Gint-A-Cuffs VI: Packs 16, 17, and 18

Part of me feels like I'm sprinting through this A&G box.  I'm definitely ahead of everyone else in terms of the number of packs I've opened.  I think it's driven by my desire to get the box opened and put away into my collections and the team boxes I have and to send out the stuff I'm sending out to folks as soon as possible.

It's also because I'm impatient when I open boxes and packs of cards and I want to see what I have.  Perhaps I could use a little Patience.

I finished yesterday up with 118.6 points, so let's see what is on tap today.

Pack 16

Well, this website comes to mind.

I get two Yankees who used to be stalwarts on my fantasy teams when they were in the National League -- a normal, base Hiroki Kuroda (-1) and a Pastime's Pastimes Carlos Beltran (+1 after Yankee penalty).  At least the pack isn't completely destructive since it has an A&G back mini of Dan Wheeler -- a Met, thank God, and not a Yankee -- for 2 points.  

So it's a pack total of 3 points.  Could it get worse?  Wait.  Don't answer that.

TOTAL POINTS: 121.6

Pack 17:

It's not worse than the previous pack, but it isn't much better either.  The Holi Festival -- which is a Hindu festival of colors and has now morphed into those weird "Color Runs" that some folks like doing -- is worth 2 points, and so is the short-printed Josh Donaldson.

Pack total of 4 points.  Meh.

TOTAL POINTS: 125.6

Pack 18:

Yet another -1 Yankee.  Then again, I'm glad we're not playing this game with the Archives set. Getting above 10 points would be a feat.

Otherwise, I have the Hisashi Iwakuma Pastime's Pastimes (which is Linguist despite the fact that the card mentions that he "talks to teammates through an interpreter"...methinks Topps was reaching here) for 2 points and 3 points for Rembrandt van Rijn.  One of Rembrandt's "most famous works" listed on the back of the card is Belshazzar's Feast, a painting I saw in London's National Gallery back in 2006.  Four points total.

Yay me.

TOTAL POINTS: 129.6

And so, after three of the most uninspiring packs of Allen & Ginter a guy could open short of a Yankee hot pack, I'm not much further along than I was after yesterday's packs.  The 11 points for 3 packs deal definitely hurt my chances here.

On the bright side, though, I still have one hit and six packs left.  I hope the packs ahead are better than these three.

Gint-A-Cuffs VI: Packs 10, 11, 12

After yesterday's less-than-thrilling 3 packs totaling just 13 points, I'm hoping that the next three packs -- which will mark the halfway point -- will be better.  On the positive side, I've only found one of my three box hits so far. So, I have the possibility of some good point totals ahead.  

I haven't had many Brewers at all either.  Frankly, that's more annoying than any point totals.  I mean, when the competition is all said and done, all I want to keep from this box are the Brewers and Milwaukee Braves.  And for this box so far, all I've seen for Brewers is Carlos Gomez -- whom I pulled in my other box, so I have him covered both for my player collection and my team collection.  

That's it.  

That seems to make this song appropriate:

All right, enough whining.  On to Packs 10, 11, and 12 and the halfway point total:

Pack 10:

Not bad.  Not bad.  It's a six-point pack, since each of these cards are two points.  There's a mini A&G back Mike Pereira, Evan Longoria's Pastime's Pastimes (Animal Lover), and someone else's favorite player, Freddie Freeman.

TOTAL POINTS: 79

Pack 11:

Four cards have point implications in this pack, but one of them is a Yankee.  Joltin' Joe had Marilyn Monroe and was Mr. Coffee, so the attention-seeking, starlet loving ancestor to Derek Jeter is worth negative 1 point.  Otherwise, to add points, I have a two-point Wil Myers Pastime's Pastimes (social media guru...), a World's Deadliest Predator mini of the badass Cape Buffalo worth 3 points while chasing away a pride of lions, and yet another card of someone else's favorite player -- this time, Tim Lincecum -- who gets me 2 points.

All in all, that adds up to a 6-point pack.

TOTAL POINTS: 85

And that could have gone better.  Let's see what pack 12 has in store:

Well, another damn skirt-chasing, ball-scuffing Yankee who's been venerated and whitewashed and whose presence in my pack takes another point away from me.  At least I still get the full two points for Shea Stadium despite the fact that the Yankees played there in the mid-1970s while the House that Ruth Built became the George Steinbrenner Ego Palace.

And, finally, a Brewer!  And it's a short-print base card, so Wily Peralta -- on the heels of his nice start on Friday night against the Cardinals -- gives me 3 points.  

So, when that's added up, it's a paltry four points.

TOTAL POINTS: 89

Yeah, that halfway point total projects out to 178 points.  That isn't going to cut it if I want to compete in the overall title race. But, on the positive side, I still haven't found two of my three box hits.  Maybe those will help me out.

And, the way Wily Peralta has been pitching this year, he's starting to grow on me.  I may have to add him as a PC pretty soon.  We'll see.  

Gint-A-Cuffs VI: Packs 7, 8, and 9

I'm starting to see how some of the other competitors are doing in their GAC boxes, and I have to admit -- other than Nachos Grande and its relic box loader, things aren't too bad for me right now.  I know that will change, though, and frankly, my biggest hope is to get lucky in the randomization phase of the contest to get another box of A&G from Topps.

At least the contest is giving me something to write about to work through my recent writer's block/lack of desire/lack of interest in writing.  

Apropos of nothing other than I'm in a 90s alternative music mood this morning, here's a video for one of the more interesting songs of the 1990s from Soul Coughing:

I'm starting off this group of three packs with 60 points.  Let's see how many points these packs will add.

Pack 7:

And, this pack is not very good. 

There's a short print of Darryl Strawberry, who mercifully is shown on the Mets and not on the Yankees, so he's worth 2 Points.  At least there is no deduction for former Yankees on other teams.

The upside-down card is that way for a purpose.  That is a full-sized card of reality-show toolbox Bill Rancic, who costs me a point for being a tool.  So, -1 Rancic.

Finally, I have a full-sized Festivals and Fairs for the Dia de los Muertos which gives me 2 points.  I remember in high school Spanish class having to read a few articles about The Day(s) of the Dead.  It is a strange "festival" to commemorate, but at least it's not the "New York Yankees Day of the Dead."

So, the Pack total is a rancid 3 points.  Screw you Bill Rancic.

TOTAL POINTS: 63

Let's just move on.

Pack 8:

What a yawn-inducing pack.  

Damn Yankees.  Teixeira is a negative 1 point.  Sonny Gray is a short-print, so he gives me 2 points, as does the Pingxi Lantern Festival, a celebration of the Taiwanese/Chinese New Year in the mountain town of Pingxi.  

So, limping along with another 3-point pack.  These two packs alone are like an interception in football -- they have sapped all momentum in the game for the Off Hiatus team.  Ugh.

TOTAL POINTS:  66

Despite the demoralizing blows dealt by those last two packs, the next ones have to get better, don't they?  Let's close out with Pack 9 and look to a brighter rip tomorrow.

Pack 9

Now, that's better.  Part of me is wishing I'd said that the Milwaukee Braves were my favorite team rather than the Brewers, since I've had better luck in this pack pulling the two Milwaukee Braves (Mathews and Spahn) than the more numerous Brewers.  Warren is a black-bordered mini that's not a short-print, so he's worth 3 points.  Shelby Miller's Pastime's Pastime card is a 2-point play.  Finally, Ryan Howard is someone else's favorite player -- I'm guessing his accountant is playing the Gint-A-Cuffs this year -- so he's worth 2 points.  

So, while this pack is not a huge point getter, at least there weren't any Yankees in it.  

Pack total: 7 points

TOTAL POINTS: 73

It could have been worse, I suppose, than picking up just 13 points over 3 packs. It's not winning form, mind you, but every box has to have some valleys to go with the peaks.  I'll just have to see how the rest of the box sorts itself out.