Teal Theme Trade

Not long ago, I decided to focus this blog on the Sharks for awhile. I know that most of you are bored to death hearing about hockey, deal with it. Anyways, recently Mike of the newer blogs NYC Cards and Bombers Blog commented that he had some Sharks cards if I was interested. While I don't do much hockey, I'm always open to stuff from my team. I sent Mike a few Jets, Devils, and Islanders and these are some of the sweet stuff he sent me. This would be some of the cards of current players and the General Manager:

Also included were some older cards of all kinds of Sharks players. It is sad that there isn't a name I don't recognize:

After looking through the cards, my son staked his claim to these since he loves Nabby and wishes he was still in the pipes for Team Teal:

Mike blew me away with not one, not two, but three special cards. Autos of Torrey and one of my favorites, "Pickles." Also a nice black relic of Cheech. It is sad how his career has de-railed after being sent to Ottawa. Hopefully after this last season in Worcester, he might make it back.

Mike also is like everyone else and can easily see my obsession with Tony Gwynn. He sent this 1985 beauty. I have never seen these before but I kind of like it. The scan looks off, but I didn't want flatten a 3-D card.

Thanks again to Mike for some fun cards that were different than my other obsession with the Mariners.

Also, if you missed last night's Sharks game it was AWESOME!!  This team seems to thrive on living on the edge by going to OT. Four of the five wins so far all have taken extra time to decide. I didn't think they were going to pull out game 1 at home. Halfway through the 3rd period, Mr. Clutch Joe Pavelski put life in us Sharks fans.

Then, seven minutes into OT the birthday boy gets the game winner. On his 24th birthday, little used 4th liner Benn Ferriero beat Jimmy Howard for the WIN! Benn is the first player in NHL history to get an OT winner on his birthday. I don't think there was a better way for Benn to celebrate it.

I'm not too sure who these characters are that are out in Detroit, and Boston wearing uniforms that say Seattle across the front. These aren't the Mariners that I was not long ago. It is hard to believe they are only 3 games under .500 and playing good baseball. After the unfortunate passing of his father, Justin Smoak must be dedicating his season to him.

This kid is absolutely hitting the cover off the ball. I was happy to see him come from Texas last year. I think he will continue to improve. Off to the Sounders match tonight with my son for a little guy time against Toronto FC.

Northwest Beauties

I know the title is deceiving, and you wonder where I'm going with this one. Things looked beautiful in the Northwest yesterday. The biggest news of the day came from New York when UW's own Jake Locker was drafted 8th by the Tennessee Titans.

You can probably start making new #10 jerseys in Nashville. Congrats Titans fans, this kid is going to be something special for you. It was an honor and a pleasure to watch Jake bring the Huskies back to Being good and going to bowl games. How did your team do in the first round? Are you happy with your team's pick or are you waiting to see what happens in the later rounds?

Where has this baseball team come from?? Are we actually a decent team, or are the Tigers that bad of a team? Either way I will take a sweep any day. This Pineda kid is really getting excited about his future. He's getting better and better each start. It gets rougher now with a series starting in Fenway tonight.

Sharks start the second round tonight against the hated Red Wings. They have had success against them in the past, so we will see how tonight starts the series.

Nice trade post coming tomorrow, hoping for some sun today to get a baseball game in tonight.

Have a Coke and a smile

Can the Mariners play against this guy everyday?

His line in the last two starts against the woefully hitting M's:

8 IP, 14 H, 13 R, 9 ER, 4 BB, 4 K's. In those two games the Mariners have won by a combined 20-6 margin. Thank you Phil Coke, and thanks to Ryan Raburn for the highlight reel homer for Olivo last night.

Awesome sight in sports

One of the greatest things about a NHL playoff series is the sportsmanship. These guys will go at it for anywhere from four to seven games and will try to take each other's heads off. At the end of the series, these guys can put that aside and do this:

My question is why Kings coach Terry Murray refused to take part in the tradition? It was reported on Twitter last night by Devin Setoguchi @seto1661 that he didn't. That is one thing that really gets under my skin as a fan. I know it is hard to know you are out, but show your opponent their proper respect.

Tonight's epic game 7 between Vancouver and Chicago will determine our next opponent. A Canucks win, and we will play the Red Wings. If the Blackhawks can pull it off, the West go through San Jose, and the Sharks would host Chicago. Two game 7's tonight= MUST SEE TV!

New slogan time

I have been thinking long and hard about this one. None of us are old enough to remember, but the 1948 Boston Braves chant was, "Spahn, Sain, and pray for rain."

Now in 2011, I believe the Mariners should get rid of "Ready to play," and replace it with this.

"Felix, Pineda, and pray for a tornada!"
Works for me. New series starts Tuesday in D-town

The Easter Benny came!!

Yes folks, that's right the Easter Benny came a day early to my house. If you remember back a few weeks ago, The Adventures of Napkin Doon held a little white elephant contest. My first winning was an Octavio Dotel as a Met auto that BA Benny stole (thank you). My second pick was this lot of four cards:

Mike, the great mind behind BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet and the Pack Rip Cafe sent me an e-mail wanting the Tom Seaver out of the bunch. As a guy who had no need for it, I was more than willing to send it his way. Mike sent me a little package of Mariners that got fumbled by the USPS. Thanks to Shawn, who lives two hours north of me my package was found. He contacted both Mike and me and made arrangements to send it down to me. Thank goodness there still is honest people in the world. Mike sent me these older beauties to help out with the Super Set. I slowly getting closer with it.

He sent me some Mariners of old:

And some current Mariners, including The Condor to finish series 1, and an awesome OD of the Moose. I hope that card is in the Topps team sets this year if I can ever find any in the Seattle area...

As you all know by now, Mike has two great blogs and is one awesome trader. Read his words, trade with him, take pity on a Mets fan (they are almost as bad as the M's). Thanks again Mike for the great cards!

Happy Easter to everyone! Enjoy your day with your families.

When a win is a loss

Last night the Seattle Sounders FC played an MLS match in Colorado. In only the 3rd minute of the game, Sounders top player and one of the league's better players Steve Zakuani suffered a devastating injury. It was diagnosed last night to be a fractured tibia and fibula. That's both bones in the lower leg. If you are squeamish or have a light stomach, don't watch. It will remind you of Theismann's injury.


While the Sounders were able to pull off the 1-0 win, it is a major setback for this team. The Sounders have set up ways to show your support for Steve. You can Tweet him directly on Twitter @stevezakuani11 and/or hash tag it #forzakuani. You can go directly to the Sounders website , where a page has been set up. Also, the Facebook page can be used for good wishes. Physical mail may be sent to: Sounders FC Community Relations, 12 Seahawks Way, Renton, WA 98056. After winning tickets to take my son to next week's game, he was devastated to see the injury to his favorite Sounder. Godspeed to Steve for a speedy recovery!

Also last night, the kid Michael Pineda was on the mound again. This young man is really starting to impress me. He now goes to 3-1, and has a ERA of 1.78. His line for last night was 6 IP, 5 hits, no runs, 2 walks, and 5 K's. It's nice to have him and the King in the same rotation. Pineda is starting to look like he could become something special.

Tonight, hopefully the Sharks will close out the Kings in the Shark Tank, and we can move on to the second round...

In the Driver's seat

Last night was a step closer to the intended goal. With a convincing 6-3 win, the Sharks are in the proverbial catbird seat. Going home with a 3-1 series lead and a chance to close it out on Saturday night. In an awesome gesture, the Kings and Sharks were able to secure tickets for the family of Bryan Stow to attend the game last night. Let's finish this out on Saturday and find out who's next. What is going on in Vancouver too?

Last night also, Felix looked like the King again. 7 2/3, 4 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, and no runs. Granted, the margin for error was slim in a 1-0 game. Felix looked good last night, and let's hope to keep it rolling with "the Stank" tonight. That would be one of the new nicknames for Michael Pineda. When the late, great Dave Niehaus saw him pitch in Spring he said his ball had alot of Stank on it. Good luck kid!

Could it happen?

With the impending takeover of the Dodgers by MLB, could they become the Nationals? A team that is kind of mismanaged, let's players go because of salary and is forgotten about? I would highly doubt that the team could fall to such depths, but with MLB anything could happen. Just think Dodger fans instead of going to Chavez Ravine to see the boys in blue, you could go to Fresno. What if they moved them back to Brooklyn? What's next faithful Blue followers??

BOOM goes the offenses!

Last night was a fun night to bounce back and forth on my TV. Between the Mariners offense coming to life quickly and making the Tigers lives miserable:

To the Sharks looking like a bunch of school kids to heroes:

The Mariners were able to pound out 15 hits, draw 11 walks, and get the Tigers to commit 2 errors in a 13-3 win.

I have not seen that kind of offense out of this team in a long time. Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Justin Smoak. He left the team yesterday to get home to South Carolina for a family emergency. It was later found out last night that Justin lost hid dad to cancer at the age of 54 last night.

My Sharks were down and out last night. I almost gave up on them at 4-0 early in the second period. But, with 5 goals in the second to tie it at 5-5, they were in it to win it! Devin Setoguchi got the winner 3 minutes into overtime, capping the greatest comeback in Sharks playoff history.

I am a happy boy for at least one day. I love it when both my teams come up big!!

Pops, Papi, Murph, Tony, the King, and M's OH MY!

Recently another Larry, this one of Sewing Machine Guy fame was looking for '79 Topps. As a Larry that bought a ton of 79's a few years ago on a closeout deal, I was happy to help him out. For sending him a small stack of 30 year old cards, I got an entire cavalcade of players. First off were two cards from my favorite Pirate, Willie Stargell:

Also included in his little treasure bag was some great cards of Big Papi for my son. He saw the GU card, and said, "dad, can I just feel it? This thing is so cool!"

Not to be forgotten was my love for the Brave that should be in the hall, Dale Murphy. Murph in a Phils uni still doesn't look right to me though:

What trade can be complete without the standard Tony cards? Didn't know the guy could bunt did ya?

Any trade with me has to have at least a few Mariners. The '82 Kellogg's 3D is sick, and a Wladimir Balentien auto. It's sad to see Wlad has fallen all the way to playing Japan so soon.

Also in the bag was a few more cards of the King. I'm really starting to pile up on Felix's cards.

Larry was great enough to send the last four cards I needed to finish my '82 Donruss set.

These five '84 Donruss cards get me closer to finishing off that year's set too. If you look at the Putnam and Nunez card you can see that they were taken in Palm Springs like my new collection of Angels in the Desert. I won't be looking for cards of all other players taken in the desert (too much work), but it's cool to be able to recognize the venue of the pics.

If you don't read his blog on a regular basis you are missing out. If you can, trade with him, he will definitely hook you up. Thanks again from one Larry to another!

Hear me out first...

I know that I'm going to sound blasphemous, but hear me out. As I watched the Mariners stink again until it was too late, I was frustrated by what I saw. I totally understand what yesterday was.

I have read many books on Jackie Robinson and know the history of what he went through. I find Jackie to be a role model that I can look to live my life like. This is the man that we should proud of also:

I think the things that Jackie did as a player were beyond awesome. The strength and courage he had to accept what was done to him on and off the field and continue to be the bigger man is beyond comprehension. I think that the trials that Jackie went through are lost on many people in all walks of life nowadays. I'm talking to you, you coward Dodger fans that beat a man into a coma. Jackie would not be proud to have you as fans of his team.

OK here comes the part people won't like. I remember back on April 15, 1997 Ken Griffey Jr. decided he would change to #42 for a day to honor Jackie. I thought the idea was outstanding for the 50th anniversary of Jackie coming into the league. Also on that day, commissioner Bud Selig pronounced that all teams would immediately retire #42. As a caveat, all players that were currently wearing the number could continue to wear it and when all those players retired, no one would ever wear it again. The only current player to still wear 42 would be Mariano Rivera. Once Mo's gone, that's it for the number. Why is it that for the last few years the league has decided to diminish the meaning, history, and honor of #42? I feel like trotting all players and coaches out in 42's kind of takes away from the specialness of the number.

While it is awesome that MLB wants to make sure that kids and adults don't forget what Jack Roosevelt Robinson went through in 1947 to change the history of the game for the better, I don't think the overuse of his number every year is the right thing to do. I like the idea of trying to do more education at ballparks the day to help people know about Jackie's life. I think that kids should have to read his autobiography "I Never Had It Made" or "Opening Day" in school to educate them on what racism and prejudice is.

I hold great respect to players like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Willard Brown, Hank Thompson, Sam Jethroe, Minnie Minoso, Bob Trice, Gene Baker, Ernie Banks, Curt Roberts, Tom Alston, Nino Escalera, Carlos Paula, Elston Howard, John Kennedy, Ozzie Virgil, and Pumpsie Green. They were all the first to erase the color barriers of their respective teams. I find it abysmal that it took 12 years to fully integrate the major leagues. All of these great men had the courage to stand up to the hate that they were given in their respective cities and be the better men. I hope that everyone will remember the courage and hearts of Jackie, and all the other first African-Americans who helped bring the game of baseball to what it is today.

Are we not men?

No, we are RATS!!

It seems to me that David Stern will impose his will whenever and wherever he feels like it. And what makes it worse is some of his crony owners are on board with him. Today, the commissioner granted an extension to the Mallof brothers to file for relocation. This comes on the heels of the news of a potential buyer to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

Ron Burkle who is a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins is willing to buy the team and keep them there. Not long ago in Seattle, Steve Balmer of Microsoft was wiling to buy the Sonics and keep them in Seattle. We all know how that ended up, Clay moved the team and all the Sonics history to OKC. To make matters worse, David Stern says a chance for a buyer to keep the team in Sacramento is "not a high priority right now." WHAT, are you kidding me??? To make matters worse for Kings fans, Mr. Stern today named Clay Bennett as the NBA relocation committee chairman! I smell some shenanigans going on here.

As a non-basketball fan who watched the fans suffer the fate of losing their franchise, my sympathies go out to the fan in Sacramento. Here's to hoping that things can work out better for you than they did to the Seattle SuperSonics fans.