Robert Meachem In The Hoopography House: Auto'd Blog Prize

This 8 x 10 Robert Meachem Panini Authentic Auto is pretty cool, unfortunately, I could careless about Robert Meachem. For that reason, I recently loaded this item up in my Trade Bait Album on the Hoopography Facebook page. I won the auto'd pic in a Panini contest sometime around Thanksgiving. It took a bit for me to get it scanned and posted, but it's finally up here. Check out my Trade Bait Album and let me know if there is anything you're interested in putting a deal together for.

Happy Collecting and… "Enjoy Every Thrill of the Trade".

DIII Dunker With 50 Inch Vert Gets Voted Into The NCAA Slam Dunk Contest

What do you think? Does 5'11'' DIII baller Jacob Tucker have the goods to win the NCAA Slam Dunk Contest tonight on ESPN 2 (9:00 PM ET)? I say, "YES". I think Tucker's repertoire of dunks could beat out say a guy jumping over a strategically placed automobile in maybe an even more prestigious dunk contest. That's just my humble opinion, but what say you?

Video: NCAA College Basketball Rivalry Week

This week is Rivalry Week in college basketball. With a full slate of NBA and NHL games tonight, that means some serious remote decisions will need to be made. I'll most likely flip between a number of games, but here are a few of the games I'll be watching: UNC vs. Duke, 'Cuse vs. G'town and Knicks vs. Blake Griffin. With all these basketball choices, I'm lucky there's no Buffalo Sabres game tonight. Otherwise, I'd have to setup a second TV.

Regardless of sport, what's your favorite collegiate athletics rivalry? I love all sports and enjoy many rivalries, but my favorite has to be UNC vs. Duke. There have been so many thrilling battles that have featured some of the best players of the last 5o years. Here's a little UNC/Duke rivalry video to get you pumped up for tonights matchup. Enjoy all the great games tonight and… "Every Bounce of the Ball".

Product Previews: Upper Deck, Topps, ITG, Panini

There are a ton of new products scheduled to be released over the next few months in all four of the North American major sports. It seems that every company is gearing up for a huge 2011, and that means good things for collectors. Here are a few of the products I'm interested in for the early 2011 hobby season:


- 2011 IN THE GAME HEROES & PROSPECTS BASE., Approx. Release Date 2/24/11:

I'm not someone who collects a ton of baseball prospect cards other than the NY Yankees. Call me a fair weather baseball collector, but I have to draw the line somewhere. The line mine as well be after all four sports, thousands of players and hundreds of sets I collect. Although I only collect Yankee prospects, In The Games' (ITG) 2011 Hereos & Prospects Series 1 Baseball has me intrigued. ITG puts out some very decent hockey products that feature killer relics. Wow, that sentence is a bit scary. Hope ITG doesn't put out any killer relics of me after this preview. The 5 card boxes will feature 5 relic or auto'd hits for $82.00 a box. Not too shabby for the jersey or auto hunter. There are also some relic and cut signature cards of baseball legends like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Hank Aaron. This is a very interesting product for the baseball collector.

- 2010 Upper Deck SP Authentic Football, Approx. Release Date 2/22/11:

UD's Authentic Football is a nice looking collegiate product. All the names are there from rookies to legends. For a nostalgia guy like me, UD SP Football offers collectors the chance to look back on the good times of their alma mater. It's not the cheapest product at $96.95 per box, but you do get 3 auto's in each of those boxes. The big question is, will these be on-card or sticker auto's. Should be a very nice product that I'll definitely keep an I out for singles on the Bay.

- 2011 UPPER DECK SP AUTHENTIC BASKETBALL, Approx. Release Date 2/25/11:
Although Upper Deck lost it's MLB, NBA and NFL licenses, it's still turning out product after product. I, like many collectors, was disappointed that UD wasn't going to be able to produce cards featuring my favorite professional teams. Fortunately for collectors, UD has been able to turnout a few nice products despite the setbacks. That sentiment is true of 2011 UD SP Authentic Basketball. The big draw to UD basketball products is Jordan and LeBron, and UD has certainly exploited that advantage. Sp Authentic will follow the UD master plan by offering a Jordan or LeBron auto and an additional "case hit" from players like Jordan, LeBron, Larry Bird, Dr. J, Derrick Rose, Bill Russell, DeMarcus Cousins and Magic Johnson in every 12 box master case. That's two "case hits" in every master case. The master cases will be broken up into two 6 box inner cases that will each contain a "case hit". That's a pretty cool idea, if you can afford the $590.00 inner case price tag or the $1,150 master case price tag.

Each SP Authentic single box will contain 24 packs with 5 cards per pack and either 2 Letter Autographed cards or 2 auto'd cards and an additional Michael Jordan Supreme Court Floor Card. The Supreme Court Jordan cards feature an oversized piece of UNC basketball court piece that Jordan himself played on. There are also a number of interesting inserts like Die-Cut F/X Hologram cards. This is a product with tons of potential.


- 2011 TOPPS SERIES 2 BASEBALL, Approx. Release Date 6/08/11:
Topps seemingly puts out a hundred baseball products a year, so It's tough to narrow it down to one or two products. However, Series 2 looks like a fun product at a price point every collector can afford. At $59.95 a hobby box, you get tons of inserts, parallels, 1 auto and 2 relic cards. The early media releases I've seen of this Series 2 Baseball look nice.

It's still a few months until spring training and the release of this product, but it's never too early to get excited. I'm certainly going to pickup a pack or two of this and hope for the best. The best for me would be something like a Brett Gardner jersey card. He's my favorite current Yankee.




- 2011 Panini Classics Basketball, Approx. Release Date 3/23/11:

Panini's 2011 Classics Basketball is all about living up to 2010 Classics Basketball. Last years product was one of my favorite basketball releases, so I'm excited to see what Panini has in store for this years release. With on-card rookie auto's and a heavy focus on hoops legends, Classics does has me salivating. I'm liking the info I've seen so far on A Knight's Lance, but I'd like to see a few more images of the base cards and inserts.

Each box will contain 2 auto'd and 2 memorabilia cards per hobby box. Classics will also feature a Classics Moment insert set chronicling some of the biggest moments in NBA history. That definitely sounds promising! This looks like a nice product that is sure to feature some of the best rookie auto'd cards of 2011 as they will be on-card signatures.


Stay tuned for another Product Preview post next week that will feature several upcoming basketball and hockey releases. Until then, which upcoming products are you most excited for?

Some Auto's Are Just Plan Classics

I know… most post titles don't get any more cheesy than that. As you can see, the three auto's are from the early 90's Classic company. I'm a big fan of many of the Classic auto's. One of my favorite Classic auto's even made it all the way to forth place on my Top 25 PC Countdown. The fact is, Classic put out some of the best on-card auto's of superstar players like Shaquille O'neal, Alex Rodriguez, Drew Bledsoe, Chris Webber, Pavel Bure, Desmond Howard and many more. The really cool thing about many of these auto's is that there were plenty made. That means that every collector can pickup a sweet college era auto of their favorite player.

Speaking of favorite players, Chris Webber and the Fab Five had me hooked from day one. I attribute my craziness for kicks directly to the fab freshmen. Looking back at hoops trading cards of old, I'm also glad C-Web and the Wolverines got the shorts lengthened a bit. The '93 Webber Classic Gold Auto is from a special set that Classic limited to 9,500 and shipped to collectors in a swanky wooden box (click here). This is a must have for any Webber or Fab Five fan.

The Mashburn card is from the same '93 Gold set as the Webber. It's definately a cool card. I like it better than the Webber card. First off, Masburn has one of the coolest nicknames ever, "Monster Mash". Yeah… that's right, I said it. Plus, checkout those Converse kicks the "Monster Mash" is rockin'. Mashburn was a beast at Kentucky and I'm glad to add this one to my collection.

Finally, there were a number of collecting crazes during the '92-'93 collecting season. We had the "Shaq Attack" and of course Michael Jordan, but Manon Rheaume cards were hot as well. Rheaume is the first woman to play in an NHL contest. She competed in games during the '92 and '93 preseasons for the Tamp Bay Lighting. At one time, her Classic auto's were selling for similar amounts as the O'neal auto's. That's really saying something, If you know how hot those O'neal cards were.

If you're looking to pick up an auto or two of your favorite 90's athletes, take a look at the Classic auto's. They're not to shabby. As always, happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Should Collegiate Athletes Get Paid?

In light of the BCS National Championship game being played tonight, I thought the question of monetary payment for collegiate student-athletes was fitting. I would argue that the student-athlete is already receiving numerous benefits monetarily, academically and athletically through the scholarships they have the opportunity to take advantage of. Sir Charles gives his opinion in the video below. What's yours?

UCONN Basketball Breaks Win Streak Record

The UCONN Huskies broke one of the most impressive records in all of sports tonight by defeating Florida State 93-62. The UCLA 88 game win streak is a record that I think most sports fans and historians thought would never be broken. To imagine that a group of people could maintain focus and motivation for that duration of time is incredible.

I watch a lot of sports, but UCONN basketball is different. I've seen a number of the games during the streak and one thing stands out, discipline to perfection. In this imperfect world, perfection is indeed impossible, but the desire for perfection is certainly impressive. Congrats to the UCONN basketball team. "… Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Like Slam Dunks? Here Are The Top 50 NCAA Dunks of All Time!

(RSS and third party site readers, click her to watch video)

I know this is a long video, but well worth watching. The video was put together over the past two years by a YouTube user called Mixst311. You can tell the time that was put into this video simply by the quality. This is not your typical grainy YouTube video compilation. The creator of the video took time to find the best footage of NCAA dunkers from both large and small schools. Kudos to Mixst311 for putting together one of the better YouTube videos I've seen in quite a long time. The real question is though, did Mixst311 get the Top 50 NCAA Dunks right?

On a side note, I played against former University of Pittsburg star Julius Paige back in the day in high school. Page is featured at the #6 spot in the video with a left handed throw down. That seems about right from what I remember.