Turfdiggers Tues...er...Wednesday

This week's update comes on Wednesday instead of Tuesday because of the Vikings/Eagles game.  I don't know how the rest of the world feels about the delay, but for my Turfdiggers, it paid off.

Vick earned 14.41 points for the team, but what really boosted the team into the fight for 5th was the performances by Danny Woodhead (12.25 points) and Mike Williams (14.20 points).  Those guys rocked it out this past week, carrying the Turfdiggers to a victory over Stumbling Blox.

This week's matchup pits the Turfdiggers against the Fighting Foxhounds for the 5th place league finish.  I'm hoping the Turfdiggers can pull it off!  In fact, I've got to go set my roster...

The Magic Screen

One of the perks of being employed where I am: gadgets and gizmos.  As a technology coordinator charged with teaching tech to teachers, I am sometimes blessed with a device for use in my day-to-day life that I might not normally be able to afford.  Enter the iPad.

I have been using one for a month or so now.  Oh, I know you're wondering how this is related to Tribecards.  I'm getting there.  The first thing I wanted to show off, though, is the Etch-A-Sketch case my wife got for me for Christmas for the device.  I love it!  And, it displays the ol' web page pretty nicely.  And, now that FlipBoard supports Google Reader, I have been following along with the folks in the "Clubhouse" anywhere I take the thing (well, anywhere that has wi-fi. No 3G version here!).

There are a couple free baseball-related apps for the iPad and iPod/iPhone.  One such app is "Vintage Baseball Cards" from OldBaseball.  It has large images of cards from days gone by (specifically, from 1910 in this case).  There was a card-flipping simulation app at one point (still in Apps store) but it is "no longer available."  If I had to guess, the creator ran into copyright/licensing issues.

In other Christmas+Baseball news, I received a slew of 2010 Topps cards and a very nice Indians polo shirt (the slick silky kind)!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas/holiday this year!

Merry Christmas, Tribecards Style

This year, I have to resort to an online/virtual Christmas card for all my card-collecting friends.  I hope you each have a wonderful, blessed holiday season, and a very merry Christmas!

Turfdiggers Tuesday - End of Regular Season

In what has become all too familiar, the Tribecards Turfdiggers fell to the Gold Sox this past week in the Super Secret League fantasy football program.  This mean the Turfdiggers end the regular season in 7th out of 8 places, beating out only the Fighting Foxhounds overall.

Last season, the team then known as the Trouncers, also finished 7th, but that was out of 10 teams instead of eight.  Amazingly, the Turfdiggers and the Trouncers amassed the exact same record: 5-10-0.  At least I've proven to be consistent.

As things turn out, in the consolation round of the 2010 playoffs, the Turfdiggers and the Gold Sox could face each other again to determine who goes on to finish in 5th place for the league.  Here's how things line up:  Turfdiggers vs Stumbling Blox and Fighting Foxhounds vs Gold Sox, the winners of each of those matchups will play each other for 5th place overall.

The Turfdiggers started the season with a 3-game winning streak.  In the 4th week, that was snapped by the league-leading Red Grange Halls and continued for five additional weeks.  No other team in the league (not even last-place Foxhounds) had a 6-week losing streak.  Trades, drops and adds took place in which the team hoped to pull themselves out of the free fall.  Finally, at wit's end in desperation, much of the team was dropped and new players added.  While this resulted in a win the week the shake-up occurred, the relief was short-lived.  The three weeks following that win were met wit with frustrating losses.

The number one issue with the team this season seemed to be one of timing.  Many of the weeks in which the Turfdiggers lost, the team could have won if benched players had been played.  That is the luck and life of any fantasy football team manager.  We are at the mercy of the players we hold and the decisions (some of which are last-minute game day decisions) we make in playing or benching our guys.  It is also why we love to come back season after season to try it again.

I'd love for the Turfdiggers to pull off a 5th place overall finish.  Heck, I'd even take 6th at this point.  Haha, yeah, if you know me, I'm just happy not to be in last.  Though, that could actually still happen if the Foxhounds win and the Turfdiggers lose in the consolation round.  Let's not even think about that. 

It is Christmas, after all.

Christmas balls and Christmas cards

A co-worker of mine came in the office last week and handed me a small gift bag.  She said, "I know you collect baseball cards and stuff, so we though you'd like these."  Her and her husband have different kinds of cards and stuff stored in boxes and when they uncover (rediscover, find, you get the idea) some, Terry sometimes brings them to me to see if I'd like to have them.  Seeing as how I am not one to turn down much of anything in the way of "free," I happily accepted my Christmas gift.  Here's what I found inside!

A baseball signed by Ken Howell:

A baseball signed by Pat Combs:

 I haven't asked about the balls, but I need to find out if Terry knows how these were acquired (in-person, store, etc).  Though, it doesn't really matter, it would be nice to know.  I am going on the assumption that both guys were Phillies has something to do with it.  The Combs auto looks a LOT like Pat Corrales' auto and for a while, that's who I thought it was.  What changed my mind?  A little sticker on the ball's box that reads, "Pat Combs."  Yeah, I'm all observant like that.

Next up are some cards I had never seen. Little Debbie "Our Game" cards (the first two in the scan below).  The other cards come from the 1992 MegaCards Babe Ruth Collection:

 Of course, I didn't put anything together in any form that makes sense. That would just be crazy talk!  So, below we have more samples of the Babe Ruth and Little Debbie cards:

 There are 15 cards in the LD series, and I now own 11 or 12 of them! Not bad for never having heard of it before, eh?  What fallows is a series of (mostly) 1987 Topps cards.  See if you recognize any of the guys:

 My apologies, but evidently, my scanner needs a bit of a cleaning. Some of these came out quite blurry. Or maybe that's just the Topps photography of the day...

 As kids, my brother and I called these "The Wood Kind."

 To my surpise, it wasn't just baseball cards in the bag.  There are also some football cards, including one Jerome Bettis before he was "The Bus" in da Burgh!

 For the record, I am not a fan of photos where the player is pictured with his legs spread apart for the camera.  Seriously, could you not find a better pose?

 And, the crown jewel of the gift bag.  This one is actually in a screw-down holder:

A *HUGE* thanks goes out to Terry for my Christmas gift bag!