Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Classic Confrontations: Walt Clyde Frazier vs Earl The Pearl Monroe

Very NICE video highlighting the rivalry between Earl the Pearl and Frazier the Cool.

Best Man Cave Sports: Mailweek 3/29/11 Beastly HOF Auto Mojo

Awesome mailweek this past week. HOF players galore. Even though I had to pay CSA for the Walt Frazier signing it is well worth it. He's one of my favorite all time Knick players. Just a slick player. The Andre Reed autos were a nice addition as well and the Warren Moon is just a beast. I love the Antoine Walker Turkey Red and Skybox RC autos...but the Turkey Red will be the one being slabbed.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thursday Show-Off: 3/24/11

For this week I am going with my 06-07 Upper Deck Reflections Dual Patch featuring Syracuse Alumni Hakim Warrick and Carmelo Anthony. The card features two game used patch pieces, both beautiful with several breaks. The card is #'d 05/15 as well. This card is a fixture in the Best Sports Man Cave.

Best Man Cave Sports: Mailday 3/24/11 Hakim Warrick, Ravens Signing



Another solid Best Man Cave Sports Mailday. Can't go wrong with a beautiful 09-10 Court Kings 1/1 of my favorite all-time Orange player...Hakim Warrick. So I was thrilled to pick this up off eBay. Once again, if you live in the Maryland area, please go to Haruki Nakamura's Red Cross Relief Program Fundraiser featuring Joe Flacco and perhaps Haloti Ngata.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports: Maildays 3/30/11 Beastly TTM Autos



Could not be any happier with the past 3 days of mail. A nice mix of HOFers, current stars, a former SU player, and Cal Ripken Jr. The autographs in the books are great looking and as stated in the video I plan on purchasing an 8x10 and having a plaque made of Cal. I'll post a video of it as soon as it is done. The Shaq return was spectacular. 4 Days!! Wowzers. It's very rewarding when you research and find your own addresses for the players, then have the success on top of it. That right there is the pinnacle of a TTM auto return.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thursday Show-Off 3/17/11

My 3 06-07 UD Reserve Hakim Warrick Patch Cards....from the Grizzlie logo on the back of the jersey...



Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bill Russell & John Havlicek

So here is the deal....

I've been in contact with Rich Altman who is a promoter that runs the Boston Show through Hollywood Collectibles. Bill Russell and John "Hondo" Havlicek are exclusive through this company. I wanted to get a deal on getting cards signed since they are smaller then the normal prints and other premium items collector's normally get signed. He was able to cut me this deal:

Bill Russell (minimum 10 cards total)

$100 per card (down from $175)

John Havlicek (no minimum)

$65 per card (down from $85)

If you want in please e-mail me at dustinmbest@live.com . I would need all cards by March 25, 2011 at the latest. Add an SASE or an extra $5 for shipping.

Here is the information on the Boston Show: Here
Here is my ebay power seller feedback for references: Here

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports: Mailweek 3/13/11 Pulls & TTM



Very solid mailweek coming in on 3/13/11. Added 5 new 91-92 Upper Deck autos to my set. Just casually doing this one. What makes me more happy is the fact that I added Damon Stoudamire and Bob Cousy to my TTM success pile. Damon I have gotten before at a Grizzlies game, but TTM gave me the chance to get multiple autos done including the 95-96 Ultra RC card which is a very clean, autographable rookie set. So it looks...NICE. The Bob Cousy Greats of the Game is a nice addition to that set, once again I never ask for a personalization so I am always surprised when it happens. Next I will send Cousy his 06-07 Turkey Red which hopefully he will autograph with a donation once again. That card will most likely be slabbed by PSA.

So contest....

Who is that figure of in the middle of the Kevin McHale PSA RC and the Dave Bing Figure?

Winner gets...ummm...a surprise certified auto card.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports Mailweek: TTM & IP Syracuse style Part I 3/7



Once again I am thrilled to have had the luck to get Jonny Flynn this game. It's a shame Wesley Johnson didn't play because of an illness so he wasn't even out for shoot arounds. But next year Wes is my target for a photo / autograph. Did quite a bit digging up for addresses and cards for these Syracuse players so I am just happy everything worked out TTM.

Sixers vs Timberwolves 3/4 plus more

First we have some pics from the Syracuse vs Villanova game from a couple weeks ago where I was able to land some autographs....

Kris Joseph is in the forefront with the blue shirt on....














Scoop Jardine & Brandon Triche...the 10/11 starting Syracuse backcourt.














Timberwolves player introductions...view from my seats with Kevin Love being introduced and going out...













Last but not least....Jonny Flynn and I along with my boy Louis...Syracuse connection...

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports: TTM Auto Mailweek 2/27/11



Past couple days of mail has brought some different arrivals needless to say. Had my first smudged autograph and my second swap out autograph. Not as good as I would have hoped for but I am happy none the less, can't go wrong with 4 HOF successes. TTM you ask? Leggggoooo....

Adrian Autry: First of all...Syracuse alumni! Big East All Rookie Team, Big East 3rd Team (Junior Season), Big East 1st Team (Senior Season), Syracuse 18th Leading All-Time Scorer and 5th All-Time in Assists, 11th All-Time in 3 PT made.

Mel Counts: Originally drafted by the Celtics in 1964, 2 X NBA Champion with the Celtics in '65 & '66, was traded for Bailey Howell after the '66 season. Also was traded by the Lakers for Gail Goodrich. He enjoyed being traded obviously.

Lou Carnesseca: Coached St.Johns for 24 season, named Coach of the Year in '83 and '85, known for his sweaters, Hall of Fame Class of '92, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Member

Frank Ramsey: Drafted by the Celtics in 1953, Hall of Fame Class of '82, 7 x NBA Champion (all with the Celtics), know as the first real "Sixth Man" in basketball

Bobby Cremins: 1990 Naismith College Coach of the Year, 3 x ACC Coach of the Year, 3 x Southern Conference Coach of the Year (Appalachian State University)

Nate "Tiny" Archibald: Hall of Fame Class of '91, NBA Champion (1981 with the Celtics), 6 x NBA All-Star, NBA All-Star Game MVP (1981), 5 x All-NBA Team (3 x First, 2 x Second), NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, #1 Retired by the Kings

Harry Gallatin: Hall of Fame Class of '91, Knicks #1 overall pick in 1948, NBA Rebounds Leader in 1954, 7 x NBA All-Star, 2 x All-NBA Team (1 x First, 1 x Second), NBA Coach of the Year (1963 St. Louis Hawks), holds Knicks record for most rebounds in a game (33), cool nickname...."The Horse"

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports TTM Mailweek & IP Syracuse: 2/23



Great mail these past couple days with a lot of hits. Also went to the Villanova vs Syracuse game in Philly with a lot of success. Perhaps the most important part...Syracuse won the game. Jay Wright owns Boeheim? I think not. Onto the TTM hits....

Jimmer Fredette: Nation's leading scorer as of 2/23. Most likely going to be a lottery pick in this years NBA draft. Has a lot more talent then Adam Morrison. And Morrison's stache.

Dave Gambee: Former Syracuse National player, inducted into the Pac-10 Ring of Honor, was on the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers Championship team

Dan Majerle: 3 time All-Star, led NBA 2 straight seasons in 3-Pt Field Goals, 2 x NBA All-Defensive 2nd team (shocker I know)

Rick Barry: HOF Class of 1987, 12 x NBA / ABA All-Star, '65 NBA ROY, '66 NBA All-Star Game MVP, '74 NBA Finals MVP, Led NBA in scoring in '66

Otis Birdsong: 4 x NBA All-Star, 80-81 NBA All-NBA 2nd Team

Dirk Nowitzki: 10 x NBA All-Star (as of 2010), 06-07 NBA MVP, 10 x All-NBA (4 x 1st, 4 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)....funny sidenote, can you believe this guy was traded for Robert Traylor during the 98 draft? The Bucks even threw in Pat Garrity!!

Tony Delk: 95-96 NCAA Final Four MVP (sour taste in mouth inserted here), 1992 McDonald's All-American, and he sure did have a 50 point game while with the Phoenix Suns.

Joe Dumars: NBA HOF Class of '06, 6 x All-Star, 2 x NBA Champion, 88-89 NBA Finals MVP, 4 x All-NBA Defensive 1st team,3 x All-NBA Team (1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rd)

Corey Stokes: 2006 McDonalds All-American

Matt Stover: In the top 10 in EVERY kicking category in the NFL record books, and he was and forever will be a RAVEN....need I say more?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

All-Star Weekend

Few thoughts on the All-Star festivities thus far:

  • Serge Ibaka got robbed in the first round of the slam dunk contest...no way JaVale should have gotten better scores. Especially after having to attempt the 2 basketball - 2 ball dunk about a dozen times.
  • Blake's jumping over the car hood dunk really was not that impressive, I agree with Charles Barkley there.
  • The 3 Point contest was pretty abysmal. Plus I am kind of bitter that a Heat player beat out 2 Celtics in the final round.
  • Please bring back HORSE!!!
  • Was it just me or did rookies Gary Neal and Wesley Johnson have the strongest scoring game during the rookie/sophomore challenge. They both were actually hitting outside shots and not scoring all their points by strictly dunking...DeMarcus Cousins style that is.
  • Last but not least, very good mail day past couple days....looking forward to sharing my new gems!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports Mailweek: TTM Autos



Very nice mailweek. No cards this week, except for some base to be sent out to get signed. But 4 different success stories with TTM Autographs. My favorite this week has to be the Terrell Brandon 91-92 Upper Deck Rookie, just because of the old school photo shoot. Very throwback and once again 91-92 Upper Deck was one of my favorite sets growing up.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Destination Carmelo

Carmelo Anthony, perhaps the most pure scorer in the league. Young and successful. And no I'm not saying this because he brought my Syracuse Orange a national championship in '03. This is a franchise player up for grabs. He wants out of Denver, and Denver has made it clear he is available (albeit at a hefty price). Waking up every morning I'm just waiting for news to break of a trade. To the Knicks? Nets? Lakers?! Teams just getting tossed into the mix like croutons. I tend to believe there are 2 teams that would be perfect for Melo and perfect for both franchises as well. Denver has shown it wants draft picks and young players. So here are my underdog teams for trades:

A) Los Angeles....

Clippers:

Yes I know, Sterling is still the owner of the Clippers and has always been cheap. We all know this. But think about this....here is an opportunity to bring in a face of the franchise type player. To bring even more hype to the Clips or as I call them....The Blake Show. Trading for Melo would make the Clips an instant contender.

My Proposed Trade:
Clippers receive: SF Carmelo Anthony & PF Kenyon Martion
Nuggets receive: C Chris Kaman, PG Baron Davis, SF Al-Farouq Aminu, (2) 1st Round Picks

Why it would work:
Nuggets would receive Chris Kaman to play C and be able to move Nene to PF. Talk about a very tough post tandem. They also would receive Aminu who is young and has shown flashes of becoming a very capable scorer in the league and he can defend. Taking on Baron would be a drawback but would allow them to move Billups in a seperate trade. This way allowing them to keep Ty Lawson coming off the bench where he best utilized.

Clippers would lose their starting PG but Bledsoe and Foye are both capable of handling the PG duties. Think about this line-up. Bledsoe/Foye...Eric Gordon...Melo...Blake...DeAndre Jordan. Very very solid line-up that would compete every night. Throw in K-mart coming off the bench when he's healthy. This is K-mart's last year in his current contract which pays him $16 mill...so taking that off the books allows Clippers to save money to re-up Blake ASAP.

B) Minnesota Timberwolves

Ok so the Timerwolves were being thrown around as a 3rd wheel team in the Knicks/Nuggets talks. Ok Carmelo probably wouldn't want to play there anyways. It is Kahn we are talking about, it is Minnesota we are talking about, it is Lala we are talking about.  But this deal makes a whole lot of sense. Plus it gives me butterflies thinking about how many former Syracuse players I can fit onto one team.

My Proposed Trade:
Timberwolves receive: SF Carmelo Anthony
Nuggets receive: SF Corey Brewer, PF Michael Beasley, rights to PG Ricky Rubio

Why it would work:

Mmmmm...Flynn....Melo...Wes Johnson. The Timberwolves get their first stud since KG. Rubio will probably never suit up for the Wolves so why not just move him? Let him become the Nugget's problem. Timberwolves have Flynn and Ridnour/Bassy to handle PG, Wesley Johnson is versatile enough to move him to the 2 spot where they also have Ellington. Melo would fit right in at the 3 where he would be backed up by Martell Webster. Kevin Love is an all-star 4 who can stretch defenses allowing Melo to post up undersized 3s and keeping the paint clean. All the Wolves would need is a viable center...Darko is not the answer Kahn, ask Chris Webber....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G848nahXCec

The Nuggets on the other hand receive their PG of the future in Rubio, IF they can get him over here. Billups has one more year on his contract after this season so he becomes a nice trade chip for a team looking to clear some space next year. They replace some of Melo's scoring with Beasley and obtain a nice little bench addition with Brewer (in the last year of his contract).


Rest assured wherever Melo lands, he will help not only in the win column, but help change the culture of the team.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Hondo Steals It!!



Courtesy of NBA TV.

Hondo Steals It! One of the best play calls ever...

Best Sports Man Cave Mailweek: 2/6/11



Solid mailweek this week. Received some nice looking cards along with the Coach K TTM auto.
From everyone else's experience, and now mine, no matter what card you send Coach K, he sends you back this 8x10 Auto. Pretty nice looking and I'm pleased with it. I'll frame it and have it posted up somewhere in my man cave. So only one TTM auto this week, but it's a HOF one...I'll take it.

The John "Hondo" Havlicek cards came in as well, but not nearly in the condition I would have liked. But when you pay $5 for all 3, guess you can't complain too much. He's a Celtic legend playing 16 season and winning 8 titles...not too shabby. Hondo also was the subject of perhaps the best play by play call ever when he stole Hal Greer's inbound pass in the 1965 NBA Finals against the Sixers (shown in following post).

The Kevin Garnett SP RC is a nice alternative to the pricier, more sought after Finest RC. It's a PSA 9 so not bad for $5 delivered. I really like the look of those SP rookies. I'm one step closer and one year closer to my Dave Bing RC with his second year card coming in. A PSA 7 on a tall boy is a fairly good grade. Then as a kicker picked up the 09-10 Prestige Bonus Shots numbered 08/10. Only set me back $4 delivered. Couldn't pass it up. Go Mayor Bing.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Rip & Yi

Detroit, please move Rip Hamilton. The Coaches Decision DNP's are absurd. Get something for him while you can or just release him. It's not a way of dealing with a player that has done so much for the organization.

Players who miss more than 10 games prior to the start of the fan's all star voting, should be excluded from that ballot. Case in point...Yao Freakin' Ming. Please vote with your head China, not your patriotism. It's a good thing coaches pick the bench players or else we'd get to see Yi Jianlian playing in the game.

Loved seeing the Celtics beat up the Lakers in final 6 minutes of Sunday's game (01/30/11). Kobe was trying to go into Black Mamba Mode but the Celtics D would not let that happen and he became a black hole on offense. I'm still putting my money on these two teams meeting in the finals for a rematch from last year.


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Best Man Cave Sports: THE Man Cave Part 2



The second part of the tour of the man cave...

Best Man Cave Sports: THE Man Cave Part 1



My Syracuse Orange and Baltimore Ravens themed man cave. Most of the Syracuse decorations have come from Steiner Sports. I highly recommend going through them to get sports memorabilia. They have some pretty unique items. Check out their auctions as well, you can usually get some pretty good buys.

Mail For Best: 1/29 Edition



Great mailday.

First off, 3 Autographed cards via TTM from Gary "The Glove" Payton. Great signatures done in black sharpie and very prompt...only took 1 week. Perhaps the best defensive point guard of all time, 9 time all-nba first team defense doesn't lie.

Second part, an authentic game used 09/10 Hakim Warrick Chicago Bulls Game Used St.Patrick's Day Jersey. Very very nice. These jerseys are only worn the week of St.Patrick's. So a very tough find. Thank you to Kruk Cards for the jersey.