Not a creature was stirring, except the mice

Can anyone guess what that is a picture of?

Give up?

It's the Steelers' offensive line of course. I am not going to sit here and cry and whine about how the Steelers got robbed by bad calls, missed penalties, and blown opportunities. It isn't worth it at this point. I am, however, very dissapointed.

The Steelers had every opportunity to travel to the Mistake By the Lake and prove that they deserve to defend their title. Instead, despite the blistery winds and cold, they made themselves look like chumps, not champs.

For all the accolades the O-line has been getting this year, I have always been sceptical. This was proof that there is still something wrong. How can you allow 8 sacks against one of the worst defenses in the league? Tell me! How? This isn't a rhetorical questions.

And the defense...4-1 with Troy and 2-6 without him. I'm not saying that one man makes a team but this certainly helps that argument. We have to have one of the most inept secondary I have ever seen back there. This can't be the same team that won the six games earlier this year (it seems like decades). They can't close, they can't cover, they can't even get a turnover. AGAINST THE BROWNS!!!

As for the special teams, nothing can be said that hasn't already been over analyzed. They are pathetic. They need help. Logan hasn't turned out to be the explosive return artist as we were all hoping. The coverage team also looks like the picture above as well. They couldn't cover a bar tab let alone a kick/punt return.

So I said I wouldn't cry and whine...I lied. It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to. But it doesn't matter because I still love my Steelers despite their metaphorical attempts at trying to become some type of fondue fodder. I, as most of Steeler Nation, will now go into mourning for what once was. At least we still have Six and you don't.

Guerin for Miss Pennsylvania

Stars of the Pittsburgh Penguins were in attendance at the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, on Tuesday signing autographs and hanging out with the kids. Every year, the Penguins stop by the hospital to deliver presents and good cheer to all the children. Some Pens in attendance were Sidney Crosby, Max Talbot, Kris Letang, Sergei Gonchar, and my boy (girl) Billy Guerin. Doesn't he look good in that tiara? (I think that's Goddard sitting behind him sporting his own head gear)

The Pens organization has been involved in charitable work around Pittsburgh for as long as I remember. As a kid, growing up in an eastern suburb, I remember Pens players attending our instructional hockey practices out at the Rostraver Ice Garden. I remember when Mike Bullard, Moe Mantha, and Troy Loney were all on hand to show us the tricks of the trade. I still wonder what happened to all my 8x10 autos that I got back then.

That picture says it all when referring to last nights Monday Nightmare Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Ravens. Being a Steeler fan, any hopes of making a play for the wild card depended on the Ravens losing, which they did, in the most ugly, poorly played, mistake laden game I have ever witnessed with my own eyes.

Did anyone out there watch this debacle? It was pathetic. There was more laundry thrown on the field than in all of Mr. Stadium coin-ops combined (you Michigan people know what I am talking about). Both teams combined for 23 penalties for a total of 310 yards. 310 YARDS OF PENALTIES!!! Are you serious? This was worse than a high school game. According to Stats LLC, this was the second highest most penalized game in the history of the NFL (actually, tied for second but that's nothing to brag about).

There were a total of 9 pass interference calls, and none of them were the ticky-tack questionable calls that seem to be more and more frequent. I haven't seen this many "arm-bar" take-downs since Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was still in the WWF. Just plain sloppy.

If anyone was wondering, this post was more about not talking about the pathetic play of my Steelers on Sunday than about ripping on two teams that will probably be in the playoffs. I still can't stomach the fact that Gradkowski threw for over 300 yards. I will probably never get over that one.

Box Break - - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

For my first trick, I am going to pull a rabbit out of my hat. For my second trick, I'm actually going to bust some hobby boxes for once.

I picked up a couple boxes at a local show a few weeks ago for a pretty decent price. I finally had the time to break them so I wanted to share.

The first box is a hobby box of 09-10 OPC hockey. OPC is one of those sets that I try to chase down every year and inevitably spend triple of what it is worth in getting all the cards. This years set will probably be no different. I already had picked up a blaster when they were first issued and with this box together, I am well on my way to the 600 card beast of a set. Here is the breakdown...

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

36 Packs per box
6 Cards per pack
129 Base Cards / 500 Base Set
No doubles
Guarantees: Retro variation cards, 1 per pack; Canadian Heroes card; 18 Rookies or Legends; 9 Regular Set Gold parallels; 1-2 Retro Set parallels; 9 OPC Inserts (2 signature cards, 3 quad-materials cards per case)

Rookies: (9)

Scott Lehman, Jamie Sifers, Grant Lewis, Derek Peltier, Sean Collis, Riku Helenius, John Scott, Jesse Joensuu, and Brandon Segal

Legends: (9)

Denis Potvin, Bernie Federko, Darryl Sutter, Clark Gillies, Red Kelly, Gilbert Perreault, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Patrick Roy

SP Parallels: (12)

Gold Marquee Rookies: Kris Chucko; Canadian Heroes Foil: Mike Bossy; Gold Legends: Bobby Clarke; Retro Rainbow: Adrian Aucoin, Jere Lehtinen, Marek Zidlicky; Gold Regular: Adrian Aucoin, Daniel Sedin, Manny Legace, Maxim Lapierre, Niklas Kronwall, Matt Bradley, Keith Ballard.

Regular Retro Parallels: (36)

I'm not listing them all. That would take too long.

Inserts: (18)

Record Breaker: Zdeno Chara; In Action: Mikko Koivu, Trophy Winner: Evgeni Malkin; Stat Leader: Alexander Ovechkin; All Star: Evgeni Malkin; All Rookie Team: Patrik Berglund; Team Checklists: Nashville, Toronto, Carolina; Canadian Heroes: Haley Irwin, Martin St. Louis, Chris Phillips, Shannon Szabados, Colleen Sostorics, Becky Kellar, Kim St. Pierre, Drew Doughty, Derek Roy

Auto: (1)

Peter Budaj (yes it's a sticker auto)



If you haven't seen the regular issue cards yet, here is a sample...
I like the design (although some people might find it too busy). It features nice full color action shots of the players surrounded by a double line border like some of the early 80s issues. Upper Deck could have toned down the branding logo at the top to make way for the players name but it does make for a clean design.

So if you are keeping score on my box, I think I beat the odds for a box considering I got a case hit with the Budaj auto. It was nice to pull one out of a pack for a change instead of the redemption scratch off like last year. As for the other cards, I pulled exactly the box breakdown from UD's sell sheet. I was especially happy with the 2 Malkin inserts, at least from a PC standpoint. I also think the selection of rookies was pretty decent.

Overall, I would give this set an 8/10 and my particular box a 9/10 because of the PC insert pulls and of course the case hit on the auto.

Box Break - - 2009-10 MVP Hockey Blaster

I told myself before the start of the season this year that I wasn't going to buy anymore blasters. I think I spent $12.3 million on them last year and ended up with piles and piles of stuff; I don't even know what is in there. After reading some reviews on the product, I decided that a blaster was best to "test the waters" on this one.

As most hockey collector's know, MVP is always been a couple steps from the bottom when it comes to price but loaded when it comes to the proverbial hit. I make an attempt to get the Upper Deck main set each year, as well as SP and O-Pee-Chee. MVP is always my third or fourth choice because I like the design and, like I already said, there are a ton of rookies and the insert sets are well designed.

This year is no different so I picked one up the other day.

2009-10 MVP Hockey Retail Blaster

12 Packs per Blaster
8 Cards per Pack
84 base cards / 394 total base set
No Doubles
Guarantees: MVP Rookies 1:2 packs on average

Rookies: (6)

304 Matt Beleskey, 305 T.J. Galiardi, 335 John Scott, 365 Jamie Fraser, 361 Michael Vernance, and 371 Matt Duchene

Inserts: (6)

Hart Winner (1:40): Bobby Orr; Hart Candidates (1:5): Evgeni Malkin, Rick DiPietro; MVP Winter Classic: Scott Hartnell, Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic

Autos: (0)

GU: (0)

Overall, this is a nice set for a builder because of its mid-range size and the slew of rookies. Although I didn't get one of the 2-On-2 jersey cards, it was hardly to be expected out of a blaster (even though I pulled one last year). I found it interesting that of the 6 rookies I pulled, 3 of them were Avs and 2 of them were Wild players. Not sure if that has anything to do with quality control but I won't argue with a Duchene. That guy will be a superstar

I think this is a solid hockey set to collect/buy. At about 20 bucks for a retail blaster or around $35-45 for a hobby box, you can't really go wrong here. I would give it a 7/10 for the cards and a 7/10 for my box.

(A special welcome to Hackenbush from over at the Can't Have Too Many Cards blog. He is my newest follower of the Real DFG blog and comes from the Chicagoland area like me. Unfortunately, he is a Cubs fan. We can't all be perfect though.)

Here is another interesting story on card licensing

Topps announced that they have sealed the deal for the exclusive production of minor league baseball cards. This makes two licenses for baseball product in the same year. The Washington Times posted an article and it is interesting to read the comments of the executives at Topps on why they feel this is a good thing. Check it out.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/03/sportsbiz-baseball-betting-it-all-on-topps/