on January 14th, 2010 by Newspaperman
I didn’t live a single minute of the 1970s, but for whatever reason I find the entire decade intriguing. From the music, cars and television, to the quaffed hair and abundance of denim and polyester, the era before my birth has captured my imagination. What was it really like to live during this time, when [...]
Continue reading about Thrift Treasures Part XXIII: I (HEART) the ’70s! »
Posted in Cardboard Icons
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on January 14th, 2010 by T.S.
A couple of things conspired in recent days to compel me to start musing
once again about my beloved Adirondacks. One, the growing television promotional
coverage to try to hype up interest in the upcoming Winter Games, and two, the re-running
of a special on the Adirondacks on public television a couple of weeks ago.
Seeing all those places where I rambled around in the late 1970s and
1980s makes me start thinking about a return visit, though I can resist a bit more
easily in the dead of winter than I can in warmer months.
But despite my aversion to actually partaking in winter sports that don’t
involve the gentle click of billiards balls in smoke-filled taverns, I must tell you
that if you’ve never visited the Adirondacks – regardless of the season – you’re missing
one of the great American treasures.
And we have a New York State Legislature that was arguably 100 years
ahead of the curve in 1885 when it created a “Forever Wild” State Forest Preserve
to thank for that. At a time when the giant business tycoons ruled the earth, or at
least our little corner of it, New York State saw fit to set aside more than 6 million
acres of land for special protection for future generations, creating a unique national
park that encompassed – roughly speaking – equal parts of state-owned and privately
held land.
It was from the beginning – and remains today – an uneasy alliance of
seemingly conflicting interests, but in truth both groups held/hold one prevailing
joint interest: the preservation of one of the most beautiful regions in the country
for generations to come.
As I did the first time, I got a kick out of watching the PBS special “The
Adirondacks,” which included interviews with a number of people that I knew 30
years ago when I was working in the Saranac Lake/Lake Placid area as a bureau reporter
for a Plattsburgh newspaper.
Starting with details about the Trudeau Sanitorium and the cure cottages
for tuberculosis patients at the turn of the century – think Christy Mathewson – the
footage included shots of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Parade and some of the
spectacular ice castles that are constructed along the banks of Lake Flower every
winter.
That carnival, by the way, is the oldest in the country, dating back
to 1897. Famed cartoonist Gary Trudeau, the creator of “Doonesbury” and the great-grandson
of Dr. Edward Trudeau, used to create a pin design every year using many of his strip
characters, with the pins then mass produced and used as a fund-raiser for the carnival.
As you can imagine, the pins were collector items from the start; for all I know,
he may still be doing it, though 30-plus years is a long time.
I would have included a photo here of one of the pins but couldn’t easily
engineer it. My ex-wife saved all the pins from those days, and that was only fair
because she once was an official part of the parade, marching down Main Street in
the sub-zero temperatures in a Billy BlueBird costume, the official Mascot of the
Empire State Games.
Those games are traditionally held within a couple of weeks of the Winter
Carnival, and are sponsored by the New York State Department of Parks Recreation and
Historic Preservation.
That seems appropriate enough; my old employers are also one of the sponsors
of the Adirondacks special on PBS (www.pbs.org). As they say, check your local listings.
I probably will blog a bit more about that grand area as I revive what
memories I have left of the 1980 Winter Olympics over the coming weeks as the Vancouver
version gets underway.
Continue reading about Homesick for The Adirondacks … even in winter … »
Posted in Infield Dirt
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on January 14th, 2010 by Scott
If you haven’t seen the 2009 Bowman Sterling Baseball product yet, check out this video from Topps. The Yu Darvish relic card is sweet. The dude in the yellow shirt is the best in this video!
SHARETHIS.addEntry({
title: “2009 Bowman Sterling Baseball Topps Video”,
url: “http://www.cardcollectoruniverse.com/2009-bowman-sterling-baseball-topps-video/”
});
Continue reading about 2009 Bowman Sterling Baseball Topps Video »
Posted in Card Collector U
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on January 14th, 2010 by Tuff Stuff
While many struggled with the mix of NCAA and NBA games coupled with
some upsets in the NFL Playoff matchups eliminated many of the field
but the various matchups didn’t overwhelm one contestant. DeMarie posted
a contest-best score of 9 to win the week and easily Beat the Blogger’s total of five.
Hopefully the varied matchups will prove to be a little easier for everybody this
time around. Thanks to all that played and thanks for recruiting some newcomers as
well. Let’s try and do the same this week and get a record turnout and with this week’s
winner being a first-timer, it just shows how easy it is to Beat the Blogger and
win.
With the number of weekly participants slipping a bit the last few weeks I’m making
a call to action to all of our regulars to do some recruiting. While more people
means more work for the Blogger and more people for the Blogger to go up against,
I welcome the challenge and offer this challenge to you: If each player can recruit
10 new players and we can boost the total to 200 or more, I’ll triple the weekly prize.
So spread the word about the contest to all your co-workers, family and friends
and meet that goal and boost the prize.
Copy and paste our link and send it to your friends so they can be a part of the action, http://blog.tuffstuff.com/7thinning/
This week’s winners are posted below and this week’s matchups will be posted
later today so make sure you check back and get your picks posted before the start
of the first game to be eligible to win this week’s prize. As always, good luck.
While I enjoy giving prizes to several people vs. having just one weekly winner, from
this point forward contestants will be asked to provide a tie-breaker on the week’s
last game so we narrow our winner down to one. Contestants will now b
e
asked to predict the total score from the last game on the list and the closest to
the actual score will be deemed the winner). I’ll also require contestants
to post their e-mail address with their picks so I can track down the winners
easier.
For those unfamiliar with the Beat the Blogger contest, the idea is simple.
The Blogger posts 10 matchups each week and then selects his choices for the winners
of those matchups. Contestants enter the Beat the Blogger contest by clicking on
the “Comment” section below the post with the matchups and then select their
own 10 winners. You can also designate one of your picks as a “Doubler” and
you will receive an extra point if you’re correct so don’t forget to designate your
“Doubler” pick and increase your chances of winning. If you Beat The Blogger’s
total and post the high score for the week, you win. The regular weekly
prize is an authentic signed 8-by-10 color photo of stars such as LaDainian
Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Marshall Faulk, Santonio Holmes, Gale Sayers, Catfish
Hunter and many more. From time to time, the Blogger will sweeten the pot for
the weekly contest so look for special prize packages.
This week’s matchups (with Blogger’s picks in parenthesis)
Saturday Jan. 16/Sunday, Jan. 17
NCAA Mens Basketball
Mississippi at Tennessee (Tennessee)
Georgia Tech at North Carolina (North Carolina)
Georgetown at Villanova (Villanova)
UConn at Michigan (UConn)
NBA Basketball
Phoenix at Charlotte (Phoenix)
Miami at Oklahoma City (Oklahoma City)
NFL Playoffs
Arizona at New Orleans (New Orleans)
Baltimore at Indianapolis (Indianapolis)
Dallas at Minnesota (Minnesota)
NY Jets at San Diego (San Diego)(Doubler)
Tiebreaker: Total points in NY Jets-San Diego game (46)
Continue reading about Beat the Blogger Picks »
Posted in 7th Inning Stretch
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on January 14th, 2010 by rosschrisman2003
On March 31, Press Pass will release its final football product that can use college logos under their CLC license which expires soon. Each hobby box will contain 5 on-card signatures of some of the top rookies in football for next season. Just like other years, there will be multiple levels of parallels to pull: [...]
Continue reading about 2010 Press Pass Football Preview »
Posted in Sports Card Info
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on January 14th, 2010 by Field of Cards
Tags:
2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Box Break,
Chris Tillman,
George Sisler,
hunter pence,
Ivan Rodriguez,
Legends of the Game,
nolan reimold,
Peter Moylan,
Reggie Jackson,
Ring of Honor,
Ted Lilly
Posted in Baseball Cards
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on January 14th, 2010 by chrisolds
Upper Deck released the checklist for its 2010 USA Baseball set and one thing’s for certain — fears that the set might not include some of the biggest names possible on the autograph checklist couldn’t be more wrong.
Bryce Harper alone signed more than 1,150 autographs for inclusion in the baseball organization’s fund-raiser box sets that [...]
Continue reading about Upper Deck releases USA Baseball checklist »
Posted in Beckett Blog
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on January 14th, 2010 by chrisolds
Posted in Beckett Blog
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on January 14th, 2010 by Tracy Hackler
Posted in Beckett Blog
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on January 14th, 2010 by Captain Canuck
Posted in Waxaholic
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on January 14th, 2010 by 30-Year Old Cardboard
The two pitchers to give up the most to Pete Rose in his record-breaking career were Phil Niekro, with 64, and Don Sutton, with 60.
**factoid courtesy of Armchair Reader ‘Grand Slam Baseball’.
My take – Ever the competitor, Rose excelled against everyone he faced – even Hall of Fame hurlers!!
[...]
Continue reading about Did You Know… »
Posted in 30 Year Old Cardboard
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on January 14th, 2010 by Spiff
Posted in texas rangers
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on January 14th, 2010 by JRJ
Posted in Sports Locker
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on January 14th, 2010 by chemgod
Let’s face it, hockey is not on the top of things to do in Dallas. First off, the first half of the season compete’s against the Cowboys and the second half of the season competes with the Mavericks and Rangers. The NHL doesn’t want to leave the southwest, but really, there isn’t a large fan [...]
Continue reading about Undervalued Wax – Loui Eriksson »
Posted in Bad Wax
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