with. The Koivu Young Guns is a fairly decent rookie to pull out of pack of these, barring the Crosby or Ovechkin. I'm also a fan of the Crosby DOAP cards since, of course, one of my collecting goals is to get as many Pens cards as I can.

Pack #2: 2007-08 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey

#323 Travis Moen
#293 Kurtis Foster
#411 Manny Fernandez
#307 Joe Sakic
#302 Cory Sarich
#368 Michal Rozsival
#420 Ilya Kovalchuk
#284 Ryan Smyth - Victory Update Insert

I'm not 100% but I think I need at least 5 of these for my set. Major positive there. I still love the photography on the Upper Deck cards. I don't even seem to mind the fact that they have produced the same product for the last three years with a different player name layout. They are just clean looking cards.

Pack #3: 2007-08 Victory Hockey

#26 Jaromir Jagr
#194 Alexander Frolov
#30 Mike Knuble
#184 Mike Ribeiro
#70 Brad Richards
#GB27 Tomas Vokoun - Game Breakers

Just like MVP, these tend to yeild either a rookie or Game Breaker insert in each pack. This was no exception with the Vokoun. I love goalie cards so this is nice to go in the binder. There was also another Jagr that I don't think I have yet (I think I always say that, whether I do or not).

Pack #4: 2008 Donruss Classics Football

#52 Ronnie Brown
#76 Kevin Curtis
#33 Jon Kitna
#28 Jason Witten
#85 Devin Hester

This pack was strangely similar to the last pack of these I opened, with the Brown and Curtis cards on top. It even had the Hester, although this one wasn't serial numbered.

Pack #5: 1997-98 Collector's Choice Hockey

#167 Wayne Gretzky
#238 Rob Zamuner
#9 Paul Kariya
#77 Mike Vernon
#123 Vitali Yachmenev

This is the first pack I have opened in a long while that actually had a Gretzky card that wasn't some kind of advertisement. It's him in his Rangers uniform skating behind the net. It almost looks like he was cropped from a different photo and placed onto this card because the proportional size of him in relation to the rest of his surroundings is a bit off. Weird. Of course these are Collector's Choice so they are about as good as furniture shims.

BONUS Pack #6: 2007-08 Ultra Hockey

#109 Anze Kopitar
#173 Alex Tanguay
#54 Simon Gagne - Gold Medallion
#106 Alexander Frolov
#190 Ilya Kovalchuk

I miss counted here but it doesn't matter. This was the last and final pack of 2007 Ultra Hockey. I am going to see how may I am away from at least a base set and maybe put this one together. Not a bad pack though, considering the talent.

Pack Busting: The Saga Continues

Another episode of Pack Busting. I'm getting closer to clearing out the closet. I have found more space than I knew I had. That's more place to put more cards I guess...twist my arm. Here is another sad batch of random packs.

Pack #1: 2007-08 Ultra Hockey

#9 Brendan Morrison
#157 Martin Havlat
#32 Matt Carle - Gold Medallion
#110 Dustin Brown
#96 Michael Ryder

Blah. Just, blah. I am definitely going to put this set together now that I have so many of them.

Pack #2: 2006-07 Flair Showcase Hockey

#2 Teemu Selanne
#8 Kari Lehtonen
#77 Shane Doan
#98 Eric Fehr
#42 Tomas Holmstrom

I bought a retail box of these 6 months, a year, 2 years, I don't remember. I just know I did. The box yeilded almost the entire base set minus, if I remember, 3 cards. These weren't the three cards. I do like the heavy stock they are printed on and the "shiny" factor is in full effect.

Pack #3: 2008 Score Football

#314 Vince Young
#304 Earnest Graham
#253 Heath Miller
#302 Jeff Garcia
Tony Romo - Donruss Decals
#373 Limas Sweed (R)
#119 Andre Johnson - Glossy Parallel

I think this is my 4th or 5th Sweed rookie. At the beginning of the season I was excited about them and all of Limas' potential as the #3 or #4 receiver. Yeah, that's panned out...Sweed was benched for most of the season. I think he probably saw action in 2-3 games. He has now voluntarily moved himself to the IR. What is that all about? Oooohh. I got a Romo sticker I can put on my Trapper Keeper, too.

Pack #4: 2008 Donruss Classics Football

#52 Ronnie Brown
#76 Kevin Curtis
#72 Jerry Porter
#29 Marion Barber III
#86 Matt Hasselbeck

I like these card designs. Unfortunately, there was nothing in here of any substance. I have binder pages for the Brown and Barber. The rest go into the box of oblivion.

Pack #5: 1997-98 Collector's Choice Hockey

#237 Dino Ciccarelli
#183 Janne Niinimaa
#89 Curtis Joseph
#68 Joe Nieuwendyk
#239 Igor Ulanov

Was there ever a time when Collector's Choice was cool? I actually liked the following year (98-99) when they tried to hide the fact that it was a CC product and called it UD Choice. At least then I didn't feel so cheap for buying it. Either way, it is what it is. Nothing to see here.

More Fun With Pack Busting

In my continuing effort to rid the world, ie. my bedroom closet, of unopened packs of cards, I present to you another episode of Pack Busting for Dummies. This is a mixed bunch that includes hockey and football because, yes...I am that crazy.

Pack #1: 2007-08 Ultra Hockey

#191 Slava Kozlov
#65 Henrik Lundqvist
#177 Jason Pominville - Gold Medallion
#46 Curtis Joseph
#44 Georges Laraque

Another Ultra hockey pack. I don't know why I have so many of these. I can't remember if there was a retail box or blaster that I opened and left the packs in a box or what. The GM was Jason Pominville; the SOB who scored the game winner over the Pens last night. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Pack #2: 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Hockey

#92 Ed Belfour
#6 Kari Lehtonen
#57 Patrik Elias
#14 Miika Kiprusoff
#62 Rick DiPietro

The Goalie Pack. Except for Elias, who I am sure somehow got into this pack by mistake.

Pack #3: 2008 Donruss Classics Football

#40 Andre Johnson
#97 Roydell Williams
#61 Laurence Maroney
#19 Carson Palmer
#42 Peyton Manning

The first football pack in the mix. Not a very good one if you are an insert/"HIT" collector. I don't have any of these in my player albums so these will at least be a welcome addition. Other than the Roydell, the rest will go into the album.

Pack #4: 2008 Score Football

#285 Deion Branch
#239 Donovan McNabb
Carolina Panthers - Donruss Decals Tattoos
#293 Torry Holt
#246 Lito Sheppard
#381 Anthony Alridge
#87 Heary Colbert - Glossy Parallel

Score football is like Collector's Choice in hockey. It exists. You occasionally run into some cards from it. You are usually no better off than you were prior to opening it. I may very well give these to my kids to throw around the house at each other like they do with all their other toys.

Pack #5: 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

#452 Alexander Edler
#120 Paul Martin
#136 Chris Kunitz
#307 Patrick O'Sullivan
#437 Ryan Malone
#516 Brian Lee (R)

The Brian Lee Marquee Rookie is alright. I also pulled a Kunitz in a Ducks uniform although he is now a Penguin and a Malone in a Penguin uniform although he is now a member of the Lightning. I also needed two of these for my set. At least from a practical standpoint, this was the best pack of the bunch.

Stay tuned for more pack madness.