Adding to My A&BCs – Vintage gets Better But Harder to Find

The debut of modern bubble gum cards featuring soccer (football) began with the 1958-59 A&BC Football Stars of England. As explained elsewhere in this blog, A&BC Gum Ltd. was later purchased by Topps. The card designs are often famili…

Continue reading about Adding to My A&BCs – Vintage gets Better But Harder to Find »

Trial and success … trial and error. So goes the ebb and flow of modern trading cards. However, even a fighter knows when their beaten – they throw in the towel. Upper Deck is staggering long the ropes on wobbly feet and ready for the canva…

Continue reading about Upper Deck – Epic Fail – World of Sports »

What makes a player a LEGEND ? Many make it onto a trading card, some are memorable and a few, if lucky, are immortalized. For a country that had not appeared in the World Cup in 40 years (1930 to 1990) any spark could result in being an inst…

Continue reading about Cowboy Calcio, Beckham and Alexi Lalas – LEGEND »

After selling off my entire collection of NFL football cards, I have become more focused on filling the gaps in my soccer card collection. As much as I enjoyed the other sports cards growing up, I always wanted more soccer material to be produced in th…

Continue reading about Getting Nostalgic With the 90′s – Shiney Magic Merlin »

So what has been keeping me from writing ? My apologies to all the followers and the ones that check in time to time. I have been writing alright, but just not on my blog.  I had an article published in the SGC Collectors Magazine  …

Continue reading about Out with the old – In with the New »

One of my pet peeves is waste. Wasted time, wasted money and wasted materials. So when it comes to greeting cards – well, I’m one of those who will save a tree or save you $3.00 or whatever they cost these days. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the sen…

Continue reading about My Kind of Greeting Cards … »

Like everything that is deemed valuable, someone comes along and tries to ruin the joy for others. Well, I will do my best to put a hammer blow into those plans that attempt to destroy this great hobby. It is not difficult to take advantage of the naiv…

Continue reading about A Card Recipe For Rip-Offs – Fake Jersey Cards »

Major League Soccer’s 2010 Rookie of the Year – Andy Najar – becomes the youngest ROY in the 5 major sports. The 17 year old DC United forward surpasses the Winnipeg Jets’ Dale Hawerchuk, who was 19 when he won it in the 1981-82 NHL season. To commemor…

Continue reading about Youngest Rookie of the Year … ever, Gets A Card ! »

One of the true legends of Major League Soccer has hung up his boots …DC UNITED star JAIME MORENO retired at the end of the regular season. He not only ends as the all-time goal scorer with 132 tallies, but is still the only player in MLS to record 1…

Continue reading about A Great One Retires and The King Turns 70 ! »

While this post may have less to do with cards than soccer, when something is cool, it is worth posting. Firstly, I have to ask what is not to like about a team that has a weapon in its logo ?I’ve had enough of cute, furry creatures, Disney-m…

Continue reading about Portland Sends First Chop to Northern Rival … »

The English FKS footballers sets of the 1970′s are making a nostalgic comeback. Not only do they feature different cards of super star players like George Best and Kevin Keegan (below)but up and coming players like Peter Shilton (below) and Glenn Hoddl…

Continue reading about The Super 70′s Seen Through the 1978-79 FKS cards »

Sometimes the universe calls for spending time doing other things that card collecting. But not in a galaxy too far away from cards …I was honored when I was asked to contribute my artwork for The Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation.The…

Continue reading about Star Wars Fight Against Cancer … »

There was a time when magazines gave away some of the best soccer player collectibles to their readers. This was a common promotional item in British magazines and newspapers. Many of these were cards from the 1930′s and another spell came in the late …

Continue reading about 2009 Tiki-Tiki Magazine Stand-ups »

Major League Soccer has dipped their pen into the summer transfer market by signing two record holding players. Both players appeared in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa.Switzerland’s Blaise Nkufo (above), who actually signed for the …

Continue reading about MLS Sign Record Holder in Post-World Cup Frenzy »

Well the tabulations have been made and the results are in … who knew it would be so much @#$%^ math to figure this out (I sure did’t when I offered the contest.However, it really came down to an interesting finish as actually 4 entries went down to …

Continue reading about WORLD CUP CONTEST – Winners & Prizes »

There are three entries who still have the possibilities of winning the Chuck’s World Cup Contest. As Spain and Holland play for this trophy …… er, um … oops – that was stolen in Brazil and melted down for its gold contest … so they are ac…

Continue reading about Holland or Spain … 3 horses left – World Cup contest »

The hits just keep coming … and I am really smitten with the product that FUTERA has been putting out. Now most high-end trading cards are sold in exclusive tins or boxes. However, FUTERA’s online series, sold in regular packs, can result in some maj…

Continue reading about FUTERA is on FIRE … »

It’s definitely not how I wanted it, but it happened. Spain got to the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup Final with another 1:0 win. They didn’t do it with all the hype surrounding their stylish forwards or skilled midfielders – it was a rugged, long-haired defe…

Continue reading about As Good As Gold … D’oro Espana (Spanish Gold) »

Crazy, Loco and just about every derogatory adjective has been used to describe the current coach of Argentina.  He has been banned by FIFA twice and once by his own federation. Yet he has also been attatched to the label “greatest ever”.So today’…

Continue reading about Out on A Limb with Diego … »

How much can we put into one look, one action or one picture ? Well, if you examine the talent of past Dutch National Teams – everything. On paper, Holland should have 3 World Cup titles and a case full of trophies. But the scene, behind the scene of i…

Continue reading about The Look, The Feel of Holland … South American Power »

As a sports fan who’s been around longer than the internet, it gives me great joy to see what technology that has brought me closer to my sport.This You tube video was compiled by a college football fanatic … turned soccer fan. And who can blame him …

Continue reading about The Celebration for This Generation … »

I have to admit that I have a dilema – on the one hand I don’t think people who have not paid for the right to do so, should profit from other people’s work.However, on the flip side, if there are people not using something that other people want, then…

Continue reading about Unofficial World Cup cards … Good or Bad ? »

When they listed the players that were expected to star in the 2010 World Cup, a few Americans wanted Landon Donovan added to the list. After all, he featured brightly with Everton F.C. earlier in the year and led the Los Angel…

Continue reading about USA Proves To Be World Class »

Celebrating Father’s Day watching the World Cup cannot get any better … or can it ?For the US National Team Coach Bob Bradley, having his son tuck away the comeback equalizer against Slovenia is a pretty cool early gift  for Dad. But the Br…

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As good as Germany looked after one game, they looked like a different side against Serbia. Putting aside the Referee that was happy to give out yellow cards like candy at Holloween (more officiating ahead), Germany had the chance to at least tie …

Continue reading about A Bad Day For Goliath … USA Robbed of Victory ! »

As anyone who follows the “beautiful game” knows, that how a team plays is as important as winning. The Brazilians have made an art of this idea. The addage “the best defense is a good offense” has been Argentina’s rallying cry at this World Cup t…

Continue reading about Who Needs Defense … Not Argentina »

Thanks to Cardboard Junkie – I am addicted to spending my non-game watching hours collecting, and swapping virtual Panini World Cup stickers.Since Panini America has been absolute crap in getting the REAL things into the hands of collectors – this Pani…

Continue reading about FIFA / Panini virtual collection – new group »

What was I doing yesterday ? Where were you ? The headline says it all to our pompous know-it-all fans across the Atlantic (and especially the ones who live here in America). If not for the lucky bounce off the post, Altidore’s shot would have sunk the…

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It has been  almost 50 years since the city of Chicago won hockey’s most coveted of prizes – the STANLEY CUP. The swingin’ sixties were right for Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.The heavy seventies were right for fighting – and that is the last time th…

Continue reading about HAWKS or FLYERS … which decade ? »

News out of the World Cup arena has the country of Brazil worried about running of beer during the tournament in South Africa. Brazil, the 4th largest consumer of beer (behind USA, German and China) has gone to the measures of importing …

Continue reading about Baseball, Beer and Sick Days … World Cup News »

The most annoying thing about American soccer is that so many Americans are … well, dumb – when it comes to the world’s game. Take the “fake sports know it alls” like Jim Rome, for who, even a good beating would be a waste of energy. I call these par…

Continue reading about The Trouble with Tribbles … »

Here are the picks so far:Captain Canuck:S. Korea – lowS. Korea – lowArgentina – topLionel MessiDan:Brazil – highNew Zealand – lowSpain – topCristiano Ronaldodayf:Italy – highSpain – highSpain – topDavid VillaRoofgod:Honduras -  lowHonduras -…

Continue reading about WORLD CUP Fever CONTEST – standings »

My brain is already in overdrive in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The USA is making its 6th consecutive appearence and opens against the former empire – ENGLAND on June 12 (live on ABC). No David Beckham. Yes, Landon Don…

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If you love the game, its part of it as much as the signing, the wave, the hooligans, or the pre-game pub visit. It is PANINI soccer stickers …Long before there were pack wars … grown men would bet on the star power pulled from a ripped packet…

Continue reading about Panini World Cup Fever … Collect’m, Stick’m, Love’m »

The European football season came to a close on Saturday when Inter Milan (Italy) defeated Bayern Munich (Germany) for the UEFA Champions League title. Diego Milito score twice for the Italian side. With the European club season over, he…

Continue reading about League Champions – Champions League … season wrap up »