Basketball? On MY blog?! It's more likely than you think

So I was flipping through Blowout the other day--big surprise, and was following one seller posting a ton of very popular lots which were getting snapped up extremely quickly.  Most of them were out of my league, including some with autographs of the likes of Joe Montana, but I'm not a high enough roller to have even gone after the more affordable lots sight unseen--they really were going that quickly.

I did spot one that included a card I was previously unaware of but knew I wanted as soon as I saw it, so I let the buyer know I was interested, and $10 delivered later, here it is:

Cazzie Russell 2011-12 SP Authentic By the Letter H patch auto

Much like Eric, I enjoy a manupatch when it's done right, and for me, nothing could be righter than a maize patch that's part of a nameplate that spells "Michigan" and even includes a photo of the player in his Wolverines heyday.  

To paraphrase relevant legendary accomplishments from Wikipedia, Cazzie led Michigan to three straight Big 10 titles and two Final Fours (including an understandable loss to John Wooden's UCLA), put up an insane 30.8 PPG in 1966 and got himself drafted first overall by the Knicks, with whom he won a title in 1970.  He was such a Wolverines legend that Crisler Arena has been nicknamed "The House That Cazzie Built."  And, of course, the team retired his number, you know, eventually, after naming him a charter member of the Hall of Honor.  And the College Basketball Hall of Fame.  When he came back for a game this year, it was a big deal.  Dude was good.

So now you probably understand why, despite the fact that I hardly care about basketball (although college basketball is vastly superior to the extremely boring NBA), I jumped at the chance to grab this sweet card, which, by the way, features a sweeter autograph.  Look at it!  I'm excited about the chance to try to put together this nameplate, and I'm hoping to do it for under $100, which should be double for the remaining seven cards as long as people don't get greedy.  If I do make progress on that, rest assured you'll see every single bit of it right here.

Some other good news:  I have still more good stuff incoming, including a nice eBay package and two trades (!) I made on Blowout, if you can believe it.  Plus I plan to expand on my Michigan RC collection, which should be a pretty good post.  Also, don't forget a nice double dose of posts featuring stuff Jeff grabbed for himself and for me.  Until then, go Michigan Basketball and GO BLUE!