And The Winner Is...

Based on my experiences over the last few months and couple years, I have become a person who never strives for anything less than full transparency in my collecting. Because of that, I have become a connoisseur of sports card info websites, mainly so I can go and get what I need whenever I need it. Because so many people come here for news and other info, I thought I would go over some of my favorites. I would call this the Gellmies, but that is lamer than a Joey Arrington hail mary pass.

Best Place For Card News: Wax Heaven

I would put all card blogs in general, but Mario is the face of most of the bloggers, so he gets the award for his constant hard work on covering the widest range of topics. I think a lot of people solely go to him for news, and he has made an impact on the mainstream sports blogs like Deadspin and others too - something none of the rest of us have done. He doesn’t shy away from biting commentary, and has a lot of heart behind his writing.

Best Place for Board Box Breaks: Blowout Cards Forum

Every time a new box is released I head straight for this forum because they bust cases more than single boxes. Its slowed down lately because of the lack of money going around, but it still has its loyalists. Even better than all that is certain words are NOT tolerated AT ALL, and there is never going to be a long drawn out pack by pack break to boost a post count. This place is as straightforward as you can get, and I LOVE it.

Best Place for YouTube Box Breaks: ARPlatinum

The only reason Chris doesn’t win this award is because he has drastically cut back his videos. AR does it by the case and you get to see it all. Every pack. The commentary isnt as back burner as Chris' breaks are, so that can get bothersome, but a mute button works great. He busts everything from Football to Baseball, and does a lot of higher end stuff. Its always fun to watch, especially if you have never busted a case.

Best Written Card Articles: Fielder's Choice

I get excited every time Dave posts one of his commentary pieces. His style is so easy to read that its easy to forget that you arent talking to him personally about it. The best thing about Dave is that he isnt afraid to stand up to anyone, and has done so on numerous occasions. His battle with Beckett over on the comments for Mario's blog was classic. Even though Dave has cut back lately, he hasn’t given up, according to my own contact with him. Plus, I think its pretty standard that people eventually scale back the posting once they find out that blogging is not a full time job.

Best Place to Go And Communicate With Other Collectors: Sports Card Forum

The people over there are entrenched in a beckett world, which sucks fucking ass, but it is the best place to go and talk to other people. They have the most members and they have the widest range of forum subjects on the net in my opinion. The trading system is TOP NOTCH, but the people only care about book value which is ludicrious. If you are new and you want to find people to talk to on a frequently updated forum, this is it. Thankfully it hasn’t turned into a place where every topic becomes a flame war, but it could head down that way like the IBMB did.

Best Place to Lose Yourself In: Cardboard Junkie

I swear to god, dayf has the most expansive card site ever created. The links alone can keep you busy for hours, and there are more articles than Shawn Kemp has kids - that’s talent. He covers mostly baseball, though other topics are sprinkled in. Its basically a first world blog, but it was one of the original first world blogs to come around. Go take a look around, ill see you in two hours.

Best Place To Buy Cards From Online: Blowout Cards and DA Cardworld (tie)

I think they both cater to the customers in Different ways. Blowout has the lowest prices at the fastest pace. If a box drops in price, they have it down the quickest. If you need a lot of boxes, Blowout is your place. If you need older products going back SUPER far, DA is your store. They have great customer service and will do anything to make you happy. They also sell tons of singles, and their exclusive auto contracts make them the Blowout cards of the auto market. They also donate to charity and are a supporter of Diabetes, which makes them winners in my book.

Best Place To House Your Collection Online: Photobucket

If you have a collection, get it scanned and on Photobucket. Its free, its easy, and the features are the best. You can edit/crop pics with the greatest of ease, and they have ready made, easy copy link codes to copy onto any site, including blogs. Best thing about the bucket? NO POP UP ADS.

Best Place To Start a Blog: Blogger

I would say wordpress for the features, but I tried it, and it is ridiculously confusing for people like me who have never blogged before. Get started on blogger and post your thoughts - frequently updated sites are good on my list any day. To tell you the truth, you don’t even have to make it public, do it for yourself and make you a better you. I started writing because I needed a place to share how I felt. There is no more cathartic experience.

Congrats to the winners, your trophy is being made and will be sent out via redemption. I hope that sets expectations...