It's Almost Time...

Things are settling down here in Orlando and I'm less than a week away from getting a fix...

I'll have some new product soon and I'm looking forward to sharing my first new cards in quite some time with you. As I'm no longer in Denver, the excessive amounts of Tulo finds will be a little scarce at first, but I'll remedy that within the next month. My goal is to be back in the game before he is, unfortunately.

However, I did make a purchase on eBay yesterday and am anxiously awaiting the delivery of a great card featuring my favorite ball player of all time. No, not Troy Tulowitzki, but another shortstop great (in a past life).

Check back in next week and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

Back in the 407

The move is officially over and I'm back in Orlando, FL. No additions to the collection as of late, but some are certainly to come with the new '08 releases.

Check back in soon when I get the train back on the tracks.

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

Tu-Long

This evening's news update on FM 104.3/AM 950 The Fan, the best sports radio station in at least the Mountain Time Zone, brought some terrible news along with the Avs/Red Wings pre-game show. It seems as though the MRI on Troy Tulowitzki's leg came back with evidence of a torn tendon in his quadriceps and he's likely out at least until the All-Star break.

Tracy Ringolsby from the Rocky Mountain News broke the story earlier:

'Tulo might be out until July' [Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News]

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

4 Days of Tulo: Day 4... Finally

It's been a hectic few days to say the least. I'm extremely behind schedule on packing for the 1900mi move from Denver to Orlando and many of my online accounts were hacked during day one of the NFL Draft.

Now that the catastrophe has come and gone, I'm back to blogging. Thanks to those of you who have been bearing with me (and the blog) during this time of transition.

I made a steal on eBay last week and purchased a great short print for $1.25 with S&H included! This little puppy is a great addition to the collection:


'07 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini Black Bordered Short Print

As the regular readers already know, I'm a huge fan of solid retro sets. TA&G '07 is one of those sets that I really admire.

Here's the back of the card for ya with '06 stats and bio:



Unfortunately, this evening Mr. Tulowitzki 'strained' his quadriceps and had to leave the game. It was extremely painful to watch as he injured it while charging a routine chopper up the gap. This injury caused 3B Garrett Atkins to shift to second, 2B Clint Barmes (The Tulo Before Tulo) to shift to his natural position of short and backup C Chris Iannetta to move to third. Between Jayson Nix being designated for assignment to work on his swing (but more importantly to call up another pitcher to aleviate the workload on the bullpen) and Jeff Baker dinging up his finger in BP today, the bench is looking quite shallow. Iannetta, however, started the following inning batting for Tulo and went yard on his second pitch of the game and first AB as a third baseman.

However, I digress. The card is a great addition and in amazing shape. I've been dealing with card withdrawals on an epic level recently so it was nice to see this guy in the mailbox yesterday.

In addition, I'll be beefing up the blog in the coming weeks with more content and less time wasted to you, the reader. This might be the last post for a couple of weeks, but until then, happy collecting.

Signing off... for now...

- J.C.F.

I Love Getting Hacked...

It appears as though my Google account got hacked (or someone at Google really screwed up) sometime within the last 24 hours. Fortunately, it's back up and running, but I was a bit nervous/extremely angry.

Crisis diverted...

Fourth and last Tulo card of the near future will be posted in the next 48 hours as the move to Orlando is a mere 10 days away.

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

4 Days of Tulo: Day 3

On the third Day of Tulo my hobby shop gave to me:



an '08 Topps Rockies Collection base card.

Standard Topps Operating Procedure on this one. I'm not sure if this will be the same card used for Tulo in Series Two, but I'm assuming it is.

The Fourth Day of Tulo might not come around until Monday or Tuesday. In between the NFL Draft tomorrow (I mean today) and the Postal Service taking the day off on Sunday, I might not have anything new for ya until then.

I will let you know that an SP is on the way, however. Thanks for checking in.

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

Beginner's Wax...

I have to take a minute here for a quick shoutout.

For those of you that haven't checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and head on over to Beginner's Wax. Grant just got back into the hobby and, as we all have, noticed a change in the game over the past decade or so. As he re-learns the trade of being a collector, G is documenting his journey and creating a great product. It's a new blog, but definitely worth the read.

A fantastic writer, a dedicated collector, and my future little brother-in-law (no bias here!).

Check it!

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

4 Days of Tulo: Day 2

Technically it's Friday, however it's been a mere six and a half hours since the '4 Days of Tulo' started. I'm saving money for the move back south and I'm guessing this my is way of coping with card withdrawal. I couldn't tell you the last time I set foot in a hobby shop...

First, I wanted to state something I forgot to mention in the previous post. I was reminded of these sentiments when perusing Wax Heaven this evening and came across a great essay originally posted on SportsCardFun.com (what would we do without you, Mario?). 'Premium'/'Parallel' sets are out of control and inflating the hobby. Yeah, Tulo's UD Spectrum card is pretty dope, but come on. The kid's [technically] a second year player that was called up in '06 and the fact that I have 20+ base cards of him is absurd. I'm not complaining about the amount of cards available of a player, and in this case [clap clap, clap clap clap, clap clap clap clap] TU-LO, but it is a little ridiculous. However, I digress (while using way too many parentheses and brackets).

So for Friday, my random Tulo card of the day is another Upper Deck Product:


'07 UD Artifacts

The photograph says, 'Go ahead... make my day'...

The card says, 'I'm trying really hard to be a wanted poster in a spaghetti western'...

[What the card literally says on the back]: 'After collecting 123 hits at Double-A Tulsa in 2006, Tulowitzki was called up to the Rockies and banged out four knocks in his fifth ML game (9/3).'

Cheesy card, cheesy product, but one helluva player looking BA.

Sorry for wasting your time...

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.