Mike In Illinois

I've gone through a few phases of card collecting - mostly football. Started in the mid-80s as a kid, trailing off in the early-90s in high school; late-90s in the era of Randy Moss and Peyton Manning; and occasionally in the 2000s. About two years ago, my youngest son went from collecting Pokemon cards and started gaining interest in football cards. Last year, we decided to check out a couple of local shops and browsing their 'commons' and other low-value single cards and started picking up some Bills cards - easy to do here in Central Illinois because there's not a lot of demand for Bills, except for some Josh Allen cards. I've even checked out card shops when I'm in St. Louis for work. I've found a few Thurman Thomas autographed cards (assuming the signature is legit) for around $5 each. Those will definitely be going into my personal collection; youngest son loves Micah Hyde so we've grabbed a bunch of duplicates of the 2023 Panini base set. We decided to do something creative for our family's European vacation this summer: We're collecting a big chunk of inexpensive Bills cards - new and old - and going to re-package them into small sets of 10-15 cards and then bring them across the pond to London. We're staying in London a couple of days before our cruise leaves in late June and we're planning to take the sets and drop them off at the London Bills Backers bar so they can use them as part of their game day giveaways during the 2025 season. As a collector, I'm mostly focused on cards that I like, regardless of value. So a bunch of Bills (Super Bowl era, new era, Chuck Knox era), Joe Montana, Barry Sanders, and any others I find cool. I came across a recent Mosaic set that had a bunch of great old players (Fran Tarkenton, Charlie Joiner, John Riggins) and I grabbed several of those based on nostalgia. I remember scrounging up all the loose change I could find as a 12-year-old to buy the first Beckett Football Card Gazette with Bo Jackson on it. Now, I'm not so worried about the values.

Somebody's watched "Revenge of the Nerds" recently:

Winners have a home-and-home with the AFL Premiers - one game under each league's rules. (Go Geelong!)

Favorite Nintendo (NES) sports games, in no particular order: Football - Tecmo Super Bowl. The original Tecmo Bowl whetted the appetite, but TSB is the Gold Standard (and still modded today, with new rosters and uniform and gameplay tweaks annually). Baseball - Baseball Stars ("When Isn't It?" "When It Is." "What Is A Wren?" "A Bird." - If you know, you know). Building a team from the ground-up, knowing the Prestige trick for levelling-up your pitchers, in order to maximize their pitching stats and boosting your attendance - $$). Honorable mention to Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball, which had up to 60 unique players with strengths and weaknesses). Also some love for the Bases Loaded franchise; learning the right scenario to start a Bean Brawl to get the computer's best player ejected. Hockey - Blades of Steel - the fighting cut-scenes and the cinematic reel when you won the championship was so cool. Special shout-out to Ice Hockey, with their three body types to build your roster. Basketball - Double Dribble was my favorite - didn't learn the Corner 3 cheat mode until recently. Also loved Hoops, a 2 v 2 half-court game, with the cut-scenes for dunks and blocked dunks. Also played Tecmo Super Basketball a few times and it was okay; the playcall selection like in TSB didn't seem to go over well with me. Auto Racing - Enjoyed Super Sprint simplistic IndyCar racing. RC Pro Am was an early hit for me - insane speeds for the computer cars the further you advanced. I absolutely loved Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off-Road. I used to watch a ton of those Stadium races when ESPN used to show them; they'd race through the arches of the LA Coliseum. Get three other friends and an NEW Satellite and it's hours of dirt racing fun. Love-hate relationship with Days of Thunder. Nearly impossible to pass and keep your can from getting destroyed. Wrestling - Big fan of Tecmo World Wrestling, Tag Team Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling.

Minnesota Vikings.

Fellow Bills fans living in Illinois may have to head to Buffalo in order to meet!

Week Two will have Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, and Melanie Collins the sideline reporter (bottom of the page): https://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-sports/releases/view?id=53271

I like the blue much better.

My first trip to Buffalo (with my wife) for a Bills game! My first Bills game - as have been many of my Bills games, including last season - was in Indianapolis, 1991:

Something old, something new(er), something borrowed (covered), something blue I'm a big fan of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats; first heard about them in 2015 when their debut album was released. I got to see them up in Peoria, IL in December 2016 play for about 300 people and it was a fantastic show full of energy. 'Coolin' Out' features Lucius on backing vocals; that band is one of the supporting acts for The Night Sweats. The 'Atlantic City' cover is from "The Tonight Show" sessions, as Jimmy Fallon is a big supporter of the band. They are signed to the Staxx Label and their Soul/R 'n' B sound really exemplifies the label's history. For context, their hit song 'SOB' (posted earlier) is about Rateliff's struggles with alcohol; how he had to kick it or booze would likely kill him.

I've filled up my YouTube with lots of users with old Buffalo Bills/NFL content. Here's a few (be sure to click on 'Videos' to see their whole library)... Andy Provin - To me, the most comprehensive Buffalo Bills video content you'll find: Games, highlight films, compilation videos (Obscure Bills QBs who threw a TD and video of the throw(s), for example). John-Paul Müller - Buffalo Bills Late-80s through 2002 (not every year but a lot of the Bills heyday). FRANTHESCRAM - Name suggests a Vikings fan, but a TON of old NFL GOTWs and other shows. jstube36 - More great content (TWIPF with Summerall and Brookshire), plus late-40s/early-50s content. Comrade Dobler - Classic Cleveland Browns content. Randy Fast - Lots of Bud Grant-era Vikings videos. Grey Beard - Even more classic stuff. And, if you need your fix of NFL Films music (and you think Sam Spence was the only one who created great scores for the films), then Dave Volsky is your hookup. He has developed several playlists of the music that you can click on and enjoy for hours. I've taken a several of them and converted to MP3 and have on a thumb drive I'll bring with me to the Home Opener. Dave even creates his own compilations and re-imagines long-lost videos that only have an audio track. I have many more but that's a good starter to satisfy a classic NFL fan's needs.

One in 2XL, please. Will pick up at The Opener.

I'm a big fan of Silicon Valley. My last job was at a health system that utilized SWOTs so I can relate to it like DC Tom. This is another brilliant piece of TV/Movies by Mike Judge (executive producer I think). Gilfoyle is my favorite character on the show.

I'm on the job search here in Central Illinois and I use Indeed-dot-com and find a variety of openings that way.

Anyone else not look closely at the thread title and think Pinto Kenny brought in a ringer for gameday bowling ball shots?