Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ESPN. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

On demand

'On demand' means a lot in today's world. 

It's become a part of everyday speech, often referring to some sort of instant gratification. To me, it's mostly commonly associated with television. There's even a button on my TV remote with a star on it, with the button's label reading "On demand."

Baseball cards too are now printed on demand, something that started with Topps Now and has evolved into many, many forms of cards released online and printed to order. There are so many of these types of sets now, that it's impossible to keep up. I rarely know what sort of sets are out there at any given time.

It's easy to not pay attention. I have no need to go Topps' website just to browse around. Every so often I'll open one of their emails and notice a set that's currently available on demand. I might even buy one once in a while, such as Derek Jeter-curated set.

Recently on TCDB, someone offered me two Gleyber Torres cards that were printed on demand. I had no idea either card existed.

The first is a 2020 Topps Attax. I don't think the brand every resonated with baseball collectors. I've gotten tons from 2010ish in trade packages. I see the brand seemingly do well for some other sports, like soccer, but in baseball it never made much of a splash. Still, it's neat to see some of today's current players on an Attax design.
The next was a 52-card set created by Kenny Mayne. I love Kenny Mayne. I know there are a lot of cool people who like to brag about not liking ESPN, but Mayne was one of the best SportsCenter anchors and talents to land on air, and his catch phrases and features were always outstanding. While this looks more like a playing card of course, I didn't know this set was even a thing until the card was proposed to me in a swap.
That's all for today. Off to work...where my time is IN demand.

Monday, April 20, 2020

Great Scott!

For those who cared to watch it, I hope you enjoyed episodes 1 & 2 of The Last Dance on ESPN. I thought it was great. Not only did I enjoy seeing the old footage of Michael Jordan and co., but there was a lot I just didn't remember. I was actually surprised by how little I did recall!

While I followed the NBA heavily in 1997-98 (I would have been in 8th grade), there was so much I just didn't remember. I don't remember Scottie Pippen's drama with ownership, and him deciding right before the season to have foot surgery. I don't remember the Bulls sluggish start that year. I don't remember the vitriol geared at Jerry Krause.

I'm sure I knew about it at the time, but 23 years ago (ha! 23!) was a long time ago. A lot has happened since then to my cloud my brain.

As for Pippen, he definitely deserved to be paid more. On one hand, he dug his own grave by signing a long-term contract in order for security - 7 years and $18mil. On the other, toward the end of the deal, he was grossly underpaid as league revenue - and player salaries - soared.

I have a fairly lot of Pippen cards in my remaining stack of basketball cards I saved. Nothing fancy, but a nice assortment. As I mentioned in my last post, most of my basketball collecting was while Jordan was out, so naturally I ended up with a lot of Pippens.

My favorite is probably the SkyBox Air Raid, which seems a bit like a knock off of Upper Deck's Skylights. It kind of looks more like a Nike shoe ad.
A pretty sweet Provisions card from Fleer, although I'm not so sure of the background. Are those bullet holes?
SkyBox Z-Force is the equivalent of Circa Thunder, I think. I could be wrong. Still, a neat card in a '90s kind of way.
These two inserts from Fleer Ultra would have come from the box I got for Christmas in 1995.
This Hoops Block Party is a really fun card, although not sure I'd say Pippen was known for his shot-blocking. Still, he could do it all, so I get it.
Here's the rest of my Pippen stash:
The next 8 episodes can't come soon enough!


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

T206 Honus Wagner short film

Pretty cool short film about the T206 Honus Wagner card. If you have 15 minutes, take a look:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8983686