How about them Wolverines!

I'm trying not to get to excited about the way they are playing but it's hard not to. The offense still scares me a little, Rudock really scares me, even though he looked pretty good this weekend against BYU. Rudock's decision making doesn't always please me but as long as he's not turning the ball over, which he didn't yesterday, I'll stop complaining about him, for now. Our stable of RB's are playing well. There's no doubt our starter should be De'Veon Smith, but with all those backups and potential starters behind him, you really could throw a few of them out there and they would excel, and they have. We are back to power football and I am excited, trying not to be, but I am.

That defense though, has been outstanding and they only seem to get better each week. BYU was supposed to throw over the top of us but the defensive line didn't give the QB much chance to get set and even when he did, our secondary was right on top of their receivers. We've seen a pretty good defense for the past couple of years, but this one seems even better and on top of that, we seem to be getting our offense together.

The best thing I have seen so far this year, and it really has been the difference, is Jim Harbaugh. The last few years, there was no excitement, no fire on this team, and no fire on the sidelines. I was ecstatic when Harbaugh went nuts on the sidelines a couple of weeks ago when the refs were blowing all kinds of calls against Oregon State. That fire has worked it's way onto the team, just look at our RB's, Smith and Green were both playing for us last year, but I don't remember them being anything like they are this year. Especially Smith, he ran hard last year, but not like he is this year, he is not any easy tackle anymore.

I'm not excited yet (I'm lying) because after the last decade we've had, I'm still reserved (not really) about how good this team is. They aren't going to be in the national title game (yet) but they can reek some havoc in the big ten, and as good as little brother is (they're good), I think we have a shot at beating them (finally) and as poorly as Ohio has played (they've sucked), they will be better by the time we face them, yet, I still think we have a chance at them too.

I think with the level of improvement we've seen from the Utah game to the BYU game, we're only going to get better. I am excited about that and I'm excited that the game are enjoyable to watch again. Not that I think we belong there yet, but I think we may crack the top 25 this week.

The real reason for this post was to show off the Michigan cards that Dennis sent me, but since they are duplicates from him, you've probably seen them all before, so I thought I put down some thoughts on this blog about this team. It's been hard to do the last few years but things are definitely looking brighter.

Thanks for the awesome package, Dennis.

New year, new PCs!

Collecting inspiration can come from the funniest places.  Case in point:  as I was flipping through my subscribed blogs last Friday I caught a fun post from Nick at Dime Boxes.  It's possible most of you that read this blog caught that post because he's a great blogger, but in case you didn't for some reason go check it out.  Basically he used cards to summarize a tough week that hopefully looked to be getting better.  Besides the neat premise I noticed one of the more interesting cards he included:

This is a '95 Stadium Club base card of former Brewers pitcher Mike Ignasiak.  While I'm sure most of you would look at this card and say to yourself, "Hey, that's hilarious!  He's wearing his jersey backwards!" (and of course I did too), my main thought was "Hey, I recognize that name, didn't he play for Michigan?  Sure enough, a trip to baseball-reference.com confirmed that very fact.  And that find led me to click on the "School" link that shows you all the players that attended a specific high school or college, because that gives you a fantastic list you can sort every which way from Sunday.

Though I had done something similar in the past and maybe come up with a new name or two, I'd apparently not put in as much effort as I could have because in addition to Mike up there I found four other guys I still wasn't collecting (plus Steve Howe, about whom I'm still on the fence).  Since it's a new year and I spent very little in January, plus cards for my other PCs have relatively dried up, I thought I'd go whole hog at those five players with the help of three of my favorite card sources:  COMC, Justcommons, and Sportlots.  One Super Bowl Sunday later I got a lot done, and you'll see the fruits of my labor when those various packages arrive in the next couple weeks.

In the meantime, why not introduce each player so you and I can learn about the careers these guys had and the cardboard on which they appeared?  Here, then, are six players you may or may not have been aware suited up for the Maize and Blue before plying their trade in the Majors:

1.  Tom Grieve (OF)

Playing career:  1970, 1972-79

Team(s):  Senators/Rangers, Mets, Cardinals

Interesting facts:  Drafted 6th overall in 1966 (the Reggie Jackson draft); Father of former MLBer Ben Grieve;  Attended Michigan for student deferment during Vietnam War; Part of four-team trade in 1977.

Number of cards:  16 (checklist)

Cards I own:  0

2.  Mike Ignasiak (RHP)

Playing career:  1991, 1993-95

Team(s):  Brewers

Interesting facts:  Drafted in the 8th round in 1988, 11 picks after Tim Wakefield;  Previously drafted by the Cardinals in 1987's 4th round;  That hilarious Stadium Club card above.

Number of cards:  15 (checklist)

Cards I own:  1, the '94 Topps above (album link)

3.  Jim Paciorek (1B/3B/LF)

Playing career:  1987

Team(s):  Brewers

Interesting facts:  Drafted in the 8th round in 1982;  Previously drafted by Cleveland in 1981's 14th round;  Brother of 18-year vet Tom Paciorek.

Number of cards:  2, 1987 Fleer Update and a Glossy parallel (checklist)

Cards I own:  0

4.  Lary Sorensen (RHP)

Playing career:  1977-85, 1987-88

Team(s):  Brewers, Cardinals, Indians, A's, Cubs, Expos, Giants

Interesting facts:  Drafted in the 8th round in 1976;  Part of deal that sent Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons to Milwaukee;  1978 All-Star, went 18-12 with 17 CG

Number of cards:  36 (checklist)

Cards I own:  1, the above 1986 Topps (album link)

5.  Gary Wayne (LHP)

Playing career:  1989-94

Team(s):  Twins, Rockies Dodgers

Interesting facts:  Drafted in the 4th round in 1984, ahead of future Tiger Mike Henneman;  Previously drafted by Oakland in 1983's 23rd round, one pick before notable Pirate Jeff King;  1 career hit and 2 RBI in 2 career ABs.

Number of cards:  36 (checklist)

Cards I own:  4, all from 1990s sets, including the above '90 Score RC (album link)

As usual anything I own is by virtue of those cards falling within sets I've completed.  Stay tuned for more posts featuring these guys (and others from my baseball and hockey PCs) very soon.

And once again, a big thanks to Dime Box Nick for inspiring me to chase these PCs!

A couple of weeks of incoming cards

If you follow me over at My Sports Obsession, then you know Dennis sent me a gift package.  Plus I need to show the Ebay purchases that relate to this blog.  I’ll do these alphabetical like I do on my blog.

1992 Fleer

$.25

            1992 Pinnacle Team 2000        1992 Pinnacle (the Idols)             

$.50                                       $.27

1992 Topps (all-star)                 1992 Topps       

$.11                                    $.11

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter’s

Dennis’ gift package

Jim Abbott collection

These cards give me 33 of Jim Abbott.

2008 Topps Stadium Club Auto and 2008 Upper Deck Premier Prospects auto

Dennis’ gift package

Mike Hart collection

These 2 cards give me 27 of Mike Hart.

1992 Fleer (superstar specials)

$.25

     1989 Topps                    1992 Topps (all-star)

$.11                                      $.30

1991 Topps                             1994 Post

$.30                                        $.50

Barry Larkin collection

These cards give me 44 of Barry Larkin.

2014 Playoff Prestige

$.49

Taylor Lewan collection  

This is my 3rd card of Taylor Lewan.

2013 Press Pass

$.40

Denard Robinson collection  

This is my 14th card of Denard Robinson.

2008 Upper Deck Draft Edition autograph

Dennis’ gift package

This card gives me 10 of Chad Henne

1995 Skybox Impact

$.45

These cards give me 193 in the Michigan collection.

The Henne card gives me 46 autographs in the Michigan collection.

 

Not that your used to me posting consistently but it will be a little while before I probably get more cards to post here since I have 2 weeks off of work and have taken a few weeks off of purchasing cards.

Big shout out to Dennis for the very nice Christmas gift as well as to Jim Harbaugh for being our next coach, rumor has it he is returning to Ann Arbor today and will get announced tomorrow.

Cheap pick ups

Jeff here, it’s been awhile but I have been posting my Michigan content to My Sports Obsession blog when I do my weekly purchases post but I’ll repost the Michigan stuff here as well.  Maybe not every week but whenever I end up with a few cards.  I will also post a couple of player collections that are Michigan alumni even though they are pictured in their pro jerseys.  (For those that don’t know, my Michigan collection only consists of alumni in their Michigan uniforms.)

2014 Topps Finest

Taylor Lewan collection

$.42

• This is only my 2nd card of Lewan’s PC.
• This is the 1st card as a Tennessee Titan.

1990 Upper Deck

Barry Larkin collection

$.50

• This card is my 39th of Barry Larkin.
• This card is my 36th from his playing days.

1989 Donruss Baseballs Best

Jim Abbott collection

$.15

• This is my 28th card of Jim Abbott.
• This is my 17th card of him with the California Angels.
• This is my 23rd card from his playing days.

2013 Bowman Sterling

Denard Robinson collection

$.26

• This is my 13th card of Denard Robinson.
• This is my 9th card of Denard with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

2001 Fleer Ultra College Greats Autograph

Michigan collection

$1.25 ($.75 bid/$.50 shipping)

• This is my 185th card of the Michigan collection.
• This is my 3rd card of Amani Toomer in that collection.
• This is my 45th autographed card in that collection.

*note – Obviously I bid a little higher than my usual for this autographed card but I still consider it pretty cheap.

Ebay Cheap additions

If you follow my blog My Sports Obsession, then you’ve already seen this first card, but since he was a Wolverine, I’m going to show it over here as well.

2013 Topps Allen & Ginter’s

I picked up this Jim Abbott for $.50 when I picked up a handful of last years Allen & Ginter’s.  It’s an Angels uniform which isn’t even in my top 2 for him, I’d prefer to see him in the maize and blue of the Michigan Wolverines or the Black and White of the Chicago White Sox.  This is my 26th card of the relatively new collection.

2013 Panini Prizm

I also grabbed this Denard Robinson for the Jacksonville Jaguars, whom I actually got to watch a bit last weekend since they played the Colts.  It doesn’t hurt that I only paid a quarter for it as well.  This is already my 11th card of the really new collection.

                                                  

2013-14 Panini Prizm                                                            2013-14 Panini Prestige

I grabbed my 1st and 2nd card of the Trey Burke collection.  I figured this collection might be a little harder to get cards on the cheap since he had a pretty successful rookie campaign.  I grabbed them both from the same seller as the Tim Hardaway jr card below and paid $.31 for the Prizm and  $.28 for the Prestige.

2013-14 Panini Prestige

This is only my 2nd card of Tim jr but as with the Denard Robinson collection and Trey Burke collection above, it’s a really new collection.  I grabbed this Panini for $.32 which is great because I don’t even collect NBA cards so I hate paying a lot for the few player collections that I have from that league.

2013-14 Panini Court Kings RC Jumbo Jersey Art Nouveau /325

Even though with jerseys and autographs I put a higher bid than the others, I still only put $3.04 as a max bid.  So I was shocked to win this and even more shocked that I won it for $2/shipped.  Obviously with this new collection, it is my first relic of Tim Hardaway jr.

That’s all I have for today, look for my daughter and I in the stands this coming Saturday as we start our march for a Big Ten Championship.  It will be my daughter’s first game but not first time at the stadium.  She’s excited.

I did find it ironic that the tickets for the game show these 2 considering 1 of them will be named the quarterback come Saturday.

This Week on MSO–Wolverines

It’s Sunday, time to recap the pictures that I post on My Sports Obsession – Wolverines blog.

I’ve been spotty this week so there won’t be as many photos but we still got some in.

Jackson Lamb

Tim Hardaway jr.

Another great season

Photos from Michigan vs. Kentucky

Thank you w/Nik Stauskas

Nik Stauskas

Bo Schembechler

A walk off winner

Gif highlights from Michigan vs. Tennessee

25 years ago

Derrick Walton jr.

Spring game photos

 

If you had trouble loading all these pics, you can also view them at My Sports Obsession – Wolverines, be sure to follow us on Facebook as well (I post some content there that I don’t here) so you can share your love for the Wolverines with all your friends.  I’ll be back next Sunday.