2026 Adventures in Repacks - Part 18.4 - Cubism

I'm going to have to pick things up if I'm going to finish this before the start of the 2026 season. 

That might be the worst possible contrast between the opening and closing card possible. 

They even changed present to past tense on the write-up on the back of the card. Seems like a way darker option than just leaving things as they were.

This feels so typical of this repack's contents so far. A 1988 Topps. Randy Moss. A WLAF helmet. And not just one, but two Curtis Martin appearances. And yes, John is the father of the two more recent NFL Bosas. 

Punter card! Kicker card! And on the same card! Josh Oliver is still active in the league as of last season, so that's always a plus when it comes to coming across a hit in these. And some of the letters in the autograph are legible. Another plus!  That's Antowain Smith on the hard-to-read Bills card, and Jay Novacek on the name-on-the-back only Platinum card.

Infield dirt and a drawn card in the last batch is enough for me to make it noteworthy. And for those wondering what type of facts you're asking about in regards to your Errict Rhett awareness:

Here you are!

And tehre you have it!

Bills and Raptors

 I could have done 2 posts, but the size of the Bills stack seemed a lot larger because of all the relics contained within. So, let's combine these two!

This was actually lurking on my sparsely-populated, rarely-updated TCDB want list for a bit. While I would have preferred to see his celebration after his pass/reception TD against the 49ers in 2024. Although that game does still appear in this insert set with James Cook.

Not too much before I get to the hits, but there is shininess. I love seeing Don Beebe joining the usuals in showing up in products that allow for having members of the early 90s team. 

Nathan Peterman is probably in the top two for the most inept Bills QB of the post Jim Kelly era. But at least they didn't waste a first-round draft pick on him.

Speaking of that...

I almost miss the days when hope died not long after the opening kickoff. It is far less painful to be disappointed in September vs January.

The relic parade resumes with this quartet. The White card at the top isn't just a four colour swatch card, but it is actually listed as game-worn. I've got a second card of his from around that time, and it has noticeable game use on it. So, I'll trust it. 

And an on-ball auto. I'll always remember Mike Williams for this line in one of Deadspin's "Your Team Sucks" previews.

That's poetry!

Someone's got to take the role of segueing away from the Bills, and Vince Carter is always perfect for that.

Lots of shininess! OK, the one Optic of Norman Powell is just a base card, and the Kyle Lowry in the upper corner isn't a Raptors card in any form. But he's among my favourite players so I feel comfortable including it in this group. A few even feature guys still with the team, at least for the time being with Gradey Dick's status in limbo with the Kawhi investigation.

This is the type of card, with the photo seemingly embedded as part of the design, that Topps would call a manurelic at this point in releases.

And one final relic! Purple swatches always feel more special on older Raptors cards. Antonio Davis' derp face is a contender for least flattering facial expression in the team collection. 

One more team bag left!

There you have it!

2026 Adventures in Repacks - Part 18.3 - Cubism

 

Back to the cube again. There really were a lot of 1988 Topps in this. It doesn't seem as bad when it is football content as opposed to baseball content, since there does seem to be a lot less of that out there in repack land.

Offensive Line content is always welcome, even if it is from the era where they'd actually get card. Also, note that this is the first appearance of Curtis Martin in this cube. He ends up showing up a lot.

Cousineau was a #1 overall draft pick of the Buffalo Bills. He opted for the CFL and Montreal instead. Still, the draft pick they got when his rights were traded to Cleveland turned into Jim Kelly. So everything did work out OK in the end. Also, a guy named Jumpy ends up right in the middle of this scan. Or Jummpy if you read the front of the card. Or James if you read other, far less interesting cards. Note we've already got the 2nd Curtis Martin card.

This group really summarizes the frequent contents of the cube. 1988 Topps. Randy Moss. A WLAF helmet. No Curtis Martin, but still another Jets card. A defensive player with the ball card too! That's a motif you're very unlikely to see on any Jets cards in 2026 releases. Even if Aaron Glenn himself did show up last year with a coach card.

There you have it!

2/14s in the Mail - Part 2

 And now, the sportlots stuff.

And if you have the opportunity to start with a standalone Stadium Club card that increases one player collection by a single card, you do it.

I was kinda surprised there was no David Garrard content in the trade envelope. Still, he gets 3 cards here. Even it unfortunately used bland, posed shots for the rookie card, I do appreciate 2011 Threads and its horizontal design for the non-hit portion of the set.

While Jim Kelly remains the leader, both in the football and overall portion of the collection, Steve McNair is in second place for both as well. He's about 25 cards behind Kelly, but leads Milan Hejduk by about 20 for  that position. As for these, I like coming across SP Authentic stuff that doesn't just use the white background with silver text, but actually uses the actual photographic background. That Gold Label might be my first "guy on phone" image in the 2/14 collection. If I ever have too much time on my hands, I'll verify that.

Hockey makes a little more of an appearance in this post, leading with this Lane Hutson base card out of 2025-26 Series 2. This one will probably end up as his entry in my 2027 2/14 recap, although it will feature a major challenge out of this same release with John Farinacci looking to go back-to-back.

Extended finally allowed for Nikolaj Ehlers to start appearing in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform. But that doesn't mean there still isn't plenty of inexpensive Jets cards of his out there to acquire.

3 cards I was surprised I didn't already have in the collection. But they're in it now.

And there you have it!

2/14s in the Mail - Part 1

 Today, the new cards for the 2/14 collection from the TMV mailer. Up next, the Sportlots stuff.

Both basketball and hockey were one-and-done in the mailer, but I'm leading with the Richard Hamilton because it is numbered and shiny. In this case, it is a Seismic Red Prizm /225.

Sorry, Viktor, but you really can't compete with that.

Baseball provides the obligatory "How did I not have this card in my collection" entry with this card out of the 1988 Baseball's best set. And yes, Donruss' decision to use blue vs. orange was definitely a smart one.

Shininess! With his total now standing at 71, I'm now the top Yermin hunter at tcdb. I guess there is a plus to seemingly endless parallels. Overall, he's tied with John Marzano for the lead, at least until my next COMC order arrives.

Football was the most significant portion of the 2/14 content in the mailer. A perfect way to start this is the current reigning Offensive Player of the Year. I'm glad I got into his content early, allowing me to add some nice cards, especially with his rookie autos, looking at COMC, are now $500+.

And speaking of COMC, I also have one of these parallels on its way as part of that order. Oops! Anybody else super-collect 2nd round picks that never played a snap in the NFL?

Jadeveon Clowney was probably the most recent football rookie chase guy for me prior to JS-N.

I guess I'm going through this by showcasing in order of sport, then volume. So, here's football's first multiple card count, with a pair of numbered Alshons. Both are /399 as well.

The hit parade starts here! The football relic card is from the period where the Oilers were being renamed to the Titans, so that's why that logo remains on the card.

The Sunday Swag card prominently features 403 yards on the front of the card, so you'd think it would have something on the reverse that would reference that. Nope. Just a generic write-up about Jim Kelly. The game in question was the no-punt game at Candlestick. Steve Young even passed for more yards in that game, throwing for 449. I guess the Bills winning makes Kelly more worthy of the card saluting that day.

Drew Bledsoe tied with Jim Kelly for the overall lead, but I'll give him a nod based on there being a couple of relics in this group. And if licensing is something that you care about, this does win that battle 5-1. Both the relics do claim to be game used, although only the Honors one included a photo of the supposed jersey with the card. With that, that moves it past the presence of a Bills logo to make it the most interesting of the Bledsoes.

And there you have it!

My Newest MST3Ked Movie Auto!

 It is Hal Linden!

Hal did not appear on-screen during a movie riffed on the show. He wasn't even credited for his work. But, since he did do the voice of Yoshi during the American dub of Godzilla vs. The Sea Serpent, he counts as someone who was riffed by Joel and the Bots.

This is also my first Season 2 autograph. 

Sure, he's deservedly best known for Barney Miller, but I can also appreciate a lesser role. If I somehow acquired a Clint Eastwood auto, would I group it with Sci-Fi era autos thanks to Revenge of the Creature?

Yes!

There you have it!

Anatomy of a Complete Set

 

Several weeks back, I posted the results of a couple hobby boxes worth of 11-12 Heroes and Prospects. While I didn't get the complete set out of that, I still wanted to finish it. And there was a 50 card update set. I didn't want to spend $20+ on shipping, so I just requested it as a bonus in my latest TMV shipment. 

And here are the highlights among the 50.

First card out is a Kitchener Rangers alum! Or at least the first card in the set.

Senators fans were greatly anticipating Cory Conacher's debut with the team after he arrived in the Ben Bishop trade. He was waived before he even finished a full season with the team.

Tanner Pearson was a Kitchener Rangers alum. Not as a player, but as a stick boy for the team. When he got his 'Day with the Cup' after being a part of the LA Kings, one of the stops in town was back at the Aud.

Here's a far more obvious alumni card.

And another future Senator. 

Still yet another. Mark Stone was probably the biggest name in this set. With several medals, a Stanley Cup and an All-Star appearance, that's a great resume.

I am not going to pass up a chance to show off the Ogopogo jersey Kelowna sported.

Continuing the "I'm not passing up on" theme, how could I not show the card of somebody named Thrower.

Or of someone with a name that sounds like it should be on the Oxford Rowing Team as opposed to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

So, Dennis! Thanks for picking this up and throwing it into the mailer!