Vote for Jimmy: EA Sports NHL 13 Cover

Not much in the mail for me lately, as you can tell by the lack of posts here lately. Anyway, I came across a Puck Daddy article on Yahoo! about the cover athlete for EA Sports NHL 13, due out later this year. For the first time, fans are going to vote on the cover athlete, and as it turns out, Jimmy Howard is one of the two Red Wings candidates.

I'm sure a lot of you guys are at least into a game like this, I know I am. It's the only video game I buy on a yearly basis. If Jimmy was on the cover it would make it that much cooler, at least to me. Here's what it might look like. I found this pic over on a site called PicturePush under the username marri61. Check it out:

Pretty cool, eh? Click here to vote for Jimmy and be sure to do so before the June 4th deadline. Unless of course your favorite player is among the candidates.

My Picks #84: Kerry Fraser

That's right, Kerry Fraser. Time for something a bit different, a referee card. You don't see many of those nowadays, do you? This one is from one of the good old NHL Pro Set releases from back in the day. I love the idea for this little subset they have. I think it's the only one I've ever seen featuring any kind of official.

Here's a look at the front of the card. It's got the standard layout common to the entire set, with a few differences of course. The most notable is probably the black & white striped trim above and below the image. Pretty neat, right? Well, at least for 1990,

As you can see Fraser has his hair perfect and styled just like we're always used to seeing. Other than that the only problem with the front of the card is the way the picture is a bit off center to the right. One thing I will say is the teal top and bottom borders contrast well with the black and white stripes of the trim and Fraser's uniform. 

I will always remember Kerry Fraser as public enemy number one to Red Wings fans for a few bad calls back in the day, gotta love the "Fraser sucks!" chants that came out of The Joe back then. Others probably know him for the above YouTube clip. I don't really remember it because that was a year or two before I got into hockey, and I was like 5 years old.

Jimmy Howard: More Trade Pickups

There's nothing better than picking up cards you need through trading because other than the small cost of shipping, you get something you want in return for something you don't want or need. The best part is both parties involved get something out of it and more cards find a home in a collection where they will actually be enjoyed. 

Today I have another trade post to share, this time from Brad over at Cards from the Crease. He and I worked out a deal that involved him sending some Jimmy Howard stuff my way and me sending some Paul Kariya stuff his way. Both of us got rid of stuff we didn't need and got stuff we did need, win win, right?

Anyway, the first one and my favorite of the bunch was this base card from 2011-12 Black Diamond. The BD designs are always hit and miss with me, sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't. The thing that puts this one on the good side is the little bit of red trim that goes perfectly with the Wings' jerseys.

The second was this one from 2011-12 Certified. I think this is definitely an upgrade over last year's design, especially the added ice texture fading down from the top of the card. I also like how the Certified logo is on the bottom with everything else, leaving the top completely open to focus on the picture.

The third was this one from 2011-12 Score. While I don't mind the direction Panini went with the design of Score this year, I can't really love this card because it has the exact same image as the UD base card, which I have two of now. Oh well, what can you do?

In addition to these three, there was also a Howard sticker from this year's Panini NHL sticker set. Now I've got one from this season and last season. There were also a couple of other nice Wings cards of Pavel Datsyuk and Chris Osgood. Thanks again Brad!

Jimmy Howard: LCS Pickups

We were out shopping today and I made a quick stop into my local card shop just on the off chance the guy had any Howard stuff I could pick up on the cheap. Well, he did and I ended up grabbing two base cards for the collection. 

The first was this one from 2011-12 Pinnacle. It's a great looking card with an even better picture, one with an overhead view that you don't see all that often. 

The second was another copy of a card I already had, which I somehow forgot when I was in the shop. Anyway, it was this one from 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1. 

All in all not a bad pickup, I got one new card and another dupe for the collection for just $1.50. It would've cost me that much just to buy either of the cards on eBay, plus another $3 to ship each one, so I look at it like I've saved about $5. Plus, I'm supporting a local business this way and that's always a good thing.

Thoughts: I've Gone to the Dark Side...

...relatively speaking. I'm talking about what I've always considered the dark side of social media, Twitter. As long as it has been around I've thought it was a dumb idea and never really understood why people used it. Now that I've been strapped for time when it comes to the blog here lately, a Twitter page was a good alternative for sharing quick thoughts here and there or really cool eBay finds, rather than writing an entire blog post. 

 

So if you're already on the Twitter, look for me @CardBoarded or if you're new to it and have no idea what its about, click here to go directly to my page.

 

What do you guys think about using Twitter when it comes to the hobby? UD and Panini are in on it already and it's actually a nice way to get the most up to date information.

Jimmy Howard: Limited Jersey

Man have I been busy at work this week. Normally I have plenty of time on my lunch break to post here, but this week I've been busy with something from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm every day. It's nice to be able to sit down tonight and actually get this post out of the way now. 

I mentioned recently that I've been trying to keep my card spending to a minimum lately, without stopping completely of course. Ebay has made that goal pretty easy lately with a bunch of stuff ending on the cheap side. While this one isn't another $0.99 special, it only cost me $6 delivered.

It's a 2011-12 Limited base jersey card numbered 02/99.I love the design of the Limited base set this year, especially the scratched ice kind of texture over the background of the pictures. I also like how the player is the only thing in color, it really makes them pop.

It's definitely an upgrade over last year's design even though it's actually pretty simple. The other thing I like about this one is the fact that the swatch on the front of the card actually matches the color of the jersey pictured on the card. Although if you want to get technical, a white swatch could've come from the same jersey just as easily, right?

That's it for tonight. This one brings my Jimmy Howard collection total to 111, as evident by the updated sidebar tracker.

Jimmy Howard: Another $0.99 Special

Like I said in my last Howard show and tell post, I'm trying to stay on the cheaper side as far as purchasing cards lately. That leaves me hoping for auctions ending with just the one initial bid of $0.99. This one was another pleasant surprise as I watched the auction count down to the last few seconds as I was the only bidder.

This time it was for a beige parallel from 2005-06 Beehive. Here's a look at it:

One thing that's cool about this card that I never noticed before is the different finishes on the front of it. It's hard to tell from the scan, but the photo area is actually glossy and the perimeter is a kind of matte finish. It gives the card an interesting look.

Other than that it's just too bad that they were unable to put a facsimile auto on this one. While the cursive font looks nice, it's just not the same. Click here to see what I'm talking about. This one doesn't look so great compared to the others, does it?

Now I just need to track down the blue, gold, and matte parallels, the last of which is only numbered to 25 and the only copy floating around for sale is graded and way out of my price range. The blue is pretty common, I just don't want to pay a ton for it.