Archive for July, 2010

I should be writing a graduate paper right now, but sometimes bad news takes precedent. Former NHL tough guy Bob Probert passed away today from a heart attack at the age of 45. Anyone who is a hockey fan knows who Probert is and what he brought to his two teams, the Red Wings and Blackhawks; he will be sorely missed.

I had planned on writing a Probert and Domi entry next week documenting their rivalry, but that will take a back seat as Probert will get the lion share of my attention.

Probert is one of the all-time great tough guys. In fact, he would be on my Mount Rushmore of enforcers. He represented the glory days of the fighting in the 80s and was a true warrior. He cracked 300+ PIM three times and 200+ PIM six times. He is fifth all-time in PIMs with 3,300. But he was a little more than a fighter. He netted 20+ goals twice 10+ goals four times, so obviously he had some offensive talent. He retired after 16 seasons which is a good long career for an enforcer.

Let me go on a slight tangent for a second. When will the Hall of Fame start recognizing the tough guy? I know the NHL tries to turn a blind eye to fighting, but they know it is a reason fans like the sport. If the NHL was truly against fighting, they’d just ban it from the sport, but why take away fans? So, it’s about time they honour some of the toughest guys on the ice. These guys serve a role; to protect star players, add a spark, and to entertain fans. Why are they any less deserving than non-enforcers? Some of these guys are talented beyond fisticuffs. Guys like O’Reilly, Probert, Domi, Neil, Bridgman, et al could actually play…and play well. Sure, the Jody Shelleys, Derek Boogaards, and Colton Orrs of the league are mainly guys who fight, but they still add something to the team. Usually, they are the captains of the locker room. And off ice, they are among the most friendly and approachable athletes in all of sports. So it’s about time the NHL and the HOF wise up and start getting these guys in. And when they finally open their doors to the enforcer, Probert should be one of the first in.

Back to Probert. It’s always sad when a player dies, but when he dies young, it’s extra tough. Probert had his share of off-ice issues, but I think he had cleaned up his act for the most part in recent years.

Here are two clips of Probert fights. This first one is his first bout with Tie Domi, who was then a rookie. Outmatched, Domi gets the better of Probert and even cuts him fairly badly. Immediately after the fight, Domi makes a gesture around his waist, signaling that he is the new heavyweight champ.

It would be a year before Probert would get his revenge. This was one of the most hyped hockey fights of all time (there was a countdown and everything) and it finally came to fruition in Decemeber when Probert reclaimed his “belt”.

Lastly, here are my two best Probert cards, a rookie and an autographed one.

1988-89 O-Pee-Chee #181 Bob Probert

2006-07 Parkhurst #101 Bob Probert

We’ll miss ya, Probie!

Mr. Strasburg took the mound today against the Mets and had a bit of a rough outing, but we shouldn’t be surprised. The Metropolitans have a winning record and his counterpart on the mound. R.A. Dickey, was 6-1 coming into the game. As I’ve already shown, the Burger is winless versus +.500 teams/pitchers. He lasted only 5 innings and was on the hook for a loss until K-Rod bailed him out with a masterful 1/3 of an inning pitched (3 hits, 3 walks, 3 earned runs).

Strasburg is a talent, don’t get me wrong, but he is not worth all the money people are forking over his cards. So stop buying his cards for nutso prices and stop ripping all of the Allen & Ginter because I don’t want to pay crazy prices for packs. That is, if I can even find them. I just want to build a couple of the subsets, namely the Olympians and Wordsmiths sets (hint, hint).

Speaking of ripping some Allen & Ginter packs, I went to my local shop to do some trading and he happened to have one box left, so I snagged five packs. But before I get into what I got, I want to share this box topper the owner gave me…

The Hoover Dam! What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a giant card of the Hoover Dam?

AMERICA RULES! WE HAVE TAMED MOTHER NATURE! SUCK IT, WATER!

Okay, back to pack ripping. Tons have already been said about Allen & Ginter, so I won’t go into too much detail about the cards. I bought packs because I like the non-baseball cards. However, let me share a couple with you. In five packs, I pulled two jerseys. MOJO? I’ll let you decide…

Zzzzzz.

For baseball players, I really liked this card…

If only more of the cards were action shots. Unfortunately, they are mostly posed head shots like this…

(This card brought to you by Nike)

One of the great things A&G do is pay tribute to the Negro Leagues…

Win!

A did get a few non-sport cards. I prefer to pull something like this…

Than something like this…

I can’t think of ANY circumstances where Da Vinci should be in the same set as this dude. The only thing that could make this card awesome is if the dude was wearing a pair of Zubaz.

My favourite card I pulled was this…

Oh, and I did get one Wordsmith card to get me going on that set…

Here is a list of A&G I have to trade:

Base: 12, 15, 21, 29, 35, 44, 51, 74, 85, 90, 92, 102, 107, 134, 143, 159, 210, 217, 218, 244, 247, 283, 295, 307, 321,

Minis: 155 (A&G back), 157, 184, 302

Monsters of the Mesozoic: Allosaurus

This Day In History: 22, 24, 59, 62, 75

And those two jersey cards. I am looking for the Wordsmiths and the Lords of Olympus cards.

Okay, now onto the reason I went to the shop in the first place. The owner had some Presidents and Prime Minister cards from this year’s Champs set that I wanted, so I brought some hockey stuff to trade. End up getting these…

Lots of old white dudes. I am trying to build this, so if you have extras, hit me up.

I also ended up with these two cards…

I love me some Jozy Altidore even if he was a complete no-show at the Cup. And Heyward? Well, I have a man crush on him. I have him on my fantasy keeper team and when all is said and done, he’ll have a better career than Strasburg. Count on it.