Contest (2011 Panini Absolute Basketball): And The Winner Is...

Kevin Love Star Gazing jersey/auto #'d/10

Congratulations to The Diamond King. There were many close guesses in the Absolute Memorabilia contest, but The Diamond King came within two of the correct total assists, rebounds and points of Jason Kidd, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin respectively. J. Kidd had a total of 655 assists, K. Love had a total of 1,112 rebounds and B. Griffin finished with a total of 1,845 points. I'm no math major, but the summation of those three numbers is 3,612.  The Diamond King had the closest guess with 3,610. Congratulations!!!

Please email me your mailing address at Hoopography@yahoo.com so I can get the 2011 Panini Absolute Memorabilia box out to you. You can checkout the entire contents of the box and the box review here. Thanks to everyone who participated and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

The 2011 Panini Contenders Giveaway Winner is...

First off, thanks to everyone who participated. Hopefully the review will help you make decisions on where to invest your collecting dollars. As for the contest, I put all 37 entries (including the multiple entries for those who publicized the contest) into Random.org earlier today. The winner of the 2011 Panini Contenders Basketball Box giveaway is Eric L. Thanks again to everyone who participated. I hope to have more contests in the future. Of course, that all depends on the card companies' willingness to send me more product for review. Eric, make sure to email me your mailing address to Hoopography@yahoo.com.

Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Contest results from Random.org

Box Preview/Giveaway: 2011 Panini Contenders Basketball

I recently received a hobby box of 2011 Contenders Basketball from Panini yesterday for review. A big thanks to Panini for valuing my opinion. I will be giving all cards away in this post, so keep reading the review to find out how to receive some fresh new basketball cards.

The Positives:
The positives from Contenders revolves all around design. The Contenders Season Ticket base card style looks great and is a vast improvement from last years base card. Also, the use of vibrant team colors across the product line is fantastic and again, an improvement from last years release. In addition to the overall design, the various die cut parallels are fun (checkout the Chris Bosh die cut above). Finally, the rookie (manufactured) patch/auto's look great and I appreciate four per box, but I'm not sure they're better than the Rookie Auto'd Tickets from last year (It's a matter of each collectors' preference).

The cards I enjoyed pulling the most were the Place In History cards (the Dirk Nowitzki [front] and Hedo Turkoglo [back]). The scans don't do the shiny foil surface justice. The cards actually look like news paper printing plates. Very cool. Overall, this 5 card, 20 pack box was very fun to open.

The Negatives:
The plural use of the word Negative is really a misnomer. I did not care for the design of last years Contenders Basketball, but I really enjoyed this years offering. However, the monetary value was not there in a box that retails for approximately $100. I've seen some pretty pricey 2011 Contenders cards on the Bay (click here), but I just don't see that same value from this box. Since I can only review this particular box and not necessarily what I'm seeing on the secondary markets, I have to say that the value just wasn't there and a bit disappointing. However, as any collector can attest, searching for "mega" hits is like playing the lottery. Not everyone can pull a John Wall, Kobe Bryant or Blake Griffin auto, but a hit from a star would have been nice. At least the design elements are there and the potential for bigger hits is there of course.

The Contest/Giveaway:
I will be giving away all cards from this box to one lucky winner except for the L.A. Lakers and Portland Trailblazers cards. The Lakers cards will be going to Lakers fan/collector Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji and Guy over at The Retro-Set Addict. These fellow bloggers are loyal readers and often comment, so it's time for a little Hoopography reader love. As for the rest of the cards, including the three Rookie Ticket Patch/Auto's, Blake Griffin & Kevin Durant cards, numerous die cuts and a great set building start, here is your chance to score some great hoops cards in one shot (please read all contest rules):

• I will randomize entries on Random.org.
• You must be a follower of the Hoopography blog (If you are a reader, but do not have a google account, become a fan of Hoopography on Facebook or a follower on Twitter. Please include that you have become a fan or follower in the comments section, if you can not become a follower through Blogger.).
• One comment in the comments section below equals one entry. If you publicize the contest on your blog, you will receive an extra entry for a total of two. If you do not include a link to that publicity post in the comment section below, you will not receive the extra entry.
• Contest ends 12:00PM ET on Friday, March 4th
• One winner takes all.

Contest Update: Timeless Treasures Contest Winner

Congrats to Colbey (flywheels) over at the Cardboard Collection and Random Toy Reviews for winning the Panini Timeless Treasures five card lot. I used random.org to randomize the entires and obtain a winner. You can see the results in the snapshot below. Colbey, please make sure to email me your mailing address at Hoopography@yahoo.com. I will be sending prize packages out this Friday.

My goal with Hoopography is to meet and network with fellow collectors from around the world. I think these little contests help to enhance that goal. Please feel free to visit Hoopography in the future and comment on any post you might find interesting.  Also, if you have any collecting questions or trade requests, please don't hesitate to email me at Hoopography@yahoo.com.

I'm a big believer in taking something positive out of everything I do. With that said, I have a little motto I like to go by… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Contest Update: Hoopography Top 25 PC Countdown #1

The PC Top 25 countdown contest for the Donruss Rated Rookies is over, but the Timeless Treasures giveaway is still going strong! So if you what some free Timeless Treasures auto'd and jersey cards, make sure to enter. Click here to view the rules of the Timeless Treasures giveaway and to enter.

'92 SkyBox Dream Team Plastic Card

I was a little worried that no one would be able to guess what my favorite card is in my PC. I know that was a tough task with all the different players, sports and sets I collect, but Offy over at Sports Syzygy put all the contest clues together. Offy, please make sure to email me your mailing address at Hoopography@yahoo.com, so I can send you the cards. Thanks to Panini and everyone who participated.

My favorite card in my PC is the 1992 SkyBox Plastic Dream Team card. Aside from the fact that the '92 Dream Team is my favorite team of all-time and features many of my favorite players in NBA history, this was one of the first plastic cards ever made. It was a precursor to the acetate technology that I love so much. It's a really great looking card with the red, white and blue of Team USA and was pretty hot back in the early 90's.

The card doesn't have crazy book value at $30.00, but the sentimental value attached to the card for me is invaluable. I added this card to a very early trading card collection on a family road trip to SeaWorld in Ohio during '92. I was just ten years old at the time. In a sense, this is not only the top card in my PC and the Countdown, but it was also the first. Because of the great family memories this card conjures up, the trading card technology used and the players/team featured, the '92 SkyBox Dream Team Plastic card takes the top spot on my countdown.

Thanks for checking out the countdown. It was a lot of fun putting it together over the past couple months. I'll do a post this week with cards I received while I was conducting the countdown that likely would've made the countdown. Congrats again to Offy for guessing my favorite card in my PC. Don't forget to checkout the Timeless Treasures giveaway and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Contest: 2011 Panini Timeless Treasures Giveaway

All cards above go to the winner except the LaMarcus Aldridge.
That's going to G_Moses over at The Basketball Card Blog.
Checkout his blog and you'll see why.

I've got another contest/giveaway for readers featuring the contents of a box of Panini's Timeless Treasures.  Big thanks to Panini for sending me the box for review. I hate to see the cards go, but hopefully there's a collector out there who will enjoy them more than I will.

Checkout a second contest I'm running featuring Donruss Rated Rookie cards (John Wall included) and a Tyreke Evans jersey card. The prize package includes 22 total Donruss basketball cards (click here).

Contest Rules:

• If you aren't already, become a follower of Hoopography and/or the Hoopography Facebook page.
• Comment below to be entered in the contest once.
• Post something regarding the contest on your blog and receive a second entry. You must place a link to that "pub" post with the comment so I can verify it.
• I will put all entries into random.org to declare a winner.
• Contest ends this Wed. the 19th at 10:00 PM EST.
• I will post the random.org results Thursday the 20th.
• Good Luck and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball"

Contest Featuring John Wall, Tyreke Evans And More

John Wall
Donruss Rated Rookie

I'm running a number of contests over the next few days to giveaway the cards I recently reviewed from Panini. Click here to enter the first contest. 

The prize pack includes John Wall, Tyreke Evans (jersey card), Gordon Hayward and more. 

Good luck and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Contest/Giveaway: Can You Guess The #1 Card In My Top 25 Count Down?

Over the past couple months, I've been conducting a Top 25 PC Countdown. I've gone from #25 to #2 and am finally down to my favorite card in my entire collection. If you've been following the countdown, I'm sure you've noticed a pattern. I'm a huge fan of 90's inserts, but can you guess what my favorite PC card is?

To celebrate the conclusion of the countdown and giveaway some of the cards Panini recently sent me, I thought it'd be fun to giveaway some Donruss Rated Rookie cards and a Tyreke Evans Production Line jersey card. Here's what you need to do to enter:

Contest Rules:

• You must be a follower of Hoopography and/or the Hoopography Facebook page
• You must give the year, make and name of the card. Example: 1996 Topps Finest Kevin Garnett RC. Try to be as specific as possible.
• The contest will go on as long as it has to. In other words, the contest is open until someone guesses the #1 card on my Top 25 Countdown. I check the blog a few times a day and will announce a winner within a few hours of the correct guess being posted.
• First participant to guess correctly wins.
• One guess per contestant. However, if you publicize the contest on your blog, you will get a 2nd guess. Make sure to include a link to your "pub" post when guessing.
• Post your guesses in the comments section of this post.
• Please read and adhere to all rules above.

Contest Hints:

• Take a look at the previous Top 25 Countdown posts to get a feel of what and the many players I collect.
• The winning answer comes from the early 90's.
• Many all-time great players are featured on this one card.
• I've had it for almost 20 years
• Take note of some of my favorite card technologies.
• My favorite team of all-time is featured.
• It is not one of the cards from the prize package below.

Contest Prize:

• The prize pack includes 21 Rated Rookie cards (including John Wall) along with a Tyreke Evans Jersey card #'d to 399. My favorite card in my collection and the winning answer is not one of the cards below being offered in the prize package.

Just a few of the 21 Rated Rookie cards included!!!

Contest Prizes From Fuji @ The Chronicles of Fuji

I received a very generous prize package yesterday from Mark over at The Chronicles of Fuji. If you didn't participate in the contest, you missed out. It was really fun and incorporated posts/contest questions on sports, film and collecting. So thanks to Mark for a great contest and the prize package.

I love the 2005 Upper Deck Mini Jerseys from the prize package. My favorite is the "Big Bad Vlad" Angels jersey. I also really like the Babe Ruth card. Being a New York Yankees fan, It's nice to finally have a card of "The Great Bambino" in my collection. However, as cool as these prizes are, my favorite item of all is still Mark's auto'd trade card pictured to the left. Very Cool!!!

If you haven't already checkout Mark's blog, The Chronicles of Fuji, make sure to do so. It's one of the most insightful and creative blogs on the net today. It's also one of the few daily reads for yours truly. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Contest Announcements

Mark over at The Chronicles of Fuji and Guy over at The Basketball Card Blog are hosting some pretty awesome and generous free contests and giveaways this week. First off, these are my two favorite blogs on the net today. I read and follow quite a few sports memorabilia themed blogs, but Mark and Guy's blogs are daily must reads. From Mark's Sports Card Busts and Sketch Card Collection posts to Guy's Murad Chase and Portland Trailblazers Love, these guys have the hobby covered.

Definitely go over and check their blogs out. If you still need more convincing, which you shouldn't, here are links to their contests that are going on right now: The Chronicles of Fuji Contest; The Basketball Card Blog Contest. Both contests feature some really great prizes and they should be a lot of fun. Good luck and remember to… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball"!

And The Winner Is….

Congratulations to Mark over at sanjosefuji.com for winning the 2010 Court Kings LeBron James Masterpieces jersey card (Mark, make sure to email me a mailing address so I can get you the card. I'll be out of town all this week, so I'll try to get it out to you ASAP). There were eight total entries and the contest actually came down to the errors and home runs.

No one guessed the correct final score of hits so I moved on to the errors. Both Joe Smo and Fuji had the Cardinals with one error and the Cubs with zero errors, but Fuji also guessed the home run totals correct as well with the Cardinals at two and the Cubs with zero. You can see Mark's winning entry in the image below. Click here to see all entires.

Thank you to all who participated. I hope this contest was fun. This was the first contest/giveaway I've done on Hoopography, and I'd like to do more. If companies like Panini continue to send me products for review, I'll continue to give cards away. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

(ESPN Box Score for contest game)

LeBron James Jersey Card Giveaway/Contest

Click Here For Details And Good Luck!

2010 Court Kings LeBron James Masterpieces Jersey Contest/Giveaway

Panini sent me a box of 2010 Court Kings for review and I thought it'd be fun to have a contest to giveaway a really nice LeBron James Masterpieces Jersey card that I pulled from said box. You can read my review by clicking here or checking out the Hoopography homepage.

It was difficult to think of a fun basketball contest to giveaway a basketball card. After all, the NBA regular season doesn't start for a couple of months and the NBA Summer League just concluded over the weekend. So I thought I'd take a look at what the boys of summer had to offer. In particular, a nationally televised game. It turns out the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will be facing off on ESPN at 8:00 PM ET this Sunday the 25th. So the contest for the James card will be to guess the box score of the game for both teams.

The Rules and Tie Breakers:

Rules:

• Guess the Runs, Hits, Errors, &, Home Runs for both Cardinals and Cubs
• Have your entry posted to the comments section of this post no later then 11:59 pm ET. of this Saturday, July 24th (entries received on Sunday will not be counted)
• One entry per participant.
• If you do not have a verified account (meaning: Google Account, Wordpress Account, Blogger Account, Open Id, etc., you will need to email me at hoopography@yahoo.com so I can make sure unverified participants do not submit multiple entries).
• You must submit a guess for each category (runs, hits, errors & home runs) for both teams for a total of eight answers (note example image at end of post).
• The winner will have to email me their address at hoopography@yahoo.com when the contest is over so I can send them their prize.
• Although not required, placing a link to this contest on your blog or forum will help make the contest more fun and help to spur-on networking amongst collectors (which is the ultimate goal of Hoopography).
• The tiebreakers work as follows: Who ever guesses the final score of the game for both teams wins (not combined score, but the actually final score between the two teams). If there are multiple submissions with the correct final score of the game, we will go to correct amount of hits for each team. If there is still a tie, we will go to errors. Finally, if there is still a tie after guessing the correct final score of the game, hits for each team and errors for each team, we'll look at home runs for each team. I will use ESPN's website to obtain the box score to compare submissions.
• Please Note: I do realize the contest is inherently flawed. For example, there is a chance we could have a tie after the hits category and no one guessed the amount of errors right. That would mean we would have multiple participants who guessed the runs and hits right, but no one who guessed the errors right. In that scenario, we would go on to the next category of home runs. If there is still a tie, I would put the remaining participants in a randomizer. I'm hoping that someone will guess the box score correctly so I do not have to use the randomizer. So good luck and happy guessing!

Tie Breakers:

1. Final score/runs of the game for each team
2. Final amount of hits for each team
3. Final amount of errors for each team
4. Final amount of home runs for each team
5. Randomizer.org

Example Image (This is an example of what the formatting in the comments section should look like):