Passion For Collecting

So, it's been a few since I have dropped a blog on everyone (all 8 of you guys ;) ). Things have been busy with work. Work has been later hours, the weather has been colder and I just haven't had anything really hti me worth posting.

Well, I sat down yesterday with some down time and cranked out a post, the old fashioned way: pencil and paper. I could just take pictures of what I wrote and then show that, btu that would be lazy and egotistical of me. Not to mentino cruel, as my penmanship is abotu as good as a 3rd grader's.

So, here now, is my post on my passion for collecting:

Everyone has their different reasons for collection. Favorite players, favorite teams, childhood memories, the love of memorabilia, you get the idea.

My passion comes from various sources. Growing up in Texas, if you were a baseball fan, you had three teams to choose from to watch on tv on any given night: the Rangers, the Astros and, awkwardly enough, the Braves. (Sidebar: Ted Turner ruled the south, so his tv channel, TBS, ruled every state south of the Mason Dixon. This meant everyone living in one of those states was blessed with three to four Braves games a week). On the radio side of things, out in my particular part of Texas the only team I got to hear on the radio was the Texas Rangers (following their games I would stay up later just to listen to ESPN radio). From about the time I was in 3rd grade until somewhere in junior high, I probably listened to 70-80 Rangers games a summer. Probably my favorite memory was listening to the Juan Gonzalez chase for the single season RBI record.

Yet, even though I watched many Rangers games and obviously listened to morethan my fair share, I never wound up collecting them. Most likely because my best card board collecting friend at the time, Ray, collected them. Instead, I found myself collecting all over the spectrum of the sport, until I found myself where I am now. In between then and now I tried out player collecting, starting with Jeff Bagwell, Chipper Jones, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Tony Gwynn at various times. Then I figured I would like team collecting more, so I gave the Padres and the Rays a chance (I was a huge Gwynn fan and still am a huge fan of Jake Peavy, even if he isn't in SD anymore).

Then, High School hit. A much more challenging school schedule, full time job and tons of extracurricular activities made it harder for me to truly focus on my collections and really enjoy them. I never stopped collecting completely, but would occassionally mortgage my entire collection to try my hand at box upon box of the newest stuff. I picked up a few things here and there (outside of those boxes), but just didn't really have the same passion anymore.

Eventually, after attempting college and deciding (at that time) that it just wasn't for me, I got myself into the working world and back into collecting more. I was making decent money at any of the various jobs i would hold and truly only had two bills - rent and cell phone. I had free wireless (thanks to some great neighbors) and basic cable in my apartment. That left me with plenty of spending money (a ton of which was spent on booze and women, but still, I hadn't left party mode yet). So, I started to get back into collecting real good. That's back when the Beckett boards were still cool. I kept my Bagwell collection and slowly started to collect Javier Vazquez. Then, I moved into collecting the Houston Astros. At the same time, I was also collecting basketball and football cards, but it was making it hard to financially focus on any one thing at a time. So, I eventually cut out the other two sports and focused just on baseball.

That brings us to the present time. I have a great job with great benefits and guaranteed stable pay and hours (unlike when i was a server at restaraunts) so I have more money to spend on certain occasions. I have my two primary player collections (Richard Hidalgo and Javier Vazquez) and my team collection of the Houston Astros. Plus, I am starting to stick my foot back in the football door again (Go Titans........erm, yeah).

So where did I get (and keep) this passion from? The entire time, I kept my passion for sports (and sports cards) from my grandfather, Richard. As far back as I can remember he was taking me to the local college to watch college football and basketball games, watching ALL sports on TV, going to minor league baseball games and talking about sports whenever we were together. Since his passing (literally abotu a week before my son was born) my son has been my ultimate passion. He turns two in January, but I can tell he already has a love of sports (he can thank me when he is a top draft pick in the MLB Amateur draft in 2026 :D ). He loves to watch games with me, play baseball, football and soccer and he has taken a liking to my cards (I let him manhandle commons and he even likes looking at my really nice stuff). Plus, as I have gotten older, I have more love for the game. The history behind it is so deep, the characters of the game so flamboyant (Satchel Paige anyone?) and the greats so truly great, there is so much to love.

Where do YOU get YOUR passion from?

Lack of posts...

Sorry for the lack of posts guys, but things have been a little busy around my life lately, so I haven't had much time to sit down and jot out a blog.

Plus, I haven't really had anything in mind lately either.

But, I have been able to put in a little more time on my personal collection website and I would like to show it off a little (nothing fancy or anything, but I have put in some time on it):

http://anicolausk.webs.com/

It has my complete list of Richard Hidalgo cards I own, everything Javier Vazquez i own but base cards, some random PC stuff and the list of 1985 Topps that I currently have.

If anyone has any opinions, criticism or anything whatsoever about the site, PLEASE let me know. I am trying to figure out a theme I really want to use and will be linking pictures to some of my cards on the site.

Thanks for looking.

October 2nd..a day late on a new month

Well, a new month is upon us, one that is probably 2nd on a list of favorite months amongst the littlest people in our lives, children (come on now, NO month beats December; Christmas AND New Year's Eve? that's a double whammy).

Not too much has been going on in the way of cards for me, though I did get two packages recently, both from eBay.

I do now have scans, but one is an 08 Heroes GU Jersey of Hunter Pence #ed to 25 and the other is a card for my Secret Santa victim on the FreedomCardBoard.com forums. After he receives the package (which will be sent at the end of November) I will have a special post of what I sent him.

Onto other news. The Titans are indeed 0-3. The Houston Astros once again will be watching the playoffs from home. I won two of my three fantasy baseball leagues and came in second in the third (lost by the tiebreaker....lowest ERA). As you can see at the right side there, I am 2-1 in my fantasy football league. And I should be picking up Halo 3: ODST sometime in the next week or two.

As for the work trip Monday, we did eat at Macaroni Grill and it was fantastic. I also stopped by the largest PX I have ever been to and picked up soem clothes for my son and Season Five of Grey's Anatomy for my wife. And yes, I watch it with her. I have seen the first FOUR seasons so far and we will probably finish season five over the weekend. You really can't blame me for watching anything Katherine Heigl in it, can you?

Also, I will have a poll up soon for a TWENTY-SIX post undertaking I am working on. At the end of this baseball season, it will be the 25th season of my lifetime. So, since baseball is all numbers, lists and greatness, I am going to compile a list of the greatest 25 players of the last 25 seasons (1985-2009). There are a few requirements (will be posted later) and then I will begin to reveal the players, one by one, in their own posts. Probably 5 guys a week, for 5 weeks (5x5...like roto fantasy baseball ;) ).