Like Free Money?

 Do you like to earn free money? Free money you can use on cards? I know I do.

@onemillioncubs has tweeted out a few times an app called the Fetch Rewards App where he said last year he earned $700 in eBay gift cards for free. FREE.

Let me spell that out for you. SEVEN...HUNDRED....DOLLARS....E....STINKIN....BAY FOR F..R..E..E.

Instead of going by his article on the Fetch Rewards app like I usually do yesterday, not an app kinda guy, this time I read his article and said you know what, I am going to give this a try. At this point with the look of my hobby funds this year, I will try anything especially for free. So I did and downloaded the app.

I am not a tech kinda guy so I was worried about figuring out the app. But, it was so easy.

To earn points, just upload receipts. That's it. There is a camera in the app, you just click on that, and take a picture of the receipt, hit submit and that's it. If you need to take a picture of long receipts there is a plus button where you can chunk it up and take pictures of the whole thing. You earn points for every receipt from anywhere. Local grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, Walmart, Target, and even that quick Dunkin run. Any receipt and even online ones if you don't go to the stores. 

The app reads your receipt and gives you points based on what you buy. Some may be worth 5 points, some may be worth 1000 and some up to 5000. It all depends on what items you buy or what specials they may be running that day where you can earn extra points. Either way, you can achieve some kind of goal. We all get receipts.

If you're going to get a receipt for shopping, why not download this app and take a picture of it before throwing it away and earn yourself some money for cards? It's a win-win.

You can also get points for referring a friend and even using their referral code. That's where I am hoping because I gave you this info that you will use my referral code WHICH IS 8TB9M. Earn BOTH OF US some points by using it please :) Oh, and you must upload one receipt before either of us earn it. Thanks in advance!

The only thing I haven't figured out is when they distribute the rewards out. I am guessing it runs like eBay bucks where you gather your points for a few months before they give them out. Also, if you are curious how many points you have to earn to land let's say an eBay gift card, there are tons of other choices as well to restaurants and stores and apps, it's 5,000 points (you get 2,000 just for doing my referral code) for a $5 eBay gift card and 50,000 points for a $50 one. There are $10 and $25 options as well.

So to sum this up, FREE CARD MONEY, FREE APP, EASY TO USE, TAKE A PICTURE OF A RECIEPT YOU ARE TOSSING AWAY ANYWAYS. FREE CARD MONEY. FREE MONEY FOR SOMETHING YOU THROW AWAY. Can I just keep this one repeat??? 

Join today and PLEASE USE MY CODE and help us both out!!!

The One

*it's time for a fresh cup of coffee and some cards. Sounds like a great start to the morning don't you think?*

Every Friday on Twitter, @collect_sport, I put up a I Want/Need Thread where you comment a specific card need and I will retweet it in hopes someone will Sell, Trade or even RAK (I have seen this) the card to you. Some people use the thread the way it was intended while others make a team/set demand. I just go with the flow regardless as long as it helps the collectors commenting.

On the thread every week, I also give an example of a specific cards I Want/Need. I have had some success in doing so, but one card I have tried a few times without any luck up I put up again and this time to my surprise had a response.

That's when I met @MattyBW who had what I wanted and so much more.

*takes a sip, gets excited about showing off these cards and takes another sip before doing so*

It wasn't too long after he had replied to my tweet about that specific card need that we had a nice conversation. The biggest point of the conversation was to make sure I got that card but we talked about much more that led to a trade as well.

I recently just started collecting more Jasson Dominguez for my Yankees PC. This was my second add to the collection.

This along with a few newer Cal Ripken Jr cards I forgot to take pictures of were the "newer" cards of the group. The main focus was on the 90's basketball. And if you know me, that hits the sweet spot and in comparison to coffee is the king of the cups.

John Starks adds. I always find it both saddening and odd to see John Starks in any uniform that's not a Knicks one. He was a fan favorite and a favorite of mine.

Finest Shaq. Don't ever let him post up, guy was unstoppable unless he had to shoot free throws.

Hakeem with the block!

And then Hakeem with the shot. Well, the Best Shot. These fell 1:12 packs and also had refractor parallels as well.

My first picture wasn't the greatest at showing how cool this card actually is. So I held it up to a window.

Now rolls in a beauty....

1996-1997 Bowmans Best Honor Roll Refractor! These bad boys fell 1:192 packs but it's not only the beauty of the card that grabs my attention, its the players. Patrick Ewing was one of the trio of Knicks I liked and Karl Malone I enjoyed his game and tried to mock it when I played with my friends back in the 90's. If I was to try that now, my body would ache for weeks.

*takes another sip before the coffee gets cold. I like Iced Coffee okay, but not my hot coffee getting iced. While I am it, I might as well toast a couple of english muffins*

I haven't even gotten to the main card of this post yet and I bet you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for me to show it off. Hold your mugs, we are almost there.

For now, I will tease this card as an intro....

Yup, a 1995-1996 Spx Gold Jason Kidd. Anyone who has followed me knows my deep passion for 90's Spx. I own set all three NFL Sets, one MLB Set, Both NASCAR sets, One and a half Hockey sets, and now......

Hold that thought.

*takes a sip of coffee*

I don't normally like jelly on my english muffins, I am a fan of bland so butter is my usual choice, but I will take a bit more excitement today when I show off the exciting card.

*takes a few bites, sip of joe and now onto the big reveal*

I think I have made you wait long enough to finally show the main card of this post. Not that the other cards above aren't sweet.

To finish up where I was with my Spx set chase, I also have one and a 49th basket....hold your horses...

What's this...

BOOM! You guessed it. The MJ has finally come home to finish up my second basketball set. He is smiling like I was when I finally got to hold this card.

 

And here he is resting peacefully among his Spx teammates.

With this set finally now complete, I am only missing the 1996-1997 Spx basketball set to complete the trio. That one also has my favorite design of the three but is also a dream set. I don't ever imagine myself being able to complete that one.

An obvious huge thanks goes out to @MattyBW for helping me finish up this set. It was a long time coming and it feels good to finally get there.

If you have Twitter, check out my Friday Thread and see what project you might be able to complete. You just never know what you may complete or who you may meet and become friends with. Isn't that the point of this hobby?

Coffee Card blogger out.

Rodney's Cardboard:1995 Collectors Edge 22K Gold Die Cut

@CardPocalypseNC has been a huge help of recent in helping me add some Rodney's I don't have.

Today's is a "rare parallel" by 90's standards as there are only 500 made of them.

The card has a zig-zagged die cut top, 22K gold foil on the  front 

 

and on the back of the card is it's numbering.

I don't have a lot of info such as odds on finding this card as Collectors Edge wasn't really straightforward on those, but, since this is the only one I have ever seen I can't imagine it's easy.

Thanks to Tim again for the assist on this Rodney.

The Week In Pictures: More Snow

 

This week in pictures is brought to you by the letter S again, as in more Snow.

Another round of snow came through, once again not as much as we have seen in past storms, not that I am complaining, but it was enough to cover more ground. So far this year I have yet to shovel any of the white stuff off from my deck....knock on wood it stays that way.

If you look closely you can see the flakes falling.

My wife had to drive through the storm on slippery roads to work but made a stop along the way and snapped this amazing picture that captures the storm.

 

At least I had these to end the week to distract myself from the snow. These are chicken wontons with chicken, sauce, red cabbage, green onions and plenty of cilantro. I am not sure if I am alone with this, but more cilantro the better. It brings out any dish.

I am only doing one more week of this segment which is next week as this segment hasn't taken off that well and I have another idea to replace it. It doesn't mean the segment will be gone forever, just taking a break for awhile.

Leave your thoughts on snow or cilantro in comments!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2020 Playoff Football

Playoff football is here and so isn't Playoff football.

I may or many not have saved this review for this time of year. Nothing is more exciting than the NFL Playoffs, especially when the Patriots are out of them.

Let's see if this box break ended up being just as exciting as that,

Every box of 2020 Playoff football comes with 12 packs of 8 cards each. There are 4 hits in every box and boxes are currently running around $220. Which is probably twice what they normally would but looking at how the hobby is going, I can only imagine where these prices are hiking to next.

BASE:

The base set is built up of 300 cards that feature veterans

Legends of the past

And stars of the future. Speaking of stars of the future, you only find one-per-pack and it feels like long odds of actually pulling the bigger stars. Love was my by a mile my best player of the box.

PARALLELS:

You can find the following parallels, Goal Line, Kickoff, Red Zone, 1st Down #/99, 2nd Down #/49, 3rd Down #/25, 4th Down #/10, Touchdown 1/1.

 

1st down is /99

2nd down is /49

3rd down /25

INSERTS:

Inserts offer the following parallels, Blue, Pink, Purple, Red, Silver, Gold #/10, Touchdown 1/1.

I like the chrome technology used on this years inserts. They really stand out, though in some ways, feel out of place with a non base chrome product.

Behind the Numbers has 30 cards to collect. Can't go wrong with the three guys I landed.

Call To Arms has 20 cards to chase

20 cards to fill up Thunder and Lightning set. That Saquon and Slayton is pure fire.

30 cards makes up Rookie Wave. I really like these, especially finding a Burrow.

HITS:

Changing Stripes is made up of players who played for multiple teams. I dig this Dickerson.

Turning Pro. Tua played well and almost led them to a Playoff game up until they met the Bills in Week 17. Wowzah.

Harrison Bryant Rookie Auto

And a really tough SSP pull of a Preview Contenders Rookie Ticket auto. This one is /23

There we have it!

FINAL THOUGHTS

The hits were fun, but for me, Playoff was all about those shiny inserts. I really liked those and looked forward to finding them.

When it comes to box price vs what I pulled however, it isn't pretty. Now if that Higgins had been a Burrow that would have changed the story on this one.

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK

Design ⭐⭐

Inserts ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Parallels ⭐

Hits ⭐⭐

Value  ⭐ 1/2

Fun Factor ⭐⭐⭐

The Mosaic Chase

I know..I know...I have posted a lot of Eli Manning cards on here to kick of this blogs re-birthing but I promise to show off other Giants as I go along. Right now as I type, well not literally, I am gathering cards to post and to show off.

However, for now, here is another Eli post and another side project I have of his.

I wasn't too much of a fan early on when I saw images of Mosaic release, but when I started adding a few of the cards to my Giant collection, specifically my Eli Manning PC, I really started to dig it. The only problem I have with it is identifying all of the parallels. So I usually take my research to eBay to help.

The six Mannings above were the kickoff to see how many of his Mosaic cards I could add without breaking the wallet, thanks to Burbank Sport Cards for the good deals on those. 

As for the latest add that arrived yesterday, this Red parallel, it was added thanks to my good friend @Brent3323 who not only sent along some Eli's I knew were coming but this one as well.

Here is the start of my Rain....no....here is the start of my collection of Eli Mosaic cards. Well, the base. I have some of the inserts and parallels of those as well.

Thanks to Brent for the assist on a new Mosaic add.

I am not sure how far I will run with this but hope to add a few more of the cheaper ones would be nice.

Houston's Cardboard:1999-2000 Fleer Mystique

 

Shiny Houstons are always the first cards I want to add to my Allan Houston PC. In my last trade with @CardPocalypseNC I was surprised with a stack of Houstons in my trade package. All of which will make an appearance with this segment.

Fleer Mystique was a fun product in the late 90's, but I do remember one problem with it. Sometimes the foil on the card would peel up. Hopefully I can store this one in a great place so it doesn't.

The X Factor

 

The NFC East title came down to Week 17 of the NFL Season with all four teams playing interdivision games. The first matchup was the Cowboys who went to Metlife to play the NY Giants while the final game of the day was between the Washington Football Team and the Philadelphia Eagles. The winner of the Cowboys/Giants game could win the division if Washington lost to Philly. Otherwise a Washington win meant they were in.

Dallas came into the contest red hot on a winning streak while the Giants were having an end of season collapse after an impressive win over the Seahawks on the road.

And just like the NFC East, the game came down to the final minute.

The Cowboys were driving for the win until Pass Rusher Leonard Williams applied the pressure on Andy Dalton who just threw the wobbly ball up into the air hoping for a miracle into the hands of no other than highly touted Giants rookie safety Xavier Mckinney helping seal their victory.

It was the rookies first career NFL interception and the biggest play in his short playing time.

The Giants had very high hopes for Mckinney after drafting him in the second round but he

suffered a broken foot in training camp which caused him to miss much of his rookie season. He didn't get any game action until late November.

But, in those few games he had 25 tackles, 1 int and 1 pass defended which led to Pro Football Focus naming him a breakout candidate for the 2021 season.

After he sealed the Giants first victory over the Cowboys in many years, I went and began a search for his assumed to be top rookie card in Prizm to celebrate. I found one at .99 BIN and free shipping and snagged it.

I have a few McKinney rookies but with Prizm being just released at the time of the victory I had to make sure to get the best one.

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2020 Panini XR Football

XR has been a few year running product that I have liked. It's not one of my top favorites produced by Panini but it's one I don't mind seeing yearly.

And for the third year in a row I was able to rip open a box.

How did this box break go? Only one way to see, keep on reading.

Every box of 2020 Panini XR football comes with 2 packs of 7 cards. So you get 14 cards per box. Three of those cards are hits so you are left with 11 cards of inserts, base and parallels. Boxes are running close to $300.

BASE:

The base design is very similar to years past.

There are 200 cards in the base set made up of veterans and of course

Rookies. 

The base set is split 50/50 between the two with 100 rookies and 100 veterans.

PARALLELS:

You can find the following parallels in XR, Red /249, Blue /199, Orange /99, White /75, Teal /49, Purple /25, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

White /75

Orange /249

. 

Blue /199. Really solid find!

INSERTS:

Overall there are 4 insert lines to find. I only found one in my box break which I would guess on average that's what you would find as well.

Inserts have the following parallels, Red #/149, Blue #/99, Orange #/49, White #/25, Gold #/10, Green #/5, Black 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1.

Xtreme Rookie red parallel /149 of  Ke'Shawn Vaughn

HITS:

Rookie XL Threads of Patch gold /10

 

XR Rookie auto of Dalton Keene

 

Triple Swatch Autograph of Antonio Gibson who had a solid season but a lame auto. These are the end part of the base set and can come with some pretty sweet memorabilia parallels such as Glove 1/1, Hat Seam 1/1, Jacket 1/1, Laundry Tag 1/1, Laundry Tag NFL Shield 1/1, Laundry Tag NFLPA 1/1, Laundry Tag Nike Swoosh 1/1, NFL Shield FB 1/1, Football 1/1, Shoe 1/1, Sock 1/1, Team Logo 1/1.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Price point is a little crazy but there are some really nice hits to be found in here. I may look up for fun to see what the memorabilia parallels look like. I bet they are pretty stunning.

RATINGS BASED ON THIS BOX BREAK

Design ⭐⭐ 1/2

Inserts ⭐⭐

Parallels ⭐⭐

Hits ⭐⭐ 1/2

Value  ⭐⭐

Fun Value ⭐⭐⭐⭐