My only religious holiday: OPENING DAY!

Its here! Its here! Thank the lord! Too bad this opening day has become a slosh of opening delays. Either way, I am f*ing pumped to see the new Twins in action (during the only period of the year I am happy we have a dome). This almighty pump-ed-ness will, with out a doubt, wear off within a half an inning as Livan Hernandez gives up a five spot to the wicked Angels lineup. (UPDATE: TWINS WIN?!?)



Joe and Justin celebrate making it through spring training with no injuries - SCORE!

ON TO SPORTS CARD GOINGS ON

Last friday, amongst the pickle that UD football had gotten themselves into, UD baseball debuted their version of Premier for 2008.

This year we get the normal patch and jersey subsets with some new autos and fake patches. The designs for the relic cards are a step up from last year, but when you add the auto to the already busy patch and jersey card, it looks like the player has it tatooed on his face most of the time. See below (Lets play "Where's Waldo - Autograph Version") :



The MLB logos are new, and I like the cards - a lot. Buuuuuutttttt, there are no autos, something Ive yearned for on an MLB logo card ever since the logo cards of all logo cards in Ultimate 2006. CMON UPPER DECK - PULL YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES!!

Lastly, we have the omnious "PREMIER CARD", where there is an auto side and a memorabilia side. Each features three players, but honestly, I couldnt care less unless those players are Pujols, Ripkien, and Jeter. The card looks okay, but it is just overkill in my opinion. I guess they havent learned their lessons with the duals out of exquisite being worth nothing, and the duals out of premier last year being worth nothing..... you get my point.

As with most UD overpriced crap, I will only be buying singles to avoid giving UD my money, and to avoid the $270+ price tag. Yeesh, and I thought Black was overpriced!

My grade: B-

UPDATE: UPPER DECK'S RESPONSE

Per Upper Deck, this was a collation error that could have happened anywhere. Uh, yeah, right.



Things I believe more than Upper Deck's response to this situation:

• Aliens crash landed at Roswell
• You can keep your eyes open when you sneeze
• There are alligators in the sewers
• The politician who was caught in the Mpls/St Paul Airport Bathroom giving oral sex to another man is actually heterosexual and a great family man.
• Bill Clinton did not have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky
• Going into Iraq and staying there was worth the 4,000+ casualties

UD is now my favorite spin artist. I think Bush should hire them!

Upper Deck - Thanks for the Memories!

Man, I have wanted to do this for a long, long time. Let me start with that. I feel there are so many issues that need to be tackled, because with most things, information is at a premium. So with no sponsorship or any type of dictators running the show, I can finally post without worry of what is going to happen. No bans are thrown down here.

THE UPPER DECK SITUATION

So, most of you have been following this, im sure. Right? Its the first time I was really moved into action by anything going on in the hobby. To tell you the truth, when I first saw the video on http://www.beckett.com/ , I felt like I had just gotten a Craphonso Thorpe Auto in exchange for my Adrian Peterson redemption. For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, watch the video.



So yeah, this sucks. Upper deck has finally gone mental and actually thought they could slip the puck through our five hole. Who do they think they are dealing with? If I believed that this was pure luck and both Beckett and Upper Deck had nothing to do with it, I might as well go bid on all those NFL logo patches numbered to eleventy billion. Oh wait, like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Eli-Manning-2004-Hot-Prospects-NFL-Logo-Patch-AUTO-350_W0QQitemZ290218085753QQihZ019QQcategoryZ149905QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now, lets go over some odds here. If it is 1/70 cases for an Adrian Peterson Patch /99, I would assume it is next to impossible to pull the 1/1. Lets say its 1/700 cases to pull a 1/1 of any of the RC patches. Now lets say that it is 1/734 boxes to pull the single cut autos, almost triple for the duals. Add in a 1/1 LT base, and a quad jersey auto, and yeah were talking ridiculous here. I would say greater than 1/20,356,000 to pull all the cards they did (not the players they did, just a similar card palate).

Just luck huh?

Now, we had responses from both the breakers themselves AND the Beckett editorial staff that said they had no prior knowledge of what was in those boxes. I mean, where would they find the time to organize this, right? Wrong. Check out 2:20 in the main beckett vid. Yeah, that glance is dirtier than whore in Khazakstan. Either way, they told us that they got four boxes and only opened two.

Here is what I say: UD pulled the case with the AD 1/1 and sent a little note on which of those three to bust. THEEEEENNNN, they packed a special box that gave us that little shimmy down your spine while watching.

"Dear Beckett, thanks for the happy ending last night. I know you love it. Here is a case and one box to give you that warm fuzzy feeling you like when we cuddle. Now, obviously you only need to open 2 boxes - obviously the extra box and the one in the middle of your case. Ill tell you it will have you loving me 'ALL DAY'. From, your love, Upper Deck."

For some reason, I dont understand the four boxes they sent either - I mean why not just send a case? I think that is MORE than sufficient. Alas, they sent four. I think this is why.

So, on to the actual fourth box with the dual cut and the LT 1/1. Yeah, never would have made it out of the factory. Can you imagine getting that box? It would've made my life. Instead I got a teethy BJ from Beckett and UD. That infamous box violated about a million collation rules anyway, because there is no way in hell that any box would contain all them wonderful toys. Most of the Exquisite boxes are laid out like this:

1 "rare" card (not guaranteed)
1-2 "uncommon" cards
3 "common" cards

Three cards in this box would satisfy the first category. ITS WHY THERE ARE NEVER BOXES WITH MULTIPLE LOGO CARD 1/1s.

Lastly, I just want to list all the things the Beckett guys have pulled over the last year or so. I think it speaks volumes.

1/1 National Treasures Brady Quinn "So sick its dead" patch auto
1/1 Exquisite Adrian Peterson RC patch auto
1/1 Walter Payton/Brian Piccolo dual cut auto
1/1 Joe Dimaggio cut auto jersey.
/99 Exquisite Vince Young 3 color patch

Wow. That says a lot. Im kinda wondering where they buy their shit. This is fucking nuts.

Check back for more, UD should be posting a response soon. THIS SHOULD BE GREAT!