When the End of the Rainbow Is Hard to Find

Washington State Cougars football is one of my card collecting passions.  Sometimes, just sometimes, a WSU football player is good enough to be included in card releases.  Last year, wide receiver Gabe Marks was fortunate enough to be included in a couple Panini releases.  This year, quarterback Luke Falk has the honor.

So far he has been included in 5 Panini releases featuring him in his college uniform.  Typically I'll only collect the player in their college uniform but this year I might make an exception for Falk.  He was a great quarterback to watch, even if he had his struggles, and he embodied the Cougar spirit.  I honestly don't know how far he will make it in the pros but I wish him the best.

Anyway, I've picked up a lot of Falk cards--44 and counting.  Including duplicates.  The one set I've really focus on is 2018 Score.  Score is basic but the cards look sharp.  I therefore decided I would pick up as many of his Score cards as I could.

At some point, I decided I would go for the rainbow of his cards.  Excluding printing plates, there are 14 total cards in the rainbow Easy, right? Wrong.

Base

Like I said, a rather basic design.  However, the photo selection is something a little different.  Quarterbacks aren't usually featured scrambling outside the pocket.

The crimson bar under the photo adds some flourish to what otherwise could have been an even simpler design.  There is a touch a gray in the border around the photo, next to the position and team designation, and behind the name.  These gray elements are present in all the cards but given that WSU colors are crimson and gray, it really fits well on Falk's card.

Based on everything above, I was drawn to the card.  I even want to put together the rest of the set.

Gold

The gold parallel is a blaster box exclusive.

Scorecard

These scorecard parallels are the most common.  I've pulled a handful myself in my Falk search.  This one was picked off eBay.

Gold Zone /50

Out of all the numbered parallels I've seen on eBay, this one has shown up the most.  I have no idea why given it's low numbered.

Red Zone /20

I've also seen this parallel a couple times on eBay. The red border was a must have since it matches the school colors.

Gem Masters /1

If I was a betting man, I would have guessed that I would have picked up other retail exclusive parallels before I found the one of one.  With the 1/1 secured, I thought that the rest of the rainbow would come easily.

Instead, this is the last card I've found and it has been a couple weeks.  I check every day, multiple times, for needed parallels.  Nothing.  It's rather discouraging.  Score is a common set! Cards should be popping up on eBay left and right.

If you counted, I have 6 out of 14 cards needed.  It's going to be a long journey.  I won't give up though.

Showing Signs of Life at the Card Show

You may or may not have noticed my absence from blogging over the past few weeks.  It has all been for a very good reason.  On October 10, my wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Theodore.  Since then my life has been occupied with 3AM feedings, daytime naps, poopy diapers, and the occasional videogame to de-stress (Super Mario Odyssey is awesome btw).  I haven't even had time to keep up with reading blogs.

Newborn Theo

Newborns are supposed to feed at least every 3 hours so I figured I would have time in between those feedings to do card related stuff.  Nope. In between taking care of myself, my recovering wife, and making sure household chores don't pile up, time goes by quickly.

Now at the almost 1 month mark, things are normalizing somewhat.  My wife was even gracious enough to let me attend my local bi-annual card show.

The largest purchase of the day (literally) was a complete set of 2008 Upper Deck First Edition.  The big draw here was the price: $5.  The design is decent enough but the real kicker was the inclusion of a relic card.

It's not a card show without picking up a few additions for my Felix Hernandez collection.  I love picking up Topps Museum cards on the cheap ($1) considering these are from a high-end set. 

The playing window on Felix is closing soon.  He deserves the respect of being an opening day starter but next year he might be pushed back to #2.  That will be a sad day.

These cards are from this year's Topps flagship set.  Gimmicky as they are, I enjoy seeing players in their holiday/special event jerseys.  When I get several more cards of these alternate jerseys I'll have to branch them out into their own PC.

 

With the birth of my son, I've added a few players to my collection roster.  I'm collecting players who share a birthday with my son.  I plan to expand upon this idea in a separate post to come later.  Andrew McCutchen is a great player and I'm excited to start collecting him.  I don't know if this 2005 Topps Update card counts as his first rookie card but either way, it's a nice looking card.

The card on the right is from Panini's 2016 Father's Day promo set.  It is the thick stock parallel numbered to 50.  For only $1 it was an easy pick up.

Troy Tulowitzki is another player who shares a birthday with my son.  Tulowitzki had a down year last year with the Blue Jays, which hopefully will help soften the price on some of his cards.  

Typically I stay away from collecting Griffey in a Reds uniform.  I'm not upset or anything that he left Seattle, it's just that with so many Griffey cards I need some focus.  I made an exception for these cards since they feature the 2001 All-Star Game logo when it was held in Seattle.  As a bonus, this is a two-card oddball set from Ritz/Oreo.

The 2016 Panini Diamond Kings Rookie Signatures Silver is the only relic (and auto) set I plan to complete.  I have over half the set and was surprised to see a set need show up at the show.  

Retail relics from 2008 Topps. I love 2008 Topps. 

At the last card show I found a WSU Cougars Smokey set.  As luck would have it, I found another set at this show.  Since the cards are unnumbered I wasn't sure if I found the complete set or not.  Unfortunately, after checking the Trading Card Database, I discovered I am one card short: Drew Bledsoe.

It will be difficult to find that card available as a single so I might have to purchase a complete set.  Bummer.

That wraps up my card show for this year.  It was a nice feeling to get back into cards! Thanks for reading!

Touchdown with Drew Bledsoe

I wanted to give a quick shout out to Colby at Cardboard Collections for the free Drew Bledsoe card. He has was giving away a few lots of cards and when I saw this Bledsoe, I knew it would make a great addition to my WSU Cougar binder.  Although the "Washington State" name was removed from the front of his jersey, you can still see the Cougar logo on his arm and "Cougars" written on the helmet.

The front has Tekchrome technology, which is essentially today's chrome look.  In person, Bledsoe's body pops off nicely from the background.

Bledsoe famously lost his starting job to second-year player Tom Brady after Bledsoe went down with an injury.  Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win.  Bledsoe moved on to the Buffalo Bills the following year.

Bledsoe was a Cougar great and it's nice to finally have a rookie related card.  Thank you Colby!

Coug Talk: Battle of the Palouse

Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho are separated by a mere 8 miles, located in the heart of the Palouse region.  The short distance makes for a perfect storyline across all sports between two Division I schools, Washington State University and the University of Idaho.  This rivalry is known as the Battle of the Palouse.

I wouldn't call this a storied rivalry, at least not between the football teams.  Well, you could but the story is that WSU beats up on Idaho and Idaho limps back home.  Idaho has always been overmatched.  WSU's 56-6 victory on Saturday over Idaho is a picture perfect reflection of how the games have been played for these two teams.  WSU leads the series 71-17-3 and the last 20 games have been lopsided.  

A whole lot of crimson

This might be the last time the Cougars see the Vandals.  Starting in 2018, the Vandals will drop down to the FCS and join the Big Sky conference.  The two schools have stepped away from meeting annually so I think it is unlikely we will see Idaho next year.  If so, Saturday's resounding victory is a great way to end the series.

Jason Gesser, who was inducted into the WSU Athletics Hall of Fame prior to the game on Saturday, played in several WSU/Idaho games.  Gesser was the quarterback during one of WSU's rare losses in Idaho, in 2000.  However, he was able to close out his college career with a big 49-14 victory against Idaho.

Brink was the quarterback I saw the most of during my years at WSU.  Alex Brink played in all four WSU victories from 2004-2007.  His best game was in 2007 when he threw for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns.  

Lastly, Brandon Gibson, a player who I have mentioned before.  His most prolific game against Idaho came in 2007 when he had 81 yards and 1 touchdown.

The theme from these brief player write-ups has been points.  WSU likes to score a lot against Idaho. The Idaho games always serve as a nice heart relief from the typical nailbiters.

Next week WSU has a bye but I'll probably still throw up some WSU cards on the blog anyway.  I should probably plan out some sort of schedule for these posts but who likes to do that?

Week 2 Recap + Cougar Ground Game

I don't envy sports writers.  I started to write the intro to his blog several times during the game before stopping. This was a game of peaks and valleys for the Cougars.  As of right now, I thought WSU was done for as they had failed to convert on 4th down, down by 10 points with 6 minutes left in the game.  Then two minutes later, WSU makes an interception and on the next offensive play, Luke Falk throws a long bomb to none other than Gabe Marks.  

4:17 left and the Cougars trail only by a field goal.  Boise State is about to receive the kickoff so I'm going to stop writing now.  

Alright.  Ultimately the game came down to a WSU Hail Mary pass from about the 50 yard line.  

There were no Central Michigan heroics tonight as Falk's pass was well short of the end zone and batted down anyway.

I truly believed WSU could have started this season 2-0 but instead they are winless on the year. Again, I think it's too early to lose hope for the season.  That's not to say that I'm not worried, though.

I'm going to cheer myself up by talking about cards.  

An Annual Tradition

Mike Leach - Current WSU coach and lover of pirates

Saturday marked the start of college football all across the country and as per the recent tradition with Washington State University football, the Cougars lost their opening game. This marked their fifth consecutive opening day loss. And for the second year in a row, the Cougars lost to an FCS team. Last year that didn't post a problem as the team went on to finish 9-4 and claim their first Bowl win in a long time.

I'm still optimistic for this season though, even if their record over the past decade would give any rational observer some doubt.  Since I first started at WSU in 2003, the football team has been in disarray.  Sure the Cougars went 10-3 in 2003 under new coach Bill Doba.  However, that record was more of a reflection of former coach Mike Price who left to go to Alabama but was fired before even taking the field.

In 2004, the team slipped to 5-6 and dwelled in the basement until last year when the team finished with a winning record.   Despite these dark years, there have been a few notable players. I've made an effort to pick up some WSU cards as I previously had none.

2009 Bowman Draft Picks - College Logo Patch Autographs

Brandon Gibson played during my time at WSU as he joined the team after it's 10-3 season in 2003. Unfortunately for him, he played as WSU made it's race to the bottom.  Nonetheless, he had a breakout year in 2007, with 9 TD receptions and 1180 years. 

Gibson played well enough to be drafted by the Eagles.  He ended up being traded to the Rams during his first season and spent three years with the Rams.  Gibson then signed with the Dolphins where he played two years.  Last year he signed with the Patriots but injured himself before the season even began.  As of now, he is a free agent.

Here's a highlight from his time in the NFL.

2016 Panini Contenders Draft Picks

2016 Leaf Draft - Autographs

Dom Williams was a product of the Mike Leach Air Raid offense.  Essentially what that means is that Leach is going to throw the ball and then throw the ball some more.  Dom Williams had 30 receiving touchdowns over his career at WSU, including last year's 4th quarter game tying TD against Oregon. WSU would go on to win it in a wild double OT, which is notable because that snapped an eight-game losing streak to Oregon.

Undrafted in April, Williams quickly signed with the Chargers.  He didn't make the 53-man cut but it looks like he was signed to the practice squad.  He has the speed so I hope he can make it through the year with them.

Two current players who don't have any cards are QB Luke Falk and WR Gabe Marks. Hopefully they get some recognition next card season as they are the backbone of the Air Raid offense right now.

I have more WSU cards to post so I'm going to try and make this a weekly feature after every game.

Go Cougs!

eBay (Part 1)

eBay is a very, very dangerous website. With the "Buy Now" option it's easy to go from listing to listing clicking "Buy" with reckless abandon.  On the flip side, it's a great way to get the cards you want without spending a load of money on packs or a box trying to get them.  I'm not one to seek the ultra rare 1/1 printing plates or anything to the extreme, but since getting back into a hobby over a month ago I've spent about $20-$25 on eBay getting a few cards that I think look nice.  Without further ado, let's get into the cards!

First Haul

As someone who attended Gonzaga, I'm a big fan of Kelly Olynyk.  He had quite the transformation at Gonzaga.  His first two years you could tell he had the potential to become a good big man.  He was good in the post and mid-range but he was small for a center and his skills were too raw.  He redshirted his third year and he came back for his senior year a completely different player.  He had put on a lot of muscle, honed his skills, and was ready to carry the Bulldogs as their center.  Based on his breakout year I knew he was going to the NBA and I was excited when he was drafted by my favorite team, the Boston Celtics. His rookie cards were $0.75 each and I didn't have any of his cards in my collection so I bought two of his base rookie cards.

Sticking with college players I like, I also bought a Klay Thompson Wazzu card.  I saw Klay play when I went I did my undergrad at WSU and he was a lot of fun to watch; such a good 3-point shooter. I didn't anticipate that he would do as well in the NBA but I'm happy for all the success he has had so far.  With the NBA playoffs going and the Golden State Warriors winning, I'm not ashamed to say I've jumped on the Warriors bandwagon.  I don't have any Klay Thompson cards and I thought that having him in a Cougar uniform would be great.  His Golden State cards seemed to be little more expensive so I had no problem sticking with a college card.  Not coincidentally, I've themed my blog in the WSU colors. 

Last but not least, my first memorabilia card.  Being new again to the hobby I didn't realize that memorabilia cards were a thing now.  However, I was reading the great Cardboard History by Billy Kingsley and he made a post about pulling a patch card.  I thought that the patch cards looked neat and were a unique thing to have.  Rather than spending money on a box hoping for a patch from a player I care about, I went to where else but eBay. I figured that Mariners memorabilia cards would be the most prevalent and stumbled upon this Felix Hernandez card.  Felix is a workhorse and truly the King of this Mariners team for many years now. A nice card to have in my collection.

That's it for part 1!  I have a couple more eBay purchases to document but those will come at a later date. I don't expect to be a big eBay user but at the beginning stages it's a helpful way to supplement the collection with cards I actually want.