Timing is Everything

It's been a frustrating week for me, hobby-wise. After 530 successfully completed transactions on TCDB I encountered my first loss as a Canadian user appears to have ghosted several trade partners, myself included. It wasn't a particularly valuable trade; I sent 19 common-ish hockey cards out and was set to receive 19 cards back. 15 of those were Whalers cards, including two Ron Francis singles. The one non-hockey card would have completed my 1990-91 Skybox basketball set. So that's a bummer.

I had some auctions up on eBay that ended last night. This was designed to fund my Black Friday shopping on COMC, which I had to severely limit when my biggest item (a box of 22 McFarlane hockey figures) didn't get one single bid. Not only was I looking forward to the cash, I was also eager to clear some closet space. Strike two.

As a result, my COMC watch list currently has about $100 worth of cards waiting for me. I do have a shipment on the way (because there are Xmas gifts that need to be sent out somewhat urgently) but it is tough to wait and hope that the items I've been eyeing for a month or more are still there next week. One such card costs 74 cents more than I have, and so I picked up my phone on a random point during the work day and scrolled through the 'recently added' items to see if I could catch something flippable. 

All I need is 74 cents. This shouldn't be hard.

And then I saw it. One of the top cards newly added was this Leon Draisaitl autograph:

The seller was asking $5.25, which would have left me with $10 to spend. I couldn't click 'add to cart' fast enough.

No, seriously. I couldn't. Because this was what I saw when I clicked:

Aaahhhhh f**k f**k f**k!!!

Leon, for those of you who are not hockey fans, is arguably one of the top three (definitely top five) players in the NHL. His autographs should not be selling for $5 and change. Right now, the cheapest auto of Draisiatl available on COMC is on sale for $67.72. All I wanted was 74 cents and I could have made close to 74 dollars flipping that card -- if only I were five seconds faster. Strike three.

Needless to say, I was annoyed. But! When I got home from work a box was waiting for me. A box from Billy. Not long ago, Billy celebrated his 10-year anniversary on TCDB with a contest. I was at work when I saw the post, but I decided to comment quickly for two reasons. The contest included trivia, and if I had waited until after my work day to comment I probably could have had a few more correct answers by perusing his blog. However a dozen other users could have come up with those answers in the mean time. An 'open book' test is one thing; copying off another kid's paper is quite another.

I wanted to answer as quickly as possible to show Billy that I've actually been paying attention to his blog. That... didn't go well. My attention was diverted with work crap and I only got two correct answers. Luckily for me, only one other person took a real shot at it. They won first prize.

I came in second, and was very happy to do so. For the second prize, Billy let me choose 15 cards from his TCDB tradelist. I had to be a jerk and pick some oversized singles to fill my 2- and 6- pocket pages:

This Thrashers franchise card from 2004-05 In The Game pairs nicely with my Hartford Whalers box topper.

Another half-page of oversized singles including two thirds of "Run TMC" and a Jazzy Donyell Marshall High Topps card. Fellow UConn alums Scott Burrell and Ray Allen join him here, with Kerry Kittles in the middle.

More basketball, including a couple set fillers and some of my all-time favorite players in Olajuwon, Miller, and Lillard. Before the season started I read that LeBron James had invited Dame to his mansion, ostensibly to recruit him to play for the Lakers. The pitch was along the lines of "Do you want to stay in Portland, or do you want to win a championship?"

Uh... Bron? Have you seen the standings? Maybe Dame should be recruiting you to play for the Blazers! Do you want to stay in L.A., or do you want to win? 🤣

A couple of Canadian-based hockey stars rounded out my 15 selections. But wait, you say. I count 17 cards here. As if asking for oversized singles that would require more postage and a Connor McDavid insert wasn't enough... Billy tossed in the two Devils singles as a nice little surprise.

Receiving this box of goodies was a much needed pick-me-up after some tough hobby luck. And if I hadn't scrolled through TCDB during office hours I might have missed the contest entirely, as several users had lamented missing the contest. The post got more comments after Billy announced the winners!

 

Billy, thank you very much for the contest and these great cards. I'm adding you to my Christmas card list and I hope to send a return package your way in early December :)

Thanks for reading!

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