2014 COMC purchase: Rice Rice baby

Hey, I made a rare basketball purchase on COMC!  Check it out:

Glen Rice 2012-13 Fleer Retro 1999-00 Fleer Focus Fresh Ink auto

Rice was one of Michigan's all-time greats, especially during the 1988-89 season, in which he put up 25.6 PPG as a second team All-American and led the Wolverines to their most recent (a.k.a. only) NCAA championship.  The Flint native was named the tourney's Most Outstanding Player, and I'm proud to have a poster version of the Detroit Free Press front page highlighting the victory (with Rice having cut down the net) hanging on my wall to this day.  He then went on to an outstanding NBA career that included being selected #4 overall in 1989 and winning a ring with the 1999-2000 Lakers.

And yet, I somehow made it this long without a hit of him of any type in my basketball PC.  Thankfully I rectified that by picking up this sweet autograph from 2012-13 Fleer Retro.  Although the price was certainly in its favor, I also went with this card because I love the callback to an old Fleer design, the 1999-2000 Focus Fresh Ink set.  Fresh Ink cards were cool to pull in all the sports, and this one ended up looking great, with a college uni picture and an extremely nice signature.  This was easily $2.40 well spent.

On a more milestoney kind of note, this is finally my 25th hit in the Michigan Basketball PC, which isn't bad since that's a sport I'm not really big into.  Rice is also the 11th player to join that collection.

Stay tuned for more COMC pickups soon!

2013 Blowout purchase #3: a Michigan BIPPing, part 3

Today you get to see the final nine cards of the 28-card TK Legacy Michigan auto lot I picked up a few weeks ago.  As a reminder, you can see Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.  Today's gonna be a little different since only six of the cards are football--there's also a basketball pair and one from hockey as well!

Dan Dworsky 2004 TK Legacy Special Career (Architect) auto (#030/150)

Dworsky was primarily a LB, but also played FB and C for Michigan from '45-'48 (and earned a pair of letters as a wrestler as well!).  He was a member of the '47 and '48 undefeated champs coached by legendary Wolverine Fritz Crisler.  After a lone pro season, he finished his degree in architecture and went on to a fantastic career in that field.  This card, from a subset that highlights non-football accomplishments of several alumni, celebrates a career that includes Michigan's Crisler Arena (basketball), named after his favorite coach; designing the block "M" seating at the Big House, UCLA's Drake track and field stadium, and lots, lots more.

Dworsky actually has a second card in the six-card subset specifically highlighting designing Crisler Arena.  The others include a pair of cards honoring astronaut Jack Lousma, plus one each for broadcaster Jim Brandstatter and some former president named Gerry Ford.  I haven't seen much of the other cards, but Dworsky has a nice signature, and he's very welcome as a new member of the PC!

Forest Evashevski 2002 TK Legacy QB Club auto (#283/500)

"Evy" was a native Detroiter who played QB at Michigan from '38-'40.  A smallish high school player due to skipping a few elementary school grades, Forest was so hardcore that after a rough tackle of a punt-returner that knocked him out, he suffered a CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE that should have ended his playing career right there, but he joined the Wolverines a couple years later instead.  As an excellent blocker, he was very effective in the aforementioned Crisler's (gimmicky, if you consider it today) single-wing system, in which he blocked Michigan legend Tom Harmon to the 1940 Heisman.  Evashevski later coached Iowa to some good seasons, including the 1958 national title, and was their AD for a couple years as well.  He died in 2009 at the ripe old age of 91.  And as you can see here, he had a fantastic signature, plus he rocked the old-timey leather helmet!  Welcome to the PC, Evy.

Chris Floyd 2002 TK Legacy 1997 National Champions auto

Floyd was a FB from '94-'97, which means that yes, he played for the '97 National Champs!  Another Detroiter, he never got to touch the ball a ton, but did rush for a pair of TDs that year while blocking for RBs Chris Howard and Anthony Thomas.  Floyd was one of five players that year to get drafted, going in the 3rd round to the Patriots.  He would play three seasons combined with the Pats and Browns before retiring.  As with everyone else today, he's new to the PC, and his autograph here looks very cool.

Dennis Franklin 2002 TK Legacy QB Club auto (#58/300)

Franklin ('71-'74) is fairly well known as Michigan's first black QB, but he deservedly prefers to be remembered as much more than that.  Hailing from Michigan pipeline Massillon, Ohio, Franklin's stats are somewhat reminiscent of a more recent Michigan QB--Denard Robinson.  He led the Wolverines in both passing offense and total offense all three years he started, and the team went 30-2-1 under his leadership, good for three straight Big Ten titles (tied with OSU), including the famous screw-job in '73 that saw the conference unfairly choose the Buckeyes to go to the Rose Bowl over Michigan.  Dennis, who has an awesome name, by the way, was a later-round draft pick of the Lions, who converted him to WR, but his pro career was brief (and honestly, who wants to play for the Lions, anyway?).  He's since gone on to successful careers as a TV exec and real estate agent.  I wish him a warm welcome to the PC in the form of this great autograph!

John Herrnstein 2003 TK Legacy Cover Boys auto

Herrnstein came from another family of Michigan Men, with his father, grandfather, and great uncle also suiting up for the Wolverines.  As for John, he was an excellent athlete, successful in both football and baseball, '56-'58.  A productive FB/LB, Herrnstein saw his football career end early in 1958 due to a bad knee injury, but MLB's Phillies came calling, and John would appear in the Majors for the Cubs and Braves as well, tallying 8 HR in 239 games over five seasons.  He was actually involved in the trade that sent Fergie Jenkins from Philadelphia to the Cubs in 1966.

This Cover Boys subset is very cool and I actually have one other of these:  Steve Smith's (Indiana, 1983).  This one highlights what's probably John's career highlight game:  1958 against USC, in which he rushed for a personal best of 144 yards while scoring twice against the Trojans in a narrow 20-19 win at the Big House.  Considering how little space he had to work with, Herrnstein did an amazing job with his very legible signature, and I'm happy to officially welcome him to my collection.

Leo Koceski 2003 TK Legacy 1948 National Champions auto

Leo was nicknamed both "Bugsy" and the "Canonsburg Comet," a callback to his birthplace.  Plus, as we all know, 50% of nicknames are in the form of birthplace + alliterative noun.  If you want to see an example of how amazing technology is nowadays, have a look at this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from December 31, 1948!  My favorite quote:  "Ever since I was in the sixth grade...I had wanted to go to Michigan.  It seemed too good to be true when they accepted me."  Me too, Leo, me too (though I'd argue I knew long before then that I wanted to be a Wolverine!).

Koceski was a dynamite running back despite his relatively diminutive stature, and he enjoyed a great career for the Wolverines, including winning the '48 National Championship.  He was another player that was an excellent athlete, good enough to be captain of the baseball team in 1951.  For all that, and his very well done signature, I heartily welcome him to the PC!

The next three cards come from the Michigan MultiSport Varsity Club set put out by TK Legacy in 2004:

Steve Grote 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

I couldn't find a whole lot about Grote, but he was co-captain of the '76-'77 Big Ten Conference champs who made it all the way to the Elite Eight, plus started and ended the season ranked #1 by the AP.  He's got a really nice signature, and I can always use new members for my Michigan basketball PC!

Dave Strack 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

Strack attended Michigan from '43-'46, but is perhaps more well known for his tenure as Wolverines basketball head coach from 1960-68.  Besides a trio of Big Ten titles, he (and Cazzie Russell, of course) took Michigan to their first NCAA title game in 1965, losing to legendary coach John Wooden's UCLA squad.  I'm happy to have added another member to the basketball PC today, especially one with such a nice signature.

John Matchefts 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

Matchefts, a Minnesotan high school virtuoso, starred for the '51-'53 National Champ Wolverines hockey teams and averaged a pair of points-per-game.  He later coached Colorado College (1966-71) and Air Force (1974-85) before being inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.  That's a nice signature to go along with a classic hockey pic!

This purchase obviously did wonders for the size and diversity of my Michigan collections--mainly football, of course.  The new totals for the three sports involved are:

• Football:  710 (120 unique players)
• Basketball:  19 (8)
• Hockey:  63 (23)

And better yet, the four-sport total continues to near a huge milestone.  In the meantime, I can't be happier about picking up 27 fantastic new PC cards for such a reasonable price!

I'll be back soon with more stuff, including an eBay purchase I've been meaning to post, plus lots more COMC cards!

I can Caz nameplatez?

Good news, everyone!

I finally completed a project!  You can probably deduce which one from the title, but anyway, here's #8/8:

Yessir, this Cazzie Russell 2011-12 SP Authentic By the Letter A patch auto (#09/50) means I now have all eight in the nameplate and can finally show them off!

That's eight cards worth of manu-letter auto goodness, and they're all MINE!  Here's a look at how they came together:

• "H", BlowoutCards forum,  $10.00, 1/12
• "G", eBay, $5.99, 2/9
• "I" #1, eBay, $11.50, 3/24
• "I" #2, eBay, $9.05, 3/25
• "M", eBay, $10.49, 4/29
• "C", eBay, $12.48, 5/6
• "N", eBay, $13.00, 7/11
• "A", eBay, $12.54, 7/17

Total: $85.05, ~6 months

I had hoped to try to keep the spending on these to an average of under $10 per, but since all but one came from eBay, shipping costs, plus some scarcity at the end, did me in.  I think I still did well by finishing this project in just six months for about $85, though.

In any case, I'm proud to have finally closed the book on one of my many concurrent projects.  Now all that's left is determining how I'd like to display these, although a custom solution seems most likely at this point.  But better yet, here's where I ask you experts:  how are you displaying YOUR manupatches and/or nameplates?

Mmmmmmm...62.5%

I said in one of my recent posts that, after my crazy spending binge the first three months this year, I'd had taken a more rational approach in April, and at that point I had only spent $10 on a pair of cards from Blowout.  I did make one more purchase on the very last day of April, but it only cost me another $10.49 via eBay and I had a very good reason to buy it:

Cazzie Russell 2011-12 SP Authentic By the Letter M patch auto (#14/25)

I now have five out of the eight patches that spell out "Michigan" and I only need a "C", "A" and "N" to own the nameplate.  This one is easily my favorite because I'd be just as happy to have it alone--it may not look much like Michigan's "M" logo but it would suffice.  As with all the others of this collection it looks very cool and features an outstanding autograph.  Here's to continuing my progress towards getting something done!

The "I"s have it, and I have the "I"s

You're probably thinking I'm spending a lot this month; you're definitely correct.  You can attribute that mainly to my tax return, plus a recent windfall thanks to a couple nice sales I made on Blowout, getting rid of stale trade bait for useful Paypal.  Besides the CoMB stuff I've been posting, I've made a few eBay pickups and actually also made a large in-person buy from a fellow Michigan collector looking to cash in while narrowing down his collection--look for posts about that soon.

Meanwhile, eBay was very good to me last week, and here's what I'm excited about today:

This is a pair of "I"s from the Cazzie Russell "MICHIGAN" nameplate I'm working on out of this year's SP Authentic By the Letter set.  I'm now halfway to my goal of all eight cards (here's my "G" and "H") and I'm still 100% on track to spend an average of less than $10 per card, which is great.  Maybe at some point I'll actually finish one of these projects!

This pair also puts me into double digit Michigan Basketball hits, makes Cazzie the lone basketball leader of the PC, and puts me just 12 hits shy of 600 from all four sports--with a TON left to scan!  Stay tuned for posts on those very soon.

Cheap Ebay Pick-ups, U of M Style

Hello all, Jeff here with a couple more Ebay Pick-ups.  If your following my other blog (My Sports Obsession) then you’ll be getting to see a bunch of these.  But because EVERYBODY loves Michigan, they are a lot harder to come by cheap.  But I did get a few.  We’ll start off with a Fab Five member just because Michigan won the Big Ten Conference this year.  And our celebration for making the NCAA tourney as well.

• Jalen Rose - 1995 Ted Williams What’s Up rookie ($.54)

This isn’t a bad scan, that’s really what the card looks like it.  It has a really funky texture to it.  I’m not sure how to describe it.  But it’s of Jalen Rose.  The Fab Five were one of the reasons I came to love Michigan.

• Greg Mathews – 2010 Sage HIT Autograph ($2.50/shipped)

I do pay up to $3 for autos of players I remember watching so I went ahead and paid $2.50 for this card.  Greg Mathews, Michigan uniform, autographed, and my lucky #13, really, how could I go wrong?

But the main reason for this post is to show off my son’s pinewood derby car.  He went over to grandpa’s house to make this because I don’t know Jack about tools so I had nothing with the design.  My mother suggested the hood but everything else was all him.  What do you think it is?  Batman!  Spiderman!  Legos!  Nope, this is what he came up with.

Not sure why the left picture turned all blue, but the right picture shows its colors.  He races on Saturday so I’ll let you all know how he does.

To go along with all the great pick-ups that Dennis is posting, I’ll have some that he sent me, I have to scan them so it may not happen till this weekend.  Plus I’ll be watching Michigan playing in the tourney Friday night so I’ll get to it when I can but they are some awesome cards that make my collection all the more cooler.  The wait will definitely be worth it, you’ll see.

BE TRUE TO THE MAIZE AND BLUE!!!

Check out my blowout: day 1: basketball

It's time for another marathon of posts thanks to my second big COMC purchase of the year.  A good chunk of the cards went to Jeff, and I know he'll be dying to show off the Michigan stuff here before long, but I'm kicking things off today with basketball in honor of Michigan's shared Big Ten title and excellent overall season.

Bernard Robinson 2004-05 Upper Deck Black Diamond GemoGRAPHy auto:

Thanks to Jeff, this is my second Robinson auto.  I managed to pick up one for him with Bernard in a Michigan uni, but I decided to keep this one for myself so I had a couple of the guy.  He's now tied with two other players for the lead in my basketball PC. AT TWO. 

Juwan Howard 2007-08 Upper Deck Game Jersey jersey:

Here's one of today's two new PC members, and he happens to be one of the Fab Five.  Remembering that team now that it's March Madness time is sort of bittersweet for those of us who are Michigan fans, but there's no denying this group was insanely talented and fun to watch.

Robert Traylor 2005-06 Upper Deck Hardcourt Signatures auto:

Traylor tragically passed away of a heart attack last May.  I guess as big a dude as he was (he wasn't nicknamed "Tractor" for nothin'), it wasn't a huge surprise, but that didn't make it any less devastating for Michigan fans.
This is a fairly nice card despite its simplicity and sticker auto, and I like that Traylor is sort of wearing some Wolverines-like maize, even if he's playing for an Ohio team.

That's all the basketball I picked up, but don't worry--there's PLENTY more from the other three major sports, especially football, of course.  I'm going to go a different route and actually spread these out a bit so my posts don't get too long and unreadable (plus labor-intensive for me) and so I have more to continue posting on in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned for those posts, and definitely for Jeff's pickups as well, plus more thoughts on Michigan's hockey and basketball playoff runs.  LET'S GO BLUE!

Couple of cards with Hart

Hello all, I realize I haven’t been around too much lately but I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.  I’ve been following our basketball team fairly closely.  Last night’s loss to Purdue didn’t help us much.  But at least it’s nice going into the last few games and not talking about our team being on the bubble.  We are definitely in the NCAA Tourney this year.  And if this team can get rolling at the right time, we have an outside chance of winning it all.

I’ve also been following “spring training” for our baseball team.  This is the first year I’ve actually paid attention to the games, it would be nice if I could watch more.  I don’t know how many games make it to the Big Ten Network but I’m hoping some of them do.

But that’s not really what this post is about.  I picked up a couple of hits for my Mike Hart PC.  I actually got them awhile back but just haven’t been around to post too much.

• Mike Hart – 2008 Upper Deck SPx Super Scripts autograph ($1.22/shipped)
• Mike Hart - 2008 Topps Finest rookie auto ($2.06/shipped)

The SPx auto came in a lot of 13 cards that I paid $3 to ship.  Always check out the sellers other cards before paying, discounted shipping is the best way to save money on ebay.  Dennis got a few of those cards in our last trade, as well as some for my other baseball collections.  The Topps Finest was a single, so I was really shocked to get it at just over $2.

As always, be true to the Maize and Blue.

Catching up is hard to do: another trade post featuring Jeff

Sorry again for the recent dearth of posts, but fortunately I'm pretty much over the Mongolian Death Cold that pretty much sapped any energy I had for about the last week.  So, now I can return to important things, like giving credit where it's due with another fantastic trade post.  And who better to trade with than fellow TMM writer Jeff?

You'll have to head over to the other blog to see the balance of this package, but here's the tremendous Maize and Blue portion of it for your enjoyment because this is a MICHIGAN blog, fergodsakes!

Bernard Robinson 2004-05 SP Signature Authentic Signatures auto

On the heels of Jeff's timely Michigan basketball post, in which he showed off a Robinson auto of his own, comes this new addition to my basketball PC.  This kind of card is difficult to scan right, but it really does look great, and it's awesome to have a new member in the basketball PC, especially since I'm terrible at picking those up myself.  Speaking of Michigan basketball, HOW 'BOUT THAT MICHIGAN BASKETBALL?!

Before I get to the rest of the football, here's a couple of extremely excusable doubles which were probably still on my wantlist when Jeff picked these up:

Adrian Arrington 2008 Stadium Club auto RC

Brandon Graham 2010 Absolute Spectrum auto RC (#281/299)

While I don't personally need these, they're now available as trade bait to a fellow Michigan collector, or anybody, really.  Someone should snap them up--they look awesome!

Adrian Arrington-Mario Manningham 2008 Bowman Sterling dual auto

Easily my favorite of the bunch--two outstanding Michigan WRs who went out as bowl winners, two great autographs, one gorgeous, shiny card!

Anthony Thomas 2001 Fleer Genuine Future Swatch jersey RC (#0766/1000)

Another one I really enjoyed because it's got a very pleasing design and is satisfyingly numbered on the back with Fleer's awesome stamp.  I already have classmate David Terrell's version, too.

Brandon Graham 2010 Playoff Contenders Rookie Ticket auto RC

Sweet!  A Graham RC I didn't have!  That's not a comment on receiving the dupe above, but a reference to the fact that I have so many of them from his rookie year I'm not sure how many I'm even missing at this point.

Chris Perry 2004 Topps auto (#125/999)

I knew for sure I needed this one because it came straight off my wantlist.  I'm thrilled Jeff sent it because it looks exactly as great as I hoped it would.

Mario Manningham 2008 Upper Deck Game Day Gear jersey

I believe Jeff had these all picked out before Super Mario's Super Bowl heroics, so that makes him more of a visionary than Nostradamus or an octopus or whatever.  The card shows a determined Manningham ready to bust a big one, and that came true four short years later.

All in all, an excellent package, not even taking into account the baseball portion, which I'll get to as soon as possible.  While I've still got your attention (or not), here's a few milestones this trade package hit for my Michigan PC:

• 550 cards (551 now)
• 440 football
• 4th unique basketball player
• 24th Adrian Arrington (STILL all autographed!)
• 15th Anthony Thomas
• 10th Brandon Graham
• 20th Chris Perry
• 15th Manningham relic (28 cards overall)

It figures this would be a milestone-filled trade since Jeff was involved.  Thanks again for the trade, and sorry to take so long to get it posted.  Hopefully I'll be back with new stuff much sooner this time!

This Cazzie post is brought to you by the letter "G"

This post ties in nicely with Jeff's from yesterday, at least in terms of subject matter.  Today's mail brought another welcome addition to my Michigan PC:

Cazzie Russell 2011-12 SP Authentic By the Letter G patch auto (#18/50)

Unless your memory is terrible, I grabbed my first of these a week ago today.  I liked the look of these so much that I decided to set out and grab the remainder to spell a beautifully signed "Michigan" nameplate.  This "G" puts me at two out of the eight and it only set me back $6 on the Bay after paying $10 on Blowout last time.

The going might get a little rough for a bit--if you look up the completed listings for these on eBay, you'll notice that they typically go for $5-$15 delivered, which is a fairly reasonable range.  eBay sellers being eBay sellers, though, are asking for $20+, and often $30 BIN, which is just insane.  I don't understand how these guys can afford to list cards at prices no reasonable human would pay, then let them sit there month after month.  I made fair offers on a couple that had the offer feature enabled and was met with auto-replies that they'd been immediately rejected.  Enjoy NOT selling your cards, jackasses. /eBay rant over

Anyway, if you compare this to the previous card, you'll see that Cazzie's autograph is pleasantly consistent, which is even better when a sig looks as nice as his does!

I hope I have the entire nameplate to show off to all of you before long because that'll be a fun and rewarding accomplishment.  In the spirit of a collecting community, if you happen to see any of the remaining letters at reasonable prices, please let me know--I'll be happy to do the same for you during my usual perusals of eBay, COMC, Blowout, Sportlots, etc.

Michigan basketball

Just a quick post.  I’m typing this as I watch the end of the Illinois vs. Michigan game.  I’ll probably post it later tonight since Dennis just put a post up about his first contest here at TMM.  I love watching our Wolverine basketball team when they play at home.  They are undefeated at home, and if they played in visitors arenas as well as they do at home they would be damn near undefeated overall. 

We’ve had some great play off the bench, which we haven’t had since they put Stu Douglas in the starting line-up a week or so ago.

Hardaway has been hitting some shots, which he hasn’t done nearly all season. 

And you can’t forget about the heart of this team, Zach Novak.  He just plays all aspects of the game with passion and toughness.

Trey Burke just gets better and better every game.  I think he’s the difference in our team this year.  He has had an already impressive Freshman year.  I can’t wait to see him playing the NCAA tourney when everybody steps up their games.  It’s definitely an exciting time for Michigan basketball.
I’ve watched most of the games this year, which is the first time I’ve really watched any college basketball in a very long time.  Maybe even since the fab 5 years.  I watch a little bit come tourney time, but never full games.  But as much as I love watching them this year, a very small part of me can’t wait until they are no longer at Michigan just so they can sign some cards in their Michigan uniforms for my collection.
And speaking of Michigan basketball, I got my last package from ebay sometime last week.  I’ve already sent out most of those packages to Dennis yesterday, hopefully he’ll be happy with what I got him.  Most of it was Wolverines so you should see them here when he gets them posted.  I also received one more card for my collection in that package.

Bernard Robinson Sage autograph.  I have very few Michigan basketball cards so this was a welcome addition.  Especially at the $1.98/shipped price I paid with combined shipping on the other items.
Be sure to check out the 1st contest here, at TMM.  All it takes is a comment to win some great autos, relics and rookies.  And he’ll even throw in some extra cards of your favorite team.  And if you know Dennis lately, extra cards means EXTRA cards.  Not saying he’ll ship you a whole box of cards, but it wouldn’t be the first time.

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!

What’s this post for?

I've always been into Michigan football, for as long as I can remember.  But for most of my life, I followed their box score more than anything.  It's probably only been the last 6 or 7 years that I've gotten really into them and started watching all their games.  Of course, nowadays it's a lot easier to find the games on TV with the Big Ten network.  I've also started to make the trek up north to Ann Arbor at least once a year for a game.  This year, I made it to 3 games plus the fan appreciation day.  That'll be a rarity because 2 of those games weren't on my dime.  Now with the background out of the way, to what this post is all about.
When I first got into Michigan, I was actually watching the Fab 5.  I watched a lot more basketball back then and even though I followed Michigan before the fab 5, it was that team that got me to actually watching games.  Now I find myself watching basketball again.  With the maturing of this team, I've been watching their games when I can. They aren't as regularly available as the football, but you can watch more than you used to. They have been fun to watch this year.. 
With freshman Trey Burke taking over Darius Morris’ spot from last year, it was debated on how good we were going to be with a freshman point guard.  But Burke has been exceptional and I actually like the team better behind him.  Even with Tim Hardaway Jr. struggling, this team has been good.  A 13-3 (3-1 Big Ten) record is only good enough for 3rd place right now in the stacked Big Ten Conference but a #13 rank in the nation.  But better than that, this team is fun to watch.  They play with heart and those are the teams that you love to root for.  I’m enjoying watching basketball again.  And that hasn’t happened in a very long time.
Does this post have anything to do with cards?  Well, yes, sort of.  What I’m realizing as I’m getting back into Michigan basketball, is that I don’t have very many Michigan basketball autographs.  And I have hardly anything that’s recent.  I’ve picked up a couple here and there, but being as I just don’t buy basketball cards, I only have 2.
                                               
These are the only 2 I have.  A Robert “Tractor” Traylor auto who was a dominant big man.  He was still playing basketball in Puerto Rico this past spring when he passed away of a heart attack.  Also, a Ray Jackson auto who was a part of the Fab 5.

What this post is really about, is that I need to get into the other sports of Michigan.  I do need some good basketball autos, but I also need some good baseball autos.  Part of the problem I have, is my collection is only Michigan uniforms.  And they don’t print a whole lot of other sports in Michigan uniforms.  Or at least sets that feature autos.  I’ll have to look to see if they really even do.  Until I started trading with Dennis, I didn’t realize who all had even played for us.  Be sure to check out his collection of autos of former Wolverines.  Link’s on the right side of this page.  It’s a very impressive collection.
I’m going to have to go on the hunt for some baseball autos in Michigan uniforms, if there are any.  I wonder if this guy has an auto I’d like.  Now that would be a great auto.
Congrats to Barry Larkin for being voted into the Hall of Fame.  Most definitely deserves it.  I know most Wolverine fans are ecstatic about this.  Probably some Reds fans as well.  Probably.
So we look forward to his induction on July 22nd.

So I guess this post is basically to announce I need to do a lot better on my Wolverines collections.  Especially the autos (and relics.)

I wonder what other Michigan sports I could find autos for.  Hmmm!

Oh yeah!  That would be pretty sweet!