Dazed And Confused

My first thoughts when I saw an affordable complete set of 1997-1998 Spx hockey was Alright, Alright, Alright.

I was completely happy to knock down another one of my set needs for my 90's Spx project.

That's until I got it in hand.

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon when my mail arrived. I yelled "Shotgun" , despite going by myself, and made my way to my vehicle to drive down the road a little ways to my mail box to get the mail. I usually walk it, but not when its below zero with a wind chill on top of it.

I grabbed the mail and bolted home.

I thought about letting it sit and getting done some housework done first, but I couldn't. I had to check out the set. So I ripped open the box it was sent in and took out the plastic box that was holding the card set.

It opened pretty easy and as always I began enjoying the cards as they were. As everyone I think would agree, the 1997 Spx design is one of the greatest ever.

Here's a few cards from the set,

 Peter Bondra

Ray Bourque. This was the only one athlete I have ever met.

Curtis Joseph

Hmmm..something different about this card. Why does the card have silver foil?

Wayne Gretzky! The Great One. One day I will own his autograph!

 Brian...hold on a minute...

John LeClair

Jaromir Jagr and his wonderful mullet

 Hmmm another one...

And Joe Juneau

As I began looking at the rest of the 50 card set, I began to realize more and more that something wasn't right. That's when I had discovered that the seller had replaced some of the cards in the set with it's parallels but sold it as a complete set.

Why couldn't he have just sent what I paid for. It would be a lot cooler if he did.

Instead I found myself with 13 now missing from the set.

Eleven of those are Steel parallels

The other two, Silver parallels.

Even though I want to chase down all of the parallels-etc at some point, I need to complete my base sets first and this was a complete disappointment.

You Cool Man....

No, No I am not.

And stupid me, I always leave feedback on an item as long as I received it and can see it in hand. I wished I had opened this up all of the way first.

Oh well, you gotta keep on livin'...L...I..V..I..N..

I got to thinking more about this later today and feel I got more value than I paid for in this lot because of the parallels. So if there is a positive to take out of this, that's it.

Now the next journey is to find the rest of my needs to complete this set. This is not the first Spx set I still need to finish up with 13 or less cards, the other, 1996 Spx baseball.

Not sure if the seller was Dazed and Confused when he made this listing as a complete set or if he knew what he was doing. Either way, I will be much more cautious down the road when I make another purchase like this. Maybe even message the seller ahead of time to find out if it's a real complete set.

Best NPN Cardboard I Have Ever Gotten

A few weeks ago, Upper Deck must have sent out their NPN mail days as I saw them strewn throughout Twitter.

I have always been a big Upper Deck supporter and definitely a big fan of their NPN program which is done all online unlike other companies where you must mail it in. Another positive about Upper Deck's NPN program is they just don't send out complete junk or plain inserts, they will sometimes surprise you.

I have had fairly good success in the past with Upper Deck NPN's but nothing like today's mail day.

Unlike the past where Upper Deck would send products separately, it appears they doubled up on my for one package. I wasn't even expecting anything as I hadn't been entering or remembering to do it every time like I used to.

But, I must have hit some luck because they sent pure gold.

Eeli Tovanen Young Guns

And then under it....

Holy Smokes! Ray Bourque auto!!!! And it's on card with a piece of his stick and numbered to 27. Whoa!

I was really blown away. I am also happy that it was a player I can relate to. Ray is the one and only athlete I have ever met and got an in-person autograph of. So this card is my first certified auto from a company of him. I don't plan on moving it at all. Great PC piece.

Now if only I can land an autograph card of Wayne Gretzky.....some day.

Thanks to Upper Deck for this amazing NPN mail day and I suggest those of you who don't enter them, to do so!

The Time That I....waited hours in line for a Ray Bourque autograph

I can't believe I did it, but one time I waited 5 hours to get an autograph of a Hockey Legend. At our local mall they were holding a Grand Opening for a new store and got Ray Bourque to come and sign. The lines were way out of the door. Of course being the first time ever a big sports name came in the area, you knew there would be a waiting line. I originally was just going to get the photo he was handing out signed, but while I was in line a nice lady came over to me because she saw me empty handed and gave me a Power Play card to be signed. I thanked her and after the long tiring wait, got my autograph photo and my card signed and got to say hi. It was an experience I will never forget. Especially since he was the last sports celebrity to come here. And could be the last ever.