Acquisition: Five Percent of the Stromile Swift Card Collection

My personal economic stimulus program continued last week as I ordered another five percent of Stro's checklist from the fine folks at Burbank Sportscards.  The 31-card assortment ups my collection total to 264 of 620, or roughly 43 percent.  There is no standout card amongst this lot --- it's all base, common jersey cards, and serial-numbered inserts --- but it's always exciting to receive such a large quantity at once.  With over half the collection outstanding there remain a few more bulk orders to be made, but pretty soon it's probably going to get significantly more difficult to find cards I don't already have.  So, who should I start to collect next?  I'm thinking Gerald Green.

Acquisition: "Stro Show" Custom Basketball Card

Being the over-excitable young lad that I am, I've spent most of my waking hours this and last week creating my own digital basketball cards.  Tuesday, I decided to take it a step further and turn my latest custom design into an acquisition by having it printed.  You are looking at the [almost] finished product, with which I am more than pleased.  The white part on top still needs to be cut off, but the other edges are so crispy I'm afraid to try it myself.

I hadn't realized that most buildings in Maine that aren't gas stations, Super Wal-Marts or McDonald's are printing companies, but, apparently, they are.  I must've reviewed six or seven prospective printers prior (Holy alliteration, Batman!) to making my selection.  Anyhow, I eventually picked a place and submitted my order for ten copies at a cost of twenty-nine dollars and change --- a freaking bargain, methinks --- and anxiously awaited the result.  I didn't have to wait long; the cards were ready for pickup the same day, but I wasn't able to retrieve them until this morning.

As you may have noticed, this is the Stromile Swift version of my "Swaggy P" design.  I call it the AKA Series, and I intend to fill it out with players who go by some of the league's most awesome nicknames.  I'll probably have the whole series printed soon, and since I'll be getting multiple copies of each card I'd be more than happy to dish some out, so long as you'll paypal me a dollar or two or three.  Special request?  Hit me with a comment or e-mail, admin at nba247365 dot com.

Custom Basketball Card: Nick Young

I decided to make another custom basketball card, because that there is no actual "Swaggy P" card is a horrible shame.

Custom Basketball Card: Kenyon Martin

 

I enjoy collecting basketball cards enough that I'm on EBay every day.  As I browse, I often find myself wishing the card manufacturer had done something differently.  For an example I'll refer to my own collection, which includes approximately forty Kenyon Martin cards.  Of these forty K-Mart cards, only a handful have him dunking, and precisely zero show him screaming.  This is very odd, I think.  Based on a glance at some Kenyon Martin source photography, which is far richer in scowls than smiles, it actually seems as if provocative imagery has been intentionally avoided.  

Maybe Upper Deck, Topps and the like perceive a responsibility to be kid-friendly.  I suppose trading cards are supposed to be for children, but I'm a dork and I don't care.  I like basketball cards and I want one that shows Kenyon Martin in the midst of one of his expletive-ridden rants.  So I made one.

I like it, I think.  Then again, it is a product of my own imagination ---I should like it.  So, what do you think?  Should I make more?  Should I uninstall Photoshop?  I'd appreciate your feedback, here.

Story of a Card: Stromile Swift & Andre Emmett, 2004-05 SPx Winning Combos

Once upon a not-so-remarkable time, Stromile Swift and Andre Emmett were NBA teammates.  As a Grizzly, Emmett appeared in eight games in early 2005, playing a total of 28 minutes; Swift made regular appearances off the bench, averaging 10 PPG.  That summer, Emmett was traded to Miami, where he was waived, and Swift departed for Houston, only to be traded back to Memphis a year later.  The two never played another NBA game together.  Despite this, Upper Deck deemed Swift and Emmett a "winning combo" and slapped their likenesses on the above trading card, complete with game-used jersey swatches, leaving us with this relic of an obscure partnership.

In fall 2009, Swift was cut by the 76ers during training camp.  Having exhausted all NBA opportunities, he sought employment overseas.  The Chinese Basketball Association's Shandong Lions were in the market for a center and signed Swift to a one-year contract.  Coincidentally, the Lions had already recruited Andre Emmett, who'd become an international basketball vagabond following his release from the Heat.  Roughly five years after their appearance on a trading card, Swift and Emmett would have an actual chance to become a "winning combo," albeit in a much lesser league.

Broken down into its constituent parts, the Andre-Stromile combo was indeed winning.  Emmett, always an explosive scorer, casually led the CBA in bucket-getting ---in one game he recorded a then-record 71 points (since surpassed by the spindly Quincy Douby).  Meanwhile, Swift averaged about 20/10 and paced the association in slam dunks.  He thoroughly dominated such NBA washouts as David Harrison, and it was a great deal of fun.  I never enjoyed watching Swift play so much as I did when he played in China, where he performed like the second coming of Shawn Kemp.



But despite all its spectacular capability, the combo was not winning in the standings.  Shandong missed the playoffs and, as tensions between player and coach soured Swift on the Chinese experience, he elected to skip the All-Star Game and return to the States.  He hasn't played professional basketball since, inspiring me to sometimes wonder how badly it really went in Shandong.  With his outstanding stats, I figure Swift could've secured another international deal and continued his career.  I wish he had. 

Acquisition: Seven Percent of the Stromile Swift Card Collection

I usually don't post my card collection as it arrives --- acquisition posts are typically limited to more substantial additions --- but then again, I usually don't receive 42 cards, or roughly seven percent of the entire Stromile Swift checklist, in a single trip to the mailbox.  Coincidentally, three parcels shipped on different dates from two different continents all found their way to my doorstep on this frigid afternoon (seriously, Mother Nature, it's nearly March 21st --- enough already).

Forty of these cards came in one envelope from Burbank Sports Cards, a dealer in California; One came from China, and another from Amazon (.com, not the rainforest).  Most are serial numbered inserts, with a couple of base cards and one jersey card mixed in.  The highlights of the lot are a Topps Finest Gold rookie card numbered to 100 and a Topps Chrome X-Fractor numbered to 10.  In addition to being the rarest, the X-Fractor was the most costly, forcing me to cough up about $15.  The rest were under $10, with most costing $1. 

I'm not wild about the photograph Topps used for the X-Fractor, which was taken during Swift's headband-less tenure under disciplinarian Mike Fratello.  The depicted play is a preseason rebound --- not exactly the pinnacle of excitement --- and the Grizzlies' weariness of Coach Fratello's rigidity is evident from Stro's facial expression.  That said, the card looks super-cool'er than Mike Beasley when the light hits its surface, and it's limited to 10, tying it for rarest card in my Swift collection.  Had Topps used a photo of a fully-accessorized Stro during the Grizzlies' rebellion from the fallen Czar's stringent system, it would be one of my favorite cards.

As for the Topps Finest Gold rookie card, it IS one of my favorite cards.  It features a rare photograph of Swift sporting the classic OG Vancouver uniform and, similar to the X-Fractor, reflects a spectrum when placed under a light source.  I missed out on this card the first time I saw it on EBay, making its addition to my collection all the more satisfying.

With the addition of these 42 cards, I now own 231 of 620, roughly 37 percent.  Two more are in the mail.