I break open the box, anxious to find cards of guys I've never heard of, as well as the one autographed card per box, and whatever rookies I'll get.  My first thought is "God, these cards are ugly", thought number two is "Awesome, only In Action and variant cards are glossy". 

Busting the box, my crappy luck with inserts continues.  The autograph I pull is Shane O'Brien, and his signature is brutal.  Basically S. with a couple of loops.  The rookies I get are OK.  There's a Peter Mueller and a Johnathan Toews (with gloss, more on that later).  No sign of Patrick Kane though.  There are lot's of cards of guys I want to mail though, so it's all good.

A couple of days later, I notice Johnathan Toews has been signing, so I grap my Toews rookie card, thinking it's O-Pee-Chee, so book value won't be high, and I start to go over it with the eraser to get rid of the gloss on the card, as it's a parallel card.  Midway through, I notice something I hadn't before.   The card is numbered to 100. 

I immediately stop de-glossing the card and put it away.  I guess I have to go find another Toews card to send out.

I am still mired in the "getting started slump".  Now, the "getting started slump"  characterized by the length of time between successes you have in your first few months of collecting.  The way to get around this slump is to add retired players to your requests.  That way you still will get those quick reply successes from the retirees, while waiting on the currents.  Unfortunately, since I have bbeen an on again, off again collector for many years, my collection of retired players is large, but my collection of active players is little on the ligth side.

I hate going to the mailbox and finding it empty of my recent addiction.  But as I said in yesterdays entry, there's always tommorrow's mail.

As a Cunucks fan and a husband and father, I have to chime in with some comments about Roberto Luongo's decision to skip the all star game.  While it's too bad the fans want to see the worlds greatest goalie at the all star game, I think Luongo made the best, in fact the only decision he could have made.

With the exhausting travel schedule the Cunucks deal with and the amount of games he plays, a weeks rest in the middle of the season makes perfect sense.  Add to that the fact that his wife is pregnant back home in Florida, and by some reports, not having the easiest pregnancy.   The best placer for him is with her.  Keep in mind folks, a happy wife makes for a happy husband, and we fans would rather have a happy, healthy Luongo going into the play-offs, and not have to deal with another Mrs. Pronger situation (that is assuming Roberto's keeping it in his pants).

Finally, is there anyone out there?  Is anyone but me reading this thing.  Let me know if you are.  Drop a line in the comments section, and let me know what you think.

First off, the anticipation of the mail arriving every day.  When I wasn't collecting, the only thing that showed up in the mail that was vaguely interesting, was the odd wedding invitation.  The rest comprised of bills, advertising, more bills and junk mail.  when your a ttm collector, everyday is a mailbox adventure.  As I'd walk through the house, open the door and reach to the box, I'd be thinking "Who am I going to get back today?".  The slight butterflys you get as you reach for the mail, the euphoric feeling when you spot the envelope(s) with that familiar hand writing on your self addressed stamped envelopes (SASE) , the quick glance to the return address or the mail stamp that gives a hint of where it's come form, and the quick but careful opining of the envelope, and the excitement of a great signature, or the dissapointment of a bubbled or smeared sig, or the momentary fury of a failure.  But always, after the excitement, the deep breath that followed always came forth with the thought, "I can't wait for tommorrow's mail.

Secondly, I always enjoy the research aspect of writing letters.  Lately, I've been concentrating on junior and minor league hockey goaltenders, and I'm always entertained by what I learn about their lives and  careers.  For instance, up until yesterday, I had never heard of Trevor Cann, goaltender for the Peterborough Petes.  But after coming across his card in a set I'm working on, I decided to write him a letter.  As a responsible  collector, I feel the need to know some things about him, before asking for his autograph, so I set off to the Internet, and what do I learn?  Well, the kid is having himself a great career, and is poised to be drafted in the early to mid first round, very possibly the first goaltender drafted this year.  He has also represented his country in the under 18 championships, represented the OHL at the Canada-Russia Series, among other things.  I never would have known any of this if not for writing letters.  So now when my friends say, "who's this Trevor Cann kid?"  I'll be able to impress them with my vast knowledge.

Thirdly, I have come to appreciate the great fellow collectors I have met over the years.  While autograph collectors, in general, get a bad name for themselves (and trust me, I know why.  I've seen some of the worst!)  the people I have associated with from the various websites, most notably SportsCollectors.net, are great people.  My Hats of to Mark from Marks signing bonus, Jay from SCN, and the Steeler Chief from Steeler Chief's Locker Room, among others.

Lastly, while I love my collection, and it's always nice that my friends bring over their friends to see the stuff I have, the newest and best part of my collecting is the interest my son is starting to take to it.  While his interest is only in it's infancy, it has begun, and hopefully it will continue to grow, and this is something I will be able to share wiht him for many years to come.

When I buy boxes of cards, I always check to see how many cards are in the set.  If it's a 100 card set, I'm not buying in.  If there are two-fifty or more to the set, then I'm on it like a fat kid to cake.  I want variety, I want cokplete teams, prospects, draft picks, hell, I'll even take checklists.

As primarily a sports autographs collector, I want cards of guys that are going to sign.  The chances of that no name, sixth defenseman,  toiling  away in Phoenix, signing an autograph through the mail, is much greater then getting a guy like Sydney Crosby to even get a whiff of my request. 

So when my friends kids come up to me, and ask if I want to trade hockey cards, don't be surprised if I take a peek through them, and pick out six or seven lesser players, and offer up twenty or thirty stars in exchange.  I'm not ripping off the little angels of their ultra rare, short print, R.J. Umberger card.  I am offering up a trade that they will appreciate, and I'll get my Florida Panthers back up goalie.

I haven't spent any time actually thinking about content for this page.  I just thought that it may be interesting to write down my thoughts on the Sports memorabillia collecting hobby.

I've recently returned to the hobby after taking two years off.  When my youngest daughter was born, I found I had very little time, nor money, to commit to the hobby. 

Now, with the little one in daycare, I'm finding my self with a little more time, and the desire to add to my autographed sports memorabillia collection has returned. 

Over the past couple of years, I have purchased several of the McFarlane sports figures, and they all seemed to be of players who are good ttm (through the mail) signers .  I guess it was that subconcious voice in my head that made me get back to writing the letters, as the first batch that went out also contained the bases of those figures I've bought.  After a little over a week, they started coming back.  First Jean Beliveau then Guy LaFleur.  At that point, I re-subscribed to sportcollectors.net, the best sports collectors web site out there, so I could access the message boards once again.  Don Cherry's base arrived last week, and it contained not only the items I sent, but also three other autographed postcards.  That night, I updated my website, for the first time in over a year (www.geocities.com/devilbat01/Devilbatssportsautographs.html).

At this point, I know I'm hooked again, and my wife is probably not thrilled.