At home, with Don West.

WATCH OUT FOR THOSE GNOMES!!!

Post-NLCS Box Break: 2010 Topps Chrome

I'm just too upset, and too drunk, to comment any further.

Card-Ola: 2010 Absolute Memorabilia Football

So, now that Tracy Hackler is working for PanPlayRuss, or whatever they're calling themselves now, I now have two (count 'em, two) different card companies sending me unsolicited wax boxes.

Since I only collect baseball cards, I had been five years since I ripped any wax from this company -- not including Panini World Cup stickers, of course. So with this box, I was curious. Donruss-Playoff baseball sucked, and I was glad when they had their MLB/MLBPA licenses pulled. But have they changed in the five year's since?



More rainbow foil. More gimmicked rookies. More mindless parallels. New name, same ol' Donruss.

Memo to MLB Properties and the MLBPA: Please do not give this company a license. Ever.

Game 1 of the ALCS summed up in about five seconds.

What to do with a box of porno cards?

WARNING: This video box break is of an adult nature and is for adults only.



I wound up busting the rest of the box, and you didn't miss much. The collation was so awful that I'm still two cards short of the full 100-card base set.

Think about that. There are 360 cards in this box, and I'm still missing cards #99 & #100. But at least I have seven "Danielle Dangerously's."

There's also one other thing about this box. I have no interest in keeping ANY of these cards in my collection. Don't get me wrong, I LOVVVVVE the ladies; and yes, like most men my age, from time-to-time, I like looking at pornography.

But I don't like going to the kinds of places where many of the subjects of this card set are employed. The DJ's are annoying. The drinks are overpriced. And, like Chris Rock said, there is no sex in the Champagne Room. None.

But what I really don't like are the employees; i.e. the kinds of women depicted in this card set. I don't like skanky women.

I don't want these cards; but as a card collector, I can't bring myself to throw them away. They are trading cards, after all.

So, I throw this question to the floor: What should I do with a box full of porno cards?

1) Put 'em on eBay.

But who the hell is going to want only 98% of a set? And does anyone really, really, need eight Regina Price "rookie" cards?

2) "Bip" people with them.

But then if I Bip the wrong person, I run the risk of seriously offending the recipient. And the last thing I need is to be placed on a sex offender registry.

3) Send them all back to Tom The Ripper.

This is the easy way out, and the path of least resistance. Just ship 'em all back from whence they came.

4) Bite the bullet and just throw them in the garbage.

Help Wanted: My Paper on The Hobby

As many of you know my "day job," (if you can call it that) is that of a graduate student at George Mason University. Currently, I'm taking a class in Industrial Organization being taught by Professor Tyler Cowen. Yes, that Tyler Cowen -- he's one of the reasons why I went to Mason.

For this class I've decided to do something I've always wanted to do and write a paper that's Hobby related. But there's just one problem.

Very few serious academic papers have been written on The Hobby, and what little that has been published is just laughable.

So, this is where you, especially those of you in "The Industry" who read this site, come in.

Before I continue, let me show you the proposal I sent in a few weeks ago.

ABSTRACT

On August 6, 2009, MLB Properties (MLBP), the licensing arm of Major League Baseball, granted Topps Chewing Gum a five-year exclusive-license for the production of baseball cards beginning with the 2010 baseball season; effectively giving Topps the monopoly-power it previously had from 1956-80. In 1981, Topps lost their monopoly after a competing firm sued and won an anti-trust case and was granted a license. After a decade-and-a-half of increased competition, which saw as one point as many as six different firms producing over 100 different MLB-licensed baseball card sets a year, “The Hobby,” as it became known, boomed. But after the boom came the inevitable “bursting of the bubble.” In the three decades since, through a series of mergers & acquisitions and liquidations, the number of firms producing officially-licensed baseball cards went from one, to three, to six; then four, two, and now back to one.

This paper will analyze “The Hobby” in the increasingly competitive boom years of the 80s and early-90s; the crash years of the mid-to-late-90s; the relative stability, despite the exit of some firms, of the mid-to-late-2000s; and the rationale behind MLBP’s decision to grant Topps monopoly power again.

Got all that? Good. Here's where I need your help.

Before they were bought-out by Pinnacle Brands, Action Packed conducted an annual "State of The Hobby" survey. Does anyone happen to have any copies of this survey lying around?

What was the name of the Federal case that broke up the Topps monopoly in 1981? I know Pete Williams' 1995 book Card Sharks discussed this case in great detail; unfortunately, my copy is lost somewhere at my parent's house in New Jersey.

What was the rationale behind MLB Properties decision to grant Score/Sportflics/Pinnacle Brands and Upper Deck licenses in the late-80s? I know Upper Deck had an "Ace in the Hole" named DeWyane Buice, but how did Score get theirs?

Finally, Stephen Strasburg notwithstanding, what have been the effects of Topps' exclusive license on the baseball card market in 2010, and beyond?

Again, let me state that THIS IS A SERIOUS ACADEMIC PROJECT THAT WILL BE GRADED. ANY ASSISTANCE YOU CAN LEND ME WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Thanks,
Chris Harris

Card-Ola: 2010 Pro Debut Series Two

Since Topps didn't put much effort into Pro Debut, I didn't put much of an effort into this video.

The 2010 Finest Football Drinking Game.

It's real simple to play. Here's what you'll need:

* One Hobby Box of 2010 Finest Football

* A six-pack of the brew of your choice

* A fifth of Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea-flavored Vodka (with the mixer of your choice)

How to play:

* Everytime you pull a Refractor, take a drink of your beer.

* Everytime you pull an autograph, drink some Jeremiah Weed.

I recently played this game with a box of Finest Topps sent me. For some reason, I stupidly recorded it for your enjoyment.

Harry Leroy Halladay III

I have nothing additional to say that is neither relevant nor true.

Just enjoy the last batter.

UPDATED: Token NLDS Blogger-to-Vlogger Wager

In much the same way mayor of cities place token "wagers" on the results of a playoff game/series, Tom The Ripper has called me out.

But wagering my Phillies against his Reds in the NLDS is a lot like putting $100 on Secretariat in the Belmont. So in order to make it fair, we've arranged the following terms:

If the Reds win the NLDS: Tom receives from me, the contents of this box of 2010 Triple Threads that Topps just sent me.



If the Phillies win the NLDS: I will receive from Tom a box of...



And yes, I WILL video-break this.