FB: American Rivers Conference

[footballdaddy]

But you are mistaken, my friend! Those aren't "dust collectors", they're "collectables".

[doolittledog]

But you are mistaken, my friend! Those aren't "dust collectors", they're "collectables".

I believe if something belongs to the husband it is a "dust collector"  If an item belongs to the wife it is known as a "collectable" 

[Alfredeneumann]

K+ for Doolittle for days worth of greats (humorous) posts today

[DBQ1965]

Ecclesiasticaly speaking ... were are in the time of year known as "Ordinary Time" ... the period between Pentecost and Advent.

D3 and IIAC speaking, it is Ordinary Time as well ... that period between Spring Drills and the September kick-off.

So ... in view of the "collectibles" vs. "dust collectors" discussion ... and to fill our version of Ordinary Time with something interesting ... what do you have among your treasured sports collectibles ... significant or otherwise? 

For example, I have ...

3 bubblegum football cards of Bill Munson (one autographed) -- a classmate from K-12 -- L.A. Rams, Detroit Lions and NFL journeyman QB;

autogaphed baseballs from S.F. Giant greats Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda;

a business card autographed by Dwight Clark (famous for "The Catch");

an autographed photo of R. C. Owens of "Alley Oop" fame;

five bubblegum football cards for the '59-'61 S. F. 49er's "Alphabet Backfield" -- Y.A. Tittle, R.C. Owens, J.D. Smith, C.R. Roberts, and the team card from that team;

and a photo taken by my little brother on a MNF game, Niners vs. Seahawks, at the moment when Dwight Clark broke Billy Wilson's  all-time receiving record (later to be broken by Jerry Rice).  So, some significant ... and some trivial but personal.

What I no longer have (much to my wife's relief) are the track shoes I wore when I finally broke 2 minutes in the 880 yd. run ... what  you younger types know as the 800 meter run.

What other interesting "stuff" do we have out ther in IIASC Fan-land?

[Purple Heys]

I never got into the autograph/memorabilia thing...

I think it stemmed from not having been exposed 1st hand to big time sports until I was around 10 and my Dad took me to a California Angels' game.  We had to wait in line, it turned out, for the free autograph on entry and it happened to be Clyde Wright and some other guy.

Both had scribbled illegibly on the paper we were given.  I was clueless...why did I wait in line for some guy to write his name.  My dad, an air force pilot, wasn't a big sports guy and we both kind of laughed at the worthlessness of the whole affair and we watched the game.  Something about the insincerety of the thing prevented me from ever seeing the worth in that sort of thing.

I sure had fun watching the games of both the Angels and the Dodgers during the 70's and 80's, though.

The memorabilia that I collect and value are the tokens and cards that the kids and their teammates give me after I coached their little league and pee-wee teams.  I have signed basketballs, baseballs, footballs, trophies and hand made cards.  I even have a hand-carved/hand-decorated piranha from a 10 year old kid that played soccer for me the first year I ever coached that sport.  Turns out basketball fast break principles can work in 9-10 year soccer.  That piranha stills hangs in my office.

One of my favorite signed baseballs has only the kids' nicknames of one of my t-ball teams.  Names like Double-M, Big Josh (smallest kid on the team), DJ, Soup, Austin 2, and B-Rock.  Another team had theme nicknames:  Flash, Dash, Crash, Mash, Bash, Splash, Smash, and Boomer (a young lady who taught the boys a thing or two about competitiveness).

[Purple Heys]

More about Boomer...

She was a miracle baby in that a serious heart condition made making it past her 1st 3 months a challenge.  As such she will likely not be much more than average height and she's always been thin as a rail.

I drafted her into majors when she was 11, trading up to get her.  Fundamentally sound, a fluid athlete, could play all 9 positions, and is one of those precise types of folk that know what to do and when to do it.  Just not overwhelmingly strong due to her size...this is why she lasted into the point at which I could draft her.

One other thing, she speaks with a very polite and quiet voice...hence the nickname I bestowed upon her:  Boomer.

One axiom in Little League is that you cannot have enough catching.  A good catcher in Little League is gold.  Walks do not turn into 3 base advances, runs can't score without the benefit of a hit.

It is sufficient description in describing this young lady's toughness to say that Boomer was my starting catcher when she was 12 years old, on a team defending its' league and city championship.  And she caught every big game.

She's now a high school freshman and is one of the top golfers at her high school and in the area.  I heard from some of the boys on the freshman baseball team and they told me they tried to talk her into coming out for the team.

Still goes by Boomer, too.   

[Mr. Ypsi]

P. Heys,

You are definitely sounding like a (deservedly ) proud papa.  Best wishes to Boomer!

[sportsknight]

Some highlights from my collections:

- Autographed baseballs from Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo, Kerry Wood, Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Tommy LaSorda, and Bill Madlock (each signed in person)

- Autographed Titans mini helmet from Jeff Fisher

- "Running on Empty" album cover autographed by Jackson Browne

- Original "Kennedy for President" poster from the 1960 campaign

- Vintage concert posters promoting everyone from Johnny Cash to Bruce Springsteen to "The Day the Music Died"

- A modest collection of programs/media guides from various sporting events I've attended (D3 wrestling nationals, NCAA Tournament basketball games, College World Series, various Iowa State Tournaments, etc)

[sportsknight]

Oh, and a brick and piece of floorboard from the old Knights Gym that I "collected" myself during the demolition.

[Purple Heys]

P. Heys,

You are definitely sounding like a (deservedly ) proud papa.  Best wishes to Boomer!

Point of clarification...Boomer isn't my daughter.  She is the daughter of some friends.  I had the privilege of coaching her for 2 years in Little League about 5 years ago.  She was on Rev. 3's team.

But yes I am as proud of her as if she were one of my own.

[CaliRamRL6]

P. Heys,

You are definitely sounding like a (deservedly ) proud papa.  Best wishes to Boomer!

Point of clarification...Boomer isn't my daughter.  She is the daughter of some friends.  I had the privilege of coaching her for 2 years in Little League about 5 years ago.  She was on Rev. 3's team.

But yes I am as proud of her as if she were one of my own.

Would Boomer happen to have an older sister that graduated with me from EC?

[Willie University]

I have been fortunate enough to have a brother-in-law that plays professional baseball. Not a star by any means but a fringe player that has been up and down over the past 7 or so years between AAA and the Majors. Otherwise, I would never have had some of the experiences that I have over the years. Some of my most memorable have been:

* Being in the clubhouse of Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers) before a game. How many people can say they get to see Pudge Rodriguez in his underwear  But, the actual cool thing about it was seeing behind the scenes of what goes on before a baseball game, seeing all the facilities, and meeting all his teammates and coaches.

* I have been fortunate enough to meet most of the Tigers players during the Alan Trammel years in Detroit. I have had a few beers on numerous occasions with guys like Eric Chavez (A's), Pat Burrell (Phillies-Rays), Jeremy Bonderman (Tigers), Nick Punto (Twins), Eric Bruntlett (Phillies) that are all current players and some of his closer friends over the years. I have met many more over the years and shook hands with Roger Clemens before the scandal.

* Some great experiences was watching my brother-in-law hit the game winning 2 run home run off Johan Santana (in his prime with the Twins back in 2004 I believe) to beat the Twins 2-0. And when he hit the longest home run in Comerica Park history that same year that landed in the camera boxes in dead center. It was also a walk off homer which made it even more special. (On a side note, Muhammid Ali was at the game and was in the locker room after the game and my sister was pregnant at the time and he rubbed her belly for good luck!)

* My favorite memoribilla items would be:
* Signed photograph from my brother-in-law right after he hit the longest home run that says: "To four-eyes, the best bro-in-law in the league"
* One of his Bats from his first major-league single (his dad got his first home run of course and my dad and step-dad got the double and triple bats)
* Signed copy of Sports Illustrated in which he was on the cover. Barry Bonds was actually the focus if you remember that one where he was in his batting stance and it was about him getting the home run record. Well, my brother-in-law was the catcher in the photograph with Bonds.
* My UD football helmet personally signed by me 
* A photograph of all the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders signed by each of them 

Willie U

[Purple Heys]

P. Heys,

You are definitely sounding like a (deservedly ) proud papa.  Best wishes to Boomer!

Point of clarification...Boomer isn't my daughter.  She is the daughter of some friends.  I had the privilege of coaching her for 2 years in Little League about 5 years ago.  She was on Rev. 3's team.

But yes I am as proud of her as if she were one of my own.

Would Boomer happen to have an older sister that graduated with me from EC?

Yep.  That's her.

BTW - Boomer's a freshman...er...will be a sophomore next year at EC.

[doolittledog]

WillieU, that was a fun post to read.  Thanks for sharing. 

[doolittledog]

I wasn't too much of a collector.  Like most kids I had a baseball card collection.  Every year I would get the St. Louis Cardinals team set.  When my family was moving up to Iowa from St. Louis my dad and I moved up first when he started his new job and I started school and my mom stayed in St. Louis until our house sold.  While she had the house to herself for 3 months she  decided to clean it out and threw away my baseball card collection.  She thought that was for little boys and no one would want it, didn't even put them in the garage sale we had.  I couldn't believe it when she told me that. 

I also had a beer can collection while in elementary school.  One day, while walking home from school I found a six pack carrier and used that to hold some cans I found along the side of the road.  Before long I saw 3 police cars.  1 stopped and asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was collecting cans for my collection.  He laughed and said he figured it was something like that.  They had got a call from an elderly woman that said she saw a little boy that was drunk.  That collection is now up in our attic and I suppose could be described as a "dust collector" I don't know why my mom saw fit to save my beer can collection and not my baseball cards other than she is the furthest thing from a sports fan as you will ever see.   The good thing about that is she rarely went with my dad to Hawkeye football games, so over the years my dad and I got to see a lot of great games together.